May 31, 1889: The Johnstown Flood

May 31, 1889: The Johnstown Flood kills 2,208 people, one of the worst man-made disasters in history.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania is 67 miles east of Pittsburgh. It sits at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh River and the Stonycreek River, as they form the Conemaugh River. That river eventually flows into the Kiskiminetas River, which flows into the Allegheny River, which combines with the Monongahela River at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River.

Like so many other Pennsylvania towns in the 19th Century, Johnstown became a producer of iron, coal and steel. But it flooded pretty much every year. On May 30, 1889, they had a Memorial Day parade, and got it done before the rain came. But the rain kept coming, and coming.

The next day, at 2:55 PM, the South Fork Dam, which had formed Lake Conemaugh, burst. The City of Johnstown, 14 miles downriver, never had a chance: It was hit with over 14 million cubic meters of water, about the average annual flow of the Mississippi River, coming at 40 miles per hour. It hit at 3:52, and in 10 minutes, Johnstown was ruined.

There were 1,600 homes destroyed. The 2,208 deaths included 396 children. Bodies of Johnstown residents were carried westward, past Pittsburgh. One was found as far down the Ohio River as Cincinnati. One person listed as missing wasn't found until 1911.

Frank Shomo, the last known person to have been living in Johnstown in 1889, lived until March 20, 1997, age 108.

Remarkably, the Pennsylvania Railroad was able to restore service in only 3 days. On June 5, Clara Barton, founder and President of the American Red Cross, arrived to lead their 1st major disaster relief effort. She stayed for 5 months, and it made the Red Cross the country's defining relief organization. Donations for relief amounted to over $3.7 million -- about $113 million in 2022 money.

Within a month, the mills were operating again. The city grew. By the turn of the 20th Century, Johnstown was home to 67,000 people. But on March 17, 1936, the city was stricken again, with the St. Patrick's Day Flood. This time, they were comparatively lucky, with just 25 deaths.

From 1938 to 1943, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers altered the river channels, with the idea of making the city "flood-free." When Hurricane Agnes hit the Northeast in 1972, Johnstown was pretty much the only riverside town in Pennsylvania that didn't get flooded.

In 1926, Point Stadium opened, as a minor-league ballpark, right where the two rivers come together to form one. The Johnstown Johnnies had won the Middle Atlantic League Pennant the year before, and got a new ballpark as a reward. They won the Pennant again that 1st season, and won it again in 1930. But the team played until 1961, and never won another.

The ballpark was torn down and replaced in 2005, and they have since had teams in "independent" leagues. A a renovated 7,500-seat Sargent's Stadium at The Point became home Johnstown Mill Rats of the Prospect League in 2021.

The city became the home of a minor-league hockey team, the Johnstown Jets, starting in 1950. The 4,000-seat Cambria County War Memorial Arena opened that year. In 1976, the hockey movie Slap Shot was filmed in the city, including inside the Arena and outside the steel mills, even though it was said to be taking place in the Charlestown section of Boston.

Life imitated art: Like the movie's Charlestown Chiefs, the Johnstown Jets were moved after the 1976-77 season. But new teams have come and gone, including the Johnstown Chiefs, in honor of the movie, from 1988 to 2010. Since 2012, the Arena has been home to the Johnstown Tomahawks of the North American Hockey League.

But like Pennsylvania as a whole, the decline of industry in the 1970s clobbered Johnstown. And then, on July 19, 1977, they found out they weren't flood-proof. The Laurel Run Dam failed, and 84 people were killed. By the recession of the early 1990s, steel was out of Johnstown. In 2003, a survey rated Johnstown the least likely city in American to attract newcomers.

Today, Johnstown is a small city of about 19,000 people. The University of Pittsburgh opened a campus there, and that helped. Some of the abandoned mills have been turned into low-income housing, and studios for artists and dancers. But the city will never be what it was between the floods of 1889 and 1977.

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May 31, 1889 was a Friday. There were three games played in what would later be called Major League Baseball.

Two of them were a National League doubleheader, at the Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds. The Philadelphia Quakers swept the Indianapolis Hoosiers, winning the 1st game 11-8, and the 2nd game 11-4.

The Hoosiers folded at the end of the season. The Quakers would change their name to the Philadelphia Phillies the next season. The Base Ball Grounds would burn down in 1894, and be replaced on the same site the next season by the ballpark eventually known as Baker Bowl.

And in the American Association, the Columbus Solons beat the Louisville Colonels, 7-2 at Recreation Park in Columbus, Ohio. The Solons folded with the AA in 1891, while the Colonels joined the NL, only to fold after the 1899 season.

February 25, 1977: "Slap Shot" Premieres

February 25, 1977: Slap Shot premieres, directed by George Roy Hill. It is the most popular movie ever made about the sport of ice hockey.

Nancy Dowd wrote the screenplay, based on the experiences of her brother, Ned Dowd, who had played minor-league hockey, including for the Johnstown Jets in Western Pennsylvania. The movie was filmed in Johnstown, including inside the Cambria County War Memorial Arena, although the name of the team was changed to the Charlestown Chiefs, leading to the belief that it plays in the Charlestown section of Boston. The facts that their league has teams based in New England, and the Dowds are from Boston, deepen this perception.

