Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012)

Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971)

Louis Armstrong was born and raised in New Orleans,
Louisiana. He was.a trumpeter and vocalist who was
among the most influential figures in jazz.

His career spanned five decades and several eras in
the history of jazz. Armstrong received numerous
accolades including the Grammy Award for Best
Male Vocal Performance for Hello, Dolly! in 1965, as
well as a posthumous win for the Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award in 1972.

His influence crossed musical genres, with inductions
into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame, the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame, and the National Rhythm & Blues
Hall of Fame, among others.

Charles Whitman took a stockpile of guns and ammunition
to the observatory platform atop a 300-foot tower at the
University of Texas and proceeded to shoot 46 people,
killing 14 people and wounding 32.

Whitman (below) who had killed both his wife and mother
the night before, was eventually shot to death after Austin
police officers courageously charged up the stairs of the
tower to subdue the attacker.

At 12:51 EDT on July 24, 1969, Apollo 11, the U.S. spacecraft that
had taken the first astronauts to the surface of the moon, safely
returned to Earth.

The American effort to send astronauts to the moon had its origins
in a famous appeal President John F. Kennedy made to a special
joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961.
        
        

The Apollo 11 astronauts are, from left, Neil Armstrong,
Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin. They were quarantined
after splashdown to ensure they did not bring back any contamination from the moon. (Image credit: NASA)

    
    
    
1949

   

William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey
(June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983) 

Also nicknamed The Manassa Mauler, was a boxer who competed
from 1914 to 1927, and world heavyweight champion from 1919 to
1926. One of the most iconic athletes of his era, Dempsey is ranked
sixth on The Ring magazine’s list of all-time heavyweights and
fourth among its Top 100 Greatest Punchers, while in 1950 the Associated Press voted him as the greatest fighter of the past
50 years.

He is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and was
in the previous Boxing Hall of Fame.