Today In History
October 8

Events

• 1633 - Massachusetts Bay Colony forms its 1st government


• 1840 - 1st Hawaiian constitution proclaimed


• 1860 - Telegraph line between Los Angeles & San Francisco opens


• 1873 - 1st women's prison run by women opens at Indiana Reformatory Institute


• 1895 - Ohio Valley Improvement Association forms


• 1896 - Dow Jones starts reporting an average of selected industrial stocks


• 1933 - Coit Tower dedicated in San Francisco, a monument to firefighters


• 1945 - Truman announced atomic bomb secret shared with Britain & Canada


• 1955 - Worlds most powerful aircraft carrier, Saratoga (US), launched


• 1957 - Procter & Gamble - director N McElroy becomes US Min of Defense


• 1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site


• 1964 - Gilroy Roberts becomes 1st US chief engraver to retire (than die)


• 1968 - Aircraft carrier Charles Doorman sold to Argentina


• 1971 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site


• 1981 - President Reagan greeted predecessors Jimmy Carter, Gerald R Ford & Richard Nixon before sending them to Egypt for Anwar Sadat's fune


• 1988 - Fire in Seattle's Space Needle causes evacuation, $2,000 damage


• 1990 - US doctors Joseph E Murray & E Donnall Thomas win Nobel Prize


• 1994 - BPAA US Women's Bowling Open won by Aleta Sill

Baseball

• 1887 - Phillies set club record 16th straight victory


• 1908 - New York Giants set season attendance record at 910,000 (broken in 1920)


• 1909 - Chicago Cubs beat New York Giants 4-2 in a playoff to win NL pennant


• 1915 - Phillies win their 1st & only World Series game before 1980, beating Red Sox, 3-1, with an 8th inning 2 run rally


• 1922 - New York Giants beat Yankees, 4 games to 0, with a tie in 19th World Series


• 1927 - New York Yankees sweep Pirates in 24th World Series


• 1929 - A's Howard Ehmke (7-2) sets World Series record striking out 13 Cubs


• 1930 - Philadelphia A's beat St Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 2 in 27th World Series


• 1939 - New York Yankees sweep Reds in 36th World Series, 4th straight World Series win


• 1940 - Cincinnati Reds beat Detroit Tigers, 4 games to 3, in 37th World Series


• 1951 - Ford C Frick replaces Happy Chandler as 3rd commissioner of baseball Warren C Giles becomes president of baseball's National League


• 1953 - Birmingham Alabama, bars Jackie Robinson's Negro-White All-Stars from playing there Robinson gives in & drops white players fro


• 1956 - Don Larsen, New York, pitches only perfect World Series game, vs Brooklyn


• 1957 - Brooklyn Dodgers announce move to Los Angeles


• 1958 - Braves Eddie Mathews strikes out for World Series record 11th time


• 1959 - Los Angeles Dodgers beat Chicago White Sox, 4 games to 2 in 56th World Series


• 1960 - Bobby Richarson hits a World Series grand slammer


• 1961 - Whitey Ford breaks Babe Ruth's World Series record of 29 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, running his streak to 32


• 1972 - In Game 2 of ALCS, A's Bert Campaneris, fires his bat at Det pitcher Lerrin LaGrow Campy, who had been hit by a pitch, is fined & suspended


• 1973 - NLCS game 3 brawl between Cins' Pete Rose & New York Met Bud Harrelson


• 1977 - Largest baseball crowd in Pennsylvania, 64,924 see Dodgers beat Phillies 4-1 in 4th NL championship game (Dodgers win pennant)


• 1978 - Yankees win 3rd straight AL Championship, all against Kansas City


• 1986 - Mike Scott ties playoff record of 14 strikeouts, beats Mets 1-0


• 1988 - Jay Howell ejected in NLCS game 3 for having pine tar on his glove


• 1989 - Oakland beats Toronto, 4-3 in Game 5, to advance to the World Series


• 1995 - Edgar Martinez drives home tying & winning runs to rally Mariners to 6-5 win in bottom of 11th to beat Yankees & win AL Division Series

Football

• 1950 - Cleveland Browns play Pittsburgh for 1st time, beat Steelers 30-17


• 1966 - Wyoming's Jerry DePoyster kicks 3 field goals over 50 yds (54, 54, 52)


• 1972 - Harold Carmichael begins NFL streak of 127 consecutive game receptions


• 1995 - Dolphin's Dan Marino breaks Fran Tarkenton's NFL career completions record

Golf

• 1961 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Bill Brannin's Swing Parade Golf Tournament

Hockey

• 1950 - 4th NHL All-Star Game: Detroit beat All-Stars 7-1 at Detroit


• 1982 - New Jersey Devils 1st victory, beating New York Rangers 3-2 at Meadowlands


