November 21, 2016

120 years ago
1896

Football
CRU
Dominion Final
Ottawa College 12 @ University of Toronto 8

100 years ago
1916

Born on this date
Sid Luckman. U.S. football player. Mr. Luckman played quarterback with the Chicago Bears from 1939-1950 and was the first modern T-formation quarterback, leading the Bears to National Football League championships in 1940, 1941, 1943, and 1946. His most memorable performances came in the NFL Championship game in 1940--when he led the Bears to a 73-0 win over the Washington Redskins--and on November 14, 1943, when he set single-game records of 453 yards passing and 7 touchdown passes, leading the team to 682 yards net offense in a 56-7 rout of the New York Giants. Mr. Luckman was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1943 and was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1954. He died on July 5, 1998 at the age of 81.

Died on this date
Franz Josef I, 86. Emperor of Austria; King of Hungary and Croatia; King of Bohemia, 1848-1916. President of the German Confederation, 1850-1866. Emperor Franz Josef, of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, succeeded his uncle Ferdinand I on the throne. He granted greater autonomy to Hungary and annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. The assassination of Franz Josef's nephew and heir presumptive Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 set off the events that began World War I. Emperor Franz Josef I died 11 days short of the 68th anniversary of his succession to the throne; he was succeeded by his grandnephew Charles I, who became the last of the Habsburg monarchs.

90 years ago
1926

At the movies
The Great Gatsby, directed by Herbert Brenon, and starring Warner Baxter, Lois Wilson, Neil Hamilton, Georgia Hale, and William Powell, opened in theatres.



Died on this date
Ned Cummins, 40. U.S. golfer. Mr. Cummins was a member of the American team that won the gold medal in team competition at the 1904 Summer Olympic Games in St. Louis, but he finished 25th in individual competition and was eliminated in the first round of match play.

Football
AFL
Los Angeles (5-6-1) 16 @ New York (8-3) 6
Rock Island (2-6-1) 0 @ Chicago (5-3-2) 3

75 years ago
1941

Died on this date
Henrietta Vinton Davis, 81. U.S. actress and social activist. Miss Davis was the most prominent Negro actress of the 19th century before becoming the first international organizer for the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL), an organization founded by Marcus Garvey promoting the interests of Negroes and their return to Africa. She broke with Mr. Garvey in 1932 and became first Assistant President General of the rival UNIA, Inc., becoming its president in 1934.

War
German forces captured Rostov, at the mouth of the Don River.

Defense
U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Icelandic Minister to the United States Thor Thors signed a Lend-Lease agreement, with the United States assuming the United Kingdom's financial obligations to Iceland, amounting to $20 million per year. The 35,000-ton battleship Indiana, the third to be launched in 1941 and 20th in the United States Navy, was launched six months ahead of schedule at Newport News, Virginia.

Oil
Standard Oil Company of New Jersey President W.S. Farish announced that the American oil companies whose properties had been expropriated by the Mexican government in 1938 had rejected the U.S.-Mexican oil pact.

Labour
11 pickets were wounded when non-strikers opened fire on 150 strikers at a coal mine in Edenborn, Pennsylvania.

Philip Murray was unanimously re-elected President of the U.S. Congress of Industrial Organizations, and declared that labour would fight any legislative attempt to bar strikes or freeze wages.

70 years ago
1946

At the movies
The Best Years of Our Lives, directed by William Wyler and starring Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Harold Russell, Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright, and Virginia Mayo, opened in theatres.



War
23 German doctors pled not guilty before an American court in Nuremberg to charges of torturing thousands of concentration camp inmates in medical "experiments" during World War II.

The Greek government announced that Communist guerrillas had been defeated in a nine-day battle at Skra near the Yugoslavian border.

Politics and government
General Nuri Pasha took office as Prime Minister of Iraq.

Muslim League leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah revealed in New Delhi that the League would not participate in the Indian Constituent Assembly meeting scheduled for December 9, 1946 due to continued killing of Indian Muslims in clashes with Hindus.

