Today in History
Today is Saturday, March 2, the 62nd day of 2024. There are 304 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a game against the New York Knicks, an NBA record that still stands. Philadelphia won the game, 169-147.
On this date:
In 1861, the state of Texas, having seceded from the Union, was admitted to the Confederacy.
In 1877, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden had won the popular vote.
In 1917, actor, producer, director and bandleader Desi Arnaz was born in Santiago de Cuba.
In 1932, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, which moved the date of the presidential inauguration from March 4 to Jan. 20, was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification.
In 1939, John Ford’s classic Western “Stagecoach,” starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne, opened in New York.
In 1943, the three-day Battle of the Bismarck Sea began in the southwest Pacific during World War II; U.S. and Australian warplanes were able to inflict heavy damage on an Imperial Japanese convoy.
In 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks’ famous act of defiance, Claudette Colvin, a Black high school student in Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white passenger.
In 1985, the government approved a screening test for AIDS that detected antibodies to the virus, allowing possibly contaminated blood to be excluded from the blood supply.
In 1989, representatives from the 12 European Community nations agreed to ban all production of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), the synthetic compounds blamed for destroying the Earth’s ozone layer, by the end of the 20th century.
In 1990, more than 6,000 drivers went on strike against Greyhound Lines Inc. (The company, later declaring an impasse in negotiations, fired the strikers.)
In 1995, the Internet search engine website Yahoo! was incorporated by founders Jerry Yang and David Filo.
In 2011, the Supreme Court ruled, 8-1, that a grieving father’s pain over mocking protests at his Marine son’s funeral had to yield to First Amendment protections for free speech in a decision favoring the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas.
In 2012, Some 40 people were killed by tornadoes that struck Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
In 2018, at a funeral before an invitation-only crowd of approximately 2,000 in Charlotte, North Carolina, the children of the Rev. Billy Graham remembered “America’s Pastor” as a man devoted to spreading the Gospel, and one who lived his life at home as he preached it in stadiums.
In 2021, Bunny Wailer, the last surviving founding member of the legendary reggae group The Wailers, died in his native Jamaica at age 73.
In 2022, Autherine Lucy Foster, the first Black student to enroll at the University of Alabama, died at age 92.
Today’s birthdays: Actor John Cullum is 94. Actor Barbara Luna is 85. Author John Irving is 82. Actor Cassie Yates is 73. Actor, comedian Laraine Newman (Saturday Night Live) is 72. Former Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., is 71. Former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is 69. Singer Jay Osmond is 69. Pop musician John Cowsill (The Cowsills) is 68. Former tennis player Kevin Curren is 66. Country singer Larry Stewart (Restless Heart) is 65. Rock singer Jon Bon Jovi is 62. Blues singer-musician Alvin Youngblood Hart is 61. Actor Daniel Craig is 56. Actor Richard Ruccolo is 52. Rock singer Chris Martin (Coldplay) is 47. Actor Heather McComb is 47. Actor Rebel Wilson is 44. Actor Bryce Dallas Howard is 43. Former NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is 42. Actor Robert Iler is 39. Actor Nathalie Emmanuel is 35. Country singer Luke Combs is 34. Singer-rapper-actor Becky G is 27.