TEAM SPIRIT

January 28th in history:

On January 28th, 1959, Vince Lombardi was hired to coach the Green Bay Packers. Under Lombardi, the Packers won five NFL championships, including the first two Super Bowls.

In Super Bowl XXX, played on this date in 1996, the Dallas Cowboys became the first team to win three Lombardi Trophies in four years. Dallas defeated Pittsburgh, 27-17. The halftime entertainer that night was Diana Ross.

January 28th, 1985, was the night Diana Ross and almost 40 other celebrity singers gathered to record “We Are the World,” an American response to the Band Aid recording in England to fight starvation in Africa. The stars got together in a recording studio after a live broadcast of the American Music Awards.

WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS

January 27th in history:

The Vietnam War officially ended on January 27th, 1973, when Vietnam and the U.S. signed the Paris Peace Accords. The treaties were signed one week into President Nixon’s second term, and five years after the Paris peace talks began.

The grave of Doors lead singer Jim Morrison has become a popular tourist attraction in Paris. Morrison’s career only lasted four years after the release of the first album by the Doors on January 27th, 1967.

The first Doors album featured the hit “Light My Fire.” On this date in 1984, singer Michael Jackson’s hair caught on fire as a result of pyrotechnics used while he was filming a TV commercial for Pepsi.

 

YOU SEND ME

January 26th in history:

On January 26th of 1962, the U.S. sent the Ranger 3 probe to the moon. The spacecraft missed the moon by several thousand miles and kept going.

On this date in 2006, Western Union stopped providing the service it became famous for: sending telegrams. The company officially got out of the communications business and shifted to financial services and money transfers. In 2005, the number of telegrams sent by Western Union was 1 percent of the number sent in 1929.

And President Bill Clinton sent an infamous message to Americans on January 26th of 1998. In front of TV cameras, Clinton insisted “I did not have sexual relations” with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Months later, Clinton admitted he DID have relations with Lewinsky, setting the stage for his impeachment on perjury charges.

CEREMONIES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS

January 25th in history:

King Henry the 8th was married on January 25, 1533, secretly marrying his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Henry’s desire to end his first marriage and take a new wife led to a major split with the Catholic Church.

A more public royal wedding took place on January 25, 1858. The bride was Princess Victoria, daughter of England’s Queen Victoria. After Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” was played at the ceremony, many future couples chose to use the song at their weddings.

President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle danced to the same song at every inaugural ball in January of 2009: “At Last,” made famous by singer Etta James. James was born on this date in 1938.

 

FROM 49ers TO 1984

January 24th in history:

The California Gold Rush was triggered on January 24, 1848, when James Marshall found gold at Sutter’s Mill. The treasure hunters who swarmed to the area in the year that followed became known as “49ers.”

Today’s 49ers, the NFL team from San Francisco, played in the Super Bowl for the first time on January 24, 1982, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. They won Super Bowl XVI by a 26-21 score over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Super Bowl didn’t become known for clever TV commercials until two years later, when Apple Computers used a “1984” theme to introduce its new Macintosh personal computer. The Macintosh officially went on sale January 24, 1984.

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

January 23rd in history:

On January 23, 1997, Madeleine Albright became the first member of a very exclusive club when she was sworn in as America’s first female secretary of state. The group of women who have headed the State Department now includes Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The first group of artists to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame received that honor on this date in 1986. Among the first inductees were Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard and James Brown – not to be confused with TV sports reporter James Brown or Cleveland Browns football star Jim Brown.

O.J. Simpson was in a club all by himself on January 23, 1985. He became the first Heisman Trophy winner voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Another “first” for a hall of fame on this date…Jackie Robinson was the first African-American player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on January 23rd, 1962.

SOCK IT TO ME!

January 22nd in history:

From “beautiful downtown Burbank,” the first episode of “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in” aired on NBC on January 22, 1968. The fast-paced mix of one-liners, slapstick and political humor lasted five-and-a-half years, making stars of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin, and inspiring the even longer-lasting imitator, “Hee Haw.”

An early feature of “Laugh-In” was “Sock It to Me Time.” The night of January 22nd, 1973, was “Sock It to Me Time” for heavyweight boxing champ Joe Frazier, as he was knocked down repeatedly by George Foreman in a title fight in Jamaica. Foreman won the championship when the fight was stopped in the second round.

Foreman is best known today for selling the George Foreman Grill on TV. Two chefs who had popular TV shows were born on January 22: Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet (1934) and Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet (1939).

AND AWAY WE GO

January 21st in history:

In 1899, the Opel Company of Germany made its first automobile. Before that, Opel had specialized in bicycles and sewing machines.

The first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched by First Lady Mamie Eisenhower in Connecticut on January 21, 1954.

Six years later, in 1960, a female monkey named “Miss Sam” was launched into space from a base in Virginia, in a test of the Mercury spacecraft.

A different way to fly was introduced by the British and French on January 21, 1976, when the two countries began supersonic passenger flights by the Concorde.

And the father of “The Flying Wallendas” high wire act, Karl Wallenda, was born on January 21st of 1905.

MEN AT THE TOP

January 20th in history:

John Marshall won a powerful job in the U.S. government on this date in 1801. Marshall was appointed Chief Justice. He led the Supreme Court for 34 years, serving under six presidents.

In 1937, January 20th became Inauguration Day in the U.S., the traditional day for the Chief Justice to swear in the newly-elected president. Before that year, presidents had to wait until March 4th to begin their terms.

England had a new king on January 20th, 1936, when King George the 5th died after a 25-year reign. His oldest son immediately became King Edward the 8th, but he abdicated before the year was done because of the furor over his intent to marry a divorced American woman.

And the artist nicknamed the “Line King,” Al Hirschfeld, died on January 20th, 2003. Hirschfeld was famous for his caricatures of Broadway and Hollywood celebrities. He died five months short of his 100th birthday. Long live the King!

WOMEN THROUGH THE DECADES

January 19th in history:

On this date in 1953, Lucille Ball had two babies — one in real life, and one on TV. Desi Arnaz, Jr. was born on the same day that Lucy Ricardo gave birth to “Little Ricky” on “I Love Lucy.” Two-thirds of the households in America watched “Lucy” that night.

In the 1960s, Indira Gandhi made history by becoming the first female prime minister of India. The daughter of former Prime Minister Nehru was elected to the job on January 19, 1966.

Mrs. Gandhi was still prime minister when U.S. President Gerald Ford was leaving office in 1977. One of Ford’s last official acts as president was to pardon Iva Toguri d’Aquino, who broadcast Japanese propaganda to American troops during World War II. She was the woman most identified with the nickname “Tokyo Rose.”