October 9, 1974: Representative Wilbur Mills of Arkansas is pulled over by U.S. Park Police at the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. His headlights are off. He is drunk. A woman gets out of the car and jumps into the Basin. She is taken to St. Elizabeth's Mental Hospital. The woman is not Polly Mills, the Congressman's wife. She is Annabelle Battistella, a stripper from Argentina, who goes by the stage name Fanne Foxe.
As Chairman of the House of Representatives' Committee on Ways and Means, which handles tax legislation, Mills was considered one of the most powerful politicians in America. And he had done so well by his constituents in Central Arkansas that, along with the Democratic tide following Watergate, he was overwhelmingly re-elected the next month anyway. But it all turned Mills from a man respected but in relative obscurity, and Foxe from someone unknown outside D.C., into national celebrities and comedians' fodder.
A 2nd drunken incident after the election forced Mills to resign as Chairman. He chose to check himself into rehab, and did not run for re-election in 1976. He became an activist for substance abuse treatment, and lived until 1992, at age 82.
After appearing in 3 films and 2 Playboy centerfolds, and writing a book, The Stripper and the Congressman, Fanne Foxe disappeared from public view in 1977, moved to Clearwater, Florida, in the Tampa Bay area, remarried, got new college degrees, and worked as a diving instructor. She died in 2021, at 84.
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October 9, 1974 was a Wednesday. Also on this day, Oskar Schindler died in in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, West Germany at age 66. Although a member of the Nazi Party and the Abwehr, Germany's military intelligence agency, he ran a factory where he employed over 1,200 Jews and, through his connections, kept them from being deported and becoming victims of the Holocaust.
He bankrupted himself with purchases for his workers and bribes of officials. He was financially supported by the people he saved for the rest of his life. He is the only former member of the Nazi Party buried in Jerusalem, and the only one recognized with the highest honor the Israeli government gives to non-citizens: "Righteous Among the Nations."
In 1982, Thomas Keneally wrote a novel about him, Schindler's Ark. In 1993, Steven Spielberg turned it into the film Schindler's List, starring Liam Neeson. It won Best Picture at the next year's Academy Awards.
The Caps' 1st season was historically bad, including not winning a single game on the road until their last, after which they skated around the ice with a garbage can as if it were the Stanley Cup. They would seem snakebit, losing Playoff series they should have, including the 4-overtime "Easter Epic" Game 7 against the New York Islanders in 1987.
Moving to the MCI Center in downtown D.C. in 1997 seemed to help, as they went on to make their 1st Stanley Cup Finals in their 1st season there. But they got swept in 4 straight, and continued to fall short, as the name of the arena was changed to the Verizon Center. But with the name changed again to the Capital One Arena, they finally got back to the Finals in 2018, and won their 1st Cup.
Also on this day, the Kansas City Scouts were no luckier than were the Caps. They lost their debut, 6-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens. After 2 bankrupt years at Kansas City's Kemper Arena, they moved to Denver in 1976, becoming the Colorado Rockies. They were not appreciably better, making the Playoffs only in 1978, and in 1982 they moved again... becoming the New Jersey Devils.
The Devils now hang Scouts and Rockies jerseys in a display case at their current home, the Prudential Center in Newark. These are pretty much the only nods they make to their pre-Jersey history. While the NHL would return to Denver in 1995, and both the Islanders and the Pittsburgh Penguins would threaten to move to Kansas City's new Sprint Center arena as bargaining chips to get their own new arenas, the NHL has never gone back to K.C.
There were 4 other NHL games played on this opening night of the season:
* The New York Islanders played the Montreal Canadiens to a tie, 5-5 at the Montreal Forum.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* And the St. Louis Blues and the California Golden Seals played to a tie, 4-4 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
The World Hockey Association season started 6 days later; the NBA season, 8 days; the American Basketball Association season, 9 days. And football was in midweek. But each of baseball's major leagues saw its Pennant clinched that day. The Oakland Athletics beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Jim "Catfish" Hunter outpitched Mike Cuellar.
And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 12-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Don Sutton was the winning pitcher, and future Dodger Jerry Reuss the losing pitcher. Willie Stargell provided the Bucs' only run with a home run, but Steve Garvey hit 2 for the Dodgers. The A's went on to beat the Dodgers in the World Series, in 5 games.
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