October 11, 1975: "Saturday Night Live" Premieres

Back row, left to right: Laraine Newman, John Belushi,

Jane Curtin, Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd.

Bottom row, left to right: Garrett Morris and Gilda Radner.

October 11, 1975: Saturday Night premieres on NBC, taping from the network's studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan. After this 1st season, it was renamed Saturday Night Live. The original cast, known as "the Not Ready for Prime Time Players," includes John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman and Garrett Morris -- but not, as is commonly believed, Bill Murray, who replaced Chase after the 1st season.

The 1st guest host is George Carlin, who begins his monologue with a whacked-out version of the Lord's Prayer, and goes on to do "Baseball and Football," a routine he will expand on a few times. (This version is from 1990, from the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey.)

Not long before Carlin died, someone took a poll to determine the greatest standup comedians of all time. Carlin came in 2nd. Coming in 1st was Richard Pryor, who, like Carlin, was at the peak of his powers in the mid-Seventies.

A month into SNL's run, Pryor was asked to host the show. But, nervous that he would issue some four-letter words -- they didn't seem as nervous about such language coming from Carlin, creator of the 1972 bit "Seven Words You Can Never Use On Television," none of which he used when he hosted -- they used a 7-second delay, in case they had to bleep anything out. They did have to. Ever since, even SNL hasn't been totally live.

In addition to the preceding, SNL would make stars of Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Dennis Miller, Kevin Nealon, Norm McDonald, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Rob Schneider, Sarah Silverman, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Keenan Thompson, and Kate McKinnon.

Billy Crystal was already a star when he signed on for the 1984-85 season. The next season would be the one and only on the show for Robert Downey Jr., whose true fame was yet to come.

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October 11, 1975 was, clearly, a Saturday. Earlier that day, Hillary Rodham and Bill Clinton were married in their living room in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Despite all odds -- including "self-inflicted wounds," and rooting for rival teams, as Hillary grew up in the Chicago suburbs as a Cubs fan, Bill in Arkansas as a St. Louis Cardinals fan -- they are still together, dividing their time between Washington, D.C. and Westchester County, New York, and now have 3 grandchildren.

Game 1 of the World Series was played at Fenway Park in Boston, with the Boston Red Sox hosting the Cincinnati Reds. Luis Tiant shut down the Big Red Machine, and drove in the 1st run, despite the designated hitter rule preventing him from coming to bat all season long, as the Red Sox won, 6-0. The Sox scored all their runs in the 7th inning. One of the most talked-about World Series was underway with a surprising flourish.

There was college football on this day, including the following games:

* Number 1 Ohio State beat Iowa, 49-0 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. The Buckeyes won the Big Ten title, but lost the National Championship when they lost the Rose Bowl to UCLA.

* Number 2 Oklahoma beat Number 5 Texas, 24-17 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The Sooners won the Big Eight title, then beat Michigan in the Orange Bowl, and won the National Championship.

* Number 3 Southern California beat Washington State, 28-10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Trojans were still Number 3 on November 1, but began a 4-game losing streak that day, losing away to California, home to Stanford on the 8th, away to Washington on the 15th. On the 28th, Thanksgiving Day, USC lost to UCLA at the Coliseum. They did rebound to beat Texas A&M in the Liberty Bowl.

* Number 4 Nebraska beat Kansas, 16-0 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. The Cornhuskers lost to Oklahoma on Thanksgiving Weekend, costing them the Big Eight title, a trip to the Orange Bowl, and a shot at the National Championship. Instead, they went to the Fiesta Bowl, where they had to play Arizona State on their home field, and lost.

* Number 6 Texas A&M beat Texas Tech, 38-9 at Jones Stadium in Lubbock. They beat Texas on Thanksgiving, rose to Number 2 in the rankings, looked headed for the Cotton Bowl and a shot at the National Championship, but a loss to Arkansas cost them, and they ended up playing USC in the Liberty Bowl, and losing. In contrast, Arkansas were unranked on October 11, beating Baylor, 41-3 at Baylor Stadium (later Floyd Casey Stadium) in Waco, Texas. They won the Southwest Conference title, earning them the Cotton Bowl berth, and they beat Georgia.

* Number 7 Alabama beat the University of Washington, 52-0 at Denny Stadium (later Bryant-Denny Stadium) in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The Crimson Tide would win the Southeastern Conference title.

* Number 8 Michigan beat in-State rivals, Number 15 Michigan State, 16-6 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.

* Number 9 Penn State beat Number 10 West Virginia, 39-0 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. Penn State went on to be invited to the Sugar Bowl, but lost to Alabama.

* Number 12 Missouri beat Number 14 Oklahoma State, 41-14 at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri.

* Number 15 Notre Dame beat North Carolina, 21-14 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

* Navy beat Syracuse, 10-6 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. But Army lost to Duke, 21-10 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.

* Rutgers lost to Lehigh, 34-20 at Taylor Stadium in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Scarlet Knights did not lose again for nearly 2 years, until September 2, 1977, when Penn State beat them at the Meadowlands. Also among New Jersey teams, Princeton beat Cornell, 16-8 at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, New York.

The NBA season started 12 days later; the ABA season, the day after that. There were 7 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Los Angeles Kings, 7-0 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the St. Louis Blues, 7-2 at the Montreal Forum.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals, 7-5 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The California Golden Seals beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. Making his NHL debut, with the Wings, was Mike Wong, a 20-year-old center from Minneapolis. This was only the 2nd NHL game played by a player of Asian descent, after Chinese-Canadian Larry Kwong played 1 game for the 1948 New York Rangers. Wong would last 4 seasons in the NHL.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 9-5 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Kansas City Scouts beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* And the New York Rangers, the Boston Bruins, the Buffalo Sabres and the Atlanta Flames were not scheduled.

And there were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Toronto Toros, 7-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Houston Aeros beat the New England Whalers, 5-0 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Cincinnati Stingers beat their arch-rivals, the Cleveland Crusaders, 1-0 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* And the Phoenix Roadrunners beat the San Diego Mariners, 4-2 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena.)

In New Jersey high school football, East Brunswick, which would later be my Alma Mater, lost 13-14 to Colonia of Woodbridge, at home at Jay Doyle Field.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat Midlands team Coventry City, 5-0 at Highbury in North London.