December 7, 1974: New Jersey's 1st High School Football State Playoff

Sorry, Coach Jim Mora, but I'm about to talk about Playoffs!

December 7, 1974: The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA), which still runs high school sports in the Garden State, holds its 1st football Playoffs.

The NJSIAA originally divided its public schools by geography. The Counties of Warren, Sussex, Passaic, Bergen and Hudson were placed in North Jersey Section 1. The Counties of Morris, Essex and Union were in North Jersey Section 2. The Counties of Hunterdon, Mercer, Somerset, Middlesex and Monmouth were in Central Jersey. The Counties of Ocean, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem, Cumberland, Atlantic and Cape May were in South Jersey.

Then, they were further divided by enrollment size, the smallest schools being placed in Group I, then Group II, then Group III, and the largest ones being put in Group IV. That way, a small school like Cedar Grove won't have to go into the same Playoff bracket as a big school like Paterson Eastside.

They divided the Parochial schools into North and South, and Group A and B. Eventually, for football only, they created a Group V for the very largest schools.

For 1974 only, they admitted only the top 2 teams in each section. How did they determine the top 2 teams? Not by best record, because that could have caused ties to argue about. So they set up what they called "power points." A team would earn 2 points for a win over a team, multiplied by that team's group classification. Then they earned "residual power points," gaining half-credit for every game that team won, up to and including the 8th week of the season.

Example: I went to East Brunswick High School, in Middlesex County. For football, they are in Group V; for all other sports, Group IV. Suppose "EB" starts the season by beating their neighboring arch-rival, Old Bridge. (That hasn't happened since 2010, so you're going to have to use your imagination here.) Old Bridge are also Group V. EB gets 10 power points for doing this. Now, suppose, over the next 7 weeks, EB goes 5-2, with 3 wins coming against Group V teams, and the other 2 against Group IV teams. That's 4 points for each win, meaning we now have a total of 56 points. And suppose, on the average, the 6 teams we beat go .500, or 4-4. That's another 23 points, for a total of 79 points.

Convoluted? Yes. Fairer than the previous system, where they simply gave the Championship to the team with the best record in the section in each group, and if that meant a tie and a Co-Championship, so be it? Yes.

The way the schedule worked out for 1974, the 1st game was on a shortened temporary field at the Convention Hall (now Boardwalk Hall) in Atlantic City, for the South Jersey Group IV title. It was a Jersey Shore suburban team over a hardscrabble city team: Brick Township 21, Camden 20.

And Brick fans have never let anybody forget that they won the 1st-ever State Playoff game. The Green Dragons are a lot like Notre Dame: They never lose, time just runs out on them, or the refs are against them.

Brick's head coach, Warren Wolf (1927-2019) was also the Mayor of Brick Township at the time -- a Republican. He became the winningest coach in the history of New Jersey High School football, including winning 21 State Championships, the 1st in Group II, the next 3 in Group III, and the rest in Group IV, all in South Jersey.

They began to win less often in 1981, as the Township built a 2nd high school, Brick Memorial. It took Memorial a few years to become even respectable, but, eventually, they became Playoff perennials as well.

For 1975, the NJSIAA expanded the Playoffs to include the top 4 teams in each section, with the 1st seed hosting the 4th, and the 2nd hosting the 3rd. In 1998, they expanded again, to include the top 8.

For the record: East Brunswick, which opened in 1958 and began playing varsity football in 1961. won Central Jersey Group IV Co-Championships under the old system in 1966 and 1972; and had some agonizing close calls -- shades of certain major league teams that eventually broke, or haven't yet broken, "curses" -- in the 1980s and '90s, before winning the title in 2004 and 2009.

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December 7, 1974 was a Saturday. There was 1 game in college football on this day: Arizona State beat Hawaii, 26-3. This was the last game that Hawaii played at the old Honolulu Stadium, a minor-league baseball park that opened in 1926, and was in bad shape, to the point where it was known as "The Termite Palace." The next season, the Rainbow Warriors moved into the new Aloha Stadium.

There were 2 games in the NFL that day. The Minnesota Vikings beat the Atlanta Falcons, 23-10 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. And the Dallas Cowboys beat the Cleveland Browns, 41-17 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

Baseball was out of season. There were 5 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 120-112 at Madison Square Garden. Geoff Petrie scored 37 points for the Blazers, and John Johnson scored 35. Walt Frazier led the Knicks with 24.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Buffalo Braves, 116-112 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Bob McAdoo scored 34 for the Braves, who became the San Diego Clippers in 1978 and the Los Angeles Clippers in 1984.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Detroit Pistons, 94-89 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 92-88 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 132-96 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

There were 5 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets beat the Virginia Squires, 103-86 at the Scope in Norfolk, Virginia.

* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Spirits of St. Louis, 119-107 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 126-113 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. George McGinnis had 36 points and 21 rebounds.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Memphis Sounds at the Denver Auditorium Arena. Stew Johnson scored 35 for the Sounds.

* And the Utah Stars beat the San Antonio Spurs, 111-107 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

There were 6 games in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 7-4 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The New York Islanders beat the Kansas City Scouts, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2 at the Montreal Forum.

* In another "Original Six" matchup, the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs played to a tie, 3-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Washington Capitals, 8-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Atlanta Flames, 6-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And there were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The New England Whalers beat the Indianapolis Racers, 6-3 at the Eastern States Coliseum, a.k.a. The Big E, in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the San Diego Mariners, 3-1 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Chicago Cougars beat the Toronto Toros, 9-3 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago.

* And the Vancouver Blazers beat the Michigan Stags, 4-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

And in English soccer, Arsenal, the North London team I would eventually support, lost to Carlisle United, 2-1 at Brunton Park in Carlisle, Cumbria.

December 1, 1898: The 1st Professional Basketball League

The 1900 Trenton Nationals

December 1, 1898: The 1st professional basketball league debuts. It is called the National Basketball League. The 1st game is played at Textile Hall, in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. The Trenton Nationals beat the Hancock Athletic Association, 21-19. Attendance was estimated at 900.

The 1898–99 season saw 6 teams in the league. Three were in Philadelphia: The aforementioned Hancock A.A., the Clover Wheelmen, and the Germantown Nationals. Three were in New Jersey: The aforementioned Nationals, the Camden Electrics, and the Millville Glass Blowers. Two of the Philly teams folded within days, but the other 4 teams finished the season.

Trenton went 18-2-1, to win the title. Their starting five averaged 5-foot-10, 161 pounds. Needless to say, there was no dunking. No one even took a jump shot or, God forbid, a skyhook. They hadn't been invented yet.

The following season was more stable for the new league. The season was divided into 2 halves. Teams in the first half were the Nationals, the Electrics, the New York Wanderers, the Pennsylvania Bicycle Club, the Bristol Pile Drivers, and the Chester Basketball Club of Chester, Pennsylvania. Chester dropped out, and were immediately replaced by the Millville Glass Blowers, who had originally elected not to participate that season. Trenton and Millville provided the best teams in the loop, with Trenton gaining a disputed championship, in which the team won both halves of the season.

The Masonic Temple, in downtown Trenton, converted its 3rd-floor banquet hall into a home court. The court was ringed by a 12-foot, chain-link "cage" separating players from fans. "The Trentons had conceived the idea that a cage would make the game faster by stopping all out-of-bounds delays," wrote Marvin Riley, the referee at that historic game. "That cage was an object of both interest and sarcasm for a long time. It was called 'Trenton's monkey cage.'"

By the 1920s, the cage had been phased out of the game. Still, headline writers fell in love with the word as a synonym for basketball, and players are sometimes still called "cagers."

When introduced, the cage made pro basketball a rough sport, as players engaged in hockey-style body checks against the wire. Frenzied fans would stick hatpins and lit cigars through the cage and into opposing players' flesh.

The NBL began the 1900–01 season with 7 teams and an expanded schedule of 32 games. The Nationals, the Glass Blowers, the Pile Drivers, the Wanderers and the Penn B.C. stayed. So did the Electrics, although they changed their name to the Camden Skeeters. Only the newest team, from Burlington, New Jersey, failed to complete the season. With the split season dropped, no playoffs were necessary, and the New York Wanderers captured the League title by 3 games.

The 1901–02 season may have been the most successful year of the NBL in terms of stability, with six strong franchises, namely the Bristol, New York, Trenton, Camden, Millville, and Philadelphia teams from the previous year. The schedule expanded once again, to 40 games. Every game save one was played as scheduled, no teams dropped out, and there was only one really weak team in the league. Camden finally became more than a .500 team, and lost the league crown to the Pile Drivers by only 3 games.

