On February 15, 1903, toy store owner and inventor Morris
Michtom places two stuffed bears in his shop window,
advertising them as Teddy bears.

Michtom had earlier petitioned President Theodore Roosevelt
for permission to use his nickname, Teddy.

Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
(October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919)

  2015

The guitar destroyed by Kurt Russell’s character was not a prop
but an antique 1870s Martin guitar lent by the Martin Guitar
Museum. According to sound mixer Mark Ulano, the guitar was
supposed to have been switched with a copy to be destroyed,
but this was not communicated to Russell; everyone on the set
was "pretty freaked out" at the guitar’s destruction, and actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh’s reaction was genuine, though "Tarantino
was in a corner of the room with a funny curl on his lips, because
he got something out of it with the performance."

Museum director Dick Boak said that the museum was not told
that the script included a scene that called for a guitar being s
mashed, and determined that it was irreparable.

The insurance remunerated the purchase value of the guitar
and as a result of the incident, the museum no longer lends
props to film productions.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Kurt Russell will be 74 in March.

Director Quentin Tarantino.

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.