• 1983 - Washington Capitals 1st NHL overtime game losing to New York Islanders 8-7


• 1992 - Ottawa Sentors 1st NHL game

Boxing

• 1818 - 2 English boxers are 1st to use padded gloves

Entertainment

• 1935 - Ozzie Nelson marries Harriet Hilliard (Ozzie & Harriet)


• 1944 - "Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" debut on CBS radio


• 1953 - WTAP TV channel 15 in Parkersburg-Marietta, West Virginia (NBC) begins


• 1958 - KCMT TV channel 7 in Alexandria, Minnesota (CBS/NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting


• 1964 - Ringo Starr takes & passes his driving test


• 1971 - John Lennon releases his megahit "Imagine"


• 1976 - Sex Pistols sign with EMI


• 1980 - Bob Marley collapses on stage, brought to Sloan-Kettering Hospital


• 1981 - 1st broadcast of "Cagney & Lacey" on ABC-TV


• 1984 - 18th Country Music Association Award: Alabama wins


• 1985 - Little Richard seriously injured in a car accident


• 1986 - RUN DMC calls for a day of peace among Los Angeles street gangs


• 1990 - 24th Country Music Association Award: George Strait wins


• 1993 - Howard Stern releases his 1st book "Private Parts"

Trains Planes and Automobiles

• 1904 - 1st Vanderbilt Cup auto race (Hicksville, Long Island, New York)


• 1978 - Ken Warby set world water speed record at 319.627 mph (514 kph)


• 1981 - USAC appeals panel restores disputed Indy 500 victory to Al Unser

Disasters

• 1871 - Gas explosion destroys Peshtigo, Wisconsin


• 1871 - Great Fire kills 200, destroys over 4 miles of Chicago buildings, & original Emancipation Proclamation


• 1952 - 2 trains collide with a derailed commuter train, kills 112 (England)


• 1961 - US Constellation crashes at Richmond Virginia, 74 die

Space

• 1604 - Supernova "Kepler's nova" 1st sighted


• 1992 - Pioneer Venus Orbiter (1st Venus orbiter-1978), crashes into Venus

Weddings

• 1842 - Princess Sophia weds her cousin duke Charles Saksen-Weimar-Eisenach


• 1935 - Ozzie Nelson marries Harriet Hilliard (Ozzie & Harriet)


• 1993 - Queen Elizabeth's nephew Viscount Linley (32) weds Serena Stanhope (24)

World War II

• 1939 - Germany annexes Western Poland


• 1940 - German troops occupies Romania


• 1941 - Concentration camp Birkenau begins being built


• 1942 - Fight at Matanikau, Guadalcanal (John Hersey-Into the Valley)


• 1943 - Great-Britain establishes bases on Azores

World War I

• 1915 - Battle of Loos, almost 430,000 French, British & Germans killed


• 1918 - Sgt Alvin York single-handedly kills 25, captures 132 Germans

Cival War

• 1862 - Battle of Perryville, Kentucky - Confederate invasion halted

American Revolution

• 1775 - Officers decide to bar slaves & free blacks from Continental Army

Crime and Criminals

• 1934 - Bruno Hauptmann is indicted for murder of Lindbergh's son


• 1957 - Soviet spy Jack Sobel sentenced to 7 years (New York City)

Birthdays

• 1585 - Heinrich Schutz, composer


• 1619 - Philipp von Zesen, German poet/historian (Amsterdam)


• 1621 - Maximilian H of Bayern, prince-bishop of Liege/bishop of Hildesheim


• 1690 - Jaime de Casellas, composer


• 1692 - Antonio Palella, composer


• 1697 - Cornelis Consolation, Dutch portrait painter (Unseemly Love)


• 1740 - Michel-Julien Mathieu, composer


• 1747 - Johann Wilhelm Stadler, composer


• 1748 - Franz Seydelmann, composer


• 1790 - Waldemar Thrane, composer


• 1802 - Peter Hofstede, the Great, Dutch reformed theologist


• 1813 - Carl Ludwig Amand Mangold, composer


• 1818 - John Henninger Reagan, Atty Gen (Confederacy)


• 1820 - Stanislaw Katski, composer


• 1826 - Matt Whitaker Ransom, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1904


• 1828 - Francisque Sarcey, French writer/critic


• 1831 - Michal Jelski, composer


• 1837 - Otto Winter-Hjelm, composer


• 1838 - John Milton Hay, politician (Union), died in 1905


• 1855 - Gustav Ehrismann, German germanist


• 1860 - Felix Woyrsch, composer


• 1861 - Theodore Roberts, SF California, actor (Roaring Road, 10 Commandments)


• 1868 - Max Slevogt, German painter


• 1869 - J Frank Duryea, inventor (1st auto built & operated in US)


