January 28
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Events on This Day
1808 - Messenger, America’s first trotting horse, was buried on this day. Admit it. There is no way you could have made it through the day without this knowledge...1878 - The first telephone switchboard was installed -- in New Haven, Connecticut. The phone company that owned the switchboard had 21 subscribers. “Is this the party to whom I am speaking? One moment pa-leeeeeeze.”
1878 - The Yale News was published for the very first time. It was the first daily collegiate newspaper in the United States.
1901 - The American Baseball League was organized -- in Philadelphia, PA. The Philadelphia Athletics, under the leadership of Connie Mack, were original members of the league. Mack managed the team for fifty years.
1902 - The Carnegie Institution was established in Washington DC. It began with a gift of $10 million, compliments of Andrew Carnegie.
1904 - Enrico Caruso signed his first contract with Victor Records. He had debuted at the Metropolitan Opera just two months before.
1921 - The National Football League franchise in Decatur, Illinois was transferred this day to Chicago. The team took the name, Chicago Staleys for the 1921 season. The following year, it was decided that since the team was playing in the stadium of the Chicago Cubs, it should be named the Chicago Bears, or as they say in the Windy City, “Da Bears.”
1934 - As a result of a compliment paid on this day, by Walter Winchell, in his newspaper column; a local disc jockey began receiving several offers from talent scouts and producers. The DJ became known as the Redhead, adored by thousands in Washington, DC and, later, by millions across the country on CBS radio and TV. His trademark (strumming a ukulele and delivering down-home patter) endeared him to fans for many years. We remember the broadcasting legend, Arthur Godfrey. “I wanna go back to my little grass shack...”
1934 - Robert Royce’s famous invention was used for the first time in Woodstock, Vermont. Previously, snow skiers had no way to get to the top of the mountain conveniently. Remember the ski tow rope the next time you schuss the slopes and have to make it back to the top.
1940 - Beat the Band made its debut on NBC radio. The band was that of Ted Weems and his 14-piece orchestra, who were joined by Elmo ‘The Whistling Troubadour’ Tanner, Harry Soskind and Country Washington. One other star of the show was a barber from Pittsburgh, PA (nearby Canonsburg, actually), who would record many hits for RCA Victor from 1943 right through the dawn of the 1970s. His name was Perry Como.
1942 - “Sighted Sub, Sank Same” was the message sent by enlisted pilot Donald Francis Mason on this day. Mason believed that he had sunk a German U-boat off Argentia, Newfoundland.
1945 - A convoy of allied trucks from India crossed the Burmese-Chinese border, opening the famous Burma Road.
1956 - Elvis Presley made his first appearance on national television. No, he didn’t appear on some teenage dance show; but rather, The Dorsey Brothers Show, starring Tommy and Jimmy. Elvis sang Blue Suede Shoes and Heartbreak Hotel. He was backed by the instruments of the Dorsey band, believe it or not.
1957 - The Brooklyn Dodgers (‘da Bums’) announced this day that circus clown Emmett Kelly had been hired to entertain fans at baseball games. The Dodgers moved to Los Angeles the following year. Today, the only clowns in baseball are many of the highly paid ones out on the field.
1958 - One of the most respected players in baseball, Roy Campanella, was seriously injured in an auto accident in New York. ‘Campy’ would never return to play again; but would still be a part of the Dodgers organization for many years. The talented Dodger catcher’s career with the Dodgers lasted from 1948 to 1957.
1973 - CBS-TV presented the first program of Barnaby Jones (a Quinn Martin Production). Lee Meriwether (Miss America 1955) played the detective’s lovely daughter-in-law assistant. Buddy Ebsen played the detective, Jones. Ebsen, who started in show biz back in the 1920s, was also selected to play the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, but had bowed out. And he shot the first film used in the animation tests for a Walt Disney character named Mortimer Mouse (aka Mickey Mouse). Ebsen is best known, however, for playing Jed Clampett on another CBS-TV series, The Beverly Hillbillies. “Weee doggies!”
1978 - “De plane, de plane.” The weekly, hour-long Aaron Spelling production of Fantasy Island began on ABC-TV.
