January 3
1521 - Martin Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X.
1777 - George Washington defeated Cornwallis's forces at the Battle of Princeton, New Jersey.
1833 - Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands. (Almost 150 years later, Argentina seized the islands from the British, but Britain took them back in a 74-day war.)
1868 - The Meiji Restoration re-established the authority of Japan's emperor and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as the shoguns.
1870 - Construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge.
1938 - The March of Dimes campaign to fight polio was organized.
1947 - Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time.
1958 - Sir Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole over land.
1959 - Alaska becomes the 49th state.
1961 - The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.
1962 - Pope John XXIII excommunicated Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
1967 - Jack Ruby, the man who shot President John F. Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, died.
1977 - Apple Computer was incorporated in Cupertino, California by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Mike Markkua Jr.
1987 - Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1990 - Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Panama City.
2000 - The last new daily "Peanuts" comic strip by Charles Schulz ran in 2,600 newspapers.
2004 - NASA's Mars rover, Spirit, touched down on the surface of the red planet.
2006 - Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion and agreed to cooperate in investigations of corruption in Congress.
2007 - Gerald R. Ford was laid to rest on the grounds of his presidential museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during a ceremony watched by thousands.
2009 - After seven days of pummeling the Gaza Strip from the air, Israel launched a ground offensive.
2011 - Democrat Jerry Brown was sworn in as California's 39th governor, returning to the office he had held 28 years earlier.
2013 - Students from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, reconvened at a different building in the town of Monroe about three weeks after the massacre that had claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators.
2013 - The new 113th Congress opened for business, with House Speaker John Boehner re-elected to his post despite a mini-revolt in Republican ranks.
2016 - Republican presidential contender Donald Trump brushed off an African militant group’s video that showed him calling for Muslims to be banned from coming to the U.S., telling the Sunday news shows he wouldn’t be dissuaded from saying what he thought.
2016 - Saudi Arabia announced it was severing diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran amid escalating tensions over the Sunni kingdom’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.
2020 - Health authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan said the number of cases of a newly diagnosed respiratory illness linked to a food market there had risen to 44, with lung damage appearing in a “small number” of cases. Authorities in Hong Kong activated a newly-created “serious response” level as fears spread about the disease that may have been brought back by visitors to Wuhan.
2020 - The United States killed Iran’s top general in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport; the Pentagon said Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds force, had been “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members” in Iraq and elsewhere. Iran warned of retaliation.
Birthdays
25 - Florence Pugh (actress)
26 - Jisoo Kim (singer)
27 - Olivia Buckland (reality star)
30 - Candelaria Molfese (actress)
32 - Alex D. Linz (actor)
36 - Nicole Beharie (actress)
38 - Katie McGrath (actress)
40 - Eli Manning (football player)
42 - Kate Levering (actress)
43 - Kimberley Locke (singer)
45 - Nicholas Gonzalez (actor)
46 - Danica McKellar (actress)
46 - Jason Marsden (actor)
51 - Mimi Faust (reality star)
52 - John Ales (actor)
53 - Shannon Sturges (actor)
65 - Mel Gibson (actor)
71 - Victoria Principal (actress)
75 - John Paul Jones (musician)
82 - Bobby Hull (hockey player)
89 - Dabney Coleman (actor)
=======================================
Today in Sports History - January 3
1920 - The New York Yankees acquired Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox, and so began the "curse of the bambino" that haunted the Boston franchise until 2004.
1941 - The National Collegiate Football Rules Committee announced a new rule that permitted free substitution of football players.
1943 - For the first time in NHL history a goal with three points all came from the same family. Reg Bentley scored with assists from his brothers Max and Doug.
1971 - The Baltimore Colts defeated the Oakland Raiders 27-17 in the inaugural AFC championship game to advance to the Super Bowl; the Dallas Cowboys defeated the San Francisco 49ers 17-10 in the first NFC championship game.
1973 - A 12-man syndicate led by Michael Burke and George Steinbrenner buys the New York Yankees from CBS for approximately $10 million. (The team is now valued at an estimated $5 billion.)
1981 - The Cleveland Cavaliers retire Austin Carr's #34.
1983 - Tony Dorsett (Dallas Cowboys) made the longest run from scrimmage in NFL history. Dorsett ran 99 yards in a game against the Minnesota Vikings.
1991 - Wayne Gretzky scored his 700th career goal, the fastest and youngest to achieve the feat.
1993 - In one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history, quarterback Frank Reich leads the Buffalo Bills back from a 32-point deficit to defeat the Houston Oilers 41-38 in overtime in a wildcard playoff game.
1997 - Texas-El Paso men's basketball coach Don Haskins becomes the 10th coach in NCAA history to win 700 career games when the Miners edge Southern Methodist 66-64.
2001 - #1 Oklahoma defeats #2 Florida State 13-2 in the Orange Bowl to win the BCS National Championship.
2002 - #1 Miami (FL) defeats #2 Nebraska 37-14 in the Rose Bowl to win the BCS National Championship. NU finishes the year with an 11-2 record and ranked #8 (AP), #7 (Coaches) in the final polls.
2003 - #2 Ohio State defeats #1 Miami (FL) 31-24 in double-overtime in the Fiesta Bowl to win the BCS National Championship.
2007 - Miami Dolphins head coach Nick Saban announces his resignation, agreeing to return to the college game as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide.
2010 - Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans set the NFL single-season record for yards from scrimmage with 2,509.
2016 - Jimmy Butler breaks Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls record for points in a half, scoring 40 of his 42 points in the second half to lead the Bulls to a 115-113 win over the Toronto Raptors.
