Jack Roosevelt Robinson
(January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972)
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson, who integrated Major
League Baseball in 1947, was born to a sharecropping
family in Cairo, Georgia, on this day in history, Jan. 31,
1919.
His fight for racial equality and his exploits on the field
of play made him the first athlete in North American
sports to have his jersey number (42) retired by every
team in his game. (FOXNEWS)
Pelé (Edson Arantes do Nascimento) (Brazilian/Portuguese)
(23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022)
He was a Brazilian professional footballer (soccer) who played
as a forward. Regarded as one of the greatest players of all time
and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, he was among the most
successful and popular sports figures of the 20th century.
In 1999, he was named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee and was included in the Time list of the 100
most important people of the 20th century. In 2000, Pelé was
voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation
of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) and was one of the two
joint winners of the FIFA Player of the Century. His 1,279 goals in
1,363 games, which includes friendlies, is recognized as a
Guinness World Record. He died in a Brazilian hospital from
multiple organ failure, a complication of colon cancer.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
“
Associated Press’ global headquarters located
in New York City.
On Nov. 1, 1952 the U.S. detonated the first hydrogen
bomb (“Mike”), resulting in the first successful full-
scale thermonuclear weapon explosion.
Operation Ivy was conducted on the Eniwetok Atoll in
the Marshall Islands.
James Robert Cade
(September 26, 1927 – November 27, 2007)
On October 2, 1965, a team of scientists invented Gatorade, a
sports drink to quench thirst, in a University of Florida lab. The
name "Gatorade" is derived from the nickname of the university’s
sports teams. Eventually, the drink becomes a phenomenon and
makes its inventors wealthy.
Early in the summer of 1965, University of Florida assistant football coach Dewayne Douglas met a group of scientists on campus to determine why many of Florida’s players were so negatively
affected by heat. To replace bodily fluids lost during physical
exertion, Dr. James Robert Cade and his team of researchers
created the sports drink.
On September 28, 1941, the last day of Major League Baseball’s
regular season, the Boston Red Sox’s Ted Williams got six hits
in eight at-bats during a doubleheader in Philadelphia, boosting
his average to .406. He becomes the first player since 1930 to hit
.400. "I guess I’ll be satisfied with that thrill out there today," he
tells the Boston Globe about hitting .400. "… I never wanted
anything harder in my life."
In addition to his .406 batting average—no major league player
since Williams has hit .400—the left fielder led the big leagues
with 37 homers, 135 runs and a slugging average of .735.
Williams, nicknamed “The Splendid Splinter” and “The Thumper,
” began his big-league career with the Red Sox in 1939.