In 1902-03, the NBL went back to a split-season format. There were 8 1st-half teams: The Camden Electrics (back to the old name), the New York Wanderers, the Bristol Pile Drivers, the Philadelphia Phillies (named for the baseball team), the Trenton Potters (replacing the Nationals), Conshohocken, and the Burlington Shoe Pegs. The 2nd half of the season saw only 6 teams: Camden, Burlington, Trenton, New York, Conshohocken, and the Delaware-based Wilmington Peaches.

Burlington did so poorly that its owner-coach, Frank Reber, fired his entire team, purchased the Bristol franchise, and used Bristol's players to represent Burlington. Phillies manager and future member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, Frank Morgenweck, disbanded his Phillies team to purchase the Wilmington team. Camden, coached by Billy Morgenweck (Frank's brother), cruised to 36 wins against only 9 defeats, a winning percentage of .800.

Things did not go very well during the offseason in 1903. Only 5 teams elected to play that year. More importantly, New York, Burlington, and Wilmington, all with experienced owners and coaches, failed to return. The league began the season with only the Camden Electrics, the Trenton Potters, Conshohocken, the Millville Glass Blowers, and St. Bridget's Biddies.

Trenton dropped out on December 26, 1903, and Camden left on December 31. The National Basketball League was disbanded on January 4, 1904, not without controversy, and at least one lawsuit followed its demise. Billy Morgenweck was subsequently sued by investors in the Camden Electrics.

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December 1, 1898 was a Thursday. If any games were played in the NBL other than the Trenton-Hancock lid-lifter, I can find no record of them. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. And hockey was still all-amateur. So, as far as I can tell, Trenton 21, Hancock 19 was the only score on this historic day.

September 6, 1949: The "Walk of Death" In Camden

September 6, 1949: The "Walk of Death" occurs in Camden, the largest city in southern New Jersey, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. It is regarded as the 1st mass shooting in American history.

Born in Camden in 1921, Howard Unruh was a moralist and a mama's boy. Serving in World War II changed him, leading to a description of him as "moody, nervous and detached." In 1949, he began arguing with his neighbors.

At 9:20 AM on September 6, he took a Lugar P08 pistol and some ammunition, walked onto River Road, into the shop of his neighbor, shoemaker John Pilarchik, and killed him. He then went to the barbershop of another neighbor, Clark Hoover, killing both him and Orris Smith, the 6-year-old boy whose hair he was cutting. He ran toward the pharmacy of another neighbor, Maurice Cohen. Before he could get there, he saw insurance man James Hutton blocking his path. A man truly in the wrong place at the wrong time, Hutton was killed, even though Unruh had never even met him before.

The Cohen family tried to escape. But Maurice's wife Rose and 12-year-old son Charles hid in closest, and Unruh found Rose, and killed her. Then he killed Cohen's mother, Minnie, because she was on the phone with the police. He followed Maurice onto a porch roof, and shot him. Charles got away unharmed, the only surviving member of the family.

Unruh walked back to River Road, saw a car coming, and shot the driver, Alvin Day. He went after another neighbor at his store, tailor Thomas Zegrino. He wasn't there, making him the only intended victim to survive. But his wife Helga was there, and Unruh killed her.

He ran back to River Road, saw a car waiting at an intersection, and shot everybody in it: Helen Wilson, her son John, and her mother, Emma Matlack. All 3 died. He then fired through an apartment window, killing 2-year-old Thomas Hamilton. Total victims: 13.

A man named Frank Engel saw Unruh from a tavern window, ran out, and shot him in the leg. Trying to get away, Unruh shot at Madeline Harris and her son Armand, outside their home. Both were wounded, but survived.

Unruh went back to his apartment building, which was quickly surrounded by the police. They lobbed tear gas bombs into the apartment. He came out and gave up. The police found a list of his intended victims, an arsenal of weapons, and a Bible opened to the 24th Chapter of The Gospel of Matthew.

Unruh was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, making him immune to criminal prosecution. He was taken to Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, and remained there until his death on October 19, 2009 -- 60 years after his crime. In his last interview with a psychologist, he showed no remorse, saying, "I'd have killed a thousand if I had enough bullets."

He even outlived Charles Cohen, 12 at the time of the shooting. He died on September 4, 2009, at the age of 72. His funeral was 2 days later, on the 60th Anniversary of the crime. In the intervening years, mass shootings started out rare, then became common in the 1980s, and got out of control early in the 21st Century.

On February 14, 2018, there was a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people died. Carly Novell survived the mass shooting, by hiding in a closet. Just like her grandfather: Charles Cohen.

As Mark Twain once put it, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes."

