February 8
1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England after she was implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
1693 - The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia received its charter, becoming the second institution of higher learning in the United States.
1837 - The U.S. Senate selected Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky as vice president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.
1870 - The National Weather Service was established under the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
1904 - The Russo-Japanese War began when the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in northeast China.
1910 - The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated.
1915 - D.W. Griffith's silent movie epic about the Civil War, "The Birth of a Nation," premiered in Los Angeles.
1922 - President Warren G. Harding had a radio installed in the White House.
1924 - The gas chamber was used as a method of execution in the United States for the first time when gangster Gee Jon was put to death at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City.
1952 - Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed her accession to the British throne following the death of her father, King George VI.
1960 - Work began on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.
1960 - The payola (pay for broadcast airplay) hearings opened in the House of Representatives.
1968 - Three college students died in a confrontation with highway patrolmen in Orangeburg, South Carolina during a civil rights protest against a whites-only bowling alley.
1971 - NASDAQ, the world's first electronic stock exchange, held its first trading day.
1973 - Senate leaders named seven members of a select committee to investigate the Watergate scandal, including its chairman, Sen. Sam J. Ervin (D-North Carolina).
1980 - President Jimmy Carter revealed his plan to reinstate selective service draft registration.
1989 - 144 people were killed when an American-chartered Boeing 707 filled with Italian tourists slammed into a fog-covered mountain in the Azores.
1993 - General Motors sued NBC, alleging the program "Dateline NBC" had rigged two crashes to show that GM pickup trucks were prone to fires. (NBC settled the suit the following day.)
1996 - In a ceremony at the Library of Congress, President Bill Clinton signed legislation revamping the telecommunications industry, saying it would "bring the future to our doorstep."
1999 - The U.S. Senate heard closing arguments in the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.
2007 - Model and tabloid sensation Anna Nicole Smith died at age 39 from an accidental drug overdose.
2010 - Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of the pop superstar in Los Angeles Superior Court. (Murray was convicted and sentenced to four years in jail.)
2016 - President Barack Obama asked Congress for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding to fight the Zika virus and the mosquitoes that were spreading it in the United States and abroad, but said “there shouldn’t be a panic on this.”
2020 - The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said a 60-year-old U.S. citizen who’d been diagnosed with the coronavirus had died on Feb. 5 in Wuhan; it was apparently the first American fatality from the virus.
Birthdays
29 - Karle Warren (actor)
31 - Klay Thompson (basketball player)
31 - Bethany Hamilton (surfer)
32 - Dani Harmer (actress)
32 - Julio Jones (football player)
33 - Ryan Pinkston (actor)
36 - Jeremy Davis (musician)
37 - Cecily Strong (actress/comedian)
40 - Jim Parrack (actor)
41 - William Jackson Harper (actor)
47 - Joshua Morrow (actor)
47 - Seth Green (actor)
49 - Paul "Big Show" Wight (professional wrestler)
50 - Susan Misner (actress)
51 - Alonzo Mourning (basketball player)
52 - Mary McCormack (actress)
53 - Missy Yager (actress)
60 - Vince Neil (singer)
62 - Henry Czerny (actor)
65 - Marques Johnson (basketball player)
66 - John Grisham (author)
68 - Mary Steenburgen (actress)
72 - Brooke Adams (actress)
78 - Creed Bratton (actor/musician)
79 - Robert Klein (comedian)
80 - Nick Nolte (actor)
81 - Ted Koppel (broadcast journalist)
89 - John Williams (composer)
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Today in Sports History - February 8
1896 - The Western Conference was formed by representatives of the following Midwestern universities: Chicago, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, and Wisconsin. (The conference would later change its name to the Big Ten. Indiana and Cockeye would join in 1899, Ohio State joined in 1912, Chicago left in 1946, Michigan State joined in 1950, Penn State joined in 1990, Nebraska joined in 2011 and Maryland and Rutgers joined in 2014 to complete the current membership.)
1936 - The first NFL Draft was held, with the Philadelphia Eagles selecting University of Chicago star Jay Berwanger with the first pick.
1945 - Paul Brown agrees to coach the new football expansion team in Cleveland, which would later be named after their coach, as the Cleveland Browns.
1950 - The Associated Press named Jim Thorpe and Baby Didrikson Zaharias the greatest male and female athletes of the first half of the 20th century.
1960 - Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics becomes the first player in NBA history to record more than 50 rebounds in a game (51).
1963 - The AFL's Dallas Texans relocate and become the Kansas City Chiefs.
1984 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlain's record of 12,681 field goals. (He would score 15,836 goals before retiring in 1989.)
1986 - Spud Webb, the 5-foot-7 guard of the Atlanta Hawks wins the NBA Slam Dunk competition during All-Star Game festivities.
1991 - Roger Clemens signed a record contract with the Boston Red Sox that paid him $5.4 million per year.
1996 - Charles Barkley of the Phoenix Suns became the 22nd player in NBA history to score 20,000 points.
1996 - NFL owners and the city of Cleveland vote to allow Art Modell to move his NFL franchise from Cleveland to Baltimore, but he must leave the Browns name, colors and history behind.
1997 - Scotty Bowman won his 1,000th NHL regular season game as a coach.
1997 - Mike Gartner (Phoenix Coyotes) became only the sixth player in NHL history to get 600 career goals and 600 career assists.
1998 - The first female ice hockey game in Olympic history was played with Finland beating Sweden 6-0.
2003 - Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins) became the second fastest NHL player to reach 1,000 career assists.
