April 19
1775 - The "shot heard around the world" was fired. Colonial Minute Men took on the British Army at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, beginning the American Revolution.
1824 - Lord Byron died of a fever while helping the Greeks fight the Turks.
1865 - A funeral was held at the White House for President Abraham Lincoln, assassinated five days earlier; his coffin was then taken to the U.S. Capitol for a private memorial service in the Rotunda.
1882 - Naturalist Charles Darwin, developer of the theory of evolution, died.
1933 - The United States went off the gold standard.
1943 - The Warsaw ghetto uprising began, one of the first mass rebellions against the Nazis.
1951 - Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his command by President Harry S. Truman, bid farewell to Congress, quoting a line from a ballad: "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."
1961 - The Federal Communications Commission authorized regular FM stereo broadcasting starting on June 1, 1961.
1977 - The Supreme Court, in Ingraham v. Wright, ruled 5-4 that even severe spanking of schoolchildren by faculty members did not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
1989 - Seven sailors were killed when a gun turret exploded aboard the USS Cockeye in the Caribbean. (The Navy initially suspected that a dead crew member had deliberately sparked the blast, but later said there was no proof of that.)
1993 - The siege at Waco, Texas ended when FBI and ATF agents moved into the Branch Davidian compound with tear gas and cult members set fire to the compound, killing over 80 people.
1994 - A Los Angeles jury awarded $3.8 million to beaten motorist Rodney King.
1995 - The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was destroyed by a car bomb, killing 168 people, including 19 children. (Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and was executed; prosecutors say McVeigh planned the attack as revenge for the Waco siege from two years prior.)
2005 - Germany's Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope and took the name Benedict XVI.
2011 - Cuba's Communist Party selected 79-year old Raul Castro to replace his ailing brother Fidel as first secretary.
2011 - Syria did away with 50 years of emergency rule, but emboldened and defiant crowds accused President Bashar Assad of simply trying to buy time while clinging to power.
2013 - Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old college student wanted in the Boston Marathon bombings, was taken into custody after a manhunt that had left the city virtually paralyzed; his older brother and alleged accomplice, 26-year-old Tamerlan, was killed earlier in a furious attempt to escape police.
2015 - Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Black man, died a week after suffering a spinal cord injury in the back of a Baltimore police van while he was handcuffed and shackled. (Six police officers were charged; three were acquitted and the city’s top prosecutor eventually dropped the three remaining cases.)
2018 - Raul Castro turned over Cuba’s presidency to Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez, the first non-Castro to hold Cuba’s top government office since the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro and his younger brother Raul.
2020 - Canadian authorities brought an end to a deadly weekend rampage, fatally shooting a man who had killed 22 people in shootings and fires across central and northern Nova Scotia; Gabriel Wortman had been driving a replica police car during the rampage.
Birthdays
25 - Oriana Sabatini (actress/model)
31 - Kim Chiu (actress)
33 - Patrik Laine (hockey player)
34 - Maria Sharapova (tennis player)
34 - Courtland Mead (actor)
35 - Candace Parker (basketball player)
36 - Zack Conroy (actor)
37 - Kelen Coleman (actor)
38 - Victoria Yeates (actress)
39 - Ali Wong (actress/comedian)
40 - Catalina Sandino Moreno (actress)
40 - Troy Polamalu (football player)
40 - Hayden Christensen (actor)
42 - Kate Hudson (actress)
43 - Joanna Gaines (reality star)
43 - James Franco (actor)
49 - Jennifer Taylor (actress)
49 - Jennifer Esposito (actress)
51 - Luis Miguel (singer)
52 - Jesse James (reality star)
53 - Bekka Bramlett (singer)
53 - Ashley Judd (actress)
53 - Kim Hawthorne (actress)
58 - Tom Wood (actor)
59 - Al Unser Jr. (race car driver)
65 - Sue Barker (tennis player)
69 - Tony Plana (actor)
75 - Tim Curry (actor)
84 - Elinor Donahue (actress)
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Today in Sports History - April 19
1897 - The Boston Marathon was run for the first time with John J. McDermott being crowned the first winner in a time of two hours, 55 minutes and 10 seconds.
1947 - The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup.
1960 - Baseball uniforms began displaying player's names on their backs.
1968 - The National League approved expansion to Montreal (Expos) and San Diego (Padres). Dallas-Fort Worth failed in its bid to land an expansion franchise.
1987 - The Los Angeles Clippers end one of the worst seasons in NBA history with a record of 12-70.
1988 - The Philadelphia 76ers retired Julius Erving's #6.
1991 - Evander Holyfield defeats George Foreman in 12 rounds for the heavyweight championship.
1992 - Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls won his sixth NBA scoring title, averaging 30.1 points per game.
1997 - The St. Louis Rams select Ohio State offensive tackle Orlando Pace with the first pick in the NFL Draft.
1997 - The following Huskers were selected in the 1997 NFL Draft: CB - Michael Booker (1st round, 11th pick, Atlanta Falcons); DE - Jared Tomich (2nd round, New Orleans Saints); S - Mike Minter (2nd round, Carolina Panthers); OG - Adam Treu (3rd round, Oakland Raiders); OG - Chris Dishman (4th round, Arizona Cardinals); S - Jamel Williams (5th round, Washington Redskins); CB - Eric Stokes (5th round, Seattle Seahawks); and LB - Jon Hesse (7th round, Jacksonville Jaguars).
1999 - Cal Ripken Jr. (Baltimore Orioles) was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his 19 year career. He was suffering from a back problem.
