December 19
1732 - Benjamin Franklin began publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac".
1777 - During the American Revolutionary War, Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to camp for the winter.
1843 - Charles Dickens published his classic "A Christmas Carol."
1907 - At lead 239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.
1946 - War broke out in Indochina, when Ho Chi Minh attacked attacked the French.
1950 - Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was named commander of the military forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
1960 - Fire broke out on the hangar deck of the nearly completed aircraft carrier USS Constellation at the New York Naval Shipyard; 50 civilian workers were killed.
1972 - Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.
1984 - Britain and China signed an accord to return Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.
1998 - President Bill Clinton is impeached on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice by the House of Representatives. (Clinton was subsequently acquitted by the Senate.)
2001 - The fires that had burned beneath the ruins of the World Trade Center in New York City for the previous three months were declared extinguished except for a few scattered hot spots.
2002 - Secretary of State Colin Powell declared Iraq in “material breach” of a U.N. disarmament resolution.
2003 - Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya announced that his country would discontinue development of weapons of mass destruction.
2003 - Design plans were unveiled for the signature skyscraper — a 1,776-foot glass tower — at the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.
2008 - Citing imminent danger to the national economy, President George W. Bush ordered an emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry.
2011 - North Korea announced the death two days earlier of leader Kim Jong Il; North Koreans marched by the thousands to mourn their “Dear Leader” while state media proclaimed his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, a “Great Successor.”
2012 - Four State Department officials resigned under pressure, less than a day after a damning report blamed management failures for a lack of security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, where militants killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
2017 - U.S. health officials approved the nation’s first gene therapy for an inherited disease, a treatment that improves the sight of patients with a rare form of blindness.
2021 - Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he could not support his party’s signature $2 trillion social and environment bill, dealing a seemingly fatal blow to President Joe Biden’s leading domestic initiative. (Congress would approve a smaller but still substantive compromise measure in August 2022.)
2021 - Despite rising concerns over the omicron variant, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” achieved the third best opening of all time; studio estimates showed that the Sony and Marvel blockbuster grossed $253 million in ticket sales in North America.
Birthdays
24 - Willow Hand (model)
29 - Nik Dodani (actor)
31 - Jorge Blanco (actor)
35 - Ronan Farrow (journalist)
37 - Lady Sovereign (rapper)
42 - Marla Sokoloff (actress)
42 - Jake Gyllenhaal (actor)
43 - Tara Summers (actress)
50 - Alyssa Milano (actress)
50 - Rosa Blasi (actress)
50 - Warren Sapp (football player)
51 - Amy Locane (actress)
53 - Kristy Swanson (actress)
54 - Elvis Nolasco (actor)
54 - Ken Marino (actor)
55 - Criss Angel (magician)
56 - Robert MacNaughton (actor)
59 - Jennifer Beals (actress)
61 - Scott Cohen (actor)
62 - Mike Lookinland (actor)
78 - Tim Reid (actor)
79 - Elaine Joyce (actress)
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Today in Sports History - December 19
1887 - Jake Kilrain and Jim Smith fought in a bare knuckles fight which lasted 106 rounds and 2 hours and 30 minutes. The fight was ruled a draw and was halted due to darkness.
1917 - The first regular season games of the new National Hockey League (NHL) were played. Five teams made up the league Toronto Arenas, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, the Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Wanderers. Quebec did not actually begin operations until two years later. Dave Ritchie (Montreal Wanderers) scored the first goal in NHL history.
1948 - The Cleveland Browns defeat the Buffalo Bills 49-7 to win the AAFC Championship Game.
1948 - The Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 to win the NFL Championship Game.
1959 - Penn State’s Nittany Lions beat Alabama, 7-0, in the first Liberty Bowl football game.
1964 - ABC used an overhead camera for the first time while broadcasting the Liberty Bowl.
1977 - #12 Nebraska defeats #14 North Carolina 21-17 to win the Liberty Bowl.
1984 - Wayne Gretzky, 23, of the Edmonton Oilers, became only the 18th player in the National Hockey League (NHL) to score more than 1,000 points. He did it in his 424th career game. The previous record was held by Guy Lafleur who did it in 720 games.
1984 - Scotty Bowman became the NHL's all time winningest coach with his 691st victory.
1985 - Jan Stenerud announced his retirement from the NFL. The football kicker held the record for the most career field goals with 373.
1985 - ABC Sports announced that it was severing ties with Howard Cosell and released ‘The Mouth’ from all TV commitments. Cosell continued on ABC Radio for another five years.
1988 - The NCAA placed the Oklahoma Sooners football program on probation for violations.
1990 - Bo Jackson (Los Angeles Raiders) became the first athlete to be chosen for All Star Games in two sports.
1991 - Pitcher Steve Howe (New York Yankees) was arrested for cocaine possession.
1999 - Orlando Brown (Cleveland Browns) was ejected from a game for pushing referee Jeff Triplette to the ground. Triplette had accidentally hit Brown in the eye with a weighted penalty flag.
2003 - The baseball that was deflected by a fan in the stands during a Chicago Cubs game was sold for $106,600 at auction. The foul ball appeared to be headed for the glove of left fielder Moises Alou in Game 6 of the National League Championship series. The Florida Marlins ended up winning the game 8-3. The Cubs then lost Game 7.
2010 - "Miracle at the New Meadowlands", Philadelphia Eagles trail New York Giants by 21 points with eight minutes to play, before scoring 4 touchdowns in final 7 minutes, including dramatic walk-off punt returned for a touchdown by DeSean Jackson
2018 - The Houston Rockets set an NBA single-game record with 26 three-pointers in a 136-118 win over the Washington Wizards; eight different players hit from beyond the arc as the Rockets shot 26-of-55 (47.3%) from the three-point line.
