January 15
1559 - Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey.
1777 - The Republic of New Connecticut declared its independence. (Six months later it was renamed Vermont.)
1844 - The University of Notre Dame received its charter from the state of Indiana.
1862 - The U.S. Senate confirmed President Abraham Lincoln's choice of Edwin M. Stanton to be the new Secretary of War, replacing Simon Cameron.
1865 - As the Civil War neared its end, Union forces captured Fort Fisher near Wilmington, North Carolina, depriving the Confederates of their last major seaport.
1870 - The donkey was first used as the symbol of the Democratic Party in Harper's Weekly.
1929 - Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta.
1943 - The world's largest office building, the Pentagon, was completed.
1947 - The mutilated remains of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, who came to be known as the "Black Dahlia," were found in a vacant Los Angeles lot; her slaying remains unsolved.
1973 - President Richard Nixon ordered a halt to offensive operations in North Vietnam.
1976 - Sara Jane Moore was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford in San Francisco. (Moore was released on the last day of 2007.)
1978 - Serial killer Ted Bundy murdered two students in a sorority house at Florida State University in Tallahassee.
1992 - The European Community recognized Croatia and Slovenia as separate states, effectively ending the Yugoslav federation, founded in 1918.
1993 - A historic disarmament ceremony ended in Paris with the last of 125 countries signing a treaty banning chemical weapons.
2001 - The web-based encyclopedia Wikipedia made its debut.
2004 - NASA's Spirit rover rolled onto the surface of Mars.
2005 - A military court sentenced Army Spc. Charles Graner Jr. to 10 years in prison for physically and sexually mistreating Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison.
2009 - After allegedly striking a flock of geese, US Airways Flight 1549, en route from La Guardia Airport in New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina, is forced to land in the Hudson River. All 150 passengers and five crew members survived. The pilot, Chelsey B. "Sully" Sullenberger, was hailed as the "Hero of the Hudson" for his quick thinking and deft landing of the plane.
2014 - A highly critical and bipartisan Senate report declared that the deadly September 2012 assault on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya could have been prevented; the report spread blame among the State Department, the military and U.S. intelligence.
2016 - A federal judge rejected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s bid for a new trial and ordered him to pay victims of the deadly attack more than $101 million in restitution.
2020 - Chinese officials said they couldn’t rule out the possibility that a new coronavirus in central China could spread between humans, though they said the risk of transmission appeared to be low.
2020 - House Democratic leaders carried the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump across the U.S. Capitol in a formal procession to the Senate.
2020 - Russian President Vladimir Putin engineered a surprise shake-up of Russia’s leadership while proposing changes to the country’s constitution that could keep him in power well past the end of his term in 2024. (Putin ordered the amendments made to the constitution in July 2020 after a week-long vote; critics said the reported 78% approval of the changes had been falsified.)
Birthdays
24 - Valentina Zenere (actress)
25 - Dove Cameron (actress/singer)
31 - Billie Faiers (reality star)
34 - Kelly Kelly (professional wrestler/reality star)
35 - Jessy Schram (actress/singer)
36 - Victor Rasuk (actor)
37 - Ben Shapiro (journalist)
40 - Pitbull (rapper)
42 - Drew Brees (football player)
43 - Eddie Cahill (actor)
45 - Dorian Missick (actor)
50 - Regina King (actress)
51 - Shane McMahon (professional wrestler)
53 - Chad Lowe (actor)
56 - James Nesbitt (actor)
64 - Mario Van Peebles (actor)
68 - Randy White (football player)
74 - Andrea Martin (actress)
83 - Margaret O'Brien (actress)
========================================
Today in Sports History - January 15
1892 - The original rules of basketball, devised by James Naismith, were published for the first time in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the game originated.
1942 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave baseball the approval to play despite World War II. He encouraged night games so that war workers could attend.
1964 - The San Francisco Giants make Willie Mays the highest-paid player in baseball with a new contract worth $105,000 per year.
1965 - In one of the biggest trades in NBA history, the San Francisco Warriors send Wilt Chamberlain to the Philadelphia 76ers for Connie Dierking, Lee Shaffer, Paul Neumann and cash.
1967 - The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, which was held in Los Angeles (now referred to as Super Bowl I). Packers quarterback Bart Starr was named MVP.
1968 - Bill Masterson (Minnesota North Stars) died of a brain injury that he had suffered two days earlier in a game against the Oakland Seals. He was the first casualty in the NHL.