Paul Newman plays Reggie Dunlop, head coach and, despite his age (Newman was 51 during filming), star player for the Chiefs. The local still mill, like so many others in the region, is closing down, and 10,000 workers will be laid off. This would mean the end of the team, but it could be saved if it could be moved to another city.

The Hansons, 3 lookalike brothers (but not triplets), are signed, and, in the spirit (or, at least, in the stereotype) of 1970s hockey, they start fighting all opponents. Attendance rises because of this, and gives hope that the team can be saved. What's more, the team gains confidence, and starts winning, and makes the Playoffs, increasing the hope.

Dunlop finally finds out the identity of the mysterious owner. In a rarity among sports, especially in hockey, it's a woman, Anita McCambridge (Kathryn Walker). It turns out that she is all too much like male team owners: She has found out she can make more money by folding the team as a tax write-off than she can be selling it, and so the upcoming league championship game will be the team's last.

The opponents are Syracuse, who have signed "Ogie" Ogilthorpe, the dirtiest player in the league, just for this game for the purposes of intimidating the Chiefs. (He is played by Ned Dowd. His wife, like his sister named Nancy Dowd, but credited as "Nancy N. Dowd," also appears in the movie.)

The intimidation doesn't work, and the Chiefs fight back. Their best player, Ned Braden (Michael Ontkean), had refused to fight all season long, but now, he takes his uniform off, and skates around wearing nothing but his jockstrap. Tim McCracken (Paul D'Amato), the Syracuse player-coach, tells the referee to throw Braden out of the game. He refuses. McCracken punches the ref. The ref forfeits the game to the Chiefs.

The team goes out a winner, but they can't be saved. But there is something of a happy ending: Dunlop gets an offer to coach a team in Minnesota, and he's going to bring some of the Chiefs players with him.

The movie became one of the most popular sports movies of all time, any sport. The Hanson Brothers -- Dave, Steve and Jeff -- with their long hair, their nerd glasses, and their fighting, became icons. They were based on real-life siblings who had played for the Jets in the 1974-75 season: Jack, Steve and Jeff Carlson. Steve and Jeff basically played themselves, but Jack was unavailable at the time, and so Dave Hanson, a Jets teammate, was cast, and the brothers' name was changed to Hanson.

For the record, in real life, these guys were not bad players. Dave Hanson, a defenseman, went on to play for the Detroit Red Wings and the Minnesota North Stars. Steve Carlson, a left wing, went on to play for the Los Angeles Kings. Jack Carlson, a left wing, played for the North Stars and the St. Louis Blues. Jeff Carlson, a right wing, didn't make it to the NHL. But he did play for the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the World Hockey Association, as did his brothers and Dave Hanson. The real Dave Hanson and Steve and Jeff Carlson went on to make more money every year at sports memorabilia shows than they did in their entire pro hockey careers.

Ironically, the real Johnstown Jets had to fold in 1977, but not due to greed. Johnstown is 67 miles east of Pittsburgh. It sits at the confluence of 2 tributaries of the Ohio River. Like so many other Pennsylvania towns in the 19th Century, Johnstown became a producer of iron, coal and steel. But it flooded pretty much every year.

The most famous of these floods came in 1889, killing over 2,200 people. Another flood occurred in 1936. Measures were taken to avoid another one, but, on July 19, 1977, they found out they weren't flood-proof: The Laurel Run Dam failed, and 84 people were killed. And the Arena was damaged, leading to the Jets having to move.

By the recession of the early 1990s, steel was out of Johnstown. Today, it s a small city of about 19,000 people. The University of Pittsburgh opened a campus there, and that helped. Some of the abandoned mills have been turned into low-income housing, and studios for artists and dancers. 

A new team, the Johnstown Chiefs, named for the team in Slap Shot, played in the East Coast Hockey League from 1987 to 2010. Since 2012, the old arena has been home to a junior hockey team, the Johnstown Tomahawks.

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February 25, 1977 was a Friday. There were 4 games played in the NHL that day:

* The New York Islanders beat the Cleveland Barons, 2-1 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-2 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* And the Boston Bruins beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-2 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver.

There were also 4 games played in the WHA:

* The Cincinnati Stingers beat the Quebec Nordiques, 5-2 at the Riverfront Coliseum (now the Heritage Bank Center) in Cincinnati.

* The Houston Aeros beat the Phoenix Roadrunners, 9-3 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* The Indianapolis Racers beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-2 in overtime at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

* And the New England Whalers beat the Calgary Cowboys, 3-2 at the Stampede Corral in Calgary.

Baseball and football were out of season. There were 8 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the New Orleans Jazz, 124-107 at the Superdome in New Orleans. Pete Maravich scored 68 points. It was the most points in an NBA game between a 70-point game by Wilt Chamberlain in 1963 and a 73-point game by David Thompson in 1978.

* The New York Nets lost to the Detroit Pistons, 112-106 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Buffalo Braves, 104-97 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Phil Smith scored 37 points.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks, 96-87 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Kansas City Kings, 130-128 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City. Dan Issel scored 40 points.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 104-102 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 39 points.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 123-106 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

* And the Boston Celtics beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 102-92 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.