A quick look at Today in History, check out some Celebrity Birthdays, and find out what Days of the Year to celebrate.
TODAY IN HISTORY:
1855 – Michigan State University was established.
1878 – The baseball catcher’s mask was patented by Frederick W. Thayer.
1879 – The first artificial ice rink opened in North America. It was at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY.
1880 – The National Croquet League was organized in Philadelphia, PA.
1892 – President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday was declared to be a National holiday.
1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded.
1915 – The cornerstone of the Lincoln Memorial was laid in Washington, DC.
1918 – All theaters in New York, NY, were shut down in an effort to conserve coal.
1924 – President Calvin Coolidge made the first presidential political speech on radio.
1924 – “The Eveready Hour” became radio’s first sponsored network program. The National Carbon Company was the first sponsor of a network show.
1931 – Bela Lugosi starred as Count Dracula when the movie “Dracula” premiered in theaters.
1940 – Mutual Radio presented the first broadcast of the radio play “The Adventures of Superman”.
1963 – Construction began on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO.
1971 – The advertising song “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” was first used by Coca Cola. The song was rewritten and recorded as “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” by The New Seekers, and released a few months later in November of 1971.
1973 – The state of Ohio became the first to go metric, posting distance signs in kilometers.
1973 – American Prisoners of War were released for the first time during the Vietnam conflict.
1985 – Johnny Carson surprised his audience by shaving the beard he had been wearing on “The Tonight Show”.
1989 – Tiny Tim declared himself a New York City mayoral candidate. He did not win in the election.
1993 – The movie “Groundhog Day”, starring Bill Murray, debuted in theaters.
1997 – The day after the release of his “Earthling” album, David Bowie received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1999 – President Bill Clinton was acquitted by the U.S. Senate on two impeachment articles. The charges were perjury and obstruction of justice.
2001 – The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Napster to stop its users from trading copyrighted material without charge.
2001 – The space probe NEAR touched down in the “saddle” region of the asteroid 433 Eros. It was the first time that any craft had landed on an asteroid.
2002 – Kenneth Lay, former Enron CEO, exercised his constitutional rights and refused to testify to Congress about the collapse of Enron.
2004 – Mattel announced that “Barbie” and “Ken” were breaking up. The dolls had met on the set of their first television commercial together in 1961.
2008 – The 14-week Writers Guild of America strike finally ended.
2009 – Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed into a house in Clarence Center, NY, while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all on board and one person on the ground.
2010 – Mark Grimmette of Muskegon, MI, carried the USA flag during the opening ceremony for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
2010 – The remake of the song “We Are The World” premiered at the opening of the Winter Olympics.
2019 – Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was found guilty of all 10 federal crimes against him in New York, NY.
BIRTHDAYS:
Anne Osborn Krueger – 92 years old (1934) – Economist and academic
Judy Blume – 88 years old (1938) – Author and educator
Leon Kass – 87 years old (1939) – Physician, scientist, and educator
David D. Friedman – 81 years old (1945) – Economist, physicist, and scholar
Ray Kurzweil – 78 years old (1948) – Computer scientist and engineer
Lenny Randle – 77 years old (1949) – Baseball player
Michael McDonald – 74 years old (1952) – Singer-songwriter and keyboard player
Joanna Kerns – 73 years old (1953) – Actress and director
Zach Grenier – 72 years old (1954) – Actor
Phil Zimmermann – 72 years old (1954) – Cryptographer and programmer
Bill Laswell – 71 years old (1955) – Musician and producer
Chet Lemon – 71 years old (1955) – Baseball player and coach
Arsenio Hall – 70 years old (1956) – Actor and talk show host
Larry Nance – 67 years old (1959) – Basketball player
John Michael Higgins – 63 years old (1963) – Actor and comedian
Omar Hakim – 62 years old (1964) – Drummer, producer, arranger, and composer
Raphael Sbarge – 62 years old (1964) – Actor and director
Rubén Amaro – 61 years old (1965) – Jr. , American baseball player and manager
Christine Elise – 61 years old (1965) – Actress and producer
Brett Kavanaugh – 61 years old (1965) – Lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Paul Crook – 60 years old (1966) – Musician, songwriter, and producer
Josh Brolin – 58 years old (1968) – Actor
Chynna Phillips – 58 years old (1968) – Singer and actress
Darren Aronofsky – 57 years old (1969) – Director, producer, and screenwriter
Judd Winick – 56 years old (1970) – Author and illustrator
Scott Menville – 55 years old (1971) – Voice actor, singer, actor and musician
Tara Strong – 53 years old (1973) – Canadian-American voice actress and singer
Scot Pollard – 51 years old (1975) – Basketball player and actor
Jimmy Conrad – 49 years old (1977) – Soccer player and manager
Sarah Lancaster – 46 years old (1980) – Actress
Gucci Mane – 46 years old (1980) – Rapper
Christina Ricci – 46 years old (1980) – Actress and producer
Carlton Brewster – 43 years old (1983) – Football player and coach
Brad Keselowski – 42 years old (1984) – Race car driver
Peter Vanderkaay – 42 years old (1984) – Swimmer
Todd Frazier – 40 years old (1986) – Baseball player
DeMarco Murray – 38 years old (1988) – Football player
Josh Phegley – 38 years old (1988) – Baseball player
Mike Posner – 38 years old (1988) – Singer-songwriter and producer
Josh Harrellson – 37 years old (1989) – Basketball player
Robert Griffin III – 36 years old (1990) – Football player
Bud Dupree – 33 years old (1993) – Football player
Jennifer Stone – 33 years old (1993) – Actress
Arman Hall – 32 years old (1994) – Sprinter
Paxton Lynch – 32 years old (1994) – Football player
TODAY IS:
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For additional information check out websites like: www.on-this-day.com, www.born-today.com, www.famousbirthdays.com, www.daysoftheyear.com, and www.nationaldaycalendar.com.
