MILESTONES: September 9, birthdays for Michelle Williams, Adam Sandler, Michael Bublé

September 9, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle History

Michelle Williams. Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include actor Michelle Williams, who was born in 1980; actor Angela Cartwright, who was born in 1952; actor and comedian Adam Sandler, who was born in 1966; baseball player Mike Hampton, who was born in 1972; actor Tom Wopat, who was born in 1951; actor Charles Esten, who was born in 1965; U.S. Sen. Christopher Coons, who was born in 1963; singer Michael Bublé, who was born in 1975; model Rachel Hunter, who was born in 1969; actor Hugh Grant, who was born in 1960; former basketball player Shane Battier, who was born in 1978; and actor Goran Visnjic, who was born in 1972.

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ROAD RACE WAR ORIGIN: The Battle of Marathon was fought on this day in the year 490 B.C. between the people of Athens and an invading Persian army. The Athenians used landscape formations to separate Persia’s cavalry from its infantry, eventually defeating the larger Persian army on the Plain of Marathon. Athenian Pheidippides’ storied 25-mile run to Athens to deliver the message of victory inspired the present-day marathon.

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BIG DEAL LATECOMER: California became the 31st state to join the U.S. on this day in 1850. California’s admission followed the 1848 acquisition of a large area of land by the U.S. at the end of the Mexican-American War. Soon after, the Gold Rush catalyzed population growth in the region, creating the need for civil government. California joined the U.S. as a free state by the Compromise of 1850.

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“NEVER FIRED A GUN?” Colonel Harland David Sanders was born in Henryville, Indiana on this day in 1980. At the age of 66, the fast food industry trailblazer created Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is currently the world’s second-largest restaurant chain in terms of sales. Sanders distinguished his production process by modifying a pressure cooker into a pressure fryer and using a secret combination of 11 herbs and spices. He was given the title of colonel by a Kentucky governor in 1950.

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BROOKLYN ROOTS, UNIVERSAL APPEAL: The television premiere of Welcome Back, Kotter aired on this day in 1975. This half-hour sitcom followed the sardonic Gabe Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) as he returned to teach at his high school alma mater. The show was set and filmed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn at Gabe Kaplan’s real-life alma mater, New Utrecht High School (known as James Buchanan High School on screen) and launched the career of film icon John Travolta.

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“The success is worth nothing to me if I can’t share it with the people I love.”

— Michael Bublé, who was born on this day in 1975