November 13, 1974: Karen Silkwood is killed in a car crash near Crescent, Oklahoma. She was 28 years old.
A native of Nederland, in southeast Texas, she worked making plutonium pellets at the Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site, owned by the Kerr-McGee energy company, near Cimarron City, Oklahoma. She became the 1st woman on the negotiating team of the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Union.
The Union said that "the Kerr-McGee plant had manufactured faulty fuel rods, falsified product inspection records, and risked employee safety." On November 5, 1974, after testifying to the Atomic Energy Commission about her concerns, Silkwood was found to have plutonium contamination on her body, about 400 times the legal limit. That contamination was also in her home, as she had unwittingly brought it there.
On November 13, she was driving her Honda Civic to meet with a New York Times reporter and an official of her union's national office. She was founded the next morning, with her car having run off the road and struck a culvert on the east side of State Route 74. The documents she said she was bringing to the meeting were not found in or around the car.
Her family sued Kerr-McGee for the plutonium contamination, and the company settled out of court for $1.38 million, while not admitting liability. No one was ever charged in connection with her crash.
Her story was chronicled in Mike Nichols' 1983 film Silkwood, in which she was played by Meryl Streep.
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November 13, 1974 was a Wednesday. This was also the day of the "Amityville Horror" murders, and the day of Yassir Arafat's lie-filled speech before the United Nations. I have separate entries for those events.
Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games in the NBA:
* The Washington Bullets beat the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, 118-81 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 98-91 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Bob Lanier had 40 points and 24 rebounds.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 105-100 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Charlie Scott scored 41 for the Suns.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 108-103 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association:
* The New York Nets lost to the Kentucky Colonels, 132-129 in double overtime at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. Julius "Doctor J" Erving scored 44 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. But it wasn't enough, as Louie Dampier led the Colonels with 32.
* The Spirits of St. Louis beat the Memphis Sounds, 97-92 at the St. Louis Arena. Marvin "Bad News" Barnes scored 31.
* The Utah Stars beat the Indiana Pacers, 114-103 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.
* And the Denver Nuggets beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 132-108. Travis Grant scored 35 in defeat.
There were 8 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 8-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens, 8-6 at the Montreal Forum. René Robert scored 3 goals and an assist. Guy Lapointe had 3 goals and 2 assists for the Canadiens.
* The Atlanta Flames beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Detroit Red Wings, 7-4 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The Kansas City Scouts beat the team that was meant to be their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Blues, 5-3 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City. But the Scouts went just 2-8 against the Blues, failed after just 2 seasons, and the Blues' arch-rivals remained the Chicago Black Hawks. The Scouts became the Colorado Rockies in 1976, and the New Jersey Devils in 1982.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* The California Golden Seals beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-0 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
* And the Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.
And there were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:
* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Indianapolis Racers, 10-3 at the Colisée de Québec.
* The Houston Aeros beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 8-5 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. This was only the 2nd game the Oilers played there, following their November 10 opener, a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Crusaders. They had played their 1st 2 seasons, and the start of this, their 3rd, at the Edmonton Gardens.
* And the Toronto Toros beat the Vancouver Blazers, 5-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
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