December 31, 1972: Roberto Clemente Is Killed

December 31, 1972: Roberto Clemente is killed in a plane crash, trying to get relief supplies from his native Puerto Rico to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua.

Eight days earlier -- the same day as the football play known as the "Immaculate Reception" -- an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale struck the Nicaraguan capital of Managua.

As with the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, there were fires started, and the city's firefighting equipment was damaged by the earthquake. Between the initial quake and the fires, the Managua disaster killed about 11,000 people, and left about 300,000 of the city's 1 million or so people homeless. The city's top 4 hospitals were destroyed, and there were food shortages.

The world responded with relief, but the country's right-wing dictator, Anastasio Somoza Debayle -- my autocorrect poignantly tried to turn that into "Debacle" -- had it distributed according to his own purposes, much like an old-style American city "machine politician."

Enter Roberto Clemente. The right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates had just completed his 18th major league season. At age 38, he showed no signs of slowing down. That season, he batted .312, helped the Pirates win their 3rd straight National League Eastern Division title, was named to his 15th All-Star game, was awarded his 12th Gold Glove, and collected his 3,000th career hit. 

He had won 4 NL batting titles, was named the NL's Most Valuable Player in 1966, and had helped the Pirates win the World Series in 1960 and 1971, being named the Series MVP in the ladder. 

He was not the first black Hispanic player in the major leagues, but, at this point, he was easily the greatest. Indeed, like actor-comedian Jackie Gleason was, and hockey star Wayne Gretzky later would be, he was nicknamed "The Great One." He was a point of pride for baseball fans all over Latin America, not just in his native Puerto Rico.

Already heavily involved in charities all over Latin America, Clemente had visited Managua only a few weeks before the earthquake. He organized three planeloads of relief supplies, but heard they had all been diverted by the Somoza government. He decided to accompany the fourth flight himself, to make sure that it didn't happen again.

The plane was a propeller-driven cargo plane, a DC-7. This particular plane, one of 338 that McDonnell-Douglas built between 1953 and 1958, was a bad choice, as it had a history of mechanical problems. On December 31, 1972, New Year's Eve, it was loaded up at Isla Verde International Airport outside the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan.

A DC-7, similar to the Clemente relief plane

Between cargo, and regular supplies like fuel, the plane ended up 4,200 pounds over its recommended limit. The plane took off at 9:20 PM (8:20 PM, U.S. East Coast time), for a 4-hour flight from San Juan to Managua -- meaning the New Year of 1973 would have begun for them in midflight.

But within 3 minutes, the pilot, Jerry Hill, realized he couldn't get the plane high enough due to the weight, and told the San Juan control tower that he had begun to turn around. Just afterward, one of the plane's four engines exploded, and it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. 

Although most pieces of the plane were found, Hill was the only one of the five people on board whose body was found. There is no grand memorial for Roberto Clemente at any cemetery: He still lies somewhere off the coast of his homeland. He left behind a wife and three sons.

For baseball fans, January 1, 1973 did not present a "Happy New Year." The Pirates retired Clemente's Number 21, and wore that number in a patch on their sleeves all season long. It would be the only season from 1970 to 1975 that they didn't win the NL East title. On March 20, a special election was held for the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the five-year waiting period after a player's last game was waived, making Clemente eligible. He was elected with nearly 93 percent of the vote.

Manager Bill Virdon with the patch

The Pirates dedicated a statue of him outside Three Rivers Stadium. When they moved to the adjacent PNC Park in 2001, the statue went with them, and the neighboring 6th Street Bridge connecting the North Side with downtown Pittsburgh was renamed the Roberto Clemente Bridge.

An arena that was nearly ready to open in San Juan at the time of his death was named the Roberto Clemente Coliseum. New York City named a park across from the Bronx apartment building where Hank Greenberg grew up after a member of the Hall of Fame -- not Greenberg, but, reflecting that this neighborhood is now mostly Puerto Rican, Clemente.

On December 31, 1985, 13 years later, another New Year's Eve would be struck by air travel tragedy, as the crash outside Dallas of another McDonnell-Douglas plane with a troubled history, this one an old DC-3, killed seven people including early rock and roll star Ricky Nelson.

Earlier in 1985, Isla Verde International Airport in San Juan was renamed Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, after the 1st elected Governor of the island, who had presided over the airport's opening in 1955.

*

December 31, 1972 was a Sunday. The end of the year marked the 1st year that Americans bought more color television sets than black-and-white sets, and the 1st year that a majority of American homes had color TV sets. I have a separate entry for that event.

It was the off-season for baseball. The NFL played its Conference Championship Games:

* Although the Miami Dolphins had an undefeated regular season, the Pittsburgh Steelers hosted the AFC Championship Game at Three Rivers Stadium, because the NFL was still using a rotating system for hosting the title game, not home field advantage.

Eight days after the franchise's 1st-ever Playoff win, on the Franco Harris "Immaculate Reception," the Steelers led 10-7 in the 3rd quarter. But the Dolphins came from behind to win, 21-17.

* The Washington Redskins dominated the defending NFL Champions, the Dallas Cowboys, 26-3 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. Head coach George Allen led his veteran "Over-the-Hill Gang" to the team's 1st Playoff win in 30 years. 

But the Dolphins would complete the perfect season by beating the Redskins in Super Bowl VII, 2 weeks later at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

There were no games played in the NBA or the ABA on New Year's Eve 1972. There were 3 NHL games played that day:

* The New York Rangers beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-1 at Madison Square Garden. 

* The Detroit Red Wings and the Minnesota North Stars played to a tie, 4-4 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. 

* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-2 at Chicago Stadium. 

