1981 Bear Bryant The football legend scores his 315th victory, making him the winningest college football coach ever.

1942 Fire at the Coconut Grove nightclub in Boston kills 491 people, the second deadliest fire in U.S. history.

1929 Most points scored by a single player in pro football game, Ernie Nevers for the Chicago Cardinals scores 40 points against the Chicago Bears.

1928 American explorer Richard E. Byrd reaches the South Pole.

1925 Grand Ole Opry The radio show goes on the air. Broadcast from Nashville and called WSM Barn Dance, the name would change to Grand Ole Opry two years later.

1922 First U.S. skywriting Royal Air Force Capt. Cyril Turner writes "Hello, U.S.A. Call Vanderbilt 7200" 10,000 feet above Times Square in New York City. The half-mile-high letters generated 47,000 calls in 2½ hours.

1919 First woman elected to the British Parliament American-born Viscountess Lady Astor is elected to the House of Commons.

1895 First U.S. automobile race It ran from Chicago to Evanston, Illinois and won by Charles and Frank Duryea with an average speed of 7 mph.

1785 The U.S. State of Franklin The U.S. state is denied its legitimacy by Congress, and the territory is returned to the Cherokee Indians. It had been created in 1784 when East Tennessee declared itself an independent state.

1775 Continental Navy is established, during the American Revolution.

1967 Anna Nicole Smith (Vickie Lynn Hogan), American actress, model, Playmate of the Year (1993). At age 26, she married 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall.

1959 Judd Nelson American actor. Film: The Breakfast Club (1985), St. Elmo's Fire (1985), and New Jack City (1991).

1949 Paul Shaffer band leader. TV: Late Night with David Letterman.

1943 Randy Newman American singer, songwriter. Music: Short People (1977).

1939 Gary Troxel American singer, with the high school group The Fleetwoods. Music: Come Softly to Me (1959, #1) and Mr. Blue (1959, #1).

1936 Gary Hart (Gary Warren Hartpence), American politician, U.S. senator (D-Colorado). His bid for the 1988 Presidency was cut short by a photograph of 29-year-old model Donna Rice sitting on his lap. In 2000, he revealed that he is the political thriller writer John Blackthorn, whose books include Sins of the Fathers and I, Che Guevara.

1933 Hope Lange American actress. TV: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (Mrs. Muir).

1929 Berry Gordy Jr American songwriter, record producer, founder of Motown Records (1959), which was the first all-black record company.

1866 Henry Bacon d. 1924 American architect. He designed the Lincoln Memorial (1922).

1857 Alfonso XII d. 1885 King of Spain (1874-85).

1837 John Wesley Hyatt d. 1920 American inventor of celluloid. He is also noted for his work in roller bearings, water purification, billiard balls, bowling balls, and checkers.

1632 Jean-Baptiste Lully d. 1687 (Giovanni Battista Lulli), Italian-born French composer. While conducting a Te Deum in honor of King Louis XIV's recent recovery from illness, he struck his toe with the staff he was using to keep beat. The wound turned gangrenous, but Lully refused to have his toe amputated and the gangrene spread resulting in his death several months later.

1993 Garry Moore b. 1915 (Thomas Garrison Morfit), American entertainer. TV: The Garry Moore Show, I've Got A Secret (host), and To Tell the Truth (host).

1960 Max Pruss b. circa 1891 German aviator, captain of the Hindenburg when it crashed in 1937.

1954 Enrico Fermi b. 1901 Italian-born American physicist, one of the pioneers of the nuclear age. He led the team which performed the first controlled nuclear chain reaction (1942).

1949 Simon of HMS Amethyst b. ???? the first cat to be awarded the Dicken Medal (the equivalent of the Victoria Cross for animals). See full story.

1945 Dwight Filley Davis b. 1879 American politician, tennis player, U.S. Secretary of War (1925-29), awarded (1923) the Distinguished Service Cross, national tennis doubles champion (1899-1901), and founder of the Davis Cup (1900).

1939 James Naismith b. 1861 American gym instructor. He invented basketball while an instructor for the YMCA (1891). A few years later basketball was banned by the YMCA, which claimed not enough people could play at one time.

1859 Washington Irving b. 1783 American author. Writings: Rip Van Winkle (1819) and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1819). He also wrote under the names Diedrich Knickerbocker, Geoffrey Corson, Anthony Evergreen, and Jonathan Oldstyle.

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