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September 6, 1949 was a Tuesday. There were 4 baseball games played that day:

* The New York Giants split a doubleheader with the Philadelphia Phillies at the Polo Grounds. The Phils won the opener, 4-2, when Bill Nicholson, known as "Swish" because he struck out a lot, singled, and, with the help of an error, Stan Lopata and Del Ennis scored. The Giants won the nightcap, 4-1, on a home run by Wes Westrum.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Boston Braves, 10-2 at Braves Field in Boston. Don Newcombe went the distance for the win. Jackie Robinson went 2-for-4 with a walk.

* And the Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Ralph Kiner hit a home run. The Pirates scored 4 runs in the top of the 10th, and the Reds could only come back with 1 in the bottom half.

July 1, 1926: The Benjamin Franklin Bridge Opens

July 1, 1926: The Delaware River Bridge opens, connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey, over the river in question. For the next 3 years, it is the longest suspension bridge ever built.

The name was changed to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in 1955, named for Philadelphia's favorite son, since the Walt Whitman Bridge, to the south and also over the Delaware, had been approved.

It connects the downtowns of Pennsylvania's largest city and southern New Jersey's largest city, and carries Interstate 676 and U.S. Route 30, and the PATCO Speedline subway railroad. Because it's close to downtown, it's often used for panoramic photographs of the city.

It was preceded as a Delaware River bridge by:

* 1884: The Calhoun Street Bridge in Trenton.

* 1896: The rail-only Delair Bridge.

* 1903: The Morrisville-Trenton Railroad Bridge.

* 1913: The West Trenton Railroad Bridge.

And it has been followed by:

* 1928: The Lower Trenton Bridge, the one with the big letters on each side, reading, "TRENTON MAKES THE WORLD TAKES."

* 1929: The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, N.J. and Pennsylvania Route 73.

* 1931: The Burlington-Bristol Bridge, N.J. and Pennsylvania Route 413.

* 1951: The original, now-eastward span of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, Interstate 295 and U.S. Route 40.

* 1952: The Trenton-Morrisville Toll Bridge, U.S. Route 1.

* 1956: The Delaware River-Turnpike Toll Bridge, part of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Turnpike Extension, connecting the New Jersey Turnpike with the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Interstate 276.

* 1957: The Walt Whitman Bridge, Interstate 76.

* 1961: The original Scudder Falls Bridge, which was eventually bannered as Interstate 95.

* 1968: The 2nd, westward span of the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

* 1974: The Commodore Barry Bridge, U.S. Route 322.

* 1976: The Betsy Ross Bridge, N.J. and Pennsylvania Route 90.

* 2019: The new Scudder Falls Bridge.

UPDATE: Although not as famous as the Brooklyn Bridge in New York or the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, both of which tend to get destroyed in disaster movies, the Ben Franklin Bridge was shown seriously damaged in the 2023 film Shazam: Fury of the Gods.

*

July 1, 1926 was a Thursday. These baseball games were played:

* A doubleheader was split at Yankee Stadium. The New York Yankees won the opener, 3-2. Urban Shocker outpitched Walter Johnson, thanks to a bottom-of-the-9th-inning triple by Mark Koenng, scoring Earle Combs.

The Washington Senators won the nightcap, 12-5. Curly Ogden outpitched Walter Beall, and Goose Goslin hit a home run. Over the 2 games, Babe Ruth went 2-for-5 with 3 walks and an RBI; and Lou Gehrig went 1-for-7 with a home run, a walk, and an RBI.

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers (known as the Robins while Wilbert Robinson managed them from 1914 to 1931), 5-3 at Ebbets Field. Frankie Frisch went 2-for-5. Zack Wheat went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Boston Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at Braves Field in Boston.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 10-5 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Rogers Hornsby, the best 2nd baseman in the game and also the Cardinals' manager, did not put himself into the game.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-6 at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Tris Speaker went 1-for-3 with 2 walks, while Ty Cobb went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Each was his team's respective manager.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Hack Wilson won the game with a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. George Sisler hit a home run for the Browns, and Eddie Collins went 1-for-4 for the White Sox.

April 19, 1989: The USS Iowa Explosion

April 19, 1989: An explosion onboard the USS Iowa kills 47 crewmen, during a fleet exercise in the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla. This hastened the ship's retirement, and that of the other remaining World War II-Korean War era battleships.

The NIS (Naval Investigative Service), the precursor to the NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service), determined that it was caused by a sailor's suicide attempt.