1775 - The "shot heard around the world" was fired. Colonial Minute Men took on the British Army at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, beginning the American Revolution.
1824 - Lord Byron died of a fever while helping the Greeks fight the Turks.
1865 - A funeral was held at the White House for President Abraham Lincoln, assassinated five days earlier; his coffin was then taken to the U.S. Capitol for a private memorial service in the Rotunda.
1882 - Naturalist Charles Darwin, developer of the theory of evolution, died.
1933 - The United States went off the gold standard.
1943 - The Warsaw ghetto uprising began, one of the first mass rebellions against the Nazis.
1951 - Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his command by President Harry S. Truman, bid farewell to Congress, quoting a line from a ballad: "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."
1961 - The Federal Communications Commission authorized regular FM stereo broadcasting starting on June 1, 1961.
1977 - The Supreme Court, in Ingraham v. Wright, ruled 5-4 that even severe spanking of schoolchildren by faculty members did not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
1989 - Seven sailors were killed when a gun turret exploded aboard the USS Cockeye in the Caribbean. (The Navy initially suspected that a dead crew member had deliberately sparked the blast, but later said there was no proof of that.)
1993 - The siege at Waco, Texas ended when FBI and ATF agents moved into the Branch Davidian compound with tear gas and cult members set fire to the compound, killing over 80 people.
1994 - A Los Angeles jury awarded $3.8 million to beaten motorist Rodney King.
1995 - The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was destroyed by a car bomb, killing 168 people, including 19 children. (Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and was executed; prosecutors say McVeigh planned the attack as revenge for the Waco siege from two years prior.)
2005 - Germany's Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope and took the name Benedict XVI.
2011 - Cuba's Communist Party selected 79-year old Raul Castro to replace his ailing brother Fidel as first secretary.
2011 - Syria did away with 50 years of emergency rule, but emboldened and defiant crowds accused President Bashar Assad of simply trying to buy time while clinging to power.
2013 - Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old college student wanted in the Boston Marathon bombings, was taken into custody after a manhunt that had left the city virtually paralyzed; his older brother and alleged accomplice, 26-year-old Tamerlan, was killed earlier in a furious attempt to escape police.
2015 - Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Black man, died a week after suffering a spinal cord injury in the back of a Baltimore police van while he was handcuffed and shackled. (Six police officers were charged; three were acquitted and the city’s top prosecutor eventually dropped the three remaining cases.)
2018 - Raul Castro turned over Cuba’s presidency to Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez, the first non-Castro to hold Cuba’s top government office since the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro and his younger brother Raul.
2020 - Canadian authorities brought an end to a deadly weekend rampage, fatally shooting a man who had killed 22 people in shootings and fires across central and northern Nova Scotia; Gabriel Wortman had been driving a replica police car during the rampage.
Birthdays
25 - Oriana Sabatini (actress/model)
31 - Kim Chiu (actress)
33 - Patrik Laine (hockey player)
34 - Maria Sharapova (tennis player)
34 - Courtland Mead (actor)
35 - Candace Parker (basketball player)
36 - Zack Conroy (actor)
37 - Kelen Coleman (actor)
38 - Victoria Yeates (actress)
39 - Ali Wong (actress/comedian)
40 - Catalina Sandino Moreno (actress)
40 - Troy Polamalu (football player)
40 - Hayden Christensen (actor)
42 - Kate Hudson (actress)
43 - Joanna Gaines (reality star)
43 - James Franco (actor)
49 - Jennifer Taylor (actress)
49 - Jennifer Esposito (actress)
51 - Luis Miguel (singer)
52 - Jesse James (reality star)
53 - Bekka Bramlett (singer)
53 - Ashley Judd (actress)
53 - Kim Hawthorne (actress)
58 - Tom Wood (actor)
59 - Al Unser Jr. (race car driver)
65 - Sue Barker (tennis player)
69 - Tony Plana (actor)
75 - Tim Curry (actor)
84 - Elinor Donahue (actress)
===========================================
Today in Sports History - April 19
1897 - The Boston Marathon was run for the first time with John J. McDermott being crowned the first winner in a time of two hours, 55 minutes and 10 seconds.
1947 - The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup.
1960 - Baseball uniforms began displaying player's names on their backs.
1968 - The National League approved expansion to Montreal (Expos) and San Diego (Padres). Dallas-Fort Worth failed in its bid to land an expansion franchise.
1987 - The Los Angeles Clippers end one of the worst seasons in NBA history with a record of 12-70.
1988 - The Philadelphia 76ers retired Julius Erving's #6.
1991 - Evander Holyfield defeats George Foreman in 12 rounds for the heavyweight championship.
1992 - Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls won his sixth NBA scoring title, averaging 30.1 points per game.
1997 - The St. Louis Rams select Ohio State offensive tackle Orlando Pace with the first pick in the NFL Draft.
1997 - The following Huskers were selected in the 1997 NFL Draft: CB - Michael Booker (1st round, 11th pick, Atlanta Falcons); DE - Jared Tomich (2nd round, New Orleans Saints); S - Mike Minter (2nd round, Carolina Panthers); OG - Adam Treu (3rd round, Oakland Raiders); OG - Chris Dishman (4th round, Arizona Cardinals); S - Jamel Williams (5th round, Washington Redskins); CB - Eric Stokes (5th round, Seattle Seahawks); and LB - Jon Hesse (7th round, Jacksonville Jaguars).
1999 - Cal Ripken Jr. (Baltimore Orioles) was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his 19 year career. He was suffering from a back problem.
