January 4
1821 - The first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, died in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
1885 - Dr. William W. Grant of Davenport, Iowa, performed what is believed to be the first appendectomy.
1896 - Utah became the 45th state.
1904 - In Gonzales vs. Williams, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that citizens of Puerto Rico are not aliens and can enter the U.S. freely.
1935 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, called for legislation to provide assistance for the jobless, elderly, impoverished children and the disabled.
1948 - Burma (Myanmar) gained independence from Britain.
1951 - During the Korean War, North Korean and Communist forces captured the city of Seoul.
1964 - Pope Paul VI began a visit to the Holy Land, the first papal pilgrimage of its kind.
1965 - President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined his "Great Society" in his State of the Union address.
1974 - President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
1987 - Sixteen people were killed when an Amtrak train bound from Washington, D.C., to Boston collided with Conrail locomotives that had crossed into its path from a side track in Chase, Maryland.
1990 - Charles Stuart, who'd claimed that he'd been wounded and his pregnant wife fatally shot by a robber, leapt to his death off a Boston bridge after he himself became a suspect.
1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as governor of Minnesota.
1999 - Europe's new currency, the euro, got off to a strong start on its first trading day, rising against the dollar on world currency markets.
2006 - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a significant stroke; his official powers were transferred to his deputy, Ehud Olmert. (Sharon remained in a coma until his death in January 2014.)
2007 - California Democrat Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female Speaker of the House in the nation's history.
2015 - Pope Francis named 156 new cardinals, selecting them from 14 countries, including far-flung corners of the world, to reflect the diversity of the Roman Catholic church and its growth in places like Asia and Africa.
2018 - The Trump administration moved to vastly expand offshore drilling from the Atlantic to the Arctic oceans with a five-year plan that would open up federal waters off of California for the first time in decades and possibly open new areas of oil and gas exploration along the East Coast.
2023 - Rick Singer, the mastermind of a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal, was sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison and ordered to pay $19 million after helping authorities secure the convictions of a slew of wealthy parents involved in his scheme to rig the selection process at top-tier schools.
Birthdays
24 - Addy Miller (actress)
26 - Coco Jones (actress/singer)
26 - Liza Soberano (actress)
28 - Emma Mackey (actress)
30 - Derrick Henry (football player)
31 - Kris Bryant (baseball player)
38 - Charlyne Yi (comedian/actress)
39 - Lenora Crichlow (actress)
44 - D'Arcy Carden (actress)
45 - Jeannie Mai (reality star)
49 - Jill Marie Jones (actress/singer)
51 - Damon Gupton (actor)
52 - Heidi D'Amelio (actress/model)
54 - Josh Stamberg (actor)
58 - Deana Carter (singer)
59 - Julia Ormond (actress)
59 - Rick Hearst (actor)
60 - Dot Jones (actress)
61 - Dave Foley (actor)
62 - Patrick Cassidy (actor)
67 - Patty Loveless (singer)
69 - Ann Magnuson (actress)
70 - Kathy Forester (singer)
85 - Dyan Cannon (actor)
97 - Barbara Rush (actress)
=====================================
Today in Sports History - January 4
1883 - The Ontario Rugby Football Union was formed. The organization was the forerunner of the CFL.
1920 - The National Negro Baseball League was organized.
1942 - Rogers Hornsby is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1957 - The Dodgers bought a 44-passenger twin-engine airplane for $775,000. They were the first team to own their own plane.
1974 - NBC broadcast the first hockey game in prime time national television. The contest featured the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers.
1975 - The New Orleans Jazz set a then NBA record in the shot clock era by scoring only 20 points in the first half of a 111-89 loss in Seattle.
1976 - The Dallas Cowboys became the first wild-card team to make it to the Super Bowl. They beat the Los Angeles Ram 37-7 in the NFC title game.
1983 - The USFL (United States Football League) held its first player draft.
1984 - Adrian Dantley ties Wilt Chamberlain's NBA record for most free throws made in a game by converting 28 of 29 free throws in Utah's 116-111 win over Houston at Las Vegas.
1984 - Wayne ‘The Great One’ Gretzky scored eight points (four goals and four assists) for the second time in his National Hockey League (NHL) career. Edmonton’s Oilers defeated the Minnesota North Stars, 12-8. The game was the highest-scoring NHL game to date.
1986 - David Robinson of the U.S. Naval Academy sets an NCAA Division I single game record with 14 blocks in a game.
1996 - Don Shula announced his retirement from coaching the Miami Dolphins after 26 seasons.
1999 - Tennessee defeats Florida State 23-16 in the inaugural BCS National Championship Game.
2000 - A day after accepting the head coaching position with the New York Jets, Bill Belichick resigns and takes the same position with the New England Patriots.
2000 - Florida State defeats Virginia Tech 46-29 in the BCS National Championship Game.
2001 - Michael Jordan of the Washington Wizards becomes the fourth player in NBA history to score 30,000 points.
2003 - The Green Bay Packers lost 27-7 to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC wild card game. It was the first time that the Packers had lost a playoff game at home.
2004 - LSU defeats Oklahoma 21-14 in the BCS National Championship Game.
2005 - USC defeats Oklahoma 55-19 in the BCS National Championship Game.
2006 - Texas defeats USC 41-38 in the BCS National Championship Game.
