December 11, 1968: England Football's 1st Black Player

December 11, 1968: The England national football team play Bulgaria to a 1-1 draw, at the old Wembley Stadium in London. Georgi Asparuhov of Levski Sofia scored for Bulgaria in the 32nd minute, while Geoff Hurst of West Ham United equalized for England in the 36th. (Asparuhov was killed in a car crash in 1971, while still an active player. Levski's stadium is named for him.)

In the 80th minute, right back Keith Newton of Blackburn Rovers was substituted, substitutions having recently been legalized. His replacement was Paul Reaney of Leeds United. This made Reaney the 1st black player for the England senior team.

Usually, that distinction is credited to Viv Anderson of Nottingham Forest, also a right back, in England's 1-0 win over Czechoslovakia on November 29, 1978. Anderson is, however, the 1st black player to start for England.

Paul Reaney was born on October 22, 1944 in Fulham, West London. He was the right back on the Leeds United teams that won the League in 1969 and 1974, and the FA Cup in 1972. As he was mixed-race, and comparatively light-skinned, he faced little abuse, because most fans thought he was white. Although the Yorkshire club were known as "Dirty Leeds" for their foul play, Reaney was not known as a dirty player.

Leeds had previously made a gesture toward advancement for black players in 1961, by signing Albert Johanneson (1940-1995), from South Africa. The left winger made the senior team in 1963, and in 1965, he became the 1st black player to appear in the FA Cup Final, which Leeds lost to Liverpool. Reaney also played in that game. While black players would become more common in England in the 1970s, it would take until the 1980s before teams would find success with racially integrated lineups.

A broken leg in 1970, and Newton's development into a top player at Everton, meant that in-game England opportunities for Reaney were limited. His injury kept him out of both the FA Cup Final and the World Cup in 1970, and he only made 2 more appearances for England. After retiring in 1981, he became an athletic counselor at a children's camp in Derbyshire.

Frank Soo (1914-1991), an inside left for Stoke City, and a Derbyshire native of Chinese descent, was the first player of an ethnic minority background to represent England, doing so 9 times, though these were all in unofficial matches during World War II.

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December 11, 1968 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 5 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Baltimore Bullets, 118-110 at the Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena).

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Phoenix Suns, 143-123 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Cincinnati Royals beat the San Diego Rockets, 116-110 at the Cincinnati Gardens. Oscar Robertson scored 34 points for the Royals. Elvin Hayes had 35 points and 20 rebounds in defeat for the Rockets.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 108-106 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* And the Milwaukee Bucks beat the San Francisco Warriors, 106-96 at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA. (Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.)

There were 3 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Houston Mavericks, 106-99 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Miami Floridians, 117-100 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.

* And the Los Angeles Stars beat the Minnesota Pipers, 124-116 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Connie Hawkins of the Pipers led all scorers on the night, with 47 points.

And there were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers and the Boston Bruins played to a tie, 2-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs played to a tie, 4-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. 

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-3 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Philadelphia Flyers and the Oakland Seals were not scheduled.

July 18, 1873: The Execution of Vasil Levski

July 18, 1873: Vasil Levski is executed by the Ottoman Empire, which then controlled his homeland, Bulgaria. He was 35 years old.

He was born as Vasil Ivanov Kunchev on July 18, 1837 in Karlovo. He became an Orthodox monk before emigrating to join the two Bulgarian Legions in Serbia. While there, he acquired the nickname Levski, meaning "Lionlike." After working as a teacher in Bulgarian lands, he helped institute the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee, composed of Bulgarian expatriates in Romania. During his tours of Bulgaria, Levski established a wide network of insurrectionary committees.

He said, "We will be free in complete liberty where the Bulgarian lives: In Bulgaria, Thrace, Macedonia; people of whatever ethnicity live in this heaven of ours, they will be equal in rights to the Bulgarian in everything." He held that all religious and ethnic groups live in a free Bulgaria enjoy equal rights.

Ottoman authorities, however, captured him at an inn near Lovech, and executed him by hanging in Sofia. It would take until 1908 for Bulgaria to gain its independence from the Ottoman Empire. During World War II, the country was allied with the Nazis; and until 1989, with the Soviet Union under a Communist government. In both cases, it flew in the face of Levski's ideals. Today, Bulgaria is a free country of about 6.5 million people.

