October 15, 1966: The Black Panther Party Is Founded

Bobby Seale (left) and Huey Newton

October 15, 1966: The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense is founded in Oakland, California, by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Its core practice was its open carry patrols. That is, the open carrying of firearms, calling the patrols "copwatching," designed to challenge the excessive force and misconduct of the Oakland Police Department.

From 1969 onward, the party created social programs, including the Free Breakfast for Children Programs, education programs, and community health clinics. The Black Panther Party advocated for class struggle, claiming to represent the proletarian vanguard.

In 1969, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover described the party as "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country." The FBI sabotaged the party with an illegal and covert counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) of surveillance, infiltration, perjury, police harassment, all designed to undermine and criminalize the party.

The FBI was involved in the 1969 assassinations of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, who were killed in a raid by the Chicago Police Department. Black Panther Party members were involved in many fatal firefights with police. Newton allegedly killed officer John Frey in 1967, and the Party's Minister of Information, Eldridge Cleaver, led an ambush in 1968 of Oakland police officers, in which two officers were wounded and Panther treasurer Bobby Hutton was killed.

Cleaver's collection of essays, Soul On Ice, was published in 1968, and was practically a sacred text for what became known as the Black Power movement. However, while many found the movement, and the Black Panthers, to be liberating, the book's essays were written in prison, and included details of the crimes that put him there. Cleaver was an excellent writer, but, at the time, he was not a good person.

Party membership peaked at around 5,000 in 1970, and gradually declined over the next decade, due to vilification by the mainstream press, and infighting, largely fomented by COINTELPRO. The Party dissolved in 1982.

Newton was murdered in Oakland in 1989, by another black activist. Cleaver became a Mormon and a Republican, and died of cancer in 1998. As of October 15, 2022, Seale, who became one of the Chicago Eight, is still alive.

What would all of today's white right-wing "open carry" advocates say if they saw a bunch of military-looking black men with big guns on the streets? Probably, "Mommy!"

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October 15, 1966 was a Saturday. The baseball season had ended 6 days earlier, with the Baltimore Orioles sweeping the World Series from the Los Angeles Dodgers. No NFL or AFL games were played. These notable college football games were:

* Number 1 Michigan State beat Ohio State, 11-8 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Michigan State won the Big Ten Conference title, but the Big Ten then had a rule that the same team could not represent it in the Rose Bowl 2 years in a row, and another rule that they could only send teams to the Rose Bowl, so despite finishing the season without losing a game -- although being tied at the end of the regular season, 10-10 by Notre Dame -- Michigan State didn't got to a bowl game. Those stupid rules were repealed in time for the 1975 season.

* Number 2 Notre Dame beat North Carolina, 32-0 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame refused all bowl invitations in those days, not accepting one until the 1969 season.

* Number 3 Alabama beat Tennessee, 11-10 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. 'Bama won the Southeastern Conference title.

* Number 4 UCLA, the University of California at Los Angeles, beat Penn State, 49-11 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* Number 5 USC, the University of Southern California, which also played home games at the L.A. Coliseum, beat Stanford, 21-7 at the original Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California. USC went on to win the Pacific-Eight Conference title. In 1982, UCLA began playing home games at the Rose Bowl in nearby Pasadena.

* Number 6 Nebraska beat Kansas State, 21-10 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. Nebraska won the Big Eight Conference title, but despite that usually meaning a bid to the Orange Bowl, they went to the Sugar Bowl instead, where they lost to Alabama. Despite finishing unbeaten and untied, Alabama did not win the National Championship. Nor did Michigan State. Both the AP and UPI gave it to Notre Dame.

* Number 7 Georgia Tech beat Auburn, 17-3 at Clifford Hare Stadium (later Jordan-Hare Stadium) in Auburn, Alabama.

* Number 8 Florida beat North Carolina State, 17-10 at Carter Stadium (later Carter-Finley Stadium) in Raleigh, North Carolina. Florida went to the Orange Bowl, where they lost to Georgia Tech.

* Number 9 Purdue beat Michigan, 22-21 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. As the 2nd-place team in the Big Ten, behind Michigan State, which had gone to the Rose Bowl the season before, Purdue was sent to the Rose Bowl instead, where they beat USC. It remains their only Rose Bowl win.

* Number 10 Baylor had the week off.

* Southern Methodist University beat Rice University, 28-24 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. SMU won the Southwest Conference title

* Among the service academies, Army beat Rutgers, 14-9 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey; Navy beat Pittsburgh, 24-7 at Pitt Stadium; and Air Force lost to Oregon, 17-6 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

* Colgate beat Princeton, 7-0 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey.

* In a rivalry game, Arkansas beat Texas, 12-7 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.

* In another rivalry game, for the bronze pig trophy named Floyd of Rosedale, Minnesota beat Iowa, 17-0 at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis.

* The night before, Georgia lost to the University of Miami, 7-6 at the Orange Bowl stadium in Miami. That would be their only loss of the season, but, even though it wasn't a league game, the fact that they didn't play Alabama during the regular season meant that Alabama, with the higher national ranking, were awarded the SEC title. That 1 loss may have cost Georgia the National Championship, as they beat SMU in the Cotton Bowl, and finished ranked Number 4. Had they gotten just 1 more field goal against Miami, they might have edged Notre Dame (and Michigan State, and Alabama) for the National Championship.

The NHL season started 4 days later. The Boston Celtics opened the NBA season by defeating the San Francisco Warriors, 121-113 at the Boston Garden. Rick Barry scored 41 points for the Warriors, but, as usual, the Celtics had a more balanced team, led by 29 points from Sam Jones.