• 1870 - Louis Vierne, composer


• 1872 - John Cowper Powys, British writer (Wood & Stone)


• 1873 - Ejnar Hertzsprung, Denmark, astronomer (Hertzsprung-Russell diagram)


• 1874 - Nance O'Neil, Oakland California, actor (Cimarron)


• 1875 - Hugh L Doherty, tennis champ (US Open-1903)


• 1880 - Ernest F E Douwes Dekker, Dutch founder (National-India Party)


• 1885 - William Henry Bennett Vodery, composer


• 1888 - Clifford Heatherley, Preston England, actress (For Love or Money)


• 1890 - Cyril Rutherford "Snuffy" Browne, cricketer (pioneer WI Test player)


• 1890 - Eddie Rickenbacker, aviator "Ace of Aces" (WW I)


• 1895 - Jeanne G van Schaik-Willing, Dutch author (Sinner & the Girl)


• 1895 - King Zog I, of Albania (1928-1939)


• 1897 - Rouben Mamoulian, movie director/author (Mark of Zorro, Applause)


• 1898 - Clarence Williams, composer


• 1899 - Milner Connorton Gray, designer


• 1899 - Pandit Rambharos Gangaram Panday, Suriname relig leader/co-found (VHP)


• 1900 - Geoffrey Alan Jellicoe, landscape architect


• 1900 - Serge Chermayeff, architect/designer


• 1900 - Zeno Octavian Vancea, composer


• 1901 - Eivind Groven, composer


• 1903 - Lina Radke, Germany, 800m runner (Olympic-gold-1928)


• 1907 - Howard Joslin, Georgia, actor (Quebec, Detective Story)


• 1908 - Paul Van Buskirk Yoder, composer


• 1909 - Bill Hewitt, NFL end (Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles)


• 1910 - Raymod Gray Lewis, Ontario Canada, 4X400 relayer (Olympic-bronze-1932)


• 1913 - Walter Schumann, New York City, choral director (Ford Show)/composer (Rhenish)


• 1916 - Spark Matsunaga, (D-Ha-Sen)


• 1917 - Danny Murtaugh, baseball manager (Pittsburgh Pirates)


• 1917 - Hans Poser, composer


• 1918 - Ron Randell, Sydney Australia, actor (Loves of Carmen, I am a Camera)


• 1919 - Bill Anderson, cricketer (played in 1st NZ-Aust Test 1946)


• 1919 - Kiichi Miyazawa, premier Japan (1991-93)


• 1920 - Frank [Patrick] Herbert, US, sci-fi author (Dune)


• 1920 - Maxie Herber, Germany, figure skater pairs (Olympic-gold-1936)


• 1922 - Douglas Gray, archivist


• 1922 - Svend Westergaard, composer


• 1924 - Arkady Vorobyev, Middle heavyweight (Olympic-gold-1956, 60)


• 1925 - Andrei Donatovich Sinyavsky, writer/critic


• 1927 - Al Duncan, drummer


• 1927 - Gigi Durston, Balt Md, singer (Sonny Kendis Show)


• 1927 - Raaj Kumar, film star


• 1928 - Neil Harvey, cricketer (prolific Australian lefty bat of 50's)


• 1930 - James Olsen, Evanston Illinois, actor (Andromeda Strain, Spell)


• 1930 - Paul Hogan, Australia, actor (Crocodile Dundee, Lightning Jack)


• 1930 - Toru Takemitsu, Tokyo Japan, composer (Ki No Kyoko)


• 1934 - Doc Green, rocker (Drifters)


• 1934 - J Carter Brown, Providence Rhode Island, art director (Wash National Gallery)


• 1936 - Carman Moore, composer


• 1936 - David Carradine, Hollywood, actor (Kung-Fu, Boxcar Bertha, Young Guns)


• 1936 - Rona Barrett, New York City, gossip columnist (Tomorrow Show)


• 1938 - David Willis, British journalist (BBC World Service)


• 1938 - Frederick S Stolle, tennis champ (US Open-1966)


• 1938 - Penny Pitou, US, skier (Olympic-2 silvers-1960)


• 1939 - Armando Gentilucci, composer


• 1939 - Elvira Ozolina, USSR, javelin thrower (Olympic-gold-1960)


• 1940 - Fred Cash, Chattanooga Tennessee, rocker (Impressions)


• 1941 - George Bellamy, rocker (Tornados)


• 1941 - Jesse Jackson, Greenville South Carolina, clergyman/presidential candidate (D)


• 1943 - Chevy Chase, New York City, comedian/actor (SNL, Vacation, Fletch, Caddyshack)


• 1943 - James Edward Sellars, composer


• 1943 - R L Stine, children's book writer (Goosebumps)


• 1944 - Bruce A Morrison, (Rep-D-Connecticut, 1983- )


