Also on this date
In 1921,
a baseball game was broadcast for the first time as KDKA radio announcer Harold Arlin described the action between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies from Forbes Field. (The Pirates won, 8-5.)
In 1936,
Jesse Owens of the United States won the 200-meter dash at the Berlin Olympics, collecting the third of his four gold medals.
In 1954,
24 boxers became the first inductees into the Boxing Hall of Fame, including Henry Armstrong, Gentleman Jim Corbett, Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, Joe Louis and John L. Sullivan.
In 1964,
U.S. Navy pilot Everett Alvarez Jr. became the first American flier to be shot down and captured by North Vietnam; he was held prisoner until February 1973.
In 1962,
South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela was arrested on charges of leaving the country without a passport and inciting workers to strike. It was the beginning of 27 years of imprisonment.
In 1981,
the federal government began firing air traffic controllers who had gone out on strike.
In 2010,
33 workers were trapped in a copper mine in northern Chile after a tunnel caved in (all were rescued after being entombed for 69 days).
In 2019,
Toni Morrison, the first Black woman to receive the Nobel literature prize, died at 88 in New York; her novels included “Beloved,” and “The Bluest Eye.”
Ten years ago:
Standard & Poor’s lowered the United States’ AAA credit rating by one notch to AAplus.
Five years ago:
The opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics took place in Rio de Janeiro as Brazil laced its high-energy party with a sobering message of the dangers of global warming.
One year ago:
Democratic Party officials said Joe Biden would not travel to Milwaukee to accept the party’s presidential nomination in person because of concerns over the coronavirus; party leaders had earlier told delegates not to travel to Milwaukee.