Bill Russell scored only 8 points, but he had other things on his mind. Namely, he was now a player-coach, the 1st black coach in NBA history, and, unless you count Fritz Polland of the 1st NFL Champions, the 1920 Akron Pros (and the NFL was hardly a major league at that point), the 1st black coach in the history of North American major league sports. That this happened on the birthday of Willie O'Ree, and in the building he also called home with the Bruins, is interesting, but not especially relevant to Russell's story.

The Celtics would fall to the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals this season, but Russell would lead them to the NBA title in 1968 and 1969 -- making him the most recent player-coach to lead a team to a World Championship.

Alas, while Bill Russell is still one of the Top 10 players in NBA history, he didn't do so well as a coach when he didn't have Bill Russell as a player: With himself playing, his coaching record is 162-83, for a winning percentage of .661; otherwise, with the 1974-77 Seattle SuperSonics and the 1987-88 Sacramento Kings, he's 100-122, .450; overall, 341-290, for a winning percentage of .540.

Also on this day, the Chicago Bulls made their NBA debut. Guy Rodgers scored 36 points, and they beat the St. Louis Hawks, 104-97 at the Kiel Auditorium. For most of their history, the Bulls will be at least good, and, at times, historically good.

Also on this day, the English soccer team I would one day begin supporting, Arsenal, lost 3-1 to Yorkshire team Leeds United at the Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury for its neighborhood, in North London. This was the senior Arsenal debut for left back Bob McNab, who would be a key figure on the Arsenal team that won the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, and both the Football League and the FA Cup, "the Double," in 1971.

May 2, 1973: The Exit 9 Shootout

Trooper Werner Foerster

May 2, 1973: A shootout between State Troopers and members of the Black Liberation Army -- an offshoot of the Black Panther Party -- at Exit 9 on the New Jersey Turnpike, in East Brunswick, leads to the death of Trooper Werner Foerster. He was 35. The adjoining overpass of New Jersey Route 18 has been named for him.

Werner Foerster Overpass, from the northbound lanes

Also involved in the shootout was Trooper James Harper, who was wounded; and BLA members Sundiata Acoli, Zayd Malik Shakur, and his wife, Assata Shakur. Zayd Shakur was killed, and Assata was wounded. The BLA members had been financing their activities by robbing banks and drug dealers, sometimes killing the dealers.

Zayd, born James Coston, was a friend of Alice Faye Williams, who renamed herself Afeni Shakur in his honor. Zayd and Assata became godfather and godmother to Afeni's son, the eventual rapper and actor Tupac Shakur.

Acoli, formerly named Clark Squire, and Mrs. Shakur, born JoAnne Byron and formerly using her named name JoAnne Chesimard, were convicted of having a role in Foerster's murder. In 1979, allies aided Mrs. Shakur in escaping from prison and fleeing to Cuba. In 2013, she became the 1st woman ever added to the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list, as part of Foerster’s murder, even though there's no evidence that she ever held a gun in the shootout. As of May 2, 2022, she is believed to still be living in Cuba.

A 1987 photo, in front of the Havana skyline

At the time of the shootout, my family had just moved to East Brunswick, 5 miles away. Eventually, we lived just 1 mile away.

UPDATE: On May 10, 2022, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered that Acoli, 85 years old, be released from prison. Assata Shakur died in Havana on September 25, 2025, at 78, after a long illness, according to the Cuban Foreign Ministry. She had beaten the U.S. government's attempts to have her extradited.

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May 2, 1973 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Kansas City Royals, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. Paul Splittorff outpitched Doc Medich. Horace Clarke went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs, to no avail.

* The New York Mets lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 6-1 at Shea Stadium. Ross Grimsley outpitched Tom Seaver. Johnny Bench, Pete Rose and Dave Concepción hit home runs. For the Mets, Bud Harrelson went 3-for-3 with a walk, and Willie Mays went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 6-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Luis Tiant went the distance for the win. Orlando Cepeda hit a home run. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Rookie Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Atlanta Stadium (later renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Hank Aaron went 2-for-4, but neither hit was a home run. He then had 680 of them for his career.

* The California Angels beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Art Kusnyer doubled home the winning run in the top of the 12th inning, off Lerrin LaGrow, wiping out 11 innings of good pitching from Mickey Lolich. Nolan Ryan went the distance for the win, striking out 7 -- but allowing 10 hits and walking 8. This was early in the Ryan legend. Frank Robinson went 1-for-5 for the Angels.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Wilbur Wood threw his knuckleball for a 6-hit shutout, outpitching Jim Palmer. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. The Brewer bullpen melted down in the top of the 10th, including allowing a home run by Gene Tenace. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, and was hit with a pitch.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-4 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Another extra-inning bullpen collapse, as the Indians scored 4 runs in the top of the 10th. Harmon Killebrew went 2-for-5, and Rod Carew appeared as a pinch-hitter, drawing a walk.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres, 5-4 at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Lou Brock went 2-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Joe Torre went 2-for-4. Bob Gibson not only won the game, but went 2-for-3.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 2-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Stargell went 0-for-3 with a walk. Willie McCovey went 1-for-3 with a walk.

Football was out of season. The NBA Finals were between Games 1 and 2. The New York Knicks would beat the Los Angeles Lakers in 5 games. The American Basketball Association Finals were between Games 2 and 3. The Indiana Pacers would beat the Kentucky Colonels in 7 games.

The Stanley Cup Finals were between Games 2 and 3. The Montreal Canadiens would beat the Chicago Black Hawks in 6 games. Game 2 of the Avco Cup Finals, the World Hockey Association title, was played: The New England Whalers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 7-4 at the Winnipeg Arena.