Events February 2 1802 - The first leopard to be exhibited in the United States was shown by Othello Pollard in Boston, MA. Where else can you expect to find a leopard on display, huh? It cost 25 cents to see the ‘import from Bengal’. 1863 - Samuel Langhorne Clemens decided to use a pseudonym for the first time on this very day. Now he is better remembered by the name, Mark Twain. 1876 - Baseball’s National League was born. Eight competing baseball teams met in New York City’s Grand Central Hotel. The first president of the new league was Morgan Gardner Bulkeley, who later became a U.S. Senator. The eight original cities with teams were: Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Louisville and Hartford. Two of the original teams are now in the American League (Boston and New York) while Louisville and Hartford are now minor-league baseball towns. 1892 - William Painter of Baltimore, MD patented the crown-cork bottle cap this day. 1913 - Jim Thorpe signed a pro baseball contract with the New York (baseball) Giants this day. And, if you will allow a little digression, here is some interesting history regarding Jims transition from amateur to professional athlete. Thorpe had run into problems at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. He was stripped of his gold medals for his pentathlon and decathlon victories when, somehow, Olympic officials learned that he had received what could be considered a pittance for playing pro baseball ... well, it was really semiprofessional baseball ... in North Carolina. Therefore, they determined that Thorpe was not an amateur and was not eligible to compete in the Olympic Games. In 1982, the decision was reversed and Jim Thorpe was honored as the record holder for the 1912 events, and co-winner with those who had received the original gold. The following year, the gold medals were finally presented to his family (30 years after his death). We now resume our regular programming... 1935 - Leonard Keeler conducted a test of the polygraph -- lie detector -- machine in Portage, WI. It marked the first time that one of the mysterious boxes was used. 1937 - Guy Lombardo and his orchestra recorded one of Guy’s most famous tunes. Boo Hoo was waxed on Victor Records and became one of the group’s all-time great hits. 1946 - The first Buck Rogers atomic pistol was made -- for the annual American Toy Fair. The suggested retail price for this clever little toy of destruction was 89 cents. 1946 - The Mutual Broadcasting System presented Twenty Questions for the first time on radio. Bill Slater was the master of ceremonies. The show moved to television in 1949. 1949 - Golfer Ben Hogan was seriously hurt in an auto accident in Van Horn, TX. 1958 - Radio’s last big serial debuted on CBS. Frontier Gentleman began a brief run. Starring in the role of J.B. Kendall was John Dehner. 1959 - “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” Famous words from Vince Lombardi, head coach of the Green Bay Packers, who, on this day, signed a five-year contract with the club that made the ‘green-and-yellow’ a team of destiny in the 1960s. 1959 - The Coasters tune, Charlie Brown, was released. The tune went to #2 and stayed there for three weeks, but didn’t make it to the top spot of the charts. A catchy song (“Fee fee fi fi fo fo fum. I smell smoke in the auditorium...”), it was on the charts for a total of 12 weeks. And what song was at number one, preventing Charlie Brown from reaching the top, you ask? Venus, by Frankie Avalon. 1962 - John Uelses became the first pole-vaulter to jump 16 feet indoors. Only one problem, though. The ceiling was only 15’6, so, John went through it to set the mark. (We’re still trying to verify that!) 1967 - A second professional basketball league was formed by representatives of the NBA: the American Basketball Association. 1970 - ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich scored 49 points for Louisiana State University against Mississippi State. Maravich became the first collegiate player to score over 3,000 career points. Maravich went on to become a star for the, then, New Orleans Jazz (now, Utah Jazz). Sadly, Maravich died of a heart attack (Jan. 5, 1988), after collapsing during a pickup three-on-three game, in a California gym. 1984 - Ralph Sampson, one of the Houston Rockets ‘Twin Towers’, was named Rookie of the Month in the National Basketball Association. To earn the honor, Sampson averaged 24.4 points, 12 rebounds and 2.43 blocked shots per game during the month of January. In addition, Sampson became the only rookie (up to that time) to be named to the NBA’s All-Star Game. 1987 - In a poll conducted by People magazine, readers selected Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant as their favorite, all-time acting greats. 1987 - Dennis Leonard, after four knee operations, decided to retire from professional baseball. Leonard, 35, was a three-time 20-game winner. 1993 - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service agreed to accept nine million dollars from singer Willie Nelson to settle his $17-million tax debt. And the Feds said they would take proceeds from sales of Nelson’s “Who’ll Buy My Memories? - The IRS Tapes”, plus any judgment he might get in a lawsuit against his former accountant. 1995 - Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins became the first woman space-shuttle pilot this day as the space shuttle Discovery (STS-63) blasted off from Cape Kennedy, Florida. 1996 - Films making their debut in the U.S.: The Juror, starring Demi Moore, Alec Baldwin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anne Heche; and White Squall, with Jeff Bridges, Caroline Goodall, John Savage and Scott Wolf. 1996 - Dancer, actor singer Gene Kelly died in Los Angeles after complications from two strokes. He was 83 years old. Kelly is immortalized as that guy who sang and danced in the rain in Singin’ in the Rain (1952). He danced as he splashed in the puddles, but he also choreographed exactly how he would splash, and he directed exactly how the camera should zoom in on his face as he did so. Kelly also starred in An American in Paris (1951) and enjoyed many other film and TV roles. 2001 - These movies opened in U.S. theatres: Head Over Heels, with Monica Potter and Freddie Prinze Jr.; and Valentine, starring David Boreanaz and Denise Richards.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 00:19:14 +0000
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