Tony Dungy (68) of the Indianapolis Colts became the first Black NFL head coach to win a Super Bowl (XLl). The victory marked the first time a Black head coach had reached the National Football League’s championship game—one that featured not just one, but two Black head coaches.
Hall of Fame head coach and NBC Football analyst Tony Dungy.
At 11:38 a.m. EST, on January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Christa McAuliffe is on her way to becoming the first ordinary U.S. civilian to travel into space. McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies teacher from New Hampshire, won a competition that earned her a place among the seven-member crew of the Challenger.
Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including Christa’s family, stared in disbelief as the shuttle broke up in a forking plume of smoke and fire.
Millions more watched the wrenching tragedy unfold on live television. There were no survivors.
The crew of the Challenger space shuttle. Front row, from left to right, shows astronauts Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, Ron McNair and in the rear row, from left to right, are Ellison Onizuka, school teacher Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, and Judith Resnik. (NASA)