Battleships BB-65, USS Illinois, and BB-66, USS Kentucky, were still under construction when World War II ended, were never completed, and were ultimately scrapped, never joining the Iowa-class battleships that actually did sail. Those 4 have all become "museum ships":

* BB-61, USS Iowa, "The Grey Ghost." Decommissioned October 26, 1990. It is berthed at the Pacific Battleship Center, Port of Los Angeles.

* BB-62, USS New Jersey, "The Big J" or "The Black Dragon," it saw more battles than the other 3 combined. Decommissioned February 8, 1991. It is berthed at the Home Port Alliance in Camden, New Jersey, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. Thus, it is the only one of these now "living" in its namesake State.

* BB-63, USS Missouri, "The Mighty Mo," the ship on which the Empire of Japan formally surrendered to the Allies. Decommissioned March 31, 1992, making it America's last battleship. It is berthed at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. The place where, for America, World War II began seems to me to be an appropriate home for the ship where The War formally ended.

* BB-64, USS Wisconsin, "The Big Wisky." Decommissioned September 30, 1991. It is berthed at Nauticus, a museum at the Norfolk Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia.

*

April 19, 1989 was a Wednesday. Actor Simu Liu was born. This was also the day the "Central Park Jogger" case began. I have a separate entry for that event.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. John Candelaria outpitched future Yankee Jimmy Key. Steve Sax, Bob Brower and Álvaro Espinoza each had 2 hits for the Yankees. Don Mattingly and Rickey Henderson each went 1-for-5.

* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Shea Stadium. Lee Mazzilli hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 8th inning, to make Randy Myers a winning pitcher in relief of David Cone. Mike Schmidt, entering his final season, went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 1-for-4. George Brett and Bo Jackson hit home runs for the Royals.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 4-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-4 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Barry Bonds went 2-for-5.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Robin Yount went 0-for-3 with a walk. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. How many Dodgers does it take to pitch a 5-hit shutout? On this night, 4: Mike Morgan, 4 over 5 2/3rds innings; Tim Crews, 1 before getting the last out in the 6th; Ray Searage, a perfect 7th; and Jay Howell, a perfect 8th and 9th.

* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Tony Gwynn went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-5 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-4.

Football was out of season. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Miami Heat, 117-91 at the Miami Arena.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Indiana Pacers, 115-105 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 100-92 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* And the Houston Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 99-84 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

There were 2 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, both in Game 2 of the Prince of Wales Conference Finals. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the Montreal Forum, in Game 2 of their series. Bobby Smith scored the winner, at 12:24 of the 1st overtime. And the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

February 2, 1980: The ABSCAM Scandal

Top row, left to right: Senator Harrison Williams of New Jersey,

John Jenrette of South Carolina, Raymond Lederer of Pennsylvania.

Bottom row, left to right: John Murphy of New York,

Michael Myers of Pennsylvania, and Frank Thompson of New Jersey.

February 2, 1980: Eleven public officials are indicted on various charges, including bribery, as a result of the FBI's sting operation known as "Abscam." All but 1 are Democrats. They included 6 sitting members of Congress and 1 U.S. Senator.

Unfortunately, one of the Congressmen was my own, Frank Thompson; and the Senator was one of my own, Harrison Williams. One other New Jersey politician went down, Camden Mayor Angelo Errichetti, who turned out to be the linchpin of the operation that was investigated.

In March 1978, John F. Good, of the FBI's office in suburban Long Island, created and oversaw a the sting operation, which was initially intended to investigate theft, forgery, and stolen art. The FBI employed Melvin Weinberg, a convicted swindler, international con artist and informant, and his girlfriend, Evelyn Knight, to help plan and conduct the operation. At that time they were facing a prison sentence and, in exchange for their help, the FBI agreed to let them out on probation.

Weinberg, supervised by the FBI, created a fake company called Abdul Enterprises in which FBI employees posed as fictional Arab sheikhs, led by owners Kambir Abdul Rahman and Yassir Habib, who had millions of dollars to invest in the United States. Weinberg instructed the FBI to fund a $1 million account with the Chase Manhattan Bank in the name of Abdul Enterprises, giving the company the credibility it needed to further its operation.

When a forger under investigation suggested to the sheikhs that they invest in the newly-legalized casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and that licensing could be obtained for a price, the Abscam operation was re-targeted toward political corruption. Each member of Congress who was approached would be given a large sum of money in exchange for "private immigration bills," to allow foreigners associated with Abdul Enterprises into the country and for building permits and licenses for casinos, among other investment arrangements.

