May 12

Scott Winters May 12, 2020 1 Comment

TODAY IN HISTORY:

1847 – William Clayton invented the odometer.

1883 – The University of Michigan played their first ever home football game against the Detroit Independents at the Ann Arbor fairgrounds. U of M won the game 40-5.

1888 – Charles Sherrill, of the Yale track team, became the first runner to use the crouching start for a fast break in a foot race.

1926 – The airship Norge became the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.

1932 – Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh was found dead in Hopewell, NJ, just a few miles from Lindbergh’s home.

1935 – Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith (founders of Alcoholics Anonymous) met for the first time in Akron, OH, at the home of Henrietta Siberling.

1950 – The American Bowling Congress abolished its white males-only membership restriction after 34 years.

1957 – A.J. Foyt won his first auto racing victory in Kansas City, MO.

1970 – Ernie Banks, of the Chicago Cubs, hit his 500th home run.

1978 – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that they would no longer exclusively name hurricanes after women.

1993 – The final episode of TV’s “The Wonder Years”, starring Fred Savage as Kevin Arnold, aired on ABC.

1999 – George Jones pleaded guilty to driving while impaired and violating the Tennessee’s open-container law in Franklin. He was fined $550.

2002 – Former President Jimmy Carter arrived in Cuba for a five day visit with Fidel Castro. It was the first time a U.S. head of state, in or out of office, had gone to the island since Castro’s 1959 revolution.

2002 – At Miami International Airport, Dionne Warwick was arrested when baggage screeners found 11 marijuana cigarettes inside her lipstick container.

2003 – New rules required airlines to increase the assumed passenger weight to 190 pounds, up from 180 pounds.

2008 – The price for a one-ounce First-Class stamp increased from 41 to 42 cents.

2015 – It was announced that Verizon would be acquiring AOL.

BIRTHDAYS:

Burt Bacharach – 92 years old (1928) – Composer (“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”, “Arthur’s Theme”, “That’s What Friends Are For”)

John Bucyk – 85 years old (1935) – Hockey player (Detroit Red Wings 1955-1957)

Frank Stella – 84 years old (1936) – Abstract artist, sculptor, painter

Susan Hampshire – 83 years old (1937) – Actress (“Cry Terror”, “David Copperfield”)

Millie Perkins – 82 years old (1938) – Actress (“Wall Street”, “Ensign Pulver”, “The Diary of Anne Frank”)

Billy Swan – 78 years old (1942) – Singer, songwriter (“I Can Help”)

Linda Dano – 77 years old (1943) – Actress (TV’s “Another World”)

Lindsay Crouse – 72 years old (1948) – Actress (“The Juror”, “Slap Shot”, “Traps”, “Places in the Heart”)

Steve Winwood – 72 years old (1948) – Musician (Blind Faith, Traffic, Spencer Davis Group)

Bruce Boxleitner – 70 years old (1950) – Actor (“The Babe”, “Tron”, “Tron: Legacy”, TV’s “Scarecrow and Mrs. King”, “Babylon 5”)

Gabriel Byrne – 70 years old (1950) – Actor (TV’s “In Treatment”, movies “Miller’s Crossing”, “The Usual Suspects”)

Billy Squier – 70 years old (1950) – Singer (“The Stroke”, “Everybody Wants You”)

Kix Brooks – 65 years old (1955) – Singer (Brooks and Dunn)

Lou Whitaker – 63 years old (1957) – Baseball player (Detroit Tigers 1977-1995)

Kim Greist – 62 years old (1958) – Actress (“Homeward Bound” movies, TV’s “Chicago Hope”)

Ving Rhames – 61 years old (1959) – Actor (“Mission: Impossible” movies, “Pulp Fiction”, “Dawn of the Dead”, “Piranha 3D”)

Billy Duffy – 59 years old (1961) – Guitarist (The Cult)

Emilio Estevez – 58 years old (1962) – Actor (“Breakfast Club”, “The Mighty Ducks” movies, “Young Guns”, “The Outsiders”, “Repo Man”, “St. Elmo’s Fire”)

Stephen Baldwin – 54 years old (1966) – Actor (“Born on the Fourth of July”, “The Usual Suspects”, TV’s “Celebrity Apprentice”)

Tony Hawk – 52 years old (1968) – Skateboarder

Kim Fields – 51 years old (1969) – Actress (Played Tootie on TV’s “The Facts of Life”, “Living Single”)

Samantha Mathis – 50 years old (1970) – Actress (“Pump Up the Volume”, “Little Women”, “The American President”, “Broken Arrow”, “American Psycho”, “The Punisher”, “Atlas Shrugged: Part II”)

Jamie Luner – 49 years old (1971) – Actress (TV’s “Just the Ten of Us”, “Melrose Place”, “Profiler”, “All My Children”)

Mackenzie Astin – 47 years old (1973) – Actor (TV’s “The Facts of Life”)

Malin Akerman – 42 years old (1978) – Actress (TV’s “Billions”, movies “Watchmen”, “Couples Retreat”)

Jason Biggs – 42 years old (1978) – Actor (“American Pie” movies, “My Best Friend’s Girl”, “Jersey Girl”)

Emily VanCamp – 34 years old (1986) – Actress (TV’s “Everwood”, “Brothers & Sisters”, “Revenge”, movies “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, “Captain America: Civil War”)

Malcolm David Kelley – 28 years old (1992) – Actor (TV’s “Lost”)