November 12, 1955: "Back to the Future"

November 12, 1955: The climax of the 1st Back to the Future film takes place -- and so does the climax of the 2nd one.

Note: I don't normally do these posts for fictional events. This time, I couldn't resist.

With help from their inadvertently time-traveling son, Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox), George McFly (Crispin Glover) and Lorraine Baines (Lea Thompson) realize that they are meant to be together, and kiss at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance at their alma mater, Hill Valley High School, somewhere in Southern California.

This is in spite of the actions of 2 different versions of George's -- and Marty's -- nemesis, Biff Tannen (both played by Thomas F. Wilson): The 18-year-old one that belongs in 1955, and the elderly one that, in Back to the Future Part II, stole the DeLorean time machine in 2015 to give his younger self the information he could use to make himself rich and respected.

Then, with the help of the younger version of the time machine's inventor, Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd), Marty gets back to October 26, 1985, where and when he belongs, and discovers that his week in 1955 has had repercussions -- fortunately, they seem to favor him and his family.

*

November 12, 1955 was a Saturday. Les McKeown, lead singer of the Bay City Rollers, was born on this day.

Baseball season was over, and the NFL played the next day, but there were college football games played.

* One of these was mentioned in Back to the Future Part II, and even had a recreated radio broadcast of its final minute: UCLA, ranked Number 4, needed a last-second field goal from Jim Decker to beat the University of Washington, 19-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. UCLA went on to win the Pacific Coast Conference Championship.

* Number 1 Oklahoma beat Iowa State, 52-0 at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners won the Big Seven Conference Championship. (Oklahoma State joined in 1957, making it the Big Eight.)

* Number 2 Maryland beat Clemson, 25-12 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina. Maryland won the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, and played a de facto National Championship game against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. Oklahoma won, continuing their winning streak that would reach a record 47 games.

* Number 3 Michigan State beat Minnesota, 42-14 at Macklin Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. In 1957, despite Jim Macklin, the former coach for whom it was named still being alive, MSU's home field was renamed Spartan Stadium, and still carries that name today.

* Number 5 Notre Dame beat North Carolina, 27-7 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

* Number 6 West Virginia were upset by their arch-rivals, Number 17 University of Pittsburgh, 26-7 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* Number 7 Michigan beat Indiana, 30-0 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

* Number 8 Texas Christian University beat Texas, 47-20 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. The novelization of the 1st Back to the Future movie shows Marty, confused by his 1955 surroundings, turning on the radio, and hearing mention of TCU's All-American running back Jim Swink, and saying, "Swink? Is he kidding?" TCU won the Southwest Conference Championship.

From a town named Rusk, Texas, and known as the Rusk Rambler, Swink led TCU to another SWC title in 1956, went to medical school, played for the Dallas Texans (later the Kansas City Chiefs) in their inaugural season of 1960, became an Army surgeon, received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his Vietnam War service, and remained a practicing orthopedic surgeon nearly until his death in 2014.

* Number 10 Ohio State beat Number 20 Iowa, 20-10 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Ohio State and Michigan State did not play each other this season. Michigan State only lost 1 game, but it was to Michigan, which Ohio State beat. Ohio State lost 2 games, but both were outside Big Ten Conference play, so they, not either of the Michigan teams, won the Conference Championship. Nevertheless, Big Ten rules then prohibited the same team from representing it in the Rose Bowl 2 years in a row, so it was Michigan State that played, and beat, UCLA in the game.

* Number 11 Georgia Tech beat Alabama, 26-2 at Legion Field in Birmingham. Tech went on to beat Pitt in the Sugar Bowl.

* Number 14 Mississippi beat the University of Houston, 27-11 at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson. "Ole Miss" won the Southeastern Conference Championship (Houston was not a member), and beat TCU in the Cotton Bowl.

* Army beat Penn, 40-0 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* In New York City, Number 12 Navy beat Columbia, 47-0 at Baker Field.

* In New Jersey, Rutgers lost to Penn State, 34-14 at the old Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway.

* Princeton beat Yale, 13-0 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

There were 4 games played in the NBA, although 2 of them were played other than where you might have expected them to be:

* The New York Knicks beat the Boston Celtics, 96-95 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia Warriors beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 100-89 at the Hershey Sports Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania, outside Harrisburg. The Warriors occasionally played games at this small (7,286 seats) arena, now named the Hersheypark Arena. The most notable was the one in 1962 when Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points against the Knicks.

* And a doubleheader was played at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. In the opening, the Rochester Royals beat the Fort Wayne Pistons, 84-79. In the nightcap, the Syracuse Nationals beat the St. Louis Hawks, 91-81.

In 1957, the Royals moved to Cincinnati, and the Pistons moved to Detroit. In 1960, the Lakers moved to Los Angeles. In 1962, the Warriors moved, becoming the San Francisco Warriors. In 1963, the Nationals moved, becoming the Philadelphia 76ers. In 1968, the Hawks moved to Atlanta. In 1971, the Warriors moved across San Francisco Bay to Oakland, becoming the Golden State Warriors. In 1972, the Royals moved again, becoming the Kansas City Kings. In 1985, they moved again, becoming the Sacramento Kings. In 2019, the Warriors moved back to San Francisco, but kept the Golden State name.

Two games were played in the NHL: The Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-0 at the Montreal Forum; and the Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

Also, Arsenal beat Sheffield United, 2-1 at Highbury in North London.