And there were 3 games played in the World Hockey Association, which was in its 1st season:

* The New England Whalers beat the New York Raiders, 3-0 in the other game played on Madison Square Garden ice that day.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Ottawa Nationals, 8-4 at Le Colisée de Québec. Rene Levesque must have loved that.

* And the Philadelphia Blazers beat the Los Angeles Sharks, 3-1 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. 

December 19, 1976: A Plane Crash at an NFL Playoff Game

December 19, 1976: An AFC Divisional Playoff is played at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Baltimore Colts hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers, winners of the last 2 Super Bowls, eliminating the Colts on the way to winning the previous season.

The game is no contest. Terry Bradshaw completed 14 of 18 passes for 267 yards and 3 touchdowns. Don't ask me how the NFL's "passer rating" system works, because I have no idea, and I certainly don't know why a rating of 158.3 is considered a "perfect score." But Bradshaw had the 1st such rating since the system's debut. And Franco Harris ran for 132 yards, and caught 3 passes for 24 yards, despite leaving the game with an injury early in the 2nd half.

The game ended with the Steelers winning, 40-14, and many fans had left early. It's a good thing they did: Less that 10 minutes after the game ended, a small propeller-driven airplane, a Piper PA-28 Cherokee, crashed into the mostly-empty upper deck in the south end zone, what would be behind home plate in the stadium's baseball configuration. Had there still been fans there, it could have been catastrophic.

The plane was wrecked, but there wasn't much damage to the stadium. The crash happened about halfway up the upper deck, where the seats gave way to aluminum benches. About 30 seats were wrecked, but that was it. Given that it was the last home game of the season (the Colts would have traveled to Oakland for the AFC Championship Game had they won this one), and the seats wouldn't be necessary again until early April of the next year, it wasn't hard to get them replaced in time.

The pilot was Donald Kroner, 33, and he sustained cuts and bruises, but only spent 1 night in a hospital. He spent more time in jail. He had previously spent 4 years grounded for psychiatric reasons, and had been arrested just 5 days before the game, on charges of reckless flying, littering, and making a bomb threat against the Iron Horse Restaurant owned by former Colt linebacker, Bill Pellington. He had recently been thrown out of it for being abusive.

Kroner was not that bad of a pilot: He managed to fly his plane between the light towers of the north end zone (center field in the baseball configuration). Fans who witnessed the crash said that it looked like he was trying to make an emergency landing on the field. He was only 10 feet off the ground at the 50-yard line, but he suddenly accelerated and climbed, the engine stalling just before smashing into the upper deck. The stall may have prevented a fuel explosion that could have injured people and caused additional damage to the stadium.

Kroner, of German descent, liked to call himself the Blue Max, after a military decoration given to German soldiers up until World War I. Indeed, his plane was white with blue trim, which, of course, were also the Colts' colors.

Kroner was sentenced to 2 years in prison, for "malicious destruction of property" and "violation of aviation ordinances." He ended up serving only 3 months. He was jailed again in 1980, for stealing 2 Greyhound buses from Dulles International Airport in the Virginia suburbs of Washington.

He died in 2013, at age 70, 37 years after the crash, 29 years after the Colts were moved to Indianapolis, 17 years after they were replaced by the Baltimore Ravens, 15 years after the opening of the new M&T Bank Stadium, and 11 years after Memorial Stadium was demolished -- without his "help." He is a footnote in the history of the team that could, legitimately, be called football's answer to baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers, a team once celebrated as heroes of the working class who brought glory to their place, and were then heartlessly moved, before being replaced.

In 1972, flying a Piper Cherokee in a competition, Prince William of Gloucester, a 1st cousin of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, was killed in a crash.

*

December 19, 1976 was a Sunday. There was 1 other Playoff game in the NFL that day: The Los Angeles Rams beat the Dallas Cowboys, 14-12 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

The college bowl games were underway, but none were played on this day. There were 6 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 94-87 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the New Orleans Jazz, 125-110 at the Superdome in New Orleans. Bob Lanier had 34 points and 15 rebounds.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 106-105 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Atlanta Hawks, 126-109 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena. Swen Nater had 30 points and 33 rebounds.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Kansas City Kings, 103-92 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Buffalo Braves beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 99-98 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Cleveland Barons, 3-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* And the St. Louis Blues beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Black Hawks, 6-4 at the Chicago Stadium.

And there were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Indianapolis Racers beat the Birmingham Bulls, 3-2 in overtime at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 4-2 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

* The Houston Aeros beat the Phoenix Roadrunners, 6-4 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* And the San Diego Mariners beat the Quebec Nordiques, 5-3 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

December 10, 1967: Otis Redding Is Killed

December 10, 1967: A twin-engine Beechcraft H18 plane, having taken off from Cleveland, crashes into Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin, lost in fog. Six people were killed, including the pilot, Richard Fraser. The rest were singer Otis Redding and the members of his backing band, The Bar-Kays.

Redding was just 26 years old, and while black audiences had known of him since 1963, white audiences hadn't noticed him until 6 months earlier, when he sang at the Monterey Pop Festival. Three days before the crash, he had recorded his vocals for a song he'd written, "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay." He had recorded with the racially-integrated band Booker T. & The M.G.'s, and their lead guitarist, Steve Cropper, finished the recording. As a result, in April 1968, it became the 1st posthumous Number 1 hit of the Rock and Roll Era.

The members of The Bar-Kays who were killed: Saxophonist Phalon Jones, keyboard player Ronnie Caldwell (the only white member of the group), and drummer Carl Cunningham. They were all young: Most were 19, Cunningham wasn't quite 19, and another victim, Matthew Kelly, their valet (a white group would have called him a "roadie"), was only 17.