1985 - 45 of the world’s top recording artists were invited to an all-night recording session at the A&M studios in Los Angeles. As each of the artists walked through the studio door, they were greeted by a hand-lettered sign -- put there by Lionel Richie. It simply said, “Check your ego at the door.” The session started at 10 p.m. with producer Quincy Jones conducting. At 8 o’clock the following morning, the project, USA for Africa, spearheaded by promoter, Ken Kragen, was recorded and mixed. The resulting song, We Are the World, featuring Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Sting, Harry Belafonte, Diana Ross, Paul Simon and many others became the top song in the U.S. on April 13, 1985.
1986 - 73 seconds after launch from Cape Canaveral, the U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing seven astronauts. After a flawless liftoff, the Challenger, traveling at a speed of 2900 feet per second, soared nine miles into space when suddenly the ship’s liquid hydrogen tank exploded. Millions watched the tragedy unfold on TV. This catastrophe took the lives of Commanders Francis ‘Dick’ Scobee and Michael J. Smith, Dr. Judith A. Resnik, Dr. Ronald E. McNair, Lt. Colonel Ellison S. Onizuka, Gregory B. Jarvis and school teacher Christa McAuliffe.
1987 - Roger Mudd left NBC news after seven stormy years. Previously, Mudd had been an icon at CBS news. When it was announced that Dan Rather would replace Walter Cronkite as anchor of The CBS Evening News, Mudd felt that he had been passed over. He went on to find yet another network home at PBS, where he contributed to The MacNeil Lehrer News Hour.
1988 - Sarafina! opened at the Cort Theatre on Broadway. The South African musical was written by Mbongeni Ngema and depicted students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to apartheid. Sarafina! closed on July 2, 1989, after 597 performances.
1990 - Super Bowl XXIV (at New Orleans): San Francisco 49ers 55, Denver Broncos 10. The 49ers had won all three trips they had made to the Super Bowl. The Broncos had lost all three times they had been there. At the end of this game the 49ers were still winners and the Broncos were still losers. MVP: 49ers’ QB Joe Montana. Tickets: $125.00.
1994 - Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg declared a mistrial in the case of Lyle Menendez, just two weeks after a mistrial had been declared in the case of Lyle’s brother Erik. Both juries deadlocked over whether the brothers were guilty of murder in the shooting deaths of their wealthy parents. (They were later retried, convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.)
1995 - TLC’s Creep hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The smash held down the top spot for four weeks : “So I creep yeah; Just keep it on the down low; Said nobody is supposed 2 know; So I creep yeah; ’Cause he doesn’t know; What I do and no attention; Goes to show oh so I creep.”
1996 - Super Bowl XXX (at Tempe): Dallas Cowboys 27, Pittsburgh Steelers 17. Most Valuable Player of the game: Dallas cornerback Larry Brown. Who’s Larry Brown, you ask? He’s the one who intercepted the two Neil O’Donnell passes that (1) stopped two Pittsburgh drives and (2) set up two Dallas touchdowns. Tickets: $200.00-$350.00.
1997 - Civil court jurors began deliberations to decide if O.J. Simpson should be held liable for the slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. (The jury found Simpson liable, and ordered him to pay $33.5 million.)
1999 - Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan honored a personal request for mercy from Pope John Paul II. Carnahan commuted the death sentence of triple murderer Darrel Mease to life without parole.
1999 - Ford Motor Co. announced the acquisition of the passenger car division of Volvo AB for $6.47 billion.
2000 - Movies debuting in U.S. theatres: The Big Tease, starring Craig Ferguson, Frances Fisher, Mary Mccormack, David Rasche and Chris Langham; Eye of the Beholder with Ewan Mcgregor, Ashley Judd, Jason Priestley, Genevieve Bujold, K.D. Lang and Patrick Bergin; and Isn’t She Great, starring Bette Midler, Nathan Lane, Stockard Channing, David Hyde Pierce, Amanda Peet and John Cleese.