In 2007, Vasil Levski topped a nationwide television poll as the all-time greatest Bulgarian. The country's most famous sports team, soccer club Levski Sofia, is named for him.

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July 18, 1873 was a Friday. The only professional team sport in America at this point was baseball, and the National Association had no games scheduled for this day.

June 17, 2001: A Monarch Is Elected Prime Minister

June 17, 2001: Simeon II, the last Tsar of Bulgaria, is elected that country's Prime Minister. He becomes the 1st former monarch in the world to become his homeland’s elected leader.

Note: Like the former German title "Kaiser," the Slavic title "Czar" or "Tsar" comes from the Roman title "Caesar." Since the Bulgarian language, like Russian, uses the Cyrillic alphabet, and the title is usually written in the Roman alphabet as "Tsar," I'm using that spelling in this article.

Simeon Borisov von Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was born on June 16, 1937, at Princess Clementine Hospital, in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. He was the son of Tsar Boris III, who died on August 28, 1943, when Simeon was 6 years old. On September 15, 1946, when he was 9, the monarchy was abolished by Bulgaria's Communist Party.

The next day, September, the royal family was exiled. They first went to Alexandria, Egypt, because the boy king's mother, Queen Giovanna, was a daughter of the exiled King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. The family was granted asylum by Generalissimo Francisco Franco of Spain in 1951.

Simeon eventually went to school in America, and worked for a French electronics company. In 1962, he married a Spanish aristocrat, Doña Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela, a granddaughter of the 3rd Marquess of Cortina. They had 4 sons and a daughter, all of whom married Spaniards.

In 1990, after the fall of Communism in Bulgaria, the new government issued Simeon a Bulgarian passport. In 1996, 50 years after the abolition of the monarchy, he returned to Bulgaria, and was met in many places by crowds of approval.

In 2001, Simeon announced he would return to Bulgaria to form a new political party, the National Movement Simeon II, dedicated to "reforms and political integrity." His party won the next election. He took an oath to preserve the country's republican constitution, served as Prime Minister for 4 years, never lifted a finger to restore the monarchy, and gave up power willingly when he lost the next election.

As of June 17, 2022, Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria is the only living person to have held the title "Tsar" (or "Czar"). He is a 4th cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain. Their common ancestor is Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, grandfather of Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert.

Simeon has outlived his eldest son, Prince Kardam. Therefore, the heir to the pretense of the Bulgarian throne is Kardam's oldest son, Boris, Prince of Tarnovo, Duke in Saxony. He would be styled Tsar Boris IV, if anyone cares.

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June 17, 2001 was a Sunday. Football was out of season. Basketball season ended 2 days earlier, when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, to win the NBA Championship. Hockey season ended 6 days before that, when the Colorado Rockies beat the New Jersey Devils in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

And these Major League Baseball games were played, most of them Interleague local rivalries:

* The New York Mets beat the New York Yankees, 8-7 at Shea Stadium. The Yankees led 7-2 going into the bottom of the 8th, but an error by Derek Jeter off a ground ball by Robin Ventura starts an inning in which the Mets scored 6 runs off Randy Choate and Carlos Almánzar, capped by a home run off Mike Piazza. Turk Wendell was the winning pitcher. Bernie Williams had hit a home run for the Yankees.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-7 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. In his last season as a player, his streak long over, Cal Ripken did not play.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 6-4 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cleveland Indians, 1-0 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Todd Ritchie pitched a 4-hit shutout.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Houston Astros, 6-2 at Enron Field (now Daikin Park) in Houston. Alex Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

*  The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-3 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Seattle Mariners, 11-9 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium). Rickey Henderson appeared as a pinch-runner. Ichiro Suzuki went 3-for-5 with a stolen base and an RBI. Tony Gwynn, in his final season, did not play.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-0 at Pacific Bell Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. Kirk Reuter pitched 6 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, and 3 relievers completed a 5-hit shutout. Barry Bonds went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-4 at Edison International Field of Anaheim (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).