February 16
1804 - The U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, captured and held by Barbary pirates at Tripoli during the Tripolitan War, was set fire to and destroyed by a small group of men led by Lt. Stephen Decatur.
1862 - The Civil War Battle of Fort Donelson in Tennessee ended as some 12,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered; Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s victory earned him the moniker “Unconditional Surrender Grant.”
1868 - The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.
1918 - Lithuania proclaimed its independence from Russia. (Lithuania, which was occupied by the Soviet Union, then Nazi Germany, then the Soviet Union again during World War II, renewed its independence in 1990.)
1923 - The tomb of King Tutankhamen, discovered in 1922, was opened.
1937 - Wallace H. Carothers, a research chemist for Du Pont, received a patent for nylon.
1948 - NBC-TV aired the first nightly newscast, "The Camel Newsreel Theatre," which consisted of Fox Movietone newsreels.
1959 - Fidel Castro became leader of Cuba after having ousted the right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista.
1960 - The nuclear-powered radar picket submarine USS Triton departed New London, Connecticut, on the first submerged circumnavigation by a vessel.
1961 - The United States launched the Explorer 9 satellite.
1968 - The nation's first 911 phone system went into service in Haleyville, Alabama.
1996 - Eleven people were killed in a fiery collision between an Amtrak passenger train and a Maryland commuter train in Silver Spring, Maryland.
1998 - A China Airlines Airbus A300 trying to land in fog near Taipei, Taiwan, crashed, killing all 196 people on board, plus seven on the ground.
1999 - Turkish commandos captured Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya, sparking seizures of embassies in Europe by Kurds.
2001 - The United States and Britain staged air strikes against radar stations and air defense command centers in Iraq.
2005 - The Kyoto global warming pact, which the U.S. never ratified, went into effect.
2011 - Bookstore chain Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and said it would close nearly a third of its stores. (Borders closed all of its remaining stores in September 2011.)
2012 - A federal judge in Detroit ordered life in prison for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian man who'd tried to blow up a packed Northwest jetliner with a bomb concealed in his underwear.
2017 - In the first full-length news conference of his presidency, Donald Trump denounced what he called the “criminal” leaks that took down his top national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
2019 - The Vatican announced that former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who served as archbishop of Washington, D.C., had been found guilty by the Vatican of sex abuse and had been defrocked; McCarrick was the highest-ranking churchman and the first cardinal to face that punishment as the church dealt with clerical sex abuse.
2021 - A winter storm that left millions without power in record-breaking cold weather claimed more lives, including four family members who perished in a Houston-area house fire while using a fireplace to stay warm.
2021 - FEMA opened its first COVID-19 mass vaccination sites, setting up in Los Angeles and Oakland as part of a stepped-up effort by the Biden administration to reach minority communities.
Birthdays
21 - Chloe East (actress)
27 - Camilla Coleman Brooks (model)
32 - The Weeknd (singer)
33 - Elizabeth Olsen (actress)
35 - Ryan Follese (singer)
36 - Chloe Wepper (actress)
44 - Emily Harper (actress)
49 - Cathy Freeman (runner)
51 - Amanda Holden (actress)
51 - Sarah Clarke (actress)
63 - John McEnroe (tennis player)
64 - Lisa Loring (actress)
64 - Ice-T (rapper/actor)
65 - LeVar Burton (actor)
71 - William Katt (actor)
92 - Peggy King (singer/actress)
95 - June Brown (actress)
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Today in Sports History - February 16
1970 - Joe Frazier began his reign as the undefeated heavyweight world champion when he knocked out Jimmy Ellis in five rounds. He lost the title on January 22, 1973, when he lost for the first time in his professional career to George Foreman.
1972 - Los Angeles Laker Wilt Chamberlain topped the 30,000-point mark in his career during a game against the Phoenix Suns. He was the first NBA player to reach 30,000 points.
1992 - The Los Angeles Lakers officially retired Magic Johnson's #32 jersey. Johnson was the fifth Laker player to have his jersey retired. The other players were Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
1997 - Jeff Gordon became the youngest winner of the Daytona 500 at age 25.
1999 - O.J. Simpson's 1968 Heisman Trophy was sold for $230,000. A court judgment ordered the trophy to be sold to help settle a $33.5 million civil judgment against Simpson for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend.
2004 - The Pittsburgh Penguins lost their NHL-record 12th consecutive home game.
2004 - Baseball commissioner Bud Selig approved the swap of Alex Rodriguez (Texas Rangers) and Alfonso Soriano (New York Yankees). The Rangers would also get a minor league player in the deal.
2005 - The NHL canceled what was left of its season after a round of last-gasp negotiations failed to resolve differences over a salary cap.
