January 4
1885 - Dr. William W. Grant of Davenport, Cockeye performed what is believed to be the world's first appendectomy.
1896 - Utah became the 45th state.
1904 - In Gonzales v. Williams, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that citizens of Puerto Rico are not aliens and can enter the U.S. freely.
1935 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, called for legislation to provide assistance for the jobless, elderly, impoverished children and the disabled.
1948 - Burma (Myanmar) gained independence from Britain.
1951 - During the Korean War, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul.
1964 - Pope Paul VI began a visit to the Holy Land, the first papal pilgrimage of its kind.
1965 - President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined his "Great Society" during his State of the Union address to Congress.
1965 - Poet T.S. Eliot died at age 76.
1974 - President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
1987 - Sixteen people were killed when an Amtrak train bound from Washington, D.C., to Boston collided with Conrail locomotives that had crossed into its path from a side track in Chase, Maryland.
1990 - Charles Stuart, who’d claimed that he’d been wounded and his pregnant wife fatally shot by a robber, leapt to his death off a Boston bridge after he himself became a suspect.
1995 - The 104th Congress convened, the first entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era; Newt Gingrich was elected Speaker of the House.
1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as governor of Minnesota.
1999 - Europe’s new currency, the euro, got off to a strong start on its first trading day, rising against the dollar on world currency markets.
2002 - Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman, a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier, was killed by small-arms fire during an ambush in eastern Afghanistan; he was the first American military death from enemy fire in the war against terrorism.
2004 - Afghans approved a new constitution.
2006 - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke and his powers were transferred to his deputy, Ehud Olmert. (Sharon remained in a coma until his death in January 2014.)
2007 - California Democrat Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House.
2010 - Dubai opened the world's tallest skyscraper, the 2,717-foot gleaming glass-and-metal tower Burj Khalifa.
2012 - Defying Republican lawmakers, President Barack Obama barreled past the Senate by using a recess appointment to name Richard Cordray the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
2015 - Pope Francis named 156 new cardinals, selecting them from 14 countries, including far-flung corners of the world, to reflect the diversity of the Roman Catholic church and its growth in places like Asia and Africa.
2017 - President Barack Obama urged congressional Democrats to “look out for the American people” in defending his legacy health care overhaul, while Vice President-elect Mike Pence stood firm in telling Republicans that dismantling “Obamacare” was No. 1 on Donald Trump’s list.
2021 - At a campaign rally in Georgia for the Republican candidates in the state’s U.S. Senate runoff elections the following day, President Donald Trump declared that he would “fight like hell” to hold on to the presidency and appealed to Republican lawmakers to reverse his election loss.
Birthdays
22 - Addy Miller (actress)
24 - Coco Jones (actress/singer)
26 - Emma Mackey (actress)
30 - Kris Bryant (baseball player)
32 - Chantelle Connelly (reality star)
36 - Charlyne Yi (actress/comedian)
37 - Lenora Crichlow (actress)
42 - D'Arcy Carden (actress)
43 - Jeannie Mai (reality star)
47 - Jill Marie Jones (actress/singer)
49 - Damon Gupton (actor)
52 - Josh Stamberg (actor)
56 - Deana Carter (country singer)
57 - Julia Ormond (actress)
57 - Rick Hearst (actor)
58 - Dot Jones (actress)
59 - Dave Foley (actor)
60 - Patrick Cassidy (actor)
62 - Michael Stipe (singer)
64 - Julian Sands (actor)
65 - Patty Loveless (singer)
66 - Ann Magnuson (actress)
67 - Kathy Forester (singer)
83 - Dyan Cannon (actor)
95 - Barbara Rush (actress)
=======================================
Today in Sports History - January 4
1883 - The Ontario Rugby Football Union was formed. The organization was the forerunner of the CFL.
1920 - The National Negro Baseball League was organized.
1957 - The Dodgers bought a 44-passenger twin-engine airplane for $775,000. They were the first team to own their own plane.
1974 - NBC-TV presented hockey in prime time for the first time. The Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers were the teams in the National Hockey League (NHL) game.
1975 - New Orleans Jazz set a then NBA record (with 24-second shot clock) by scoring only 20 points in the first half of a 111-89 loss in Seattle; unwanted record stands for nearly 25 years.
