July 18, 1873: Vasil Levski is executed by the Ottoman Empire, which then controlled his homeland, Bulgaria. He was 35 years old.
He was born as Vasil Ivanov Kunchev on July 18, 1837 in Karlovo. He became an Orthodox monk before emigrating to join the two Bulgarian Legions in Serbia. While there, he acquired the nickname Levski, meaning "Lionlike." After working as a teacher in Bulgarian lands, he helped institute the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee, composed of Bulgarian expatriates in Romania. During his tours of Bulgaria, Levski established a wide network of insurrectionary committees.
He said, "We will be free in complete liberty where the Bulgarian lives: In Bulgaria, Thrace, Macedonia; people of whatever ethnicity live in this heaven of ours, they will be equal in rights to the Bulgarian in everything." He held that all religious and ethnic groups live in a free Bulgaria enjoy equal rights.
Ottoman authorities, however, captured him at an inn near Lovech, and executed him by hanging in Sofia. It would take until 1908 for Bulgaria to gain its independence from the Ottoman Empire. During World War II, the country was allied with the Nazis; and until 1989, with the Soviet Union under a Communist government. In both cases, it flew in the face of Levski's ideals. Today, Bulgaria is a free country of about 6.5 million people.
In 2007, Vasil Levski topped a nationwide television poll as the all-time greatest Bulgarian. The country's most famous sports team, soccer club Levski Sofia, is named for him.
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July 18, 1873 was a Friday. The only professional team sport in America at this point was baseball, and the National Association had no games scheduled for this day.
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