On February 15, 1961, the entire 18-member U.S. figure skating
team was killed in a plane crash in Berg-Kampenhout, Belgium.

The team was on its way to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Among those killed in the crash was 16-year-old Laurence Owen,
who had won the U.S. Figure Skating Championship in the ladies’ division the previous month.

She was featured on the February 13, 1961, cover of Sports
Illustrated, which called her the “most exciting U.S. skater.”

Shortly after the 1961 crash, the U.S. Figure Skating Memorial
Fund was established; to date, it has provided financial
assistance to thousands of elite American skaters.

 
On Februa14, around the year A.D. 270, Valentine, a holy
priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, is said
to have been beheaded.

Under the rule of Claudius the Cruel, Rome was involved in
many unpopular and bloody campaigns.

Claudius believed that Roman men were unwilling to join the
army because of their strong attachment to their wives and
families.

To get rid of the problem, Claudius banned all marriages and engagements in Rome. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the
decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages
for young lovers in secret.

   
1909

Jennings was a singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He
is considered one of the pioneers of the outlaw movement
in country music.

On February 13, 2002, Jennings died in his sleep from
complications of diabetes at his home in Chandler,
Arizona, aged 64.

Jennings worked as a performer and DJ on radio KLLL in
1958.

Waylon Jennings (left) & Buddy Holly in 1959.

1940

1965

Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz 
(November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000)

Schulz was an cartoonist, the creator of the comic strip Peanuts
which features his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown
and Snoopy.

He is widely regarded as one of the most influential cartoonists
in history.

Schulz died in his sleep of a heart attack at his home in Santa
Rosa, California, at the age of 77. He was suffering from
colorectal cancer.

On February 10, 2014, Shirley Temple Black, who as a child in the
1930s became one of Hollywood’s most successful stars, died at
her Woodside, California, home at age 85.

The plucky, curly-haired performer sang, danced and acted in
dozens of films by the time she was a teen; as an adult, she
gave up making movies and served as a U.S. diplomat
under four presidents.

1935