February 15
1564 - Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa.
1764 - The city of St. Louis was founded as a French fur trading post.
1879 - President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.
1898 - The USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor in Cuba, touching off the Spanish-American War.
1913 - The New York Armory Show opened, introducing America to artists such as Picasso, Duchamp and Matisse.
1933 - Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak was killed in an assassination attempt on president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami; gunman Giuseppe Zangara was executed more than four weeks later.
1952 - A funeral was held at Windsor Castle for Britain's King George VI, who had died nine days earlier.
1965 - The Maple Leaf Flag officially became the new national flag of Canada.
1965 - Singer Nat King Cole died in Santa Monica, California at age 45.
1971 - Britain and Ireland "decimalised" their currencies, making one pound equal to 100 new pence instead of 240 pence.
1989 - More than 100,000 Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan almost 10 years after the Soviet Union invaded the country.
1992 - A Milwaukee jury found that Jeffrey Dahmer was sane when he killed and mutilated 15 men and boys. (The decision meant that Dahmer, who had already pleaded guilty to the murders, would receive a mandatory life sentence for each count; Dahmer was beaten to death in prison in 1994.)
2003 - Millions of protesters around the world demonstrated against the threat of a U.S. war on Iraq.
2005 - Defrocked priest Paul Shanley was sentenced in Boston to 12 to 15 years in prison on child rape charges.
2008 - Business tycoon Steve Fossett, 63, was declared dead five months after his small plane vanished over California's Sierra Nevada mountains. (His remains were discovered later in the year.)
2011 - Protesters swarmed Wisconsin's capitol after Gov. Scott Walker proposed cutbacks in benefits and bargaining rights for public employees.
2012 - A prison fire in Comayagua, Honduras killed 360.
2012 - Congressional negotiators sealed an agreement on legislation to renew a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and jobless benefits for millions more.
2017 - In an ultimatum to America’s allies, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told fellow NATO members to increase military spending by year’s end or risk seeing the U.S. curtail its defense support.
2021 - A sprawling blast of winter weather brought unusual snow and cold into Texas, knocking out power for more than 4 million people and sending temperatures into the single digits as far south as San Antonio; the icy blast across the Deep South would later be blamed for more than 100 deaths in Texas and dozens more across other Southern states.
Birthdays
24 - Zach Gordon (actor)
27 - Megan Thee Stallion (rapper)
36 - Amber Riley (actress)
37 - Natalie Morales (actress)
39 - Ashley Lyn Cafagna (actress)
48 - Miranda July (actress)
48 - Omarosa Manigault (reality star)
49 - Any Van Dyken (swimmer)
49 - Sarah Wynter (actress)
51 - Renee O'Connor (actress)
51 - Alex Borstein (actor)
55 - Michael Easton (actor)
59 - Michael Quezada (actor/comedian)
62 - Darrell Green (football player)
67 - Christopher McDonald (actor)
67 - Janice Dickinson (model)
68 - Matt Groening (Simpsons creator)
71 - Melissa Manchester (singer)
71 - Jane Seymour (actress)
75 - Marisa Berenson (actress/model)
91 - Claire Bloom (actress)
==========================================
Today in Sports History - February 15
1932 - As a member of the American gold-medal winning 4-man bobsled team at the Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games, Eddie Eagan became the first athlete to win Olympic golds in both the Summer and Winter Games. (He won a boxing gold medal at the 1920 Summer Games in Antwerp.)
1946 - Edith Houghton, at age 33, was signed as a baseball scout by the Philadelphia Phillies becoming the first female scout in the major leagues.
1953 - 17-year-old Tenley Albright became the first American woman to win the world figure skating championship.
1961 - A Sabena Airlines Boeing 707 crashed in Belgium, killing 73 people, including an 18-member U.S. figure skating team en route to the World Championships in Czechoslovakia.
1965 - NFL teams pledged not to sign college seniors until they had completed all of their games, including bowl games.
1978 - Leon Spinks defeats Muhammad Ali in 15 rounds to win the heavyweight championship.
1980 - Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers) tied an NHL record with seven assists in a game against the Washington Capitals. Gretzky also set a rookie record of 96 points.
1991 - Troy State sets an NCAA Division II record with 103 points in the second half en-route to a 187-117 win over DeVry Institute.
1996 - The NCAA football rules committee voted to require a tiebreaker in all NCAA football games.
1996 - Bill Belichick is fired as head coach of the Cleveland Browns with a record of 36-44.
1998 - After 20 attempts, Dale Earnhardt won his first Daytona 500.
2002 - Olympic officials resolved the judging scandal by awarding Canadian pairs figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier a gold medal while allowing the Russians, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, to keep their golds.
2018 - Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets records the fastest triple-double in NBA history with 30 points, 17 assists and 15 rebounds in just 14 minutes and 33 seconds of playing time in a win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
1564 - Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa.
