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.

 
Willie Nelson and his guitar "Trigger."

Upon graduating high school in 1950, country music legend Willie
Nelson ventured into the Air Force, embarking on a journey that
would unexpectedly shape his path.

Studio album released in 1973.

On February 15, 1998, after 20 years of trying, racing great
Dale Earnhardt Sr. finally wins his first Daytona 500, the
National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing season
opener and an event dubbed the “Super Bowl of stock
car racing.”

Driving his black No. 3 Chevrolet, Earnhardt recorded an
average speed of 172.712 m.p.h. and took home a then-
record more than $1 million in prize money.

Following his victory, crews from competing teams lined
the pit road at the Daytona International Speedway in
Daytona Beach, Florida, to congratulate Earnhardt, who
drove his car onto the grass and did several celebratory
doughnuts, or circles.         
       
        
        
   
       

Earnhardt’s win that February in 1998 represented his sole Daytona
victory. Tragically, on February 18, 2001, Earnhardt died at the
age of 49 during a crash at that year’s 43rd Daytona 500.

 
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