One member of The Bar-Kays was able to get out and swim to shore, trumpeter Ben Cauley. He formed a new Bar-Kays, and continued to perform under that name until his death in 2015, at age 67.

Otis received a revival of sorts in 1987, when his songs "Love Man" and "These Arms of Mine" were featured in the film "Dirty Dancing." In 1989, he was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1991, The Black Crowes had a hit with his song "Hard to Handle."

In 1994, Ken Burns' miniseries Baseball used his original version of "Respect" as the backing track to their segment on Frank Robinson and the 1966 Baltimore Orioles.

Buddy Holly. Jim Reeves. Otis Redding. Jim Croce. All died in the crashes of Beechcraft planes.

*

December 10, 1967 was a Sunday. It was the off-season for baseball. But a full slate of NFL games was played:

* The New York Giants lost to the Detroit Lions, 30-7 at Yankee Stadium.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the New Orleans Saints, 30-10 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-28 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium).

* The Washington Redskins beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 15-10 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 20-16 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings played to a tie, 10-10 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-17 at the Cotton Bowl. This was the game where the Cowboys' Lee Roy Jordan knocked the Eagles' Timmy Brown out of bounds, and then punched him, knocking out several teeth. Eagle fans consider this the beginning of the nasty rivalry between the teams.

* The day before, the Los Angeles Rams beat the Green Bay Packers, 27-24 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In the American Football League:

* The New York Jets lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, 21-7 at Shea Stadium.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the San Diego Chargers, 41-24 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Houston Oilers, 19-7 at Rice Stadium in Houston.

* The day before, the Buffalo Bills beat the Boston Patriots, 44-16 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* At the time, there were 9 teams in the AFL, so not every team played. The Denver Broncos had the bye.

There were 2 NBA games played that day:

* The St. Louis Hawks beat the Baltimore Bullets, 114-112 in overtime at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 133-123 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

This was the 1st season of the American Basketball Association, and 3 games were played that day:

* The Pittsburgh Pipers beat the Minnesota Muskies, 114-99 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The New Orleans Buccaneers beat the Dallas Chaparrals, 125-110 at the Loyola Field House in New Orleans.

* And the Houston Mavericks beat the Indiana Pacers, 107-87 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.

And in its 1st season of expansion, the NHL had 5 games:

* The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Boston Bruins, 3-1 at the Boston Garden.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* And the St. Louis Blues beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1 at the St. Louis Arena. 

December 9, 2012: The Tragedy of Jenni Rivera

December 9, 2012: Singer Jenni Rivera and 6 others are killed in a plane crash outside Monterrey, Mexico. The Learjet 25's 2 "black boxes" have allegedly never been found.

The Spanish-language singer known as La Gran Señora, La Diva de la Banda, and La Mariposa de Barrio -- the Great Lady, the Diva of the Dance, and the Butterfly of the Neighborhood -- was 43, and was a huge star in Latin music, but virtually unknown to Anglophone Americans. Being an Anglophone American, I literally never knew she was alive until I knew she was dead.

Dolores Janney Rivera was born on July 2, 1969, outside Los Angeles in Long Beach, California. She began recording music in 1992, and her recordings often had themes of social issues, infidelity, tax evasion and inflation. In other words, country music, it's just that the country was that part of America that speaks Spanish first.

She became known for recording Banda, a previously male-dominated subgenre of regional Mexican music in which wind and brass instruments are prominent. By 2005, she was a superstar in Spanish America, but Anglophone America didn't know about her. In 2010, she began headlining in Las Vegas, so Anglophone America at least became aware of her.

She was married 3 times. Her 1st husband, José Trinidad Marín, went to in prison for what were once quaintly called "morals charges." Her 2nd husband, Juan López, died of pneumonia in prison, for selling drugs. Her 3rd husband was former baseball pitcher Esteban Loaiza, and they'd filed for divorce 2 months before her death. He, too, served time for selling drugs, but is out now. Even after her death, her life is a soap opera.

With José, she had 2 daughters, Janney Marín Rivera, known as "Chiquis," and Jacqueline; and a son, Michael. With Juan, she had a daughter, Jenicka, and a son, Juan Angel. She and her family appeared in 2 reality TV shows. Before her death, Jenni and Chiquis were estranged, and working on reconciliation.

On December 8, 2012, Jenni performed at the Monterrey Arena in Monterrey, Mexico. She then boarded a Learjet 25 to fly to Toluca, to appear on the Mexican version of The Voice. The plane took off at 3:20 AM Central Time, and contact was lost 15 minutes later. Later in the day, the wreckage was found outside the city of Iturbide, in the State of Nuevo León.

No distress signal was ever received. The cause was never determined, but both weather and foul play were ruled out. It should be noted that the pilot was 78 years old, and his co-pilot was only 21. Along with them, Jenni and 4 members of her entourage were killed.

UPDATE: On June 28, 2024, Jenni received the posthumous honor of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. All 5 of her children were on hand, as was a close friend, the controversial Mexican singer Gloria Trevi.

*

December 9, 2012 was a Sunday. These NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants beat the New Orleans Saints, 52-27 at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 17-10 at EverBank Field (now EverBank Stadium) in Jacksonville.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Baltimore Ravens, 31-28 at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Carolina Panthers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 30-20 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 23-21 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The St. Louis Rams beat the Buffalo Bills, 15-12 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 34-24 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 30-7 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now Huntington Bank Field).

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 20-19 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Tennessee Titans, 27-23 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions, 27-20 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears, 21-14 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins, 27-13 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals, 58-0 at CenturyLink Field (now Lumen Field) in Seattle.