1521 - Martin Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X.
1777 - George Washington defeated Cornwallis's forces at the Battle of Princeton, New Jersey.
1833 - Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands. (Almost 150 years later, Argentina seized the islands from the British, but Britain took them back in a 74-day war.)
1868 - The Meiji Restoration re-established the authority of Japan's emperor and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as the shoguns.
1870 - Construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge.
1938 - The March of Dimes campaign to fight polio was organized.
1947 - Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time.
1958 - Sir Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole over land.
1959 - Alaska becomes the 49th state.
1961 - The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.
1962 - Pope John XXIII excommunicated Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
1967 - Jack Ruby, the man who shot President John F. Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, died.
1977 - Apple Computer was incorporated in Cupertino, California by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Mike Markkua Jr.
1987 - Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1990 - Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Panama City.
2000 - The last new daily "Peanuts" comic strip by Charles Schulz ran in 2,600 newspapers.
2004 - NASA's Mars rover, Spirit, touched down on the surface of the red planet.
2006 - Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion and agreed to cooperate in investigations of corruption in Congress.
2007 - Gerald R. Ford was laid to rest on the grounds of his presidential museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during a ceremony watched by thousands.
2009 - After seven days of pummeling the Gaza Strip from the air, Israel launched a ground offensive.
2011 - Democrat Jerry Brown was sworn in as California's 39th governor, returning to the office he had held 28 years earlier.
2013 - Students from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, reconvened at a different building in the town of Monroe about three weeks after the massacre that had claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators.
2013 - The new 113th Congress opened for business, with House Speaker John Boehner re-elected to his post despite a mini-revolt in Republican ranks.
2016 - Republican presidential contender Donald Trump brushed off an African militant group’s video that showed him calling for Muslims to be banned from coming to the U.S., telling the Sunday news shows he wouldn’t be dissuaded from saying what he thought.
2016 - Saudi Arabia announced it was severing diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran amid escalating tensions over the Sunni kingdom’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.
2020 - Health authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan said the number of cases of a newly diagnosed respiratory illness linked to a food market there had risen to 44, with lung damage appearing in a “small number” of cases. Authorities in Hong Kong activated a newly-created “serious response” level as fears spread about the disease that may have been brought back by visitors to Wuhan.
2020 - The United States killed Iran’s top general in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport; the Pentagon said Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds force, had been “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members” in Iraq and elsewhere. Iran warned of retaliation.
Birthdays
25 - Florence Pugh (actress)
26 - Jisoo Kim (singer)
27 - Olivia Buckland (reality star)
30 - Candelaria Molfese (actress)
32 - Alex D. Linz (actor)
36 - Nicole Beharie (actress)
38 - Katie McGrath (actress)
40 - Eli Manning (football player)
42 - Kate Levering (actress)
43 - Kimberley Locke (singer)
45 - Nicholas Gonzalez (actor)
46 - Danica McKellar (actress)
46 - Jason Marsden (actor)
51 - Mimi Faust (reality star)
52 - John Ales (actor)
53 - Shannon Sturges (actor)
65 - Mel Gibson (actor)
71 - Victoria Principal (actress)
75 - John Paul Jones (musician)
82 - Bobby Hull (hockey player)
89 - Dabney Coleman (actor)
=======================================
Today in Sports History - January 3
1920 - The New York Yankees acquired Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox, and so began the "curse of the bambino" that haunted the Boston franchise until 2004.
1941 - The National Collegiate Football Rules Committee announced a new rule that permitted free substitution of football players.
1943 - For the first time in NHL history a goal with three points all came from the same family. Reg Bentley scored with assists from his brothers Max and Doug.
1971 - The Baltimore Colts defeated the Oakland Raiders 27-17 in the inaugural AFC championship game to advance to the Super Bowl; the Dallas Cowboys defeated the San Francisco 49ers 17-10 in the first NFC championship game.
1973 - A 12-man syndicate led by Michael Burke and George Steinbrenner buys the New York Yankees from CBS for approximately $10 million. (The team is now valued at an estimated $5 billion.)
1981 - The Cleveland Cavaliers retire Austin Carr's #34.
1983 - Tony Dorsett (Dallas Cowboys) made the longest run from scrimmage in NFL history. Dorsett ran 99 yards in a game against the Minnesota Vikings.
1991 - Wayne Gretzky scored his 700th career goal, the fastest and youngest to achieve the feat.
1993 - In one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history, quarterback Frank Reich leads the Buffalo Bills back from a 32-point deficit to defeat the Houston Oilers 41-38 in overtime in a wildcard playoff game.
1997 - Texas-El Paso men's basketball coach Don Haskins becomes the 10th coach in NCAA history to win 700 career games when the Miners edge Southern Methodist 66-64.
2001 - #1 Oklahoma defeats #2 Florida State 13-2 in the Orange Bowl to win the BCS National Championship.
2002 - #1 Miami (FL) defeats #2 Nebraska 37-14 in the Rose Bowl to win the BCS National Championship. NU finishes the year with an 11-2 record and ranked #8 (AP), #7 (Coaches) in the final polls.
2003 - #2 Ohio State defeats #1 Miami (FL) 31-24 in double-overtime in the Fiesta Bowl to win the BCS National Championship.
2007 - Miami Dolphins head coach Nick Saban announces his resignation, agreeing to return to the college game as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide.
2010 - Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans set the NFL single-season record for yards from scrimmage with 2,509.
2016 - Jimmy Butler breaks Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls record for points in a half, scoring 40 of his 42 points in the second half to lead the Bulls to a 115-113 win over the Toronto Raptors.
