On September 15, 1978, boxer Muhammad Ali defeated Leon
Spinks at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans to win
the world heavyweight boxing title for the third time in his
career, the first fighter ever to do so. Following his victory,
Ali retired from boxing, only to make a brief comeback two
years later. Ali, who once claimed he could “float like a
butterfly, sting like a bee,” left the sport permanently in
1981.

Muhammad Ali (Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.)
(January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016)

On August 25, 1939, The Wizard of Oz, which became one
of the best-loved movies in history, opened in theaters
around the United States.

Nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Picture
category, The Wizard of Oz lost to the Civil War–era
epic Gone With the Wind. The Wizard of Oz won a
Best Song Oscar for “Over the Rainbow,” which
became one of Garland’s signature hits. Garland
won a special award at that year’s Oscar ceremony,
for Best Juvenile Performer.

William John Vukovich II (March 29, 1944 – August 20, 2023)

Bill Vukovich II, the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in
1968, died Sunday. 

He finished in the top ten 85 times, with one victory in 1973
at Michigan and best finish at the Indianapolis 500 came in
1973, where he came in second in a rain-shortened, tragedy-
marred event. He was inducted in the National Midget Auto
Racing Hall of Fame in 1998

Vukovich also had 23 National midget car victories in his career,
and drove for part of his career in J. C. Agajanian‘s midget car.

Bill Vukovich II was the son of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner
Bill Vukovich and the father of Billy Vukovich III, both of whom
were killed in racing accidents.

Vukovich ll in 1967.

Robert De Niro is considered to be one of the most influential
actors of his generation. He is the recipient of various awards
, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the
Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Life
Achievement Award. In 2009, De Niro received the Kennedy
Center Honor, and earned a Presidential Medal of Freedom
from U.S. President Barack Obama in 2016.

1976

Apocalypse Now, the acclaimed Vietnam War film directed
by Francis Ford Coppola, opened in theaters around the
United States on August 15, 1979.

The film was inspired in part by Joseph Conrad’s 1899
novella Heart of Darkness, among other sources.

The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards,
including Best Picture, Best Director (Coppola), and
Best Supporting Actor (Duvall); it went on to win Best
Cinematography and Best Sound.

Apocalypse Now is today considered one of the greatest
films ever made.

Francis Ford Coppola

‘I love the smell Of Napalm in The Morning’… Robert
Duvall as Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore.

Harrison Ford

Dennis Hopper

Laurence Fishburne