I have no idea, if this is the exact story of the birth of the Most Valuable Professionals (MVP) Program by Microsoft. But it surely looks a very interesting beginning. It at least helps you to digest the motive behind having such a program.
Here it goes, as found in the<a href="http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=6pt6l4i11chjd?tname=microsoft-mvp&curtab=2222_1&hl=mvp&sbid=lc03b"> Answers.com wikipedia</a>.
Way back in the dark ages, Microsoft provided a great deal of technical support on CompuServe. The CompuServe FoxPro forum was extremely busy and Calvin Hsia, then an independent developer, now Developer Lead on the Fox team, created what we called "Calvin's List." It was a listing of the number of postings by person, including info on both messages sent and received. Being in the top 10 on Calvin's List any month was an accomplishment, though we discussed whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.
As the story goes, some of the Microsoft people jumped on Calvin's List as a way to identify high contributors, and thus was born the MVP program.