The 'Bear and the 'Tiger...
April 13th was a very good date for 2 masters of their sport. They would both wear the green jacket (couldn't they have picked a better color or at least put seagulls on it to capture the true essence of the well dressed golfer ?) emblematic of capturing the Masters title at Augusta...
At the age of 46, few thought Jack Nicklaus would ever win another tournament, no less the Masters. But win it he would. The Golden Bear would wear the jacket for the 6th time in 1986. He had won his career long battle of golf supremacy over Arnold Palmer some time ago but with 6 Masters titles to Palmer's 4, this title would seal it...
Eleven years later, in 1997, same April 13th date, 21-year old Tiger Woods became the youngest golfer to ever capture the Masters and he did it "with AUTHORITY" as ESPN would say every time a basketball player makes a slam dunk. Tiger's 12 stroke advantage was the largest of the 20th century. His score of 18 under was the best in Masters history, breaking Jack Nicklaus' (hello !) 32-year old record...
April 13th was a day for the wearing of the green and it wasn't even St. Patrick's Day...
More April 13 Memories...
1782] Washington, NC is incorporated as the first town to be named for George Washington...
1796] The 1st known elephant arrived in the U.S. from Bengal, India (the 1st man to follow elephants with a shovel was close behind the elephant)...
1870] The Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded in New York City...
1940] The New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup by beating Toronto in the NHL playoffs...
1943] President Franklin Roosevelt dedicates the Jefferson Memorial...
1954] Hank Aaron makes his major league debut with Milwaukee going 0 for 5 in the Braves' 9-8 loss to Cincinnati...
1957] More wearing of the green as the Boston Celtics win the NBA title over the St. Louis Hawks thanks to the play of rookies Bill Russell and Tommy Heinsohn...
1963] Pete Rose gets his 1st major league hit (a double) for Cincinnati...
1964] Sidney Poitier becomes the 1st black in a leading role to win an Academy Award for "Lillies of the Field"...
1965] Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto win a Grammy for Record of the Year ("Girl from Ipanema"). Getz also wins for Album of the Year (with Joao Gilberto) and the Beatles win for Best New Artist of the Year...
1965] The Beatles record "Help"...
1971] The Rolling Stones release "Brown Sugar", the 1st release on their new Rolling Stones label...
1978] In the Yankee home opener, Reggie Jackson hits a 1st-inning home run and "Reggie Bars" (given away that day) rain down on the field. I was at that game with my son Rob but we ate the candy and it wasn't bad (round and nutty and covered with chocolate)...
1985] "We Are The World" is #1...
1986] Jack Nicklaus wins his 6th Masters title (see feature story)...
1986] Prince & the Revolution are #1 with "Kiss"...
1992] Lou Carneseca retires as coach of St. John's basketball team [Lou ran out of hideous sweaters to wear]...
1994] Christie Brinkley gets ready to move downtown as Christie and Billy Joel announce their separation...
1997] The Hartford Whalers play their last game in Hartford (they will move to Charlotte, NC)...
1997] Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters (see feature story)...
1998] Nations Bank and Bank of America announce a $62.5 billion merger...
1999] Jack Kervorkian is sentenced to 10 to 25 years for the second-degree murder of a man whose assisted suicide was shown on "60 Minutes" in 1998...
1999] Sir Elton John appears as a guest performer on "VH1 Divas Live" which stars Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, Cher, Faith Hill, Brandy, LeAnn Rimes and Mary J. Blige...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]
Happy Birthday To...
1935] Lyle Waggoner...
1939] Paul Sorvino...
1942] Composer Bill Conti...
1946] Al Green...
1963] Chess champion Gary Kasparov...
1970] Rick Schroder...
[Today is the 103rd day of 2006 with 262 days remaining in the year and 46 days remain until Memorial Day]...