Religion
The North Carolina Baptist Convention in Asheville defeated a resolution banning racial segregation in churches.

Labour
A strike of 400,000 coal miners in the United States began when Congress of Industrial Organizations United Mine Workers of America President John L. Lewis refused to obey a court order for postponement of the contract termination date. Mr. Lewis was ordered to appear at federal district court in Washington, D.C. and "show cause" why he should not be prosecuted for contempt of court.

60 years ago
1956

War
The Syrian government charged that British and French troops had joined Israeli forces in a military buildup along the Syrian and Jordanian borders.

Defense
Argentine Army Minister Arturo Osorio Arana announced the arrest of Generals Jose Uranga and Leon Justo Bengoa for complicity in a plot to seize control of the Army.

Labour
Hungary's National Council of Workers issued a new call for a general strike after Hungarian police and Soviet troops prevented the council from meeting in Budapest Sports Hall.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen settled its three-month wage dispute with major U.S. railroads.

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Black is Black--Los Bravos (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Mursheen Durkin--Johnny McEvoy (2nd week at #1)

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Poor Side of Town--Johnny Rivers
2 Hooray for Hazel--Tommy Roe
3 Walk Away Renee--The Left Banke
4 Lady Godiva--Peter and Gordon
5 Dandy--Herman's Hermits
6 Last Train to Clarksville--The Monkees
7 Spin, Spin--Gordon Lightfoot
8 If I Were a Carpenter--Bobby Darin
9 (You Don't Have To) Paint Me a Picture--Gary Lewis and the Playboys
10 I'm Your Puppet--James and Bobby Purify

Singles entering the chart were Games that Lovers Play by Eddie Fisher (#83); That's Life by Frank Sinatra (#84); I Need Somebody by ? (Question Mark) & the Mysterians (#85); Have You Ever Loved Somebody by the Searchers (#86); Sugar Town by Nancy Sinatra (#93); Love's Just a Broken Heart by the British Modbeats (#94); We Got a Thing That's in the Groove by the Capitols (#96); (I Know) I'm Losing You by the Temptations (#97); Heartbreak Hotel by the Scoundrelz (#98); Coming Home Soldier by Bobby Vinton (#99); and Single Girl by Sandy Posey (#100).

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Carleton Hobbs and Norman Shelley, on BBC Light Programme
Tonight's episode: A Scandal in Bohemia

Boxing
George Chuvalo (39-13-2) scored a technical knockout of Boston Jacobs (5-3) in the 3rd round of a heavyweight bout at Cobo Arena in Detroit.

Joe Frazier (13-0) scored a technical knockout of Eddie Machen (50-9-3) at 22 seconds of the 10th and final round of their heavyweight bout at Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles.



40 years ago
1976

At the movies
Rocky, directed by John G. Avildsen, written by and starring Sylvester Stallone, received its premiere screening in New York City.



Football
CFL
Eastern Final
Hamilton 15 @ Ottawa 17

Art Green rushed 27 times for 124 yards and Gerry Organ kicked field goals of 48, 30, and 20 yards as the Rough Riders held on to defeat the Tiger-Cats before 28,246 fans at Lansdowne Park. Hamilton quarterback Jimmy Jones completed 2 touchdown passes to Terry Evanshen.



NFL
New Orleans 51 Seattle 27

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): In the Army Now--Status Quo

On television tonight
Shaka Zulu, on SABC Tonight's episode: Episode 5



At the movies
The animated feature An American Tail, co-produced and directed by Don Bluth, opened in theatres.



Died on this date
Jerry Colonna, 82. U.S. entertainer. Mr. Colonna was a trombonist in various bands, but was best known as a member of the supporting cast of Bob Hope's radio program in the 1940s, introducing catchphrases and singing in an exaggerated style. He retired after a stroke in 1966, and was permanently hospitalized after a heart attack in 1979.