* The preceding Thursday night, the Denver Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders, 26-13 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the next night, on ESPN Monday Night Football, the New England Patriots beat the Houston Texans, 42-14 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

There were no games in the NHL, becuase the players were locked out by the team owners. There were 6 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Denver Nuggets, 112-106 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, 97-88 at the Barclays Center.

* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers, 104-93 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena (now the Paycom Center) in Oklahoma City.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Phoenix Suns, 98-90 at the US Airways Center (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* And there was a doubleheader at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. In the afternoon, the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Toronto Raptors, 102-83. In the evening, the Utah Jazz beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 117-110.

November 12, 2001: The Too-Soon Crash

November 12, 2001: American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300, crashes in the Belle Harbor section of Queens, near its takeoff point at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Coming just 2 months after the 9/11 attacks, everyone's first thought was that was more terrorism, but it was due to pilot error causing mechanical failure.

One of the victims, Hilda Yolanda Mayol, survived the 9/11 attacks, having escaped from the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

The plane was headed for Las Américas International Airport, which serves Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Most of the people on board were Dominican-Americans on their way to visit family, or Dominican citizens returning home from so doing.

From the Dominican community in Washington Heights, in Upper Manhattan, to the Rockaways in Queens, where the plane went down, killing 260 on board and 5 on the ground, the tragedy hit home (literally) from one end of New York City to the other. It was an awful day, and, had it not been for the 9/11 attacks, it would have been the dominant story of the year in New York City.

Belkis Lora, a relative of a passenger on Flight 587, said, "Every Dominican in New York has either taken that flight or knows someone who has. It gets you there early. At home, there are songs about it."

Seth Kugel, writing for The New York Times, said, "For many Dominicans in New York, these journeys home are the defining metaphor of their complex push-pull relationship with their homeland; they embody, vividly and poignantly, the tug between their current lives and their former selves. That fact gave Monday's tragedy a particularly horrible resonance for New York's Dominicans."

He added, "Even before Monday's crash, Dominicans had developed a complex love-hate relationship with American Airlines, complaining about high prices and baggage restrictions even while favoring the carrier over other airlines that used to travel the same route."

David Rivas, a New York City travel agency owner, said, "For the Dominican to go to Santo Domingo during Christmas and Summer is like the Muslims going to Mecca."

As of November 12, 2022, it remains the 2nd-deadliest plane crash in American history. More people died on this plane than on any of the 4 planes hijacked 2 months earlier.

*

November 12, 2001 was a Monday. Baseball season had ended 8 days earlier, when the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Yankees in the World Series.

On ABC Monday Night Football, the Baltimore Ravens beat the Tennessee Titans, 16-10 at Adelphia Coliseum (now Nissan Stadium) in Nashville.

There were 2 games played in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 86-79 at the Pyramid Arena in Memphis. And the Utah Jazz beat the Orlando Magic, 105-98 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

One game was played in the NHL: The Buffalo Sabres beat the Florida Panthers, 5-3 at the National Car Rental Center (now named the Amerant Bank Center) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

November 8, 1935: Charles Kingsford Smith Disappears

November 8, 1935: Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his co-pilot Tommy Pethybridge disappear over the Bay of Bengal, off the coast of Burma (now Myanmar). They were attempting the Allahabad-to-Singapore leg of their bid to break the speed record between Britain and their native Australia. Pieces of their plane, the Lady Southern Cross, have been found, but their bodies never have.

Kingsford Smith had been a hero pilot in World War I. In 1928, he and Charles Ulm flew the original Southern Cross from Oakland, California to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; with stops in Honolulu, Hawaii and Suva, Fiji. This made them the 1st pilots to successfully fly across the Pacific Ocean.

"Smithy" was 38 years old at the time of his final flight. Pethybridge was 28. They were attempting to break a record set by a team led by Ulm, who had disappeared the year before, on a training flight between Oakland and Honolulu. He was 36.

*

November 8, 1935 was a Friday. French actor Alain Delon was born on this day. This was also the day that the original film version of Mutiny On the Bounty premiered. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And the NHL season had started the night before, but no games were scheduled for this day.

Two college football games were played. George Washington University beat Davis & Elkins, 53-7 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. GWU dropped its football program after the 1966 season. Davis & Elkins College, of Elkins, West Virginia, now play in NCAA Division II.

And Texas Christian University (TCU) beat Loyola University, 14-0 at Loyola University Stadium in New Orleans. Loyola dropped their program after the 1939 season.

October 25, 2002: Senator Paul Wellstone Is Killed In a Plane Crash

October 25, 2002: Senator Paul Wellstone, Democrat of Minnesota, running for a 3rd term, is killed in a plane crash outside Eveleth, Minnesota. One of the leading liberals in the U.S. Senate, he was 58 years old. His wife Sheila and his daughter Marcia are also killed. His sons David and Mark were not on the plane.

Paul David Wellstone was born on July 21, 1944 in Washington, D.C., the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. His father had changed the family name from Wexelstein to lessen anti-Semitism. Paul grew up across the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia. He was an ACC Champion wrestler and a Phi Beta Kappa at the University of North Carolina, where he married Sheila Ison. They moved to Minnesota, where he became a college professor and she became a librarian, having 2 sons and a daughter.

His youthful activism hit all the usual liberal notes: Opposing the Vietnam War, labor rights, public education, health care, child care, rights for women and racial minorities, fair housing. In 1990, he beat incumbent Republican Rudy Boschwitz to gain election to the U.S. Senate. He gained a reputation as a fighting young liberal, and was re-elected in 1996.

He had a youthful following, hoping that he would become President one day, not unlike his Vermont contemporary, Bernie Sanders. But a 1998 diagnosis of multiple sclerosis made him drop plans for a Presidential campaign in 2000.