1978 - The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Denver Broncos 27-10 in New Orleans to win Super Bowl XII. It was the first Super Bowl ever played indoors (Superdome). Dallas defensive linemen Harvey Martin and Randy White were named co-MVPs.
1981 - Bob Gibson is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1984 - Martina Navratilova's 54-match winning streak is snapped with a loss to Hana Mandlikova in Oakland, California; after the loss, Navratilova would win her next 74 matches to set a new consecutive wins record.
1988 - NFL analyst Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder makes several questionable comments about African Americans during a lunchtime interview on CBS' NFL Today; fired the next day.
1990 - Don Nelson became the second man in NBA history to appear in 1,000 games as a head coach and as a player. Lenny Wilkins was the first to achieve the record.
1994 - Linebacker Lawrence Taylor announces his retirement from football.
1994 - The Dallas Mavericks lose 104-87 to the San Antonio Spurs, setting an NBA record with their 17th consecutive home loss, breaking the old record of 16 set by the Orlando Magic in 1990.
1997 - Dennis Rodman (Chicago Bulls) kicked cameraman Eugene Amos in the groin during a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves; Rodman ultimately pays Amos a $200,000 settlement and is suspended by the NBA for 11 games without pay.
1997 - The Seattle Supersonics set an NBA record with 27 steals against the Toronto Raptors; also in the contest, Seattle's Sam Perkins ties Jeff Hornacek's NBA single-game record by connecting on 8-straight 3-point field goals.
1997 - San Francisco 49ers head coach George Seifert announces his resignation after eight highly successful seasons, ending as the winningest coach in franchise history with a record of 108-35 and two Super Bowl titles.
2000 - Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan becomes the 12th coach in NBA history to record 700 wins.
2002 - Seven minority players took part in an NHL game between the St. Louis Blues and the Edmonton Oilers. The record number of minority skaters included Edmonton's Anson Carter, Georges Laraque, Sean Brown and Mike Grier and St. Louis' Jamal Mayers, Fred Brathwaite and Bryce Salvador.
2014 - The Los Angeles Dodgers sign pitcher Clayton Kershaw to the largest contract in major league history, a seven-year deal worth $215 million, averaging $30.7 million per year.
1559 - Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey.
1777 - The Republic of New Connecticut declared its independence. (Six months later it was renamed Vermont.)
1844 - The University of Notre Dame received its charter from the state of Indiana.
1862 - The U.S. Senate confirmed President Abraham Lincoln's choice of Edwin M. Stanton to be the new Secretary of War, replacing Simon Cameron.
1865 - As the Civil War neared its end, Union forces captured Fort Fisher near Wilmington, North Carolina, depriving the Confederates of their last major seaport.
1870 - The donkey was first used as the symbol of the Democratic Party in Harper's Weekly.
1929 - Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta.
1943 - The world's largest office building, the Pentagon, was completed.
1947 - The mutilated remains of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, who came to be known as the "Black Dahlia," were found in a vacant Los Angeles lot; her slaying remains unsolved.
1973 - President Richard Nixon ordered a halt to offensive operations in North Vietnam.
1976 - Sara Jane Moore was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford in San Francisco. (Moore was released on the last day of 2007.)
1978 - Serial killer Ted Bundy murdered two students in a sorority house at Florida State University in Tallahassee.
1992 - The European Community recognized Croatia and Slovenia as separate states, effectively ending the Yugoslav federation, founded in 1918.
1993 - A historic disarmament ceremony ended in Paris with the last of 125 countries signing a treaty banning chemical weapons.
2001 - The web-based encyclopedia Wikipedia made its debut.
2004 - NASA's Spirit rover rolled onto the surface of Mars.
2005 - A military court sentenced Army Spc. Charles Graner Jr. to 10 years in prison for physically and sexually mistreating Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison.
2009 - After allegedly striking a flock of geese, US Airways Flight 1549, en route from La Guardia Airport in New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina, is forced to land in the Hudson River. All 150 passengers and five crew members survived. The pilot, Chelsey B. "Sully" Sullenberger, was hailed as the "Hero of the Hudson" for his quick thinking and deft landing of the plane.
2014 - A highly critical and bipartisan Senate report declared that the deadly September 2012 assault on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya could have been prevented; the report spread blame among the State Department, the military and U.S. intelligence.
2016 - A federal judge rejected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s bid for a new trial and ordered him to pay victims of the deadly attack more than $101 million in restitution.