The first political figure to participate in the phony investment scheme was Mayor Errichetti. In exchange for monetary kickbacks, Errichetti told the sheikhs' representatives, "I'll give you Atlantic City." Errichetti helped to recruit several government officials and United States members of Congress who were willing to grant political favors in exchange for monetary bribes (originally $100,000, but then reduced to $50,000).

The FBI recorded each money exchange and, for the first time in American history, surreptitiously videotaped government officials accepting bribes. The meeting places included a house owned by journalist Lee Lescaze in the Foxhall neighborhood of Washington, D.C., a yacht in Florida, and hotel rooms in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Each convicted politician was given a separate trial. During these trials, much controversy arose regarding the ethics of Operation Abscam. Many lawyers defending their clients accused the FBI of entrapment. Though some judges concurred, appeals eventually overruled this claim, and each politician was convicted.

Frank Thompson, part of the Democratic Party "machine" in the State capital of Trenton, was first elected to Congress in 1954. He sponsored the bills that created the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 1976, he became Chairman of the House Administration Committee.

In 1978, he was re-elected with 61 percent of the vote, against Christopher H. Smith. At 25, he was just barely old enough to serve in Congress, and was the Chairman of New Jersey's Right-to-Life (anti-abortion) Committee. But in 1980, he saw Thompson as a significantly weakened opponent.

There was a debate between them at an elementary school in my hometown of East Brunswick. Smith was now 27, and looked and sounded ready. Thompson was 62, and looked about 90. Still under indictment, but not yet gone to trial, he insisted, "I will be acquitted." Smith barely had to mention the scandal, and, with the issues such as the economy and foreign policy now favoring the Republicans, knew he had the edge. Smith won 57 percent of the vote on November 4, Thompson was convicted of bribery and conspiracy on December 3, and resigned his seat on December 29, with just 5 days left in his term.

Thompson served 2 years in prison, and lived until 1989. Chris Smith is now the dean of the New Jersey Congressional delegation, one of the last of the "Reagan Robots" elected in 1980. And he's no hypocrite: Although he has been anti-abortion from the beginning, he has also approved of bills liberalizing the adoption laws, and aiding education and, because redistricting put a bit of the Jersey Shore in his District, helping the environment.

Senator Harrison Williams, first elected in 1958, also served 2 years, and lived until 2001. Errichetti, Mayor of Camden from 1973 to 1981, was sentenced to 6 years, served a little under 3, and lived until 2013. John M. Murphy, whose District included New York's Borough of Staten Island and a little bit of Brooklyn, served a year and a half, and lived until 2015. Marie Weinberg, Mel's wife, committed suicide in 1982.

John Jenrette of South Carolina, previously best known for admitting that he had sex with his ex-model wife, Rita, on the Capitol Steps (leading to the establishment of the Capitol Steps politically-themed comedy troupe), was defeated for re-election in 1980, left by Rita in 1981, and was sentenced to 2 years in prison, serving 1.

Michael "Ozzie" Myers of Pennsylvania was convicted of bribery, refused to resign his seat, and was expelled from the House by a 376-30 vote on October 2, 1980. Aside from 3 members in 1861, for supporting the Confederate States of America, he was the 1st member of the House ever expelled by his colleagues. He served 3 years in prison.

Representative Richard Kelly of Florida, the only Republican convicted, served a year, and died in 2005. Representative Raymond Lederer of Pennsylvania served 10 months, and died in 2008. John Good died in 2016, Mel Weinberg in 2018. As of February 2, 2022, Evelyn Knight, Ozzie Myers, and John and Rita Jenrette are still alive. (UPDATE: John Jenrette died in 2023.)

The movie American Hustle was made about the story. Christian Bale played the character based on Mel Weinberg, Amy Adams the one based on Evelyn Knight, Jeremy Renner the one based on Mayor Errichetti, and Jennifer Lawrence -- about 20 years too young for the role, but the biggest star in the movie -- the one based on Marie Weinberg.

*

February 2, 1980 was a Saturday. Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA was in its All-Star Break. The next day, the East All-Stars beat the West All-Stars, 144-136 in overtime at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

There were 10 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Washington Capitals, 6-3 at the Capital Centre.

* The New York Islanders beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Quebec Nordiques, 7-2 at the Boston Garden.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Hartford Whalers, 5-3 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-0 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-4 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-0 at the Checkerdome, as the St. Louis Arena was then known.

* The Winnipeg Jets and the Colorado Rockies played to a tie, 2-2 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-4 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Edmonton Oilers were not scheduled.