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.
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 controversial epic, "The Birth of a Nation," premiered in Los Angeles.
1922 - President Warren G. Harding had the first radio installed in the White House.
1924 - The gas chamber was used for the first time as a method of execution in the United States as gangster Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant convicted of murder, 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 - The payola (pay for broadcast airplay) hearings opened in the House of Representatives.
1960 - Work began on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.
1965 - Eastern Air Lines Flight 663, a DC-7, crashed shortly after takeoff from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport; all 84 people on board were killed.
1968 - Three Black students were killed in a confrontation between demonstrators and highway patrolmen at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg in the wake of protests over 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, Democrat Sam J. Ervin of North Carolina.
1980 - President Jimmy Carter revealed his plan to reinstate selective service draft registration.
2007 - Model, actress and tabloid sensation Anna Nicole Smith died in Hollywood, Florida, at age 39 of an accidental drug overdose.
2013 - A massive storm packing hurricane-force winds and blizzard conditions began sweeping through the Northeast, dumping nearly 2 feet of snow on New England and knocking out power to more than a half a million customers.
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.
2022 - Retired Pope Benedict XVI asked forgiveness for any “grievous faults” in his handling of clergy sex abuse cases, but denied any personal or specific wrongdoing after an independent report criticized his actions in four cases while he was archbishop of Munich, Germany.
Birthdays
26 - Kathryn Newton (actress)
28 - Aashna Hedge (model)
31 - Karle Warren (actor)
33 - Bethany Hamilton (surfer)
33 - Klay Thompson (basketball player)
34 - Sophie Bennett (actress)
34 - Julio Jones (football player)
35 - Ryan Pinkston (actor)
39 - Cecily Strong (actress/comedian)
42 - Jim Parrack (actor)
43 - William Jackson Harper (actor)
49 - Joshua Morrow (actor)
49 - Seth Green (actor)
51 - Paul "Big Show" Wight (professional wrestler)
52 - Susan Misner (actress)
53 - Stephanie Courtney (comedian)
53 - Alonzo Mourning (basketball player)
54 - Mary McCormack (actress)
55 - Missy Yager (actress)
62 - Vince Neil (singer)
64 - Henry Czerny (actor)
67 - Marques Johnson (basketball player)
68 - John Grisham (author)
70 - Mary Steenburgen (actress)
74 - Brooke Adams (actress)
81 - Robert Klein (comedian)
82 - Nick Nolte (actor)
83 - Ted Koppel (broadcast journalist)
91 - John Williams (composer)
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Today in Sports History - February 8
1896 - The Big Ten Conference was formed, then known as the Western Conference, by representatives from
1936 - The first National Football League (NFL) draft was held. Jay Berwanger was the first to be selected. He went to the Philadelphia Eagles.
1945 - Paul Brown agrees to coach the new football expansion team in Cleveland, which would later be named the Cleveland Browns after their coach.
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.
1961 - Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics becomes the first player to record 50 rebounds in a game in NBA history (51).
1963 - The AFL's Dallas Texans become the Kansas City Chiefs.
1984 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlains record of 12,681 goals. He scored 15,836 goals before retiring in 1989.
1986 - Spud Webb, at 5' 7" tall, of the Atlanta Hawks wins the NBA's Slam Dunk competition.
1991 - Roger Clemens signed a contract with the Boston Red Sox that paid $5,380,250 per year.
1996 - Charles Barkley became the 22nd player in NBA history to score 20,000 career points.
1996 - The NFL and the city of Cleveland agree to allow Art Modell to move his NFL franchise to Baltimore, but he had to leave the "Browns" name 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. Finland beat 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.
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 controversial epic, "The Birth of a Nation," premiered in Los Angeles.
1922 - President Warren G. Harding had the first radio installed in the White House.
1924 - The gas chamber was used for the first time as a method of execution in the United States as gangster Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant convicted of murder, 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 - The payola (pay for broadcast airplay) hearings opened in the House of Representatives.
1960 - Work began on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.
1965 - Eastern Air Lines Flight 663, a DC-7, crashed shortly after takeoff from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport; all 84 people on board were killed.
1968 - Three Black students were killed in a confrontation between demonstrators and highway patrolmen at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg in the wake of protests over 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, Democrat Sam J. Ervin of North Carolina.
1980 - President Jimmy Carter revealed his plan to reinstate selective service draft registration.
2007 - Model, actress and tabloid sensation Anna Nicole Smith died in Hollywood, Florida, at age 39 of an accidental drug overdose.
2013 - A massive storm packing hurricane-force winds and blizzard conditions began sweeping through the Northeast, dumping nearly 2 feet of snow on New England and knocking out power to more than a half a million customers.
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.
2022 - Retired Pope Benedict XVI asked forgiveness for any “grievous faults” in his handling of clergy sex abuse cases, but denied any personal or specific wrongdoing after an independent report criticized his actions in four cases while he was archbishop of Munich, Germany.
Birthdays
26 - Kathryn Newton (actress)
28 - Aashna Hedge (model)
31 - Karle Warren (actor)
33 - Bethany Hamilton (surfer)
33 - Klay Thompson (basketball player)
34 - Sophie Bennett (actress)
34 - Julio Jones (football player)
35 - Ryan Pinkston (actor)
39 - Cecily Strong (actress/comedian)
42 - Jim Parrack (actor)
43 - William Jackson Harper (actor)
49 - Joshua Morrow (actor)
49 - Seth Green (actor)
51 - Paul "Big Show" Wight (professional wrestler)
52 - Susan Misner (actress)
53 - Stephanie Courtney (comedian)
53 - Alonzo Mourning (basketball player)
54 - Mary McCormack (actress)
55 - Missy Yager (actress)
62 - Vince Neil (singer)
64 - Henry Czerny (actor)
67 - Marques Johnson (basketball player)
68 - John Grisham (author)
70 - Mary Steenburgen (actress)
74 - Brooke Adams (actress)
81 - Robert Klein (comedian)
82 - Nick Nolte (actor)
83 - Ted Koppel (broadcast journalist)
91 - John Williams (composer)
===============================
Today in Sports History - February 8
1896 - The Big Ten Conference was formed, then known as the Western Conference, by representatives from
1936 - The first National Football League (NFL) draft was held. Jay Berwanger was the first to be selected. He went to the Philadelphia Eagles.
1945 - Paul Brown agrees to coach the new football expansion team in Cleveland, which would later be named the Cleveland Browns after their coach.
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.
1961 - Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics becomes the first player to record 50 rebounds in a game in NBA history (51).
1963 - The AFL's Dallas Texans become the Kansas City Chiefs.
1984 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlains record of 12,681 goals. He scored 15,836 goals before retiring in 1989.
1986 - Spud Webb, at 5' 7" tall, of the Atlanta Hawks wins the NBA's Slam Dunk competition.
1991 - Roger Clemens signed a contract with the Boston Red Sox that paid $5,380,250 per year.
1996 - Charles Barkley became the 22nd player in NBA history to score 20,000 career points.
1996 - The NFL and the city of Cleveland agree to allow Art Modell to move his NFL franchise to Baltimore, but he had to leave the "Browns" name 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. Finland beat Sweden 6-0.
2003 - Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh Penguins) became the second fastest NHL player to reach 1,000 career assists.