On October 25, 2002, Wellstone, along with 7 others, died in an airplane crash outside Eveleth, Minnesota, at 10:22 AM. He was 58 years old. The other victims were his wife, Sheila; one of his three children, Marcia; the two pilots, Richard Conry and Michael Guess; and campaign staffers Mary McEvoy, Tom Lapic and Will McLaughlin.

The Beechcraft King Air A100 was en route to Eveleth, where Wellstone was to attend the funeral of Martin Rukavina, a steelworker whose son Tom Rukavina served in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Wellstone decided to go to the funeral instead of a Minneapolis rally and fundraiser attended by former Vice President and Senator Walter Mondale, and fellow Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts -- who, ironically, survived a plane crash while running for re-election in 1964. That night, Wellstone was scheduled to debate the Republican nominee for his office, Mayor Norm Coleman of St. Paul, in Duluth.

A supporter hearing the news

It was 11 days before the election. His memorial service was held at Williams Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota. In accordance with State law, his name was removed from the ballot, and was replaced by that of a previous Senator from the State, and a former Vice President of the United States: Walter Mondale. He lost the election to Coleman of St. Paul.

Some observers blamed Wellstone's last vote in the Senate, to deny President George W. Bush the authority to go to war against Iraq. Others blamed the Williams Arena rally, calling it too partisan. Well, excuse the attendees for their love for their Senator.

The Republicans gained 8 seats in the House, and 2 in the Senate, the best Year 2 performance by the party in the White House since the Democrats under Franklin Roosevelt in 1934.

In addition to Coleman, among the new Republican Senators elected was Saxby Chambliss, who ran attacking the patriotism of his Democratic opponent, for voting against giving Bush the blank check on Iraq. That opponent was Max Cleland, who had lost both legs and his right arm in combat in Vietnam. Chambliss got deferments for that war. This proved that the Republicans were hypocrites on the subject of patriotism.

On the Democratic side, Mark Pryor was elected, as his father David had been before him.

In 2008, Coleman would be defeated by New York-born, but Minneapolis-raised comedian Al Franken.

*

October 25, 2002 was a Friday. The World Series was between Games 5 and 6, and the Anaheim Angels would beat the San Francisco Giants in 7 games. 

There was 1 college football game played: The University of Hawaii beat Fresno State, 31-21 at Bulldog Stadium (now Valley Children's Stadium) in Fresno, California.

The NBA season started 5 days later. There were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Los Angeles Kings, 6-2 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1 at the HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the St. Pete Times Forum (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-4 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-3 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

October 21, 1925: Marv Goodwin, the 1st Athlete Killed In a Plane Crash

October 21, 1925: For the 1st time, a professional athlete dies as the result of an airplane crash.

Marv Goodwin was born on January 16, 1891 in Gordonsville, Virginia, outside Charlottesville. He went 21-25 pitching for the Washington Senators, St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds from 1916 to 1925. He was 1 of the 17 pitchers permitted to continue throwing any of the banned pitches that fell under the category of "spitball" in 1920. Had he lived a full life, this would be the most interesting fact about him: His pitching career was not otherwise notable.

He missed the 1918 season, serving in World War I as a pilot, becoming an aviation instructor for the U.S. Army, but hadn't yet been sent overseas when the Armistice was signed. He remained in the Army Reserve, rising to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. On October 18, 1925, he was conducting a training exercise at Ellington Field in Houston, when he went into a tailspin and crashed. He died 3 days later, only 34 years old.

He had been a player-manager with the Texas League's Houston Buffaloes in 1924, hence his reserve stationing in Houston. Given that fact, his age, and the fact that he made only 4 major league appearances in 1925, he may have played his last major league game anyway. That doesn't mean, however, that his baseball career was over: He could still have become a major league manager or pitching coach.

Had he survived the crash, and lived to be 71, in 1962, he would have seen Houston gain a Major League Baseball team.

*

October 21, 1925 was a Wednesday. Baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And the NHL season wouldn't start for another month. So there were no scores on this historic day.

October 20, 1977: The Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash

October 20, 1977: Lynyrd Skynyrd, a "Southern rock" band, give a concert at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina. Afterward, they board a chartered Convair CV-240, to fly to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for their concert the next night at Louisiana State University. 

The plane crashes into a forest outside Gillsburg, Mississippi, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines (Steve's sister), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray.

An engine malfunction caused the pilots to dump the plane's extra fuel, instead of transferring it to another engine like they intended. That's right: The plane crashed because it ran out of gas. It wasn't negligence, or even an error: It was just something that happened.

Also on board, surviving but badly hurt, were guitarists Allen Collins and Gary Rossington, bass guitarist Leon Wilkeson, keyboardist Billy Powell, drummer Artimus Pyle, backing vocalist Leslie Hawkins, band security manager Gene Odom, and road crew members Steve Lawler, Ken Peden and Marc Frank. Collins was paralyzed. Odom was badly burned.

To make matters worse, in a case of "Timing is everything," just 3 days earlier, Skynyrd had released a new album, titled Street Survivors. The cover, as shown above, shows them standing in the middle of a fire. One of the more familiar tracks on the album is titled "That Smell." The lyrics include the words, "Tomorrow might not be here for you," and, "The smell of death surrounds you."

The album would be repackaged, showing the band in front of a black background, and the original cover, much like the "Butcher Sleeve" of the 1966 Beatles compilation album Yesterday and Today, and the original cover of Electric Ladyland showing Jimi Hendrix surrounded by naked women, has become a collector's item.

The band would regroup, with Ronnie's brother Johnny Van Zant singing lead. He had previously led the unimaginatively-titled Johnny Van Zant Band. Another brother, Donnie Van Zant, was the lead singer of another "Southern rock" band, .38 Special.