1821 - The first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, died in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
1885 - Dr. William W. Grant of Davenport, Iowa, performed what is believed to be the first appendectomy.
1896 - Utah became the 45th state.
1904 - In Gonzales vs. Williams, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that citizens of Puerto Rico are not aliens and can enter the U.S. freely.
1935 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, called for legislation to provide assistance for the jobless, elderly, impoverished children and the disabled.
1948 - Burma (Myanmar) gained independence from Britain.
1951 - During the Korean War, North Korean and Communist forces captured the city of Seoul.
1964 - Pope Paul VI began a visit to the Holy Land, the first papal pilgrimage of its kind.
1965 - President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined his "Great Society" in his State of the Union address.
1974 - President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
1987 - Sixteen people were killed when an Amtrak train bound from Washington, D.C., to Boston collided with Conrail locomotives that had crossed into its path from a side track in Chase, Maryland.
1990 - Charles Stuart, who'd claimed that he'd been wounded and his pregnant wife fatally shot by a robber, leapt to his death off a Boston bridge after he himself became a suspect.
1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as governor of Minnesota.
1999 - Europe's new currency, the euro, got off to a strong start on its first trading day, rising against the dollar on world currency markets.
2006 - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a significant stroke; his official powers were transferred to his deputy, Ehud Olmert. (Sharon remained in a coma until his death in January 2014.)
2007 - California Democrat Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female Speaker of the House in the nation's history.
2015 - Pope Francis named 156 new cardinals, selecting them from 14 countries, including far-flung corners of the world, to reflect the diversity of the Roman Catholic church and its growth in places like Asia and Africa.
2018 - The Trump administration moved to vastly expand offshore drilling from the Atlantic to the Arctic oceans with a five-year plan that would open up federal waters off of California for the first time in decades and possibly open new areas of oil and gas exploration along the East Coast.
2023 - Rick Singer, the mastermind of a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal, was sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison and ordered to pay $19 million after helping authorities secure the convictions of a slew of wealthy parents involved in his scheme to rig the selection process at top-tier schools.
Birthdays
24 - Addy Miller (actress)
26 - Coco Jones (actress/singer)
26 - Liza Soberano (actress)
28 - Emma Mackey (actress)
30 - Derrick Henry (football player)
31 - Kris Bryant (baseball player)
38 - Charlyne Yi (comedian/actress)
39 - Lenora Crichlow (actress)
44 - D'Arcy Carden (actress)
45 - Jeannie Mai (reality star)
49 - Jill Marie Jones (actress/singer)
51 - Damon Gupton (actor)
52 - Heidi D'Amelio (actress/model)
54 - Josh Stamberg (actor)
58 - Deana Carter (singer)
59 - Julia Ormond (actress)
59 - Rick Hearst (actor)
60 - Dot Jones (actress)
61 - Dave Foley (actor)
62 - Patrick Cassidy (actor)
67 - Patty Loveless (singer)
69 - Ann Magnuson (actress)
70 - Kathy Forester (singer)
85 - Dyan Cannon (actor)
97 - Barbara Rush (actress)
=====================================
Today in Sports History - January 4
1883 - The Ontario Rugby Football Union was formed. The organization was the forerunner of the CFL.
1920 - The National Negro Baseball League was organized.
1942 - Rogers Hornsby is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1957 - The Dodgers bought a 44-passenger twin-engine airplane for $775,000. They were the first team to own their own plane.
1974 - NBC broadcast the first hockey game in prime time national television. The contest featured the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers.
1975 - The New Orleans Jazz set a then NBA record in the shot clock era by scoring only 20 points in the first half of a 111-89 loss in Seattle.
1976 - The Dallas Cowboys became the first wild-card team to make it to the Super Bowl. They beat the Los Angeles Ram 37-7 in the NFC title game.
1983 - The USFL (United States Football League) held its first player draft.
1984 - Adrian Dantley ties Wilt Chamberlain's NBA record for most free throws made in a game by converting 28 of 29 free throws in Utah's 116-111 win over Houston at Las Vegas.
1984 - Wayne ‘The Great One’ Gretzky scored eight points (four goals and four assists) for the second time in his National Hockey League (NHL) career. Edmonton’s Oilers defeated the Minnesota North Stars, 12-8. The game was the highest-scoring NHL game to date.
1986 - David Robinson of the U.S. Naval Academy sets an NCAA Division I single game record with 14 blocks in a game.
1996 - Don Shula announced his retirement from coaching the Miami Dolphins after 26 seasons.
1999 - Tennessee defeats Florida State 23-16 in the inaugural BCS National Championship Game.
2000 - A day after accepting the head coaching position with the New York Jets, Bill Belichick resigns and takes the same position with the New England Patriots.
2000 - Florida State defeats Virginia Tech 46-29 in the BCS National Championship Game.
2001 - Michael Jordan of the Washington Wizards becomes the fourth player in NBA history to score 30,000 points.
2003 - The Green Bay Packers lost 27-7 to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC wild card game. It was the first time that the Packers had lost a playoff game at home.
2004 - LSU defeats Oklahoma 21-14 in the BCS National Championship Game.
2005 - USC defeats Oklahoma 55-19 in the BCS National Championship Game.
2006 - Texas defeats USC 41-38 in the BCS National Championship Game.