2001 - Super Bowl XXXV (at Tampa Bay): Baltimore Ravens 34, New York Giants 7. “We feel we’re the best defense to ever play the game,” boasted Ravens’ defensive tackle Tony Siragusa. Arguably, the 2000 Ravens’ defense ranks up there with the 1960’s Fearsome Foursome of the Los Angeles Rams, Miami’s 1972-1973 No-Name Defense, the 1974-1979 Pittsburgh Steelers’ Steel Curtain, Dallas’ Doomsday defense of the 1970s, the 1973-1976 Purple People Eaters in Minnesota and the 1985-1986 Chicago Bears. MVP: Ravens’ linebacker Ray Lewis, who led a defense that intercepted four of NY quarterback Kerry Collins’ passes, allowed only a punt-return touchdown (by the Giants’ Ron Dixon) and held New York to 152 yards of offense. Tickets: $325.00 to $400.
2002 - Verizon launched its ‘third generation’ wireless telephone network. ‘3G’ allowed subscribers access to the Internet and other online services from their wireless telephones.
2003 - John Philip Thompson died at 77 years of age. He was the son of Southland Corp. co-founder Joseph C. Thompson Sr. and was responsible for expanding the family business into the nationwide 7-Eleven chain. The convenience-store chain started under the name of Tote’m and was renamed in 1946.
2004 - The U.N. was shut down and more than a million children had the day off from school on the heels of a storm that dumped as much as 14 inches of snow in the Northeast United States.
2004 - Lloyd ‘Pete’ Bucher, former U.S. Navy commander who helped his USS Pueblo crew survive brutal captivity in North Korea, died in Poway, CA. He was 76 years old.
2005 - These films opened in the U.S.: Alone in the Dark, starring Christian Slater, Tara Reid, Stephen Dorff, John Fallon and Catherine Lough Haggquist; and Hide and Seek, with Robert De Niro, Dakota Fanning, Famke Janssen, Elisabeth Shue, Dylan Baker, Robert John Burke, Alicia Harding, Amy Irving, Melissa Leo and James McCaffrey.
2005 - Riggs Bank agreed to pay a $16 million fine after pleading guilty to hiding transfers of millions of dollars in accounts controlled by Chilean despot Augusto Pinochet and top officials of Equatorial Guinea.
2006 - The roof of a trade-exhibition hall in southern Poland collapsed with several hundred people inside, trapping many beneath the wreckage. 62 people were killed and 160 injured when the Katowice Trade Hall roof caved in.
2007 - Sinn Fein members overwhelmingly voted to begin cooperating with the Northern Ireland police, formally abandoning their decades-old hostility to legal law and order in the British territory.
2007 - The comedy Little Miss Sunshine won the top prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Forest Whitaker won for his portrayal of Uganda’s brutal dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland and Helen Mirren won for her performance as Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen.
2008 - The San Francisco Chronicle reported that California was spending $38 million a year on security for Governor Schwarzenegger and other top state officials.
2009 - Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboard player Billy Powell died in Florida at 56 years of age. A heart attack was the suspected cause of death. Powell played on dozens of hits and hit albums, such as Sweet Home Alabama and Street Survivors. He survived the Oct 20, 1977 plane crash that killed three band members.
2010 - Movies opening in the U.S.: The Mechanic, starring Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Tony Goldwyn, Donald Sutherland and Jeff Chase; The Rite, with Anthony Hopkins, Colin O’Donoghue, Alice Braga, Ciarán Hinds and Toby James; From Prada to Nada, starring Camilla Belle, Alexa Vega, Tina French, Luis Rosales and Pablo Martínez de Velasco; and Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grand Master with Donnie Yen, Lynn Hung, Simon Yam, Zhou Qing Quan and Sammo Hung Kam-Bo.
2011 - Columbus, Ohio police seized about 800 pounds of marijuana from Mexico during a second raid in three days. The total street value from the two raids was estimated at $3.5 million (for ), as well as almost $1 million in cash.
2011 - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the ratification of the nuclear arms cut pact with the U.S., the centerpiece of President Obama’s efforts to reset relations with Moscow.
2012 - Police searched the offices of Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers after arresting a police officer and several staff members of his tabloid The Sun. The bust was part of an investigation into police bribery by Murdoch’s journalists.
