Captured: A moment in time (4/4/83)...
Nothing is more telling or lasting than an image captured in time. Like a good song that you can hear a million times without tiring of it, an image can last a lifetime. This is one I put in that category...
It was the night of April 4, 1983 and Jim Valvano is running around the basketball court looking for someone to hug. His North Carolina State Wolfpack had just upset Mighty Houston, led by future NBA Superstar Clyde Drexler and his Phi Slama Jama fraternity brothers. Although heavy underdogs going into the game, Coach V. had a gameplan for his Wolfpack that he knew could beat Houston: "We've got to control the game and put ourselves in position to win the game. If the score is 100 to something, we're not going to win the game, but if it's in the 50's..." Final score ? 54-52 on a Lorenzo Charles stuff in the face of Phi Slama Jama...
North Carolina State were champs of the NCAA with that win and "Jimmy V." became immortal. Not a saint, Valvano would be forced to resign in 1990 because of accusations of recruiting violations and just 3 years later he would become a victim of cancer at the age of 47. Jimmy V. would give us another "moment in time" when he gave an impassioned farewell speech just before his death in 1993...
More April 4 Memories...
1818] Congress decides the U.S. flag would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star added for each new state...
1841] President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia one month after his inauguration, becoming the 1st president to die in office...
1960] Elvis Presley records "Are You Lonesome Tonight"...
1963] "He's So Fine" by the Chiffons is #1...
1964] The Beatles make music history by having the top 5 songs on the charts: 1) Can't Buy Me Love, 2) Twist and Shout, 3) She Loves You, 4) I Want to hold your Hand and 5) Please Please Me. They will also become the only group to have 3 consecutive #1 songs when "Can't Buy Me Love" replaces "She Loves You" which replaced "I Want to Hold Your Hand"...
1967] Johnny Carson quits "The Tonight Show" only to return 3 weeks later for a $30,000 a week raise...
1968] Tragedy strikes in Memphis as Martin Luther King Jr. is gunned down while standing on the balcony outside his room at the Motel Lorraine (King was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers)...
1968] James Brown makes a national TV appeal for calm following the assassination of the Reverend King...
1970] Janis Joplin holds a reunion concert with Big Brother & the Holding Company in San Francisco...
1973] "The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia" is #1 for Vicki Lawrence...
1974] "Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones" opens as the 1st film with a quadraphonic soundtrack...
1974] Hank Aaron ties Babe Ruth's MLB home run record of 714 on Opening Day...
1986] Wayne Gretzky sets an NHL record with his 213th point of the season (bet on it)...
1990] Gloria Estefan leaves the hospital after her bus accident...
1991] Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and 6 others are killed when a helicopter collides with Heinz's plane over a schoolyard in Merion, PA...
1995] That jokester Senator Alfonse D'Amato uses a mock Japanese accent to ridicule O.J. Simpson judge Lance Ito on live radio (he apologizes 2 days later)...
1999] The Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 8-2 in baseball's 1st season opener in Mexico...
2001] Red Sox pitcher Hideo Nomo no-hits Baltimore to become only the 4th MLB pitcher to pitch no-hitters in both leagues...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...
Happy Birthday To...
1928] Maya Angelou...
1932] Record executive Clive Davis...
1939] Hugh Masekela...
1944] "The Coach" Craig T. Nelson...
1965] Robert Downey Jr...
1973] David Blaine (who hopefully will hide himself in a vat of chicken fat and disappear)...
1979] "Brokeback Mountain" cowpoke Heath Ledger...
[Today is the 94th day of 2006 with 271 days remaining in the year and today we start a new countdown: 55 days until Memorial Day]...
Commentary...
Many thanks to Dan Taylor for the following:
Tomorrow at 2 minutes and 3 seconds after 1 a.m. the time and date will be:
01:02:03/04/05/06...But just in case you miss it, the same thing will happen at 1:23 a.m. and 1:23 p.m. According to Dan this only happens once every 100 years, so enjoy it...
Dan who dabbles in numerology has also come up with a system for winning $1 million on "Deal or No Deal" but isn't willing to share it...
