October 27, 1967: Theodore Roosevelt Island Is Dedicated

October 27, 1967: Theodore Roosevelt Island is dedicated, on what would have been the 89th birthday of its namesake, the 26th President of the United States.

The island, on the Potomac River between the District of Columbia and Virginia, had been known by previous names, most recently Mason's Island, until May 28, 1932, when it was renamed for TR. (Apparently, he didn't mind the use of his initials, but hated the nickname "Teddy.")

The Island is accessible by a footbridge from Virginia, but not D.C.; and not by car or public transit from either. The Theodore Roosevelt Bridge opened on June 23, 1964, and carries Interstate 66 and U.S. Route 50 over the Potomac, and crosses the southern tip of the Island, but does not provide access to it.

According to the National Park Service, which administers and maintains the island, "In the 1930s landscape architects transformed Mason's Island from neglected, overgrown farmland into Theodore Roosevelt Island, a memorial to America's 26th president. They conceived a 'real forest' designed to mimic the natural forest that once covered the island. Today miles of trails through wooded uplands and swampy bottomlands honor the legacy of a great outdoorsman and conservationist."

But it took until 1960 for Congress to act to put a memorial for TR on the island, to match the ones on the National Mall for George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. (The ones for Dwight D. Eisenhower, President in 1960, and Franklin Roosevelt, TR's cousin, have followed.) The memorial was designed by Eric Gugler, and contained 4 large stone monoliths, inscribed with familiar quotations of TR's, and a 17-foot statue of him, hand raised as if in mid-speech, sculpted by Paul Manship.

There is a Theodore Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River in Arizona, creating Theodore Roosevelt Lake. There are towns named for him in Georgia and Missouri, and Counties in Montana and New Mexico. U.S. Route 1 in Philadelphia is Roosevelt Boulevard, and Illinois Route 38 in Chicago, formerly 12th Street, is Roosevelt Road.

There are Theodore Roosevelt High Schools in The Bronx (my grandfather went there), Yonkers, Washington, the suburbs of Cleveland, Dayton, Indiana, Chicago, Des Moines, Minneapolis, St. Louis, San Antonio, Sioux Falls, Colorado, Los Angeles, Fresno, Seattle and Honolulu. There have been 3 ships named the USS Theodore Roosevelt: A troop transport in 1918 and 1919, a submarine serving from 1961 to 1982, and a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, CVN-71, nicknamed The Big Stick, in service since 1986.

Among the actors who have played TR: Claude Akins in The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw in 1991, James Gammon in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles in 1992, Tom Berenger in Rough Riders in 1997, and Robin Williams in A Night at the Museum in 2006. (Gammon and Berenger both starred in the Major League series of baseball films.)

James R. Garfield, the son of President James A. Garfield, served as Secretary of the Interior for the last 2 years of TR's Presidency. He lived until 1950, becoming the last surviving member of the Cabinet.

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October 27, 1967 was a Friday. Scott Weiland, lead singer for the rock bands Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, was born on this day.

Baseball season ended 16 days earlier, with the St. Louis Cardinals beating the Boston Red Sox in Game 7 of the World Series.

There were 2 college football games played that night. The University of Miami beat Auburn, 7-0 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. And the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) beat the University of New Mexico, 75-12 at University Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Just a year and a half earlier, on May 27, 1966, the UTEP name was adopted, replacing the former name, Texas Western University. On March 19, 1966, under the Texas Western name, the school put an all-black starting five onto the court against an all-white Kentucky team and beat them in the NCAA's Division I Men's Basketball Tournament Final.

No games were scheduled for the NHL that day. But there were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The Philadelphia 76ers, defending NBA Champions, beat the Seattle SuperSonics, an expansion team playing only their 6th regular-season game, 132-115, at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, a new arena in only its 4th NBA game. Hal Greer scored 26 points, while Wilt Chamberlain scored 15 and had 18 rebounds.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 128-109 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* The Cincinnati Royals beat the San Diego Rockets, 116-113 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). Jerry Lucas had 26 points and 20 rebounds for the Royals. The Rockets, like the Sonics, were an expansion team, playing only their 7th game, their 5th home game. They moved to Houston in 1971. The following year, the Royals moved, becoming the Kansas City Kings, and moved again in 1985, becoming the Sacramento Kings.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Chicago Bulls, 125-117 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Bob Boozer scored 42 for the Bulls, but the Lakers got 39 from Archie Clark and 27 from Elgin Baylor.

* And the San Francisco Warriors beat the Baltimore Bullets, 124-111 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Nate Thurmond scored 25 and had 33 rebounds. When the Coliseum complex opened in 1966, the Warriors began playing some home games there. In 1967-68, they played 18 games there, almost as many as they played at the Cow Palace. In 1971, they moved to Oakland in full, until the Chase Center opened in San Francisco in 2019.

The American Basketball Association had just begun play, and played 3 games that night:

* The Pittsburgh Pipers beat the Denver Rockets, 91-77 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. The Pipers went on to win the 1st ABA title. In spite of that, they did not survive to be absorbed into the NBA, while the Rockets were, as the Denver Nuggets, a name change made in 1974 in anticipation of entering a league that already had the Houston Rockets.

* The New Orleans Buccaneers beat the Dallas Chaparrals, 101-97 at the State Fair Coliseum in Dallas. The Buc reached the 1st ABA Finals, losing to the Pipers. In spite of that, they did not survive to be absorbed into the NBA, while the Chaps were, after moving in 1973, becoming the San Antonio Spurs.

* And the Indiana Pacers beat the Oakland Oaks, 119-105 at the Oakland Coliseum. This was the 1st time an arena hosted an NBA game and an ABA game on the same day. So, unless the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority was going for that particular distinction, I can't imagine why they would do both. Certainly, I find it hard to believe the NBA, never mind the Warriors organization, would want to share an arena, even for 1 day, with a team in a "rebel league." The Oaks won the ABA title in 1969, but did not survive. The Pacers won it in 1970, 1972 and 1973, and did survive.