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MILESTONES: June 19, birthdays for Macklemore, Paula Abdul, Dirk Nowitzki

June 19, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Macklemore. Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
Macklemore. Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
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Greetings, Brooklyn.  Today is the 169th day of the year.

On this day in 1844, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published the following announcement: “’Hurrah for Young Hickory, Dallas and victory!’ A Mass Meeting of the Democratic Republican Electors of the County of Kings, to respond to the nomination of James K. Polk, of Tennessee, George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, the Democratic Republican candidates for president and vice president, will be held at the City Hotel, in the City of Brooklyn, on Thursday, the 20th June Instant, at half-past 6 o’clock p.m. … Let Every Democrat Attend.”

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On this day in 1849, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “It was announced several days ago through the telegraph that President [James K.] Polk was ill with diarrhea or cholera, and today intelligence of his death is published in all the morning papers. He was afflicted with chronic diarrhea — a disease which is just now particularly apt to assume a dangerous type. We recollect that three years ago he was annoyed with this disease during several days that we were with him in New Jersey … It is not perhaps the time to analyze the character of President Polk. He does not, in our estimation, rank among the ablest of our presidents, but his administration was as successful and glorious as any that preceded it, and in its results will be as much felt by succeeding generations.”

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On this day in 1917, the Eagle reported, “You’ve got to hand it to John J. McGraw, pugnacious manager of the [New York] Giants. He may attempt to knock the block off an umpire and take a verbal swing at the president of the National League, but when it comes to treating a ball player right, the Little Napoleon is there with the big heart and the glad hand. A case in point is Waite Hoyt, the young Brooklyn pitcher who was recently turned back by the Memphis club of the Southern Association. Did McGraw accept the tag of [‘No Good’] hung on the 18-year-old ex-star of the Erasmus Hall High School nine of Brooklyn? He did not. … [He] advanced him to a league higher up, the International (A.A.) League.” McGraw’s belief in Hoyt was justified: He won 237 games over the next two decades and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969. He also won three World Series with the Yankees, including the team’s first championship in 1923 when they defeated McGraw’s Giants.

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On this day in 1941, Eagle sports editor Jimmy Wood wrote, “William David Conn was just six minutes and a few seconds away from the million-dollar heavyweight championship in the Polo Grounds last night when he foolishly tried to work in close with Joe Louis. And that, brother, was that. A right-hand pop to the chinpiece, followed by a head-snapping right-hand uppercut and a flurry of rights and lefts to the head made William sag to the canvas and an arm and leg-weary Louis was still wearing the big beret of boxing 2:58 of the 13th round … Congratulations to William for the game, courageous fight he made against the champ and a yip of applause for the sportsmanship in Joseph’s dressing room statement: ‘Conn should be heavyweight champion of the world today.’”

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On this day in 1945, the Eagle reported, “Ike takes New York today. An enthusiastic city whose millions were set to outdo all previous tributes was ready to welcome General of the Army Dwight David Eisenhower, who within a week has accepted the plaudits of the people of Paris, London and Washington … A Brooklyn shoe repair man, lunch in hand and quite excited at the prospect of seeing General Eisenhower, was first to enter the reception stand at City Hall, arriving there at 4 a.m. … ‘Why did I leave my home at 3 a.m.?’ he stated. ‘Well just to see the greatest man on earth.’” 

It was also reported, from Okinawa, that “Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. was buried with full military honors today only 20 miles from where the troops he commanded fought to final victory. General Buckner, killed yesterday by a Japanese shell, was laid to rest in the 7th Infantry Division Cemetery … A bugler sounded ‘Taps’ and the melancholy notes floated across nearby Hagushi beach, where General Buckner led his men ashore on Easter Sunday.” 

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include singer, dancer, choreographer and TV personality PAULA ABDUL, who was born in 1962; Nobel Prize Recipient AUNG SAN SUU KYI, who was born in 1945; actor HUGH DANCY, who was born in 1975; Oscar Award-winning actor JEAN DUJARDIN, who was born in 1972; actor ANDY LAUER, who was born in 1965; rapper MACKLEMORE, who was born in 1983; Hall of Fame soccer player BRIAN McBRIDE, who was born in 1972; actress POPPY MONTGOMERY, who was born in 1972; basketball player DIRK NOWITZKI, who was born in 1978; actress PHYLLICIA RASHAD, who was born in 1948; actress GENA ROWLANDS, who was born in 1930; author SALMAN RUSHDIE, who was born in 1947; actress ZOE SALDANA, who was born in 1978; actor AIDAN TURNER, who was born in 1983; actress KATHLEEN TURNER, who was born in 1954; and musician ANN WILSON, who was born in 1951.

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BLAISE PASCAL WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1623. The French philosopher, physicist and mathematician is best known for his pioneering work on early calculating machines. Pascal died in Paris in 1662.

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LOU GEHRIG WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1903. The Baseball Hall of Fame first baseman played baseball at Columbia and then signed with the New York Yankees, making his major-league debut in 1923. Together with Babe Ruth, he personified the powerful Yankees lineup that came to be called “Murderers’ Row.” Gehrig played first base and hit .340 in 17 seasons with 493 home runs, 23 of them grand slams. He drove in 184 runs in 1931 and won the American League Triple Crown in 1934. He earned the nickname “the Iron Horse” for playing in a record 2,130 consecutive games, a streak stopped only by illness. Stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease later called Lou Gehrig’s disease, he retired abruptly in May 1939. Gehrig was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1939 by special election. He died in New York in 1941.

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ABE FORTAS WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1910. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. Prior to his appointment he was known as a civil libertarian, having argued cases for government employees and other individuals accused by Sen. Joe McCarthy of having Communist affiliations. He argued the 1963 landmark Supreme Court case of Gideon v Wainwright, which established the right of indigent defendants to free legal aid in criminal prosecutions. In 1968 he was nominated by Johnson to succeed Chief Justice Earl Warren, but his nomination was withdrawn after much conservative opposition in the Senate. In 1969 Fortas became the first Supreme Court Justice to be forced to resign after revelations about questionable financial dealings were made public. Fortas died in 1982 in Washington, D.C. 

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

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“Don’t try to add more years to your life. Better add more life to your years.” — mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal, who was born on this day in 1623

 


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