1732 - Benjamin Franklin began publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac".
1777 - During the American Revolutionary War, Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to camp for the winter.
1843 - Charles Dickens published his classic "A Christmas Carol."
1907 - At lead 239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.
1946 - War broke out in Indochina, when Ho Chi Minh attacked attacked the French.
1950 - Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was named commander of the military forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
1960 - Fire broke out on the hangar deck of the nearly completed aircraft carrier USS Constellation at the New York Naval Shipyard; 50 civilian workers were killed.
1972 - Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.
1984 - Britain and China signed an accord to return Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.
1998 - President Bill Clinton is impeached on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice by the House of Representatives. (Clinton was subsequently acquitted by the Senate.)
2001 - The fires that had burned beneath the ruins of the World Trade Center in New York City for the previous three months were declared extinguished except for a few scattered hot spots.
2002 - Secretary of State Colin Powell declared Iraq in “material breach” of a U.N. disarmament resolution.
2003 - Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya announced that his country would discontinue development of weapons of mass destruction.
2003 - Design plans were unveiled for the signature skyscraper — a 1,776-foot glass tower — at the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.
2008 - Citing imminent danger to the national economy, President George W. Bush ordered an emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry.
2011 - North Korea announced the death two days earlier of leader Kim Jong Il; North Koreans marched by the thousands to mourn their “Dear Leader” while state media proclaimed his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, a “Great Successor.”
2012 - Four State Department officials resigned under pressure, less than a day after a damning report blamed management failures for a lack of security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, where militants killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
2017 - U.S. health officials approved the nation’s first gene therapy for an inherited disease, a treatment that improves the sight of patients with a rare form of blindness.
2021 - Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he could not support his party’s signature $2 trillion social and environment bill, dealing a seemingly fatal blow to President Joe Biden’s leading domestic initiative. (Congress would approve a smaller but still substantive compromise measure in August 2022.)
2021 - Despite rising concerns over the omicron variant, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” achieved the third best opening of all time; studio estimates showed that the Sony and Marvel blockbuster grossed $253 million in ticket sales in North America.
Birthdays
24 - Willow Hand (model)
29 - Nik Dodani (actor)
31 - Jorge Blanco (actor)
35 - Ronan Farrow (journalist)
37 - Lady Sovereign (rapper)
42 - Marla Sokoloff (actress)
42 - Jake Gyllenhaal (actor)
43 - Tara Summers (actress)
50 - Alyssa Milano (actress)
50 - Rosa Blasi (actress)
50 - Warren Sapp (football player)
51 - Amy Locane (actress)
53 - Kristy Swanson (actress)
54 - Elvis Nolasco (actor)
54 - Ken Marino (actor)
55 - Criss Angel (magician)
56 - Robert MacNaughton (actor)
59 - Jennifer Beals (actress)
61 - Scott Cohen (actor)
62 - Mike Lookinland (actor)
78 - Tim Reid (actor)
79 - Elaine Joyce (actress)
==================================
Today in Sports History - December 19
1887 - Jake Kilrain and Jim Smith fought in a bare knuckles fight which lasted 106 rounds and 2 hours and 30 minutes. The fight was ruled a draw and was halted due to darkness.
1917 - The first regular season games of the new National Hockey League (NHL) were played. Five teams made up the league Toronto Arenas, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, the Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Wanderers. Quebec did not actually begin operations until two years later. Dave Ritchie (Montreal Wanderers) scored the first goal in NHL history.
1948 - The Cleveland Browns defeat the Buffalo Bills 49-7 to win the AAFC Championship Game.
1948 - The Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 to win the NFL Championship Game.
1959 - Penn State’s Nittany Lions beat Alabama, 7-0, in the first Liberty Bowl football game.
1964 - ABC used an overhead camera for the first time while broadcasting the Liberty Bowl.
1977 - #12 Nebraska defeats #14 North Carolina 21-17 to win the Liberty Bowl.
1984 - Wayne Gretzky, 23, of the Edmonton Oilers, became only the 18th player in the National Hockey League (NHL) to score more than 1,000 points. He did it in his 424th career game. The previous record was held by Guy Lafleur who did it in 720 games.
1984 - Scotty Bowman became the NHL's all time winningest coach with his 691st victory.
1985 - Jan Stenerud announced his retirement from the NFL. The football kicker held the record for the most career field goals with 373.
1985 - ABC Sports announced that it was severing ties with Howard Cosell and released ‘The Mouth’ from all TV commitments. Cosell continued on ABC Radio for another five years.
1988 - The NCAA placed the Oklahoma Sooners football program on probation for violations.
1990 - Bo Jackson (Los Angeles Raiders) became the first athlete to be chosen for All Star Games in two sports.
1991 - Pitcher Steve Howe (New York Yankees) was arrested for cocaine possession.
1999 - Orlando Brown (Cleveland Browns) was ejected from a game for pushing referee Jeff Triplette to the ground. Triplette had accidentally hit Brown in the eye with a weighted penalty flag.
2003 - The baseball that was deflected by a fan in the stands during a Chicago Cubs game was sold for $106,600 at auction. The foul ball appeared to be headed for the glove of left fielder Moises Alou in Game 6 of the National League Championship series. The Florida Marlins ended up winning the game 8-3. The Cubs then lost Game 7.
2010 - "Miracle at the New Meadowlands", Philadelphia Eagles trail New York Giants by 21 points with eight minutes to play, before scoring 4 touchdowns in final 7 minutes, including dramatic walk-off punt returned for a touchdown by DeSean Jackson
2018 - The Houston Rockets set an NBA single-game record with 26 three-pointers in a 136-118 win over the Washington Wizards; eight different players hit from beyond the arc as the Rockets shot 26-of-55 (47.3%) from the three-point line.