Dar Robinson, 39. U.S. stuntman. Mr. Robinson achieved numerous records and firsts for stunts in movies and elsewhere. He was killed while filming Million Dollar Mystery (1987) when the motorcycle he was riding missed the braking point on a turn and he went over a cliff.

25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Zigzagging--Zig and Zag (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Sonny Werblin, 81. U.S. entertainment and sports executive. David Abraham Werblin began working as an agent with the Music Corporation of America in 1932, and led MCA's television division in the 1950s and '60s. He and partners bought the American Football League's New York Titans in 1963 and renamed them the Jets. In 1965, the Jets signed rookie quarterback Joe Namath to a then-unheard of salary of $427,000 over three years, paving the way for modern highly-paid athletes. Mr. Werblin was bought out by his partners before the 1968 season, just before the Jets went on to win their only (so far) Super Bowl championship. Mr. Werblin built the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey and ran it from 1971-1977, and headed Madison Square Garden and its properties--including the New York Rangers and New York Knickerbockers--from 1978-1984. He died of a heart attack just a few days after the death of his third and youngest son Hubbard, 46.

Diplomacy
The United Nations Security Council chose Boutros Boutros-Ghali to be the new Secretary-General of the UN.

Football
CFL
Thanks to the generosity of Mike "Pinball" Clemons of the Toronto Argonauts, this blogger was in attendance at the Manitoba Cenennial Concert Hall in downtown Winnipeg as the outstanding player awards were handed out. Dan Gallagher was the emcee, and Argonauts' co-owner John Candy made a cameo appearance. Burton Cummings performed, as did Maestro Fresh Wes. British Columbia Lions' quarterback Doug Flutie was named the league's Most Outstanding Player, and Lions' running back Jon Volpe was named Most Outstanding Rookie, beating out Raghib "Rocket" Ismail of the Toronto Argonauts. Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon was among those in attendance.

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): Where Do You Go--No Mercy (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Breathe--The Prodigy

Died on this date
Abdus Salam, 70. Pakistani physicist. Dr. Salam, the most prominent physicist in Pakistani history, shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg "for their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including, inter alia, the prediction of the weak neutral current." He died of progressive supranuclear palsy.

Politics and government
The Canadian Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples released its report. The RCAP recommended that the federal government set up 60-80 new First Nations bodies with self-government, pegging the cost at $30 billion. The RCAP sat for five years and cost $51.2 million.

Education
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Canadian provincial governments weren't constitutionally obliged to fund religious schools; the funding of Roman Catholic schools in Ontario was a separate matter because it was guaranteed at Confederation.

Disasters
33 people were killed and more than 80 injured in an explosion caused by a gas leak at a Humberto Vidal shoe shop in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico.

10 years ago
2006

Died on this date
Hassan Gouled Aptidon, 90. 1st President of Djibouti, 1977-1999. Mr. Aptidon served in the French Senate from 1952-1958 and the French National Assembly from 1959-1962. He was first elected to parliament in the colony of French Somaliland in 1958, and served as Prime Minister from May-July 1977 before assuming the presidency upon the colony gaining her independence and becoming the Republic of Djibouti. Mr. Aptidon founded the Rassemblement populaire pour le progrès (RPP) (People's Rally for Progress) and made it the only legal party in Djibouti in 1981. He allowed some reforms in the 1990s, and retired in 1999, and was succeeded by his nephew Ismaïl Omar Guelleh.

Pierre Gemayel, 34. Lebanese politician. Mr. Gemayel was the son of former President Amine Gemayel and grandson of Pierre Gemayel, founder of the Kataeb Party. He was first elected to parliament in 2000 and was re-elected in 2005. Mr. Gemayel was an opponent of Syrian occupation and influence in Lebanon, and was gunned down in daylight by terrorists who identified themselves as "Fighters for the Unity and Liberty of Greater Syria."

Baseball
Minnesota Twins' first baseman Justin Morneau was named the American League's Most Valuable Player for 2006. He batted .321 with 34 home runs and 130 runs batted in 157 games. New York Yankees' shortstop Derek Jeter was a close second in the voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America.