2013 - Great Britain received an initial 340 million pounds from the Swiss government as part of a deal to tackle tax evasion. The UK predicted that it would receive some 5 billion pounds over six years. Under the agreement, UK accounts held in Switzerland were subjected to a one-off levy (a one-time tax). After that one-off levy, the Swiss imposed a withholding tax on British-owned accounts that were not properly declared to HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs). Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne hailed the agreement and said it was the first time “that money due in taxes had flowed from Switzerland to the UK.”
2014 - A rare blast of snow, sleet and ice hit the southern U.S., prompting schools to close, airlines to cancel flights and officials to warn of icy roads. The storm brought snow to parts of Georgia, including the Atlanta area, creating many emergencies.
2014 - U.S. President Barack Obama delivered the State of the Union address saying 2014 would be a “year of action.” Obama said he was prepared to act on his own if Congress wasn’t willing to work with him.
2015 - Timbuktu premiered in New York City. The award-winning French-Mauritanian film drama stars Ibrahim Ahmed, Abel Jafri, Toulou Kiki, Layla Walet Mohamed, Mehdi A.G. Mohamed, Hichem Yacoubi, Kettly Noël and Fatoumata Diawara.
2015 - Millions in the Northeast U.S. started digging out from a powerful blizzard that had dumped some 3 feet of snow and created coastal flooding. Massachusetts received a record-breaking 34.5 inches (88 cm) of snow in Worcester, and 24.4 inches (62 cm) at Boston’s Logan International Airport.
2016 - Republican White House hopefuls jostled for the limelight in the absence of master blowhard Donald Trump, who snubbed the last debate before the party nomination votes began. “Let me say, I’m a maniac,” Texas Senator Ted Cruz said in response to Megyn Kelly, channeling Trump’s barbs. “And everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly and Ben, you’re a terrible surgeon. Now that we’ve gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way...”
2016 - Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari resigned abruptly to take responsibility for a political funding scandal that had rocked the government. But Amari denied having taken bribes. Amari acknowledged taking money from a construction company executive but said he told his aides to correctly record the funds as a political donation.
2017 - POTUS Donald Trump elevated his chief strategist Steven Bannon to full membership in the National Security Council and downgraded the director of the national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
2017 - New York federal judge Ann Donnelly granted a stay to prevent deportations of people with valid U.S. visas who had been detained on entry to the U.S. This, following Trump’s executive order barring refugees from seven predominately Muslim countries.
2018 - A Pakistani official said volunteers were able to rescue French mountaineer Elisabeth Revol from Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest peak in the world. But they had called off efforts to retrieve Polish climber Tomasz Mackiewicz.
2018 - The 60th Grammy Awards ceremony at Madison Square Garden in New York City saw Bruno Mars pick up the top prizes, including album of the year and record of the year (for 24K Magic). Host James Corden returned for the second year in a row. Kendrick Lamar also won five Grammys, including best rap album, for his album Damn. Best New Artist was Alessia Cara; Shape Of You, by Ed Sheeran, won Best Pop Solo Performance; and Best Rock Performance was awarded to Leonard Cohen for his You Want It Darker.
2019 - Four undercover narcotics officers were shot and wounded in a gun battle while serving a search warrant at a home in the Houston, Texas area. Drugs, including black tar heroin, were being dealt. Two suspects were killed.
2019 - Pope Francis said celibacy for priests was a “gift to the Church” and not “optional.” But Francis said there’s reason to consider ordaining older, married men in remote communities where priests are in short supply. (According to one theory, celibacy was imposed in the 11th century, in part, to prevent descendants of priests from inheriting church property.)
2020 - A German court ruled that a hostel situated on the grounds of the North Korean embassy in Berlin must close. Its operation breached U.N. sanctions aimed at stopping the flow of hard currency to Pyongyang.
2020 - The United Nation’s World Health Organization said China had agreed that the WHO can send international experts there to increase understanding of a new coronavirus and guide the global response to the outbreak.
2021 - President Joe Biden signed an executive order to reopen the HealthCare.gov insurance markets for a special sign-up opportunity geared to people needing coverage during the coronavirus pandemic.