• 1945 - Roy Royer, rock guitarist (Procol Harum)


• 1945 - Vanburn Holder, cricketer (West Indian pace bowler of 70's)


• 1946 - Aleksandr Gorshlov, ice dancer (holds 6 titles)


• 1946 - Jean-Jacques Beineix, director (Betty Blue, Diva)


• 1947 - Emiel Puttemans, Flemish athlete


• 1947 - Tony Wilson, Trinidad, rock vocalist (Hot Chocolate)


• 1947 - Yelena Ivanovna Dobrokvashina, Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz T-15a)


• 1948 - Johnny Ramone, New York, pop guitarist (Ramones-Love Live)


• 1948 - Sarah Purcell, Richmond Indiana, actress/TV hostess (Real People)


• 1948 - Stefanie Marrian, Paris France, comedienne (Benny Hill Show)


• 1949 - Hamish Stuart, Scotland, guitarist/singer (Average White Band)


• 1949 - Michael Rose, rocker (Average White Band)


• 1949 - Sigourney [Susan Alexandra] Weaver, LA, actress (Alien, Working Girl)


• 1950 - Robert "Kool" Bell, Youngstown Ohio, rocker (Kool & the Gang-Joanna)


• 1951 - Johnny Ramone [Cummings], guitarist/co-founder (Ramones)


• 1952 - Cliff Adams, rocker


• 1953 - Michael Dudikoff, Redondo Beach California, actor (Star of the Family)


• 1953 - Ricky Lee Phelps, Paragould Ar, singer (Ky Headhunters-Davy Crockett)


• 1954 - Ben Amonette, Radford Virginia, free pistol (Olympics-92, 96)


• 1955 - Bill Elliott, auto racer (Daytona-1978)


• 1956 - Janice E Voss Ford, South Bend Indiana, PhD/Astronaut (STS 57, 63, 83, 94)


• 1956 - Scott Michael Pellaton, barefoot water ski champ


• 1957 - Doug Cox, Guelph Ontario, 90 kg Greco Roman wrestler (Olympics-96)


• 1957 - James De Paiva, Hayward California, actor (Max Holden-One Life to Live)


• 1959 - Carlos I Noriega, Lima Peru, astronaut (STS 84, sk 97)


• 1959 - Gavin Friday, [Fionan Hanvey], Irish singer (Virgin Prunes)


• 1959 - Mike Morgan, Tulare California, pitcher (St Louis Cardinals)


• 1959 - Tony Eason, football quarterback (New England Patriots)


• 1965 - Martin Mayhew, NFL cornerback (Tampa Bay Bucs)


• 1965 - Matt Biondi, US 100m swimmer (Olympics-3 gold-84, 88, 92)


• 1965 - Ross Flemer, Newport Beach California, rower (Olympics-1996)


• 1968 - Frankie Smith, NFL cornerback (Miami Dolphins, SF 49ers)


• 1969 - Dylan Neal, US actor (Dylan Shaw-Bold & the Beautiful)


• 1970 - Carlos Etheredge, WLAF tight end (Amsterdam Admirals)


• 1970 - David Doster, Fort Wayne Indiana, infielder (Philadelphia Phillies)


• 1970 - DeWayne Knight, CFL linebacker (Winnipeg Blue Bombers)


• 1970 - James Williams, WLAF cornerback (Scottish Claymores)


• 1971 - Boomer [Norman] Ellison, NFL wide receiver (SD Chargers)


• 1971 - Jim Hanna, WLAF defensive tackle (Amsterdam Admirals)


• 1971 - Monty Williams, NBA forward/guard (San Antonio Spurs)


• 1971 - Nate Miller, NFL/WLAF guard (Frankfurt Galaxy, Atlanta Falcons)


• 1971 - Terry Richardson, WLAF running back (Rhein Fire)


• 1971 - Val St germain, CFL tackle (Hamilton Tiger Cats)


• 1972 - Dede Demet, Milwaukee Wisc, cyclist (Olympics-96)


• 1972 - Jared Kaaiohelo, WLAF running back (Scottish Claymores)


• 1973 - Donnie Abraham, cornerback (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)


• 1973 - Toby Haenen, Hobart Tasmania Aus, backstroke swimmer (Olympics-96)


• 1973 - Tracy Bonner, Webster Texas, diver (Olympics-96)


• 1974 - Rashaan Salaam, NFL running back (Chic Bears)


• 1974 - Rod Manuel, defensive end (Pittsburgh Steelers)


• 1979 - [Gregory] Chad Petree, Shawne Oklahoma, rocker (PC Quest-Can You See)


• 1980 - Andria Gayle Mullins, Miss Texas Teen USA (Teen with Style-1997)


• 1981 - Princess Juliana Edenia Antonia, of Netherlands

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