Collins was in another crash, of his car, in 1986, never fully recovered, and died in 1990. Wilkeson died in 2001, from lung and liver diseases. Powell died of natural causes in 2009. With some irony, Leonard Skinner, the high school gym teacher and basketball coach whose no-long-hair policy convinced Van Zant, Rossington and Burns to sort-of name the band after him, outlived some of them, dying in 2010. 

Rossington, Pyle, Hawkins, Odom, Peden, Frank and Lawler are still alive, and all attended a 40th Anniversary memorial service at the crash site in 2017.

UPDATE: Rossington died in 2023. And it took me until 2024 to think of this, but the 1970s were Schrödinger's Decade. There was too much overwrought music, and, at the same time, not enough of it.

*

October 20, 1977 was a Thursday. So while it was during the NFL season, there were no games played that day. The baseball season had ended 2 days earlier, when 3 home runs by Reggie Jackson gave the New York Yankees an 8-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the World Series, clinching the World Championship.

One game was played in the NBA that night, and it was in the NBA city closest to the crash site. The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New Orleans Jazz, 107-104 at the Louisiana Superdome. Pete Maravich scored 29 for the Jazz, and Truck Robinson 28, but the Cavs still won, with Campy Russell leading them with 23. Robinson and Russell would both later play for the New York Knicks. Former Knick Walt Frazier scored 19 for the Cavs.

No games were scheduled for the World Hockey Association on that day, but 4 games were played in the NHL. The New York Rangers and the New York Islanders were not in any of them, but the team that would become the New Jersey Devils was:

* The Colorado Rockies, who became the Devils in 1982, lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 7-5 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 11-0 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. No, that's not a typo: The Fly Guys beat the Pens eleven to nothing. The Pens did not have Mario Lemieux, nor Jaromir Jagr, nor Sidney Crosby.

* The Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings played to a tie, 2-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* And the Cleveland Barons beat the Minnesota North Stars, 7-4 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Both teams were in dire financial straits, so the NHL approved their agreement for a merger at the end of the season, under the North Stars name. In the "big four" North American sports leagues, the Barons, who had been the Oakland Seals from 1967 to 1970 and the California Golden Seals from then until 1976, remain the last team to outright fail and go out of business. 

September 20, 1973: Jim Croce Is Killed

September 20, 1973: Jim Croce is killed in a plane crash in Natchitoches, Louisiana. He was only 30 years old.

This was also the day of the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. I have a separate entry for that.

James Joseph Croce was born on January 10, 1943 in Philadelphia, and grew up in adjoining Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. In 1965, he graduated from nearby Villanova University, where he was a student disc jockey at their radio station. Like so many other DJs before and since, he thought he could make records as good as the ones he was playing. He was one of the few who turned out to be right.

In 1966, he recorded his 1st album, Facets. His parents hoped that he would give up music after the album failed. It didn't fail. He and his wife, Ingrid Jacobson, moved to suburban South Jersey, and he enlisted in the New Jersey National Guard, in the hope of avoiding being sent to Vietnam. It worked, although he was an undistinguished soldier: He later said he would be prepared if "there's ever a war where we have to defend ourselves with mops."

But his subsequent releases did fail, and he had to get "real jobs." He hated them: "I'd worked construction crews, and I'd been a welder while I was in college. But I'd rather do other things than get burned." This led to songs like "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues." In 1972, Jim got a contract with ABC Records, leading to the album You Don’t Mess Around with Jim.

There have been a few famous men named James Walker. There was Jimmy, a.k.a. Beau James, the convention-flouting Mayor of New York in the 1920s; there was Jimmy, an NBA star at the time of the album; there was Jimmie, who stared as James Evans Jr., a.k.a. J.J., on the sitcom Good Times, a few years after the album; and there was Big Jim Walker, the title character of Croce's title track, "a pool-shootin' son of a gun" and "The King of 42nd Street."

Spoiler Alert for a song half a century old: Jim hustles a kid from South Alabama: "I am a pool-shootin' boy, my name is Willie McCoy, but, down home, folks call me Slim." He comes into the pool hall where Big Jim holds court, says he's come to get his money back, and everyone tells him:

You don't tug on Superman's cape.

You don't spit into the wind.

You don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger.

And you don't mess around with Jim.

Well, "Jimmy come boppin' in off that street," and there's a knife fight, and when it's over, the line becomes, "You don't mess around with Slim."

Another song on the album was "Time In a Bottle," a love song tinged with sadness. But it wasn't released as a single at the time.

But the album was a smash. Within 3 days in August 1972, Croce appeared on both American Bandstand and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, followed a month later by The Dick Cavett Show.

His next album, Life and Times, was released on July 1, 1973. It included "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," the song by which he remains best known. The song is largely a ripoff: The piano opening is nearly identical to that of "Queen of the Hop" by Bobby Darin, and the story is basically a rewrite of "You Don't Mess Around With Jim."

In this case, the action moves to the Windy City: "Now, the South Side of Chicago is the baddest part of town." The similarities between Leroy Brown and Big Jim Walker are many. Both are big men, compared to animals: Jim is "stronger than a country hoss," while Leroy is "badder than old King Kong, and meaner than a junkyard dog." Both drive Cadillacs: Jim has a drop-top, while Leroy has an Eldorado. Both men use blades. Both men gamble. And messing with either one of them is, at least at the beginnings of their songs, considered a very bad idea.

There are, of course, differences, in addition to their respective hometowns. In addition to his Eldorado, Leroy also has a custom Lincoln Continental. Jim is not said to use a gun, although that can't be ruled out. And their blades are different: Jim apparently uses a switchblade, while Leroy "got a .32 gun in his pocket for fun, he got a razor in his shoe."