1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England after she was implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
1693 - The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia received its charter, becoming the second institution of higher learning in the United States.
1837 - The U.S. Senate selected Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky as vice president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.
1870 - The National Weather Service was established under the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
1904 - The Russo-Japanese War began when the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in northeast China.
1910 - The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated.
1915 - D.W. Griffith's silent movie epic about the Civil War, "The Birth of a Nation," premiered in Los Angeles.
1922 - President Warren G. Harding had a radio installed in the White House.
1924 - The gas chamber was used as a method of execution in the United States for the first time when gangster Gee Jon was put to death at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City.
1952 - Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed her accession to the British throne following the death of her father, King George VI.
1960 - Work began on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.
1960 - The payola (pay for broadcast airplay) hearings opened in the House of Representatives.
1968 - Three college students died in a confrontation with highway patrolmen in Orangeburg, South Carolina during a civil rights protest against a whites-only bowling alley.
1971 - NASDAQ, the world's first electronic stock exchange, held its first trading day.
1973 - Senate leaders named seven members of a select committee to investigate the Watergate scandal, including its chairman, Sen. Sam J. Ervin (D-North Carolina).
1980 - President Jimmy Carter revealed his plan to reinstate selective service draft registration.
1989 - 144 people were killed when an American-chartered Boeing 707 filled with Italian tourists slammed into a fog-covered mountain in the Azores.
1993 - General Motors sued NBC, alleging the program "Dateline NBC" had rigged two crashes to show that GM pickup trucks were prone to fires. (NBC settled the suit the following day.)
1996 - In a ceremony at the Library of Congress, President Bill Clinton signed legislation revamping the telecommunications industry, saying it would "bring the future to our doorstep."
1999 - The U.S. Senate heard closing arguments in the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.
2007 - Model and tabloid sensation Anna Nicole Smith died at age 39 from an accidental drug overdose.
2010 - Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of the pop superstar in Los Angeles Superior Court. (Murray was convicted and sentenced to four years in jail.)
2016 - President Barack Obama asked Congress for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funding to fight the Zika virus and the mosquitoes that were spreading it in the United States and abroad, but said “there shouldn’t be a panic on this.”
2020 - The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said a 60-year-old U.S. citizen who’d been diagnosed with the coronavirus had died on Feb. 5 in Wuhan; it was apparently the first American fatality from the virus.
Birthdays
29 - Karle Warren (actor)
31 - Klay Thompson (basketball player)
31 - Bethany Hamilton (surfer)
32 - Dani Harmer (actress)
32 - Julio Jones (football player)
33 - Ryan Pinkston (actor)
36 - Jeremy Davis (musician)
37 - Cecily Strong (actress/comedian)
40 - Jim Parrack (actor)
41 - William Jackson Harper (actor)
47 - Joshua Morrow (actor)
47 - Seth Green (actor)
49 - Paul "Big Show" Wight (professional wrestler)
50 - Susan Misner (actress)
51 - Alonzo Mourning (basketball player)
52 - Mary McCormack (actress)
53 - Missy Yager (actress)
60 - Vince Neil (singer)
62 - Henry Czerny (actor)
65 - Marques Johnson (basketball player)
66 - John Grisham (author)
68 - Mary Steenburgen (actress)
72 - Brooke Adams (actress)
78 - Creed Bratton (actor/musician)
79 - Robert Klein (comedian)
80 - Nick Nolte (actor)
81 - Ted Koppel (broadcast journalist)
89 - John Williams (composer)
====================================
Today in Sports History - February 8
1896 - The Western Conference was formed by representatives of the following Midwestern universities: Chicago, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, and Wisconsin. (The conference would later change its name to the Big Ten. Indiana and Cockeye would join in 1899, Ohio State joined in 1912, Chicago left in 1946, Michigan State joined in 1950, Penn State joined in 1990, Nebraska joined in 2011 and Maryland and Rutgers joined in 2014 to complete the current membership.)
1936 - The first NFL Draft was held, with the Philadelphia Eagles selecting University of Chicago star Jay Berwanger with the first pick.
1945 - Paul Brown agrees to coach the new football expansion team in Cleveland, which would later be named after their coach, as the Cleveland Browns.
1950 - The Associated Press named Jim Thorpe and Baby Didrikson Zaharias the greatest male and female athletes of the first half of the 20th century.
1960 - Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics becomes the first player in NBA history to record more than 50 rebounds in a game (51).
1963 - The AFL's Dallas Texans relocate and become the Kansas City Chiefs.
1984 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlain's record of 12,681 field goals. (He would score 15,836 goals before retiring in 1989.)
1986 - Spud Webb, the 5-foot-7 guard of the Atlanta Hawks wins the NBA Slam Dunk competition during All-Star Game festivities.
1991 - Roger Clemens signed a record contract with the Boston Red Sox that paid him $5.4 million per year.
1996 - Charles Barkley of the Phoenix Suns became the 22nd player in NBA history to score 20,000 points.
1996 - NFL owners and the city of Cleveland vote to allow Art Modell to move his NFL franchise from Cleveland to Baltimore, but he must leave the Browns name, colors and history behind.
1997 - Scotty Bowman won his 1,000th NHL regular season game as a coach.
1997 - Mike Gartner (Phoenix Coyotes) became only the sixth player in NHL history to get 600 career goals and 600 career assists.
1998 - The first female ice hockey game in Olympic history was played with Finland beating Sweden 6-0.
2003 - Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins) became the second fastest NHL player to reach 1,000 career assists.