1976 - The Dallas Cowboys became the first wild-card team to make it to the Super Bowl. They beat the Los Angeles Ram 37-7 in the NFC title game.
1984 - Wayne Gretzky scored eight points (four goals and four assists) for the second time in his National Hockey League (NHL) career. The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Minnesota North Stars, 12-8. The game was the highest-scoring NHL game to date.
1984 - Adrian Dantley ties Wilt Chamberlain's NBA record for most free throws made in a game by converting 28 of 29 free throws in Utah's 116-111 win over Houston.
1986 - David Robinson of the U.S. Naval Academy sets an NCAA record with 14 blocked shots in a game.
1986 - Los Angeles Rams running back Eric Dickerson scores twice as he rushes for an NFL postseason record 248 yards in 20-0 victory over Dallas Cowboys in NFC divisional playoff in Anaheim, California.
1992 - Robert Parish of the Boston Celtics becomes the fifth player in NBA history to record 2,000 career blocks.
1996 - Don Shula announced his retirement from coaching the Miami Dolphins after 26 seasons.
1999 - In the inaugural BCS National Championship Game, #1 Tennessee defeated #2 Florida State 23-16 in the Fiesta Bowl.
2000 - A day after accepting the head coaching position of the New York Jets, Bill Belichick resigns to take the same position with the New England Patriots.
2000 - #1 Florida State defeats #2 Virginia Tech 46-29 at the Sugar Bowl to win the BCS National Championship.
2001 - Michael Jordan of the Washington Wizards becomes the fourth player in NBA history to score 30,000 career points.
2003 - The Green Bay Packers lost 27-7 to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC wild card game. It was the first time that the Packers had lost a playoff game at home in franchise history.
2004 - #2 LSU defeats #1 Oklahoma 21-14 at the Sugar Bowl to win the BCS National Championship.
2005 - #1 USC defeats #2 Oklahoma 55-19 in the Orange Bowl to win the BCS National Championship. (USC later vacates the victory.)
2006 - #2 Texas defeats #1 USC 41-38 at the Rose Bowl to win the BCS National Championship.
1885 - Dr. William W. Grant of Davenport, Cockeye performed what is believed to be the world's first appendectomy.
1896 - Utah became the 45th state.
1904 - In Gonzales v. Williams, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that citizens of Puerto Rico are not aliens and can enter the U.S. freely.
1935 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, called for legislation to provide assistance for the jobless, elderly, impoverished children and the disabled.
1948 - Burma (Myanmar) gained independence from Britain.
1951 - During the Korean War, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul.
1964 - Pope Paul VI began a visit to the Holy Land, the first papal pilgrimage of its kind.
1965 - President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined his "Great Society" during his State of the Union address to Congress.
1965 - Poet T.S. Eliot died at age 76.
1974 - President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
1987 - Sixteen people were killed when an Amtrak train bound from Washington, D.C., to Boston collided with Conrail locomotives that had crossed into its path from a side track in Chase, Maryland.
1990 - Charles Stuart, who’d claimed that he’d been wounded and his pregnant wife fatally shot by a robber, leapt to his death off a Boston bridge after he himself became a suspect.
1995 - The 104th Congress convened, the first entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era; Newt Gingrich was elected Speaker of the House.
1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as governor of Minnesota.
1999 - Europe’s new currency, the euro, got off to a strong start on its first trading day, rising against the dollar on world currency markets.
2002 - Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman, a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier, was killed by small-arms fire during an ambush in eastern Afghanistan; he was the first American military death from enemy fire in the war against terrorism.
2004 - Afghans approved a new constitution.
2006 - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke and his powers were transferred to his deputy, Ehud Olmert. (Sharon remained in a coma until his death in January 2014.)
2007 - California Democrat Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House.
2010 - Dubai opened the world's tallest skyscraper, the 2,717-foot gleaming glass-and-metal tower Burj Khalifa.
2012 - Defying Republican lawmakers, President Barack Obama barreled past the Senate by using a recess appointment to name Richard Cordray the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
2015 - Pope Francis named 156 new cardinals, selecting them from 14 countries, including far-flung corners of the world, to reflect the diversity of the Roman Catholic church and its growth in places like Asia and Africa.