2020 - Chinese officials said they couldn’t rule out the possibility that a new coronavirus in central China could spread between humans, though they said the risk of transmission appeared to be low.
2020 - House Democratic leaders carried the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump across the U.S. Capitol in a formal procession to the Senate.
2020 - Russian President Vladimir Putin engineered a surprise shake-up of Russia’s leadership while proposing changes to the country’s constitution that could keep him in power well past the end of his term in 2024. (Putin ordered the amendments made to the constitution in July 2020 after a week-long vote; critics said the reported 78% approval of the changes had been falsified.)
Birthdays
24 - Valentina Zenere (actress)
25 - Dove Cameron (actress/singer)
31 - Billie Faiers (reality star)
34 - Kelly Kelly (professional wrestler/reality star)
35 - Jessy Schram (actress/singer)
36 - Victor Rasuk (actor)
37 - Ben Shapiro (journalist)
40 - Pitbull (rapper)
42 - Drew Brees (football player)
43 - Eddie Cahill (actor)
45 - Dorian Missick (actor)
50 - Regina King (actress)
51 - Shane McMahon (professional wrestler)
53 - Chad Lowe (actor)
56 - James Nesbitt (actor)
64 - Mario Van Peebles (actor)
68 - Randy White (football player)
74 - Andrea Martin (actress)
83 - Margaret O'Brien (actress)
========================================
Today in Sports History - January 15
1892 - The original rules of basketball, devised by James Naismith, were published for the first time in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the game originated.
1942 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave baseball the approval to play despite World War II. He encouraged night games so that war workers could attend.
1964 - The San Francisco Giants make Willie Mays the highest-paid player in baseball with a new contract worth $105,000 per year.
1965 - In one of the biggest trades in NBA history, the San Francisco Warriors send Wilt Chamberlain to the Philadelphia 76ers for Connie Dierking, Lee Shaffer, Paul Neumann and cash.
1967 - The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, which was held in Los Angeles (now referred to as Super Bowl I). Packers quarterback Bart Starr was named MVP.
1968 - Bill Masterson (Minnesota North Stars) died of a brain injury that he had suffered two days earlier in a game against the Oakland Seals. He was the first casualty in the NHL.
1978 - The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Denver Broncos 27-10 in New Orleans to win Super Bowl XII. It was the first Super Bowl ever played indoors (Superdome). Dallas defensive linemen Harvey Martin and Randy White were named co-MVPs.
1981 - Bob Gibson is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1984 - Martina Navratilova's 54-match winning streak is snapped with a loss to Hana Mandlikova in Oakland, California; after the loss, Navratilova would win her next 74 matches to set a new consecutive wins record.
1988 - NFL analyst Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder makes several questionable comments about African Americans during a lunchtime interview on CBS' NFL Today; fired the next day.
1990 - Don Nelson became the second man in NBA history to appear in 1,000 games as a head coach and as a player. Lenny Wilkins was the first to achieve the record.
1994 - Linebacker Lawrence Taylor announces his retirement from football.
1994 - The Dallas Mavericks lose 104-87 to the San Antonio Spurs, setting an NBA record with their 17th consecutive home loss, breaking the old record of 16 set by the Orlando Magic in 1990.
1997 - Dennis Rodman (Chicago Bulls) kicked cameraman Eugene Amos in the groin during a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves; Rodman ultimately pays Amos a $200,000 settlement and is suspended by the NBA for 11 games without pay.
1997 - The Seattle Supersonics set an NBA record with 27 steals against the Toronto Raptors; also in the contest, Seattle's Sam Perkins ties Jeff Hornacek's NBA single-game record by connecting on 8-straight 3-point field goals.
1997 - San Francisco 49ers head coach George Seifert announces his resignation after eight highly successful seasons, ending as the winningest coach in franchise history with a record of 108-35 and two Super Bowl titles.
2000 - Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan becomes the 12th coach in NBA history to record 700 wins.
2002 - Seven minority players took part in an NHL game between the St. Louis Blues and the Edmonton Oilers. The record number of minority skaters included Edmonton's Anson Carter, Georges Laraque, Sean Brown and Mike Grier and St. Louis' Jamal Mayers, Fred Brathwaite and Bryce Salvador.
2014 - The Los Angeles Dodgers sign pitcher Clayton Kershaw to the largest contract in major league history, a seven-year deal worth $215 million, averaging $30.7 million per year.