1986 Mike Tyson The 20-year-old boxer becomes the youngest heavyweight champion ever by beating Trevor Berbick.

1969 First isolation of a single gene The intestinal bacterium E. Coli is announced by Harvard scientists.

1961 First person to win the Most Valuable Player award for both major baseball leagues Frank Robinson wins the National League MVP; he went to win it for the American League in 1966. Source: Famous First Facts

1955 Elvis Presley The King signs with RCA. He received $5,000 while his previous agent received $35,000. The high amount paid prompted a Columbia executive to comment "No singer is worth that much."

1950 Lowest scoring game in NBA history the Fort Wayne Pistons beat the Minneapolis Lakers (19-18).

1927 Snowmobile Carl J.E. Eliason of Wisconsin receives the first patent for a snow travelling vehicle.

1906 SOS The radio distress signal is adopted as the call for help by the International Radio Telegraphic Convention in Berlin.

1842 First U.S. volcanic eruption for which the exact date is known Mt. St. Helens in Washington erupts.

1967 Boris Becker German tennis player. In 1985, at age 17, he became the youngest player to win the male Wimbledon singles title.

1961 Mariel Hemingway American actress, Manhattan (1979), Personal Best (1982), and Star 80 (1983). She is the granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway.

1958 Jamie Lee Curtis American actress. Film: Halloween (1978), Trading Places (1983), A Fish Called Wanda (1988), and Blue Steel (1990).

1945 Barbara Anderson actress. TV: Ironside (Eve Whitfield).

1943 Billie Jean King (Billie Jean Moffitt), American tennis champion, co-founder of WomenSports Magazine (1974). Elton John wrote Philadelphia Freedom (1975) in honor of her team the Philadelphia Freedoms.  She defeated former Wimbledon men's champion Bobby Riggs in the 1973 "Battle of the Sexes."

1932 Robert Vaughn American Emmy-winning actor. TV: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (Napoleon Solo) and The A-Team (Gen. Stockwell).

1921 Rodney Dangerfield d. 2004 (Jacob Cohen), American Grammy-winning comedian. Film: Caddyshack (1980) and Back to School (1986).  Comedy Album: No Respect (1980, Grammy) Rappin Rodney (1980, Grammy).

1911 Lee Patrick d. 1982 American actress. Film: The Maltese Falcon (1941, Sam Spade's secretary).

1901 Roy Crane d. 1977 American cartoonist, creator of Captain Easy (1929) and Buz Sawyer (1943).

1899 Walter Berndt d. 1979 American cartoonist, creator of Smitty.

1890 Charles De Gaulle d. 1970 French general and statesman. He founded the French Fifth Republic (1958) and served as its first President (1959-69).  Quote:  "How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?" (1962).

1869 André Gide d. 1951 French author, winner of Nobel Prize for literature (1947). The Catholic Church placed his works on the Index of Forbidden Books (1952). Quote: The color of truth is gray.

1868 John Nance Garner d. 1967 32nd U.S. Vice-President (1933-41).

1992 Sterling Holloway b. 1905 American actor, voice of Winnie the Pooh, the snake in Jungle Book, and the Cheshire Cat in Disney's Alice in Wonderland.

1992 Charles Brannock b. 1903 American inventor. He invented (1926) the metal shoe-size measurer used in thousands of shoe stores.

1986 Scatman Crothers b. 1911 (Benjamin Crothers), American actor. TV: Chico and the Man (the garbage man).

1980 Morris Frank b. 1908 American pioneer for the blind.  Blind himself, he brought the first seeing eye dog in the U.S. (1928) over from Switzerland and co-founded The Seeing Eye, the first dog guide school in the U.S.

1980 Mae West b. 1892 American actress, "Come up and see me sometime."

1964 Aldous Huxley b. 1894 British author. Writings: The Doors of Perception (1954, describing his psychedelic drug experiences and from which the music group The Doors took their name).

1963 John Fitzgerald Kennedy b. 1917 35th U.S. President (1961-63), the youngest person elected president (43 years old). He was assassinated in Dallas.

1963 C.S. Lewis b. 1898 (Clive Staples Lewis), British author, Christian apologist. Books: The Allegory of Love (1936), The Screwtape Letters (1942), Out of the Silent Planet (1938), and The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-56).

1956 Roy Edward "Dizzy" Carlyle b. 1900 American baseball player. He hit the longest recorded home run (1929, 618 feet during a minor-league game). Source: Guinness Book of World Records

1955 Shemp Howard b. 1900 (Samuel Howard), American comic actor, one of the original 3-Stooges.

1939 Walt Hoban b. 1890 American cartoonist, created Jerry on the Job (1914).

1916 Jack London b. 1876 (John Griffith London), American author. Writings: The Call of the Wild (1903) and White Fang (1905).

1900 Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan b. 1842 English composer, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame.

1896 George Washington Gale Ferris b. 1859 American engineer, inventor of the Ferris wheel. It was constructed for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago. His ride was 250 feet in diameter, took 20 minutes per revolution, and had a capacity of 2,160 people.

1875 Henry Wilson b. 1812 18th U.S. Vice-President (1873-75), died in office making Thomas W. Ferry the acting Vice-President.

1783 John Hanson b. 1721 American statesman, first president of U.S. Congress Assembled (1781-82). Because of this he is sometimes called the first president of the U.S.

1774 Baron Clive of Plassey b. 1725 (Robert Clive), British soldier, founder of the British Indian empire.

1718 Blackbeard the Pirate b. ???? (Edward Teach), English pirate. After serving as a privateer in the War of the Spanish Succession, he turned to a life of crime. He was killed by Lt. Robert Maynard in a hand-to-hand combat.

1316 John I b. 1316 King of France (1316), posthumous son of King Louis X, he died a week after his birth. It is rumored that his uncle Philip either killed him or substituted him with a dead infant.

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