Scores On This Historic Day

October 31, 1984: Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India is assassinated, in the garden of the official Prime Minister's residence at 1 Safdarjung Road, in the national capital of New Delhi. She was 66 years old. Indira Priyadarshini Nehru was born on November 19, 1917 in Allahabad, in what was then known as British India. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his friend, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a.k.a. the Mahatma, were the leaders of India's independence movement, achieved in 1947. Jawaharlal Nehru became the 1st Prime Minister. Gandhi was assassinated just 5 months later. Nehru's daughter, Indira, married a Member of Parliament, Feroze Gandhi. He was not related to the Mahatma: He had changed the spelling of his surname, Ghandy, in tribute. Indira Gandhi  served her father unofficially as a personal assistant during his tenure as Prime Minister.  Towards the end of the 1950s, Gandhi served as the President of the Congress. After her father's death in 1964, she was appointed a...

October 31, 1975:  The British rock band Queen release their single "Bohemian Rhapsody," from their album  A Night at the Opera . It was entirely written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, produced by Roy Thomas Baker, and recorded at Rockfield Studios 1 at Rockfield, Monmouth, Wales, about 37 miles northeast of the Welsh capital of Cardiff, and 154 miles west of London. Traditionally, Bohemia is the westernmost part of Czechia, a.k.a. the Czech Republic, and, before that, the westernmost part of Czechoslovakia. Before that, it belonged to the Austrian Empire; before that, the Holy Roman Empire; before that, it was an independent Kingdom of Bohemia. But the title of the song does not refer to the place. Rather, it refers to Bohemianism, defined as "the practice of an unconventional lifestyle," often involving musical, artistic, literary or spiritual pursuits. And yet, the song contains no lyrics reflecting this. It is actually several songs in one: * It opens with a 49...

October 31, 1974: It's Halloween in America. All over the country, kids are dressing up as their favorite monsters, TV characters, superheroes, and sports stars, trick-or-treating in the hopes of getting all that great candy they saw in TV commercials. In East Brunswick, on the New York side of New Jersey, your humble author, then only 4 years old, dressed like a cowboy (it was my mother's idea, not mine), was trick-or-treating for UNICEF, with the little orange box with the coin slot on top (also my mother's idea). And, in Deer Park, Texas, a suburb of Houston, then home to a toddler named Andy Pettitte, who went on to become a great pitcher, Timothy O'Bryan, 8 years old, dies. He was murdered, by his father, Ronald O'Bryan, who had poisoned the boy's candy, specifically Pixy Stix. He did it  in order to claim the insurance money. He also distributed poisoned candy to his daughter and 3 other children in an attempt to cover up his crime, but none of them ate i...

October 31, 1974: The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast premieres on NBC. The concept had begun a year earlier, as a segment on The Dean Martin Show , but was now extended to a full hour all to itself. A  roast  is a form of comedy in which a specific individual, a guest of "honor," is subjected to jokes at their expense, intended to amuse the event's wider audience. In addition to jokes and insult comedy , such events may also involve genuine praise and tributes. The assumption is that the  roastee  can take the jokes in good humor, and not as serious criticism or insult. The individual is surrounded by friends, fans, and well-wishers, who can receive some of the same treatment during the evening. For example: Dean Martin, legendary singer and actor, and the host -- and, once, the subject of an installment -- was a member of "The Rat Pack," which also included Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. The 3 of them were close friends, had done movies and TV specials togeth...

October 31, 1963:  A propane leak at a concession stand at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum in Indianapolis causes an explosion that kills 74 people during a Holiday On Ice show. Opened in 1939, the 6,800-seat building was not seriously damaged. It still stands, known as the Indiana Farmers Coliseum. It was the 1st home of the Indiana Pacers, from 1967 to 1974, and they won the American Basketball Association title there in 1970, 1972, and 1973. A recent photo of the Coliseum It has also been home to a series of minor-league hockey teams. The Indianapolis Capitals won the Calder Cup, the championship of the American Hockey League, in 1942 and 1950. The Indianapolis Ice won the Turner Cup, the championship of the International Hockey League, in 1990; and the Ray Miron Cup, the championship of the Central Hockey League, in 2000. The Indiana Ice won the Clark Cup, the championship of the United States Hockey League, in 2009 and 2014. The current team is called the Indy Fuel. * October ...

Rickwood Field October 31, 1961:  A federal judge rules that laws in the city of Birmingham‚ Alabama against integrated playing fields are illegal‚ eliminating the last barrier against racial integration in the Class AA Southern Association. Rather than allow black players, the SA team owners vote to be cowardly bastards and shut the league down. So they screwed their fans over rather than do the right thing, just as their forebears did 100 years earlier, in 1861. Thus, the league committed suicide in order to stick it to the liberals. Like most actions designed, as would be said in the 21st Century, "to own the libs," it failed, and was just plain stupid. In 1964, the original South Atlantic League (a.k.a. the SAL or "Sally League") filled the void, renaming itself the Southern League, and allowed integration. The Western Carolinas League took on the South Atlantic League name. Charlie Finley, a Birmingham native who, by this point, owned the Kansas City Athletics,...

October 31, 1959:  Louisiana State University hosts the University of Mississippi at Tiger Stadium in a foggy Baton Rouge. LSU comes into the game ranked Number 1, Ole Miss Number 3. Late in the 4th quarter, Ole Miss leads 3-0. Jake Gibbs, Ole Miss' quarterback and punter, and later a catcher for the New York Yankees, punts, and Billy Cannon, who led LSU to the National Championship the year before, returns it 89 yards, breaking 7 tackles and running the last 60 yards untouched through the fog, for a touchdown that wins the game, 7-3. It becomes known as "Billy Cannon's Halloween Run," and it effectively clinches the Heisman Trophy for him. But LSU lost to the University of Tennessee the next week, 14-13, as Cannon was stuffed on an attempt for a 2-point conversion, costing LSU a 2nd straight national title. A rematch with Ole Miss was set up for the Sugar Bowl, and Ole Miss won. Cannon played in all 10 seasons of the American Football League, winning AFL Championship...