2021 - California’s state auditor reported that fraudulent unemployment claims had caused the state to pay at least $10.4 billion to scammers.
2021 - Mexico’s death toll became the world’s fourth highest (after the United States, Brazil and India). COVID-19 cases had surged in the country since December, and its hospitals were struggling.
2022 - Movies scheduled to open in the U.S. included: Clean, starring Adrien Brody, Glenn Fleshler and Richie Merritt; Cyrano, starring Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett and Kelvin Harrison Jr; The Requin, with Alicia Silverstone, James Tupper and Kameron Hood; A Taste of Hunger, with Katrine Greis-Rosenthal, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Flora Augusta; and Sundown, starring Samuel Bottomley, Mónica Del Carmen and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
2022 - A British judge found -- in favor of Hewlett-Packard -- that tech tycoon Mike Lynch had masterminded an elaborate fraud to inflate the value of his company, Autonomy, before it was bought by HP for $11 billion in 2011. It had been one of the UK’s biggest tech deals.
2022 - A federal appeals court upheld California’s net neutrality law, requiring internet companies to treat all customers equally. In 2018 FCC members appointed by POTUS Trump had repealed a 2015 FCC net neutrality rule and declared that states had no authority to pass their own neutrality laws.
2023 - 25 people died in a tour bus plunge off the side of a cliff in northwestern Peru. The tour bus was en route to the border town of Tumbes via the Peruvian capital city of Lima. For reasons that were unknown, the bus diverged from its route near the town of Organos and plunged down a steep cliffside.
2023 - Memphis Police said they were permanently disbanding the specialized gang unit that the five officers involved in the beating death of Tyre Nichols had belonged to. The SCORPION Unit had seen harsh criticism and calls for its end from civil rights attorneys following the incident with Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who was severely beaten by the five officers, who were also all Black, following a traffic stop earlier in January. Nichols died days later, and the five officers involved were fired -- and charged with murder.
and more...
Birthdays on This Day January 28
1841 - Sir Henry Morton Stanley
explorer: leader of African expedition to find the missing missionary, David Livingstone: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” said Mr. Stanley; died May 10, 19041857 - William Burroughs
inventor of adding machines and practical calculators; died Sep 14, 18981887 - Artur Rubinstein
American pianist: played solo for the Berlin Symphony at the age of 12; died Dec 20, 19821903 - Samuel Lerner
songwriter, composer: I’m Popeye the Sailor Man, Is It True What They Say About Dixie?, Oh Susanna Dust Off that Old Pianna, The Pump Song, I Promise You, Judy, Gangway, Lord and Lady Whoozis, The Rhyming Song, Y’Had It Comin’ to You, In a Fanciful Mood, But Me No Buts, Intrigue, You Never Lose What You Never Had; died Dec 13, 19891906 - Robert Alton
choreographer: The Girl Rush, There’s No Business Like Show Business, White Christmas, The Harvey Girls, Call Me Madam; died June 12, 19571907 - Charles Morton
actor: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Westbound, Shotgun, Plainsman and the Lady, Outlaws of Santa Fe, Arms and the Man; died Oct 26, 19661908 - Matthew ‘Pat’ Kennedy
Basketball Hall of Famer referee: began officiating in 1928 at age 21, worked nearly 4,000 games during his career; officiated in the Ivy League, American Basketball League, Metropolitan Basketball League, National Basketball League, Basketball Association of America (BAA), and for six years with the Harlem Globetrotters; retired from in 1946 and served as the BAA’s and NBA’s supervisor of referees until 1950; died June 16, 19771910 - John Banner
actor: Hogan’s Heroes, Once Upon a Honeymoon, Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas; Sky King, Mister Ed, My Sister Eileen, The Lucy Show, Perry Mason, The Partridge Family, The Untouchables, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Alias Smith and Jones, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Hazel; died Jan 28, 19731910 - Arnold Moss
actor: Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus, The Caper of the Golden Bulls, Gambit, The Fool Killer, The 27th Day, Casanova’s Big Night; died Dec 15, 19891912 - Jackson Pollock
abstract expressionist artist: Male and Female, The She-Wolf, The Tea Cup, Painting, Easter and the Totem, Ocean Greyness, Full Fathom Five; killed in car crash Aug 11, 19561926 - Jim Bryan
