Published February, 1982 – Examiner Hawaii

Rubik Cube champ a Vietnam refugee

FOUR short years ago Minh Thai was a bewildered boy in a Southeast Asian refugee camp – today the 17 year old is the American Rubik Cube champ and a bona-fide celebrity and author!

“He’s a super kid,” said Doug Beattie, assistant principal of Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles, where Thai is a senior.

“Just the other day I saw him out in front of the school helping one of our handicapped students with the puzzle,” Beattie continued. “And he’s a very bright student.”

“It’s absolutely amazing to watch him work his Rubik’s Cube. I’ve seen him solve it in 22 seconds, just for fun.”

Thai won the American championship – and $2,000 – in a showdown on TV’s That’s Incredible with a record-setting time of 26.04 seconds. Some 10,000 people entered the contest.

The good life in America is a wonderful change from the misery and poverty of Vietnam, from which Thai, his parents and five brothers and sisters fled in 1978.

“Fifty of us escaped from Vietnam to Malaysia in a small fishing boat,” Thai recalled. “Then we stayed fours months in a refugee camp before coming to America.”

“I like living in America,” he said. “It is my home now. If I ever go back to Vietnam, it will be only for a visit.”

Nowadays he doesn’t have time to relive the past.

“I’ve been on television and radio shows and lots of newspapers and magazines have called me,” he said.

And he has written a book, The Winning Solution, which was published in February. Thai wrote the 50-page tract himself, an amazing accomplishment for someone just learning English.

But amidst all this activity, Thai must find time to keep up with his studies. He maintains a healthy B average and plans to go on to university to become an engineer.

It was only last June that Thai first tried to solve a Rubik’s Cube.

“The first time I tried, a friend gave me some instructions and I was able to solve it in two hours,” he recalled. “Then I kept practicing and practicing, and finally I got it down to two minutes.”