1764 - The city of St. Louis was founded as a French fur trading post.
1879 - President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.
1898 - The USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor in Cuba, touching off the Spanish-American War.
1913 - The New York Armory Show opened, introducing America to artists such as Picasso, Duchamp and Matisse.
1933 - Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak was killed in an assassination attempt on president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami; gunman Giuseppe Zangara was executed more than four weeks later.
1952 - A funeral was held at Windsor Castle for Britain's King George VI, who had died nine days earlier.
1965 - The Maple Leaf Flag officially became the new national flag of Canada.
1965 - Singer Nat King Cole died in Santa Monica, California at age 45.
1971 - Britain and Ireland "decimalised" their currencies, making one pound equal to 100 new pence instead of 240 pence.
1989 - More than 100,000 Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan almost 10 years after the Soviet Union invaded the country.
1992 - A Milwaukee jury found that Jeffrey Dahmer was sane when he killed and mutilated 15 men and boys. (The decision meant that Dahmer, who had already pleaded guilty to the murders, would receive a mandatory life sentence for each count; Dahmer was beaten to death in prison in 1994.)
2003 - Millions of protesters around the world demonstrated against the threat of a U.S. war on Iraq.
2005 - Defrocked priest Paul Shanley was sentenced in Boston to 12 to 15 years in prison on child rape charges.
2008 - Business tycoon Steve Fossett, 63, was declared dead five months after his small plane vanished over California's Sierra Nevada mountains. (His remains were discovered later in the year.)
2011 - Protesters swarmed Wisconsin's capitol after Gov. Scott Walker proposed cutbacks in benefits and bargaining rights for public employees.
2012 - A prison fire in Comayagua, Honduras killed 360.
2012 - Congressional negotiators sealed an agreement on legislation to renew a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and jobless benefits for millions more.
2017 - In an ultimatum to America’s allies, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told fellow NATO members to increase military spending by year’s end or risk seeing the U.S. curtail its defense support.
2021 - A sprawling blast of winter weather brought unusual snow and cold into Texas, knocking out power for more than 4 million people and sending temperatures into the single digits as far south as San Antonio; the icy blast across the Deep South would later be blamed for more than 100 deaths in Texas and dozens more across other Southern states.
Birthdays
24 - Zach Gordon (actor)
27 - Megan Thee Stallion (rapper)
36 - Amber Riley (actress)
37 - Natalie Morales (actress)
39 - Ashley Lyn Cafagna (actress)
48 - Miranda July (actress)
48 - Omarosa Manigault (reality star)
49 - Any Van Dyken (swimmer)
49 - Sarah Wynter (actress)
51 - Renee O'Connor (actress)
51 - Alex Borstein (actor)
55 - Michael Easton (actor)
59 - Michael Quezada (actor/comedian)
62 - Darrell Green (football player)
67 - Christopher McDonald (actor)
67 - Janice Dickinson (model)
68 - Matt Groening (Simpsons creator)
71 - Melissa Manchester (singer)
71 - Jane Seymour (actress)
75 - Marisa Berenson (actress/model)
91 - Claire Bloom (actress)
==========================================
Today in Sports History - February 15
1932 - As a member of the American gold-medal winning 4-man bobsled team at the Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games, Eddie Eagan became the first athlete to win Olympic golds in both the Summer and Winter Games. (He won a boxing gold medal at the 1920 Summer Games in Antwerp.)
1946 - Edith Houghton, at age 33, was signed as a baseball scout by the Philadelphia Phillies becoming the first female scout in the major leagues.
1953 - 17-year-old Tenley Albright became the first American woman to win the world figure skating championship.
1961 - A Sabena Airlines Boeing 707 crashed in Belgium, killing 73 people, including an 18-member U.S. figure skating team en route to the World Championships in Czechoslovakia.
1965 - NFL teams pledged not to sign college seniors until they had completed all of their games, including bowl games.
1978 - Leon Spinks defeats Muhammad Ali in 15 rounds to win the heavyweight championship.
1980 - Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers) tied an NHL record with seven assists in a game against the Washington Capitals. Gretzky also set a rookie record of 96 points.
1991 - Troy State sets an NCAA Division II record with 103 points in the second half en-route to a 187-117 win over DeVry Institute.
1996 - The NCAA football rules committee voted to require a tiebreaker in all NCAA football games.
1996 - Bill Belichick is fired as head coach of the Cleveland Browns with a record of 36-44.
1998 - After 20 attempts, Dale Earnhardt won his first Daytona 500.
2002 - Olympic officials resolved the judging scandal by awarding Canadian pairs figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier a gold medal while allowing the Russians, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, to keep their golds.
2018 - Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets records the fastest triple-double in NBA history with 30 points, 17 assists and 15 rebounds in just 14 minutes and 33 seconds of playing time in a win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