auto racer: Indianapolis 500 winner [1958]; died Jun 19, 19601927 - Ronnie Scott (Schatt)
jazz musician: tenor sax, bandleader; died Dec 23, 19961929 - Acker Bilk
clarinetist, composer: Stranger on the Shore; died Nov 2, 20141934 - Bill (William De Kova) White
baseball: NY Giants, SF Giants, SL Cardinals [all-star: 1959-1961, 1963, 1964/World Series: 1964], Philadelphia Phillies first baseman; broadcaster: NY Yankees1935 - Nicholas Pryor
actor: Hoffa, Pacific Heights, Risky Business, The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh, The Happy Hooker, Force Five, The Bronx Zoo, Beverly Hills 902101936 - Alan Alda (Alphonso D’Abruzzo)
Emmy Award-winning actor: M*A*S*H [1974, 1977, 1979, 1982], The West Wing [2006]; Paper Lion, The Four Seasons, Same Time Next Year, California Suite1936 - Bill Phillips
country singer: Put It Off till Tomorrow, Georgia Town Blues [w/Mel Tillis]; died Aug 23, 20101940 - Carlos Slim
Mexican business magnate, investor, philanthropist1943 - John Beck
actor: Suspect Device, A Climate for Killing, Time Machine, Rollerball, Sleeper, Paperback Hero, Three in the Attic, Nichols, Flamingo Road, Dallas1943 - Paul Henderson
hockey: NHL: Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs [scored winning goal in Canada/Soviet Union Summit Series: 1972], Atlanta Flames1943 - Dick Taylor
musician: bass, guitar: group: The Pretty Things: Don’t Bring Me Down1944 - Fred Hoaglin
football: Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Colts; Jacksonville Jaguars TE coach1944 - Susan Howard (Jeri Lynn Mooney)
actress: Petrocelli, Sidewinder One, The Power Within, Dallas, Star Trek; NRA activist1944 - Brian Keenan
musician: drums: groups: Manfred Mann; The Chambers Brothers: Time Has Come Today1945 - Karen Lynn Gorney
actress: Saturday Night Fever, All My Children, Searching for Bobby D, Cradle Will Rock, Men in Black, The Hard Way, David and Lisa; more1945 - Marthe Keller
actress: Young Catherine, The Nightmare Years, The Amateur, Black Sunday, Marathon Man, And Now My Love1949 - Jack Egers
hockey: NHL: NY Rangers, SL Blues, Washington Capitals; died Sep 10, 20211949 - Gregg Popovich
basketball: coach: NBA: San Antonio Spurs [1996– ]: Western Conference champs: 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2013, 20151950 - Barbi Benton
Playboy cover girl, significant other of Hugh Hefner; actress: For the Love of It, Deathstalker1951 - William Nelson aka Billy Bass
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician: guitar: group: Parliament-Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove, Atomic Dog, Flashlight, Maggot Brain, Cosmic Slop1955 - Nicolas Sarkozy
23rd President of the French Republic [2007-2012]1957 - Nick Price
golf champ: PGA Championship [1992, 1994], British Open [1994]; 18 PGA Tour victories, 23 international victories1959 - Frank Darabont
film director: The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist, The Walking Dead, L.A. Noir, The Majestic, The Salton Sea, Collateral1959 - Dave Sharp
musician: guitar: group: The Alarm: 68 Guns, Where were You Hiding When the Storm Broke?, The Bells of Rhymney1962 - Michael Cage
basketball: SD State Univ; LA Lakers, Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, NJ Nets1962 - Sam Phillips
singer: Baby I Can’t Please You, Circle of Fire, Animals on Wheels, I Need Love, When I Fall, Raised on Promises; more1964 - Dwight Stone
football: Middle Tennessee State Univ; NFL: Pittsburgh Steelers, Carolina Panthers, NY Jets1968 - Sarah McLachlan
Grammy Award-winning musician: piano, guitar; songwriter, singer: LPs: Surfacing, Touch, Solace, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, Laws of Illusion, Afterglow, Solace, Freed, Freedom Sessions, Mirrorball, Wintersong1969 - Kathryn Morris
actress: Cold Case, Mindhunters, Paycheck, Minority Report, Artificial Intelligence: AI, The Contender, Murder, She Wrote: A Story to Die For1971 - Anthony Hamilton
songwriter, singer: Comin’ from Where I’m From, Charlene, Do You Feel Me, Cool, The Point of It All, Woo, Back to Love, I’ll Wait [To Fall In Love], Pray For Me1972 - Amy Coney Barrett
attorney: first female to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Illinois; nominated as associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: sworn in Oct 27, 20201976 - Lee Ingleby
actor: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Inspector George Gently, The Street, Early Doors, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Life on Mars, Spaced, White Heat, Sinbad1977 - Daunte Culpepper
football [quarterback]: Univ of Central Florida; NFL: Minnesota Vikings [1999–2005], Miami Dolphins [2006], Oakland Raiders [2007], Detroit Lions [2008–2009]; more1977 - Joey Fatone Jr.