Jim's fashion sense is never mentioned, while Leroy "likes his fancy clothes," and wears a big diamond ring. Jim is a pool hustler, and while Leroy is said to be a gambler, the only game he is mentioned as playing is shooting dice. (Of course, this doesn't rule out hustling pool, or any other game.) Also, while neither man's race is explicitly mentioned, it's likely that Jim is white and Leroy is black.

And the way these men come to their respective climactic fights is different: Jim had cheated Slim, while Leroy put the moves on a woman he immediately finds out has a jealous husband. But here's where it gets weird: At the end of the song, Croce still says that Leroy is "the baddest man in the whole damn town," despite the fact that he "looked like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone." Croce never said what the other guy looked like, so maybe Leroy still won the fight. Certainly, taking the beating of your life and still winning would be worth certifying you as "the baddest man in the whole damn town."

The song hit Number 1, and a clip of him playing it on The Midnight Special on June 15, 1973 can be seen on YouTube. He appeared on The Helen Reddy Show on July 19: Australian singer Reddy would soon have her own Number 1 hit with her cover of the country song "Delta Dawn." In July, Croce and his band went to London, and performed on The Old Grey Whistle Test, basically Britain's version of The Midnight Special.

He had just come back from London and recorded a new album, titled I Got a Name, when he went on another tour. Having finished a show at the Prather Coliseum, the arena of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, his plane took off from the Natchitoches airport in a Beechcraft E18S, a propeller-driven model known as the Twin Beech, heading for Sherman, Texas, site of Austin College, where the next night's show was to be.

The plane barely got off the ground before it hit a tree. All 6 people on board were killed: Croce, bandmate Maury Muehleisen, warmup comedian George Stevens, their manager Kenneth Cortese, their road manager Dennis Rast, and pilot Robert N. Elliott.

Jim Croce was buried at Haym Salomon Memorial Park in the Philadelphia suburb of Frazer, Pennsylvania. He was survived by his wife Ingrid (for whom he converted to Judaism), who resumed her recording career; and their son Adrian James, who was 8 days short of his 2nd birthday. As of September 20, 2022, both are still alive. "A.J." also became a recording artist, and looks just like his father, minus the prominent mustache.

Someone at ABC Records remembered "Time In a Bottle," with its themes of love and lost time, and it was posthumously released. It hit Number 1 on December 29, 1973.

In 2006, the TV series Life On Mars aired on British television. It was about Sam Tyler (Jon Simm), a detective in present-day Manchester, who was in an accident, and woke up in 1973. At a nightclub, he sees soccer stars Bobby Charlton and Denis Law of Manchester United and Francis Lee of Manchester City. He also meets Marc Bolan of T. Rex, and warns him, "Drive carefully, especially in Minis!" (In fact, it was his girlfriend, Gloria Jones, singer of the original version of "Tainted Love," who drove the car in his fatal crash, although she survived.)

An American version of the show premiered in 2008, set in New York, and, in the nightclub scene, Sam (played here by Irish actor Jason O'Mara) sees New York Jets superstar Joe Namath, and meets Jim Croce (Don Puglisi), and warns him to be careful of small planes. Although some things Sam does turn out to have changed history, it appears that this version of Croce thought he was nuts (or maybe high), and did not take him seriously. (T. Rex's "Bang a Gong" then plays.)

Buddy Holly, Jim Reeves, Otis Redding, Jim Croce: All died in the crashes of Beechcraft planes. To make matters worse, Reeves' Beechcraft had been built in 1959, the year of Holly's crash.

*

September 20, 1973 was a Thursday. It was early in the NFL season, but midweek, and no games were played that night. The NBA, the ABA, the NHL and the WHA were working their way up to starting new seasons. But there were Major League Baseball games played:

* The Houston Astros and the San Diego Padres, meant to play at the Astrodome on this day, instead had their game moved up as part of a doubleheader the day before, September 19 -- because the promoters of the Battle of the Sexes wanted the Dome for their event. The Astros won the 1st game 8-5, and the Padres won the 2nd game 6-3.

* The New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, the Cleveland Indians and the Milwaukee Brewers were not scheduled. I checked: There was no notation in any of the teams' remaining schedules saying that a game scheduled for this date was made up later, due to rain or any other reason.

* The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 at Shea Stadium. This was "The Ball Off the Wall Game." There was a 5-way dogfight for the National League Eastern Division title. Going into the game, the Pirates were in 1st place, the Montreal Expos were 1 game back, the Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals both a game and a half back, and the Chicago Cubs 4 games back. Even so, the Pirates, winners of the 1971 World Series and the last 3 NL East titles, struggling all year after the death of Roberto Clemente in a plane crash the previous New Year's Eve, were the only team above .500, at 75-74. It seemed like no one wanted to win that Division.

But the Metropolitans and the Buccos sure played this game like they both wanted to win it. The game's only home run was hit by Pirate (and future Met) Richie Hebner in the 7th inning, but the Mets tied it 2-2 in the 8th. Both teams scored in the 9th to make it 3-3, and send it to extra innings.

It went to the top of the 13th inning. With 1 out, Richie Zisk singled off Ray Sadecki. Manny Sanguillen flew to right for the 2nd out. Dave Augustine, a 23-year-old center fielder from West Virginia in only his 5th major league game, hit one deep to left. It looked like a home run.

Except it hit the top of the fence, and, instead of bouncing over for a homer, it bounced back, right into Cleon Jones' glove. That's a hit. But Jones pivoted, and fired to Wayne Garrett (playing shortstop instead of his usual 3rd base). Garrett saw that Zisk was trying to score, and threw home to catcher Ron Hodges. Zisk was out at the plate.