2017 - President Barack Obama urged congressional Democrats to “look out for the American people” in defending his legacy health care overhaul, while Vice President-elect Mike Pence stood firm in telling Republicans that dismantling “Obamacare” was No. 1 on Donald Trump’s list.
2021 - At a campaign rally in Georgia for the Republican candidates in the state’s U.S. Senate runoff elections the following day, President Donald Trump declared that he would “fight like hell” to hold on to the presidency and appealed to Republican lawmakers to reverse his election loss.
Birthdays
22 - Addy Miller (actress)
24 - Coco Jones (actress/singer)
26 - Emma Mackey (actress)
30 - Kris Bryant (baseball player)
32 - Chantelle Connelly (reality star)
36 - Charlyne Yi (actress/comedian)
37 - Lenora Crichlow (actress)
42 - D'Arcy Carden (actress)
43 - Jeannie Mai (reality star)
47 - Jill Marie Jones (actress/singer)
49 - Damon Gupton (actor)
52 - Josh Stamberg (actor)
56 - Deana Carter (country singer)
57 - Julia Ormond (actress)
57 - Rick Hearst (actor)
58 - Dot Jones (actress)
59 - Dave Foley (actor)
60 - Patrick Cassidy (actor)
62 - Michael Stipe (singer)
64 - Julian Sands (actor)
65 - Patty Loveless (singer)
66 - Ann Magnuson (actress)
67 - Kathy Forester (singer)
83 - Dyan Cannon (actor)
95 - Barbara Rush (actress)
=======================================
Today in Sports History - January 4
1883 - The Ontario Rugby Football Union was formed. The organization was the forerunner of the CFL.
1920 - The National Negro Baseball League was organized.
1957 - The Dodgers bought a 44-passenger twin-engine airplane for $775,000. They were the first team to own their own plane.
1974 - NBC-TV presented hockey in prime time for the first time. The Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers were the teams in the National Hockey League (NHL) game.
1975 - New Orleans Jazz set a then NBA record (with 24-second shot clock) by scoring only 20 points in the first half of a 111-89 loss in Seattle; unwanted record stands for nearly 25 years.
1976 - The Dallas Cowboys became the first wild-card team to make it to the Super Bowl. They beat the Los Angeles Ram 37-7 in the NFC title game.
1984 - Wayne Gretzky scored eight points (four goals and four assists) for the second time in his National Hockey League (NHL) career. The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Minnesota North Stars, 12-8. The game was the highest-scoring NHL game to date.
1984 - Adrian Dantley ties Wilt Chamberlain's NBA record for most free throws made in a game by converting 28 of 29 free throws in Utah's 116-111 win over Houston.
1986 - David Robinson of the U.S. Naval Academy sets an NCAA record with 14 blocked shots in a game.
1986 - Los Angeles Rams running back Eric Dickerson scores twice as he rushes for an NFL postseason record 248 yards in 20-0 victory over Dallas Cowboys in NFC divisional playoff in Anaheim, California.
1992 - Robert Parish of the Boston Celtics becomes the fifth player in NBA history to record 2,000 career blocks.
1996 - Don Shula announced his retirement from coaching the Miami Dolphins after 26 seasons.
1999 - In the inaugural BCS National Championship Game, #1 Tennessee defeated #2 Florida State 23-16 in the Fiesta Bowl.
2000 - A day after accepting the head coaching position of the New York Jets, Bill Belichick resigns to take the same position with the New England Patriots.
2000 - #1 Florida State defeats #2 Virginia Tech 46-29 at the Sugar Bowl to win the BCS National Championship.
2001 - Michael Jordan of the Washington Wizards becomes the fourth player in NBA history to score 30,000 career points.
2003 - The Green Bay Packers lost 27-7 to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC wild card game. It was the first time that the Packers had lost a playoff game at home in franchise history.
2004 - #2 LSU defeats #1 Oklahoma 21-14 at the Sugar Bowl to win the BCS National Championship.
2005 - #1 USC defeats #2 Oklahoma 55-19 in the Orange Bowl to win the BCS National Championship. (USC later vacates the victory.)
2006 - #2 Texas defeats #1 USC 41-38 at the Rose Bowl to win the BCS National Championship.