singer: group: ’N Sync: I Want You Back, Tearin’ Up My Heart, Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You, I Drive Myself Crazy, Music Of My Heart1978 - Gianluigi Buffon
Italian footballer [goalkeeper]: Italian national team [1997-2018]; Juventus [2001- ]; IFFHS (International Federation of Football History & Statistics) goalkeeper of the year four times; named best goalkeeper of the 21st century, of the past twenty five years, and of the decade; with the Italian national side, Buffon has been called up for an international record of five World Cup finals [1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014], featuring in four of them as Italy’s starting goalkeeper [Buffon was an unused substitute in the 1998 World Cup]1978 - Jamie Carragher
English footballer [defender]: Liverpool [1996-2013]; England U20 [1996–1997]; England U21 [1996–2000]; England [1999–2010]; represent England at the 2010 FIFA World Cup1980 - Nick Carter
singer: group: Backstreet Boys: I’ll Never Break Your Heart, Shape of My Heart, I Want It That Way; actor: Edward Scissorhands, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch1981 - Doug Waechter
baseball [pitcher]: Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Florida Marlins, Kansas City Royals1981 - Elijah Wood
actor: The Lord of the Rings series, Flipper, North, Radio Flyer, Forever Young, Avalon, Back to the Future, Forever Your Girl video1984 - Andre Iguodala
basketball: NBA: Philadelphia 76ers [2004–2012]; Denver Nuggets [2012–2013]; Golden State Warriors [2013–2019]: 2015 2017 NBA champs; Miami Heat [2020–2021]; Golden State Warriors [2021-2023]1985 - J. Cole (Jermaine Lamarr Cole)
rapper: LPs: Cole World: The Sideline Story, Born Sinner1985 - Tom Hopper
actor: Merlin, Doctor Who, Casualty, The Umbrella Academy1986 - Jessica Ennis
track and field athlete: won heptathlon gold medal at 2012 London Olympics; more1986 - Matt Heafy
musician: guitar; singer: groups: Trivium, Capharnaum1987 - Chelsea Brummet
songwriter, singer: music video Nothing Day; actress: All That, What I Like About You, The War at Home, Sweet Sixteen1991 - Calum Worthy
actor: Austin & Ally, National Lampoon’s Thanksgiving Family Reunion, Stormworld, Kyle XY, Smallville, The Haunting Hour, Zeke and Luther, Good Luck Charlie, Rapture-Palooza, The Coppertop Flop Show1993 - Will Poulter
actor: Son of Rambow, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Wild Bill, We’re the Millers1998 - Ariel Winter
actress: Modern Family, The Chaperone, Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension, Excision, A Thousand Words, ParaNorman2003 - Whitney Peak
actress: Gossip Girl, Home Before Dark, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Hocus Pocus 2, Molly’s Game
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day January 28
1949A Little Bird Told Me (facts) - Evelyn Knight
Far Away Places (facts) - Margaret Whiting
1958
1967
1976
1985
1994
2003
2012
2021
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
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