The bottom of the 13th began with walks drawn by John Milner and Ken Boswell. Don Hahn popped up to 1st base. But Hodges singled to left, scoring Milner with the winning run. The Mets went on to win the Division, by a game and a half over the Cardinals, 2 1/2 over the Pirates, 3 1/2 over the Expos and 5 over the Cubs. (Although he was on the Mets roster for this game, Willie Mays, soon to announce his retirement, did not play. Willie Stargell went 0-for-5 for the Pirates, although he did draw a walk.)

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cardinals, 6-5 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Jim Palmer pitched a 5-hit shutout.

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

* A doubleheader was split at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The California Angels won the 1st game, 6-4. Richie Scheinblum won it with a single in the top of the 11th inning. The Texas Rangers won the 2nd game, 8-3. Closing in on a new record for strikeouts in a season, with 383, Nolan Ryan did not pitch in either game for the Angels.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-3 at the new Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.)

* The Minnesota Twins swept a doubleheader from the Oakland Athletics at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The Twins won the opener, 4-3. Steve Brye hit a walkoff single in the bottom of the 9th. The Twins also won the nightcap, 5-4. Reggie Jackson appeared only once in the twinbill, as a pinch-hitter in the 1st game, and did not get on base. The A's bounced back from this, and from a hundred other indignities, and won the World Series anyway.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Davey Lopes won it with a home run in the bottom of the 12th inning. Hank Aaron went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs, but while he hit 2 doubles, he did not hit any home runs. With 5 games left in the season, he had 711 career home runs, 3 behind the record held by Babe Ruth.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-5 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

August 31, 1969: Rocky Marciano's Plane Crash

August 31, 1969: Rocky Marciano and 2 others are killed when their Cessna 172, flying from Midway Airport in Chicago to Des Moines, crashes near Newton, Iowa, 30 miles from their destination. Marciano was a day short of his 46th birthday.

He was born on September 1, 1923, as Rocco Francis Marchegiano, outside Boston in Brockton, Massachusetts. "The Brockton Blockbuster" first fought for the Heavyweight Championship of the World in 1952, against Jersey Joe Walcott, and got knocked down in the 1st round. He got up, and knocked Walcott out in the 13th round. In the rematch, he knocked Walcott out in the 1st.

Like Jack Dempsey, he was a nice guy out of the ring, and hell in it. Like his idol, Joe Louis, he won a lot of fights where he seemed to be losing. His holding of the title made him the 1st Heavyweight Champion to be embraced by television viewers. The fact that he was white and ethnic, not black like Louis or later Champions like Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali, shouldn't have helped, but did.

He retired in 1956, at 49-0, with 43 knockouts. Among his victims were former Heavyweight Champions Louis, Walcott and Ezzard Charles, and reigning Light Heavyweight Champion Archie Moore, whom he beat in what turned out to be his last fight. He is the only Heavyweight Champion who retired undefeated, and stayed retired. He became an announcer for fights, and even hosted a talk show where he would interview a celebrity and then show a famous fight, sometimes one of his own.

As with Buddy Holly 10 years earlier, the pilot was inexperienced flying at night and in bad weather, and crashed in rural Iowa.

*

August 31, 1969 was a Sunday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the expansion Kansas City Royals, 5-3 at Yankee Stadium. Fritz Peterson was the winning pitcher. Roy White went 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Thurman Munson had made his major league debut that month, but on this day, the catcher was Frank Fernández, who had an unusual day: no official at-bats, 4 walks, and a run scored.

* The New York Mets split a doubleheader with the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The Mets won the opener, 8-0. Tom Seaver pitched a shutout, allowing 7 hits and 3 walks, striking out 11. The Mets got good production from the bottom of their order: Ron Swoboda, Jerry Grote and Al Weis each had 2 RBIs, while Seaver himself had 1 on a single.

The Giants won the nightcap, 3-2. Ron Taylor walked Jim Davenport with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning, messing up a good start by Jim McAndrew. Swoboda hit a home run. Willie Mays did not play in either game.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the California Angels, 5-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Frank Robinson went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Washington Senators beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-3 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. The Senators got home runs from Frank Howard, Mike Epstein, Ken McMullen and Bernie Allen, as Casey Cox outpitched Jim "Catfish" Hunter. Reggie Jackson went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-4 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Ken Holtzman not only outpitched Phil Niekro, but hit a home run for the Cubs. So did Billy Williams. Ernie Banks went 0-for-4. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Johnny Bench and Tony Pérez hit home runs, and Pete Rose went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the expansion Seattle Pilots, 7-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline did not play in this game, but Willie Horton hit 2 home runs, and Don Wert hit one. Earl Wilson outpitched Gene Brabender. Maybe the Pilots could have used Jim Bouton. Alas, they had traded him to Houston a few days earlier, as told in Bouton's book Ball Four.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew and Ted Uhlaender hit home runs. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4.

Killebrew won the American League home run race with 49. Howard hit 48. After getting to 31 by the All-Star Break, Reggie Jackson ended up with 47.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros, 6-4 at the Astrodome in Houston. Roberto Clemente went 0-for-2 with 3 walks. Willie Stargell went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs. The Astros used 4 pitchers. Jim Bouton was not one of them. This game did not make a fellow proud to be an Astro.

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

* And the National League's 2 expansion teams played a doubleheader at San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). The San Diego Padres won the 1st game, 5-2. The Montreal Expos won the 2nd game, 6-1. In contrast to the AL, where the Royals only lost 93 games and the Pilots 98, the Expos and Padres both lost 110, bad even by the standards of 1st-year teams.