1804 - The U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, captured and held by Barbary pirates at Tripoli during the Tripolitan War, was set fire to and destroyed by a small group of men led by Lt. Stephen Decatur.
1862 - The Civil War Battle of Fort Donelson in Tennessee ended as some 12,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered; Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s victory earned him the moniker “Unconditional Surrender Grant.”
1868 - The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.
1918 - Lithuania proclaimed its independence from Russia. (Lithuania, which was occupied by the Soviet Union, then Nazi Germany, then the Soviet Union again during World War II, renewed its independence in 1990.)
1923 - The tomb of King Tutankhamen, discovered in 1922, was opened.
1937 - Wallace H. Carothers, a research chemist for Du Pont, received a patent for nylon.
1948 - NBC-TV aired the first nightly newscast, "The Camel Newsreel Theatre," which consisted of Fox Movietone newsreels.
1959 - Fidel Castro became leader of Cuba after having ousted the right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista.
1960 - The nuclear-powered radar picket submarine USS Triton departed New London, Connecticut, on the first submerged circumnavigation by a vessel.
1961 - The United States launched the Explorer 9 satellite.
1968 - The nation's first 911 phone system went into service in Haleyville, Alabama.
1996 - Eleven people were killed in a fiery collision between an Amtrak passenger train and a Maryland commuter train in Silver Spring, Maryland.
1998 - A China Airlines Airbus A300 trying to land in fog near Taipei, Taiwan, crashed, killing all 196 people on board, plus seven on the ground.
1999 - Turkish commandos captured Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya, sparking seizures of embassies in Europe by Kurds.
2001 - The United States and Britain staged air strikes against radar stations and air defense command centers in Iraq.
2005 - The Kyoto global warming pact, which the U.S. never ratified, went into effect.
2011 - Bookstore chain Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and said it would close nearly a third of its stores. (Borders closed all of its remaining stores in September 2011.)
2012 - A federal judge in Detroit ordered life in prison for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian man who'd tried to blow up a packed Northwest jetliner with a bomb concealed in his underwear.
2017 - In the first full-length news conference of his presidency, Donald Trump denounced what he called the “criminal” leaks that took down his top national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
2019 - The Vatican announced that former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who served as archbishop of Washington, D.C., had been found guilty by the Vatican of sex abuse and had been defrocked; McCarrick was the highest-ranking churchman and the first cardinal to face that punishment as the church dealt with clerical sex abuse.
2021 - A winter storm that left millions without power in record-breaking cold weather claimed more lives, including four family members who perished in a Houston-area house fire while using a fireplace to stay warm.
2021 - FEMA opened its first COVID-19 mass vaccination sites, setting up in Los Angeles and Oakland as part of a stepped-up effort by the Biden administration to reach minority communities.
Birthdays
21 - Chloe East (actress)
27 - Camilla Coleman Brooks (model)
32 - The Weeknd (singer)
33 - Elizabeth Olsen (actress)
35 - Ryan Follese (singer)
36 - Chloe Wepper (actress)
44 - Emily Harper (actress)
49 - Cathy Freeman (runner)
51 - Amanda Holden (actress)
51 - Sarah Clarke (actress)
63 - John McEnroe (tennis player)
64 - Lisa Loring (actress)
64 - Ice-T (rapper/actor)
65 - LeVar Burton (actor)
71 - William Katt (actor)
92 - Peggy King (singer/actress)
95 - June Brown (actress)
============================================
Today in Sports History - February 16
1970 - Joe Frazier began his reign as the undefeated heavyweight world champion when he knocked out Jimmy Ellis in five rounds. He lost the title on January 22, 1973, when he lost for the first time in his professional career to George Foreman.
1972 - Los Angeles Laker Wilt Chamberlain topped the 30,000-point mark in his career during a game against the Phoenix Suns. He was the first NBA player to reach 30,000 points.
1992 - The Los Angeles Lakers officially retired Magic Johnson's #32 jersey. Johnson was the fifth Laker player to have his jersey retired. The other players were Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
1997 - Jeff Gordon became the youngest winner of the Daytona 500 at age 25.
1999 - O.J. Simpson's 1968 Heisman Trophy was sold for $230,000. A court judgment ordered the trophy to be sold to help settle a $33.5 million civil judgment against Simpson for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend.
2004 - The Pittsburgh Penguins lost their NHL-record 12th consecutive home game.
2004 - Baseball commissioner Bud Selig approved the swap of Alex Rodriguez (Texas Rangers) and Alfonso Soriano (New York Yankees). The Rangers would also get a minor league player in the deal.
2005 - The NHL canceled what was left of its season after a round of last-gasp negotiations failed to resolve differences over a salary cap.
