1994 Oldest Heavyweight Boxing champion 45-year-old George Foreman KOs Michael Moorer in the 10th round of the title fight.

1992 Bobby Fischer beats Boris Spassky (10 games to 5) and takes the $5,000,000 prize in their chess rematch.

1975 UFO Abduction According to Travis Walton, he was abducted from a group of loggers and held for five days by aliens aboard a UFO. His story won a National Enquirer prize of $5,000 and provided the basis for the movie Fire in the Sky (1993).

1946 First NBA player to shatter a backboard Chuck Connors (who went on to star in TV's The Rifleman), playing for the Boston Celtics, shatters one during the pre-game warm-up; it broke due to improper installation.

1930 First American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature Sinclair Lewis wins for his novel Babbitt (1922).

1927 First Seeing Eye Dog in the U.S. An article appears in the Saturday Evening Post by Dorothy Eustis describing how Swiss shepherds were training dogs to lead the blind. This led American Morris Frank to visit Eustis where he received his own seeing eye dog, Buddy. With Eustis' financial backing, Morris returned to the U.S. with Buddy and cofounded The Seeing Eye to train guide dogs.

1915 First plane catapult launch from a ship at sea: A U.S. Navy AB-2 is launched from the USS North Carolina.

1911 First airplane flight across the U.S Calbraith P. Rodgers arrives in Pasadena, California. He had started from Sheepshead Bay, New York on September 17th.

1895 First U.S. automobile patent is granted, to George B. Selden.

1781 Continental Congress John Hanson is elected president of the Continental Congress. For this, he is sometimes referred to as the first U.S. president.

1767 The first of the Farmer's Letters by John Dickinson appear, expressing opposition to the Townshend Acts of 1767.

1733 Freedom of the Press The first issue of John Peter Zenger's Weekly Journal is published. Its criticisms of the governor of New York caused Zenger to be arrested for libel. His acquittal helped establish freedom of the press in America.

1605 Gunpowder Plot Guy Fawkes is arrested for setting up 20 barrels of gunpowder in an attempt to blow up King James I and the English Parliament. He and his fellow conspirators were then tried and executed.

1963 Tatum O'Neal American Oscar-winning actress. Film: Paper Moon (1973, Oscar - the youngest person ever to win one).

1959 Bryan Adams Canadian singer, songwriter.  Songs: Summer of '69, Cuts Like a Knife, and Run to You.

1957 Jon-Erik Hexum d. 1984 American actor. He accidentally killed playing Russian Roulette with a blank gun on the set of TV series Cover Up. He wasn't aware that the wadding fired from blanks is deadly at point blank range. TV: Voyagers! (1982-83, time traveler Phineas Bogg) and Cover Up (1984, Mac Harper).

1947 Peter "Herman" Noone English singer, with Herman's Hermits. Music: I'm Into Something Good (1964, #1 in UK), Mrs Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1965, #1), I'm Henry VII, I Am (1965, #1), and There's a Kind of Hush (1967).

1943 Sam Shepard American Obie-winning playwright, actor. Plays: Curse of the Starving Class (1977, Obie), Fool For Love (1984, Obie), and True West (1985, Obie). Film: The Right Stuff (1983, as Chuck Yeager).

1942 Paul Simon American singer, formerly teamed with Art Garfunkel. Music: recorded 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (1975, #1).

1931 Ike Turner d. 2007 (Izear Luster Turner Jr.), American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Grammy-winning singer, guitarist, with wife Tina. Music: Rocket 88 (1951, is considered by many to be the first rock and roll song) and Proud Mary. Quote: "One of two things happen when you hit a woman. Either she heads for the door or she's all yours."

1913 Vivien Leigh d. 1967 British Oscar-winning actress. Film: Gone with the Wind (1939, Oscar, Scarlett O'Hara) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, Oscar).

1912 Paul Dehn d. 1976 British Oscar-winning playwright, screenwriter. He wrote four Planet of the Apes sequels and co-scripted Goldfinger (1964).

1911 Roy Rogers d. 1998 (Leonard Franklin Slye), American singing cowboy, who appeared in movies and TV with Dale Evans and Trigger. TV: The Roy Rogers Show.

1905 Joel McCrea d. 1990 American western actor.

1893 Raymond Loewy d. 1986 French inventor, designer, the father of streamlining. He designed the U.S. Postal Service logo.

1863 James Ward Packard d. 1928 American inventor, automobile maker.

1857 Ida M. Tarbell d. 1944 American author. Writings: The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904), for which Pres. Teddy Roosevelt called her a "muckraker."

1855 Eugene Victor Debs d. 1926 American labor organizer, first president of the American Railway Union (1893) and founder of the Social Democrat Party of America (1897).

1850 Ella Wheeler Wilcox d. 1919 American poet. "Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone" is from her poem Solitude.

2000 Jimmie Davis b. 1899 American politician, two-time governor of Louisiana (1944-48, 1960-64), and Country Music Hall of Famer. Music: You Are My Sunshine and Where the Old Red River Flows.

1991 Fred MacMurray b. 1908 American actor. Film: The star of numerous Disney movies. TV: My Three Sons (1960-72, dad Steve Douglas). His face served as the model for the Captain Marvel in the comic books (1939).

1979 Al Capp b. 1909 (Alfred Gerald Caplin), American cartoonist, creator of Li'l Abner (1934).

1975 Annette Kellerman b. 1888 Australian swimmer, actress. She starred in the first sex-shocker movie, A Daughter of the Gods (1916). Earlier, in 1907, she had been arrested for wearing a one-piece bathing suit at a Boston beach.

1962 Howard Roger Garis b. 1873 American children's author, creator of the Uncle Wiggily the rabbit stories and board game.

1960 Ward Bond b. 1903 American actor. TV: Wagon Train (Major Adams).

1960 Mack Sennett b. 1884 (Michael Sinnott), American director, producer, actor, creator of the Keystone Kops.

1942 George M. Cohan b. 1878 American playwright, songwriter. Music: Over There, You're a Grand Old Flag and I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy.

1914 Henry Gannett b. 1846 American geographer, "Father of American Mapmaking." He co-founded the National Geographic Society (1883).

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