October 15, 1910: Stanisław Kiecal, a.k.a. Stanley Ketchel, a.k.a. the Michigan Assassin, Middleweight Champion of the World since 1907, is murdered at the Conway, Missouri ranch where he was training. He was just 24 years old.
The murderer was a ranch hand named Walter Dipley. He and the ranch's cook, Goldie Smith, were a couple (but not married), and set Ketchel up to be robbed. Dipley was captured the next day. At the trial, Smith said she had no idea Dipley was going to rob Ketchel. They were both convicted of murder anyway, and sentenced to life in prison, but Smith's conviction was overturned, and she served just 17 months. Dipley served 23 years.
The writer John Lardner (son of Ring and brother of Ring Jr.) wrote, "Stanley Ketchel died yesterday, shot by the husband of the woman who was cooking his breakfast" – the implication being that Dipley was a jealous husband who had caught Ketchel having an affair with his wife. It was great writing, but it wasn't true.
Ketchel's manager, a con artist named Wilson Mizner, was told about Ketchel's death, and said, "Tell 'em to start counting ten over him, and he'll get up." Mizner is also believed to be the source of the classic lines, "If you copy from one author, it's plagiarism. If you copy from two, it's research" and "Be kind to the people you meet on the way up, because you're going to meet the same people on the way down."
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October 15, 1910 was a Saturday. Despite the lateness of the year, there was still one regular-season major-league baseball game to be played. The Chicago Cubs, having already clinched the National League Pennant, beat the team that would become their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-1 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago. The World Series started 2 days later, and the Cubs lost to the Philadelphia Athletics, 4 games to 1.
These notable college football games were played that day:
* The University of Pittsburgh, retroactively named Co-National Champions, beat Waynesburg University, also of Western Pennsylvania, 42-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
* Harvard, the other Co-National Champions, beat Amherst, 17-0 at Harvard Stadium in Boston.
* Army beat Yale, 9-3 on The Plain at West Point, New York. But Yale would go on to taint Harvard's undefeated season with 0-0 tie.
* New York University and Williams College played to a 3-3 tie at Ohio Field in The Bronx.
* Princeton beat Lafayette, 3-0 at Taylor Field in Easton, Pennsylvania.
* Rutgers beat Swarthmore, 21-6 at Neilson Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
* Ohio State beat Western Reverve, now Case Western Reserve of Cleveland, 6-0 at Ohio Field in Columbus.
* Michigan beat Michigan Argicultural, the school that would become Michigan State, 6-3 at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
* The University of Illinois -- or so it now claims -- hosts the 1st Homecoming, the tradition of welcoming back former students and members. Illinois beats the University of Chicago, 3-0 at Illinois Field in Champaign.
* Vanderbilt beat arch-rival Tennessee, 18-0 at Dudley Field in Nashville. There would be no Southeastern Conference until 1933, but Vandy were the best team among eventual SEC teams that season.
* Georgia beat Alabama, 22-0 at the Birmingham Fairgrounds in Birmingham, Alabama.
* The University of Washington, the best team on the West Coast, defeated the University of Puget Sound, 51-0 in Tacoma, Washington.
And in English soccer, Woolwich Arsenal, later to be the pride of North London, beat Lancashire team Blackburn Rovers, 4-1 at the Manor Ground in Plumstead, South-East London.
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