September 22, 1985: The 1st Farm Aid Concert

Left to right: Willie Nelson, Stan Lynch, 

Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Mike Campbell

September 22, 1985: The 1st Farm Aid concert is held at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, on the campus of the University of Illinois. The concert was organized by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, spurred on by Bob Dylan's comments at Live Aid earlier in that year that he hoped some of the money would help American farmers in danger of losing their farms through mortgage debt -- and, while he didn't mention him by name, other policies of President Ronald Reagan.

In addition to the preceding, performers included Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Glen Campbell, Billy Joel, B.B. King and Roy Orbison, and raised over $9 million for America's family farmers. That's just under $20 million in today's money.

There have been Farm Aid concerts since, including in 2006 at the Tweeter Center in Camden, New Jersey (a hard city, but South Jersey still has lots of farms), 2007 on Randall's Island in New York, and a 30th Anniversary celebration in 2015 at Northerly Island in Chicago.

Earlier in 1985, Nelson, Cash, Jennings and Kristofferson had formed a country "supergroup" called The Highwaymen. In 1988, Dylan, Petty and Orbison joined with former Beatle George Harrison and Electric Light Orchestra leader Jeff Lynne to form The Traveling Wilburys. So the 1st Farm Aid concert had 100 percent of The Highwaymen and 60 percent of The Traveling Wilburys.

On November 2, the football team at the University of Iowa, like Illinois a Big Ten Conference school, went to Ohio State, and wore stickers on their helmets, reading "ANF," meaning "America Needs Farmers." Although Iowa lost the game, they still went on to win the Big Ten title, and have worn the stickers ever since.

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September 22, 1985 was a Sunday. Actress Tatiana Maslany was born.

These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Ron Guidry won his 20th game of the season. Rickey Henderson and Ken Griffey Sr. hit home runs. Don Mattingly went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Dave Winfield did not play. For the Orioles, Eddie Murray and Floyd Rayford hit home runs. Cal Ripken went 1-for-3.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3 at Shea Stadium. 

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-4.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Paul Molitor went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Robin Yount did not play.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-5 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Luis Salazar won it with a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 6-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Tom Herr hit a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 9th to win it.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 0-for-4.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Mike Mason pitched a 6-hit shutout, striking out 11 with just 1 walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 6-5 at the Astrodome in Houston. Reds player-manager Pete Rose went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres, 7-5 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The California Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 10-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). The winning run scored in the bottom of the 12th inning when Rod Carew, in his last 2 weeks as an active player, hit a ground ball that shortstop Julio Franco mishandled, scoring Rufino Linares. Carew went 1-for-5 with a walk on the day. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-6. Bobby Grich hit a grand slam.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 5-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

Since it was Sunday, there were NFL games:

* The New York Giants beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 27-17 at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets beat the Green Bay Packers, 24-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Washington Redskins, 19-6 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Atlanta Falcons, 44-28 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-0 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-13 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Cleveland Browns, 20-7 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills, 17-14 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Houston Oilers, 20-0 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 44-41 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Detroit Lions, 14-6 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Los Angeles Raiders, 43-10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* The preceding Thursday, the Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 33-24 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The Bears went on to win Super Bowl XX.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Los Angeles Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks, 35-24 at the Kingdome in Seattle.