December 12
1787 - Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1800 - Washington D.C. was established as the national capital.

1870 - Joseph Rainey of South Carolina took his seat as the first African American in the U.S. House of Representatives.

1913 - The Mona Lisa was recovered in Florence, Italy after having been stolen two years earlier from the Louvre.

1963 - Kenya gained independence from Britain.

1966 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules 4-3 to allow the Braves baseball franchise to move to Atlanta.

1985 - An Arrow Air charter crashed after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland, killing 248 American soldiers and eight crew members.

1987 - Mookie Blaylock sets an NBA record with 13 steals in a game.

1991 - The New Jersey Nets establish an NBA record with 22 blocks in a game against the Denver Nuggets.

1992 - Miami quarterback Gino Torretta wins the Heisman Trophy.

1997 - The Boston Red Sox sign Pedro Martinez to a record 6-year, $69 million contract.

1998 - The House Judiciary Committee approved a fourth and final article of impeachment against President Bill Clinton.

2000 - George W. Bush became president-elect as a divided U.S. Supreme Court reversed a state court recount decision in Florida's highly contested presidential election.

2001 - Yasir Arafat closed the offices of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

2011 - Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III wins the Heisman Trophy.

2015 - Nearly 200 nations meeting in Paris adopted the first global pact to fight climate change, calling on the world to collectively cut greenhouse gas emissions but imposing no sanctions on countries that didn't do so.

2018 - Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's one-time fixer, was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes that included arranging the payment of hush money to conceal Trump's alleged sexual affairs.

2020 - Thousands of Trump supporters gathered in Washington, D.C. for rallies to back his efforts to subvert the election he lost to Joe Biden.

Birthdays
22 - Queen Amayah (rapper)
24 - Devyn Nekoda (actress)
28 - Lucas Hedges (actor)
37 - Kate Todd (actress)
49 - Mayim Bialik (actress / TV host)
54 - Regina Hall (actress)
54 - Jennifer Connelly (actress)
54 - Madchen Amick (actress)
55 - Sophie Kinsella (author)
57 - John Randle (football player)
62 - Tracy Austin (tennis player)
66 - Sheree J. Wilson (actress)
67 - Sheila E. (singer)
72 - Cathy Rigby (actress/gymnast)
75 - Bill Nighy (actor)
84 - Dionne Warwick (singer)
87 - Connie Francis (singer)
92 - Bob Pettit (basketball player)

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Today in Sports History - December 12

1937 - The Washington Redskins defeat the Chicago Bears 28-21 to win the NFL Championship Game.

1950 - Ohio State running back Vic Janowicz wins the Heisman Trophy.

1965 - Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers ties the NFL record for most touchdowns in a game with six in a 61-20 win over the San Francisco 49ers.

1968 - Arthur Ashe became the first black man to be ranked #1 in tennis.

1976 - Joe Namath played his last game with the New York Jets.

1981 - Wayne Gretzky became the quickest to reach 50 goals in a season. It was in the 39th game.

2000 - The Texas Rangers signed Alex Rodriguez to a record breaking 10-year, $252 million contract. The contract amount broke all Major League Baseball records and all professional sports records.

2001 - Denver Nuggets coach Dan Issel was suspended for four games by his team for shouting a profanity and an ethnic remark at a fan.

2010 - The inflatable roof of the Minneapolis Metrodome collapsed following a snowstorm that dumped 17 inches on the city. (The NFL was forced to shift an already rescheduled game between the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants to Detroit's Ford Field.)

Fast-fact Friday:

“Former Nebraska bowler Julia Bond took home a silver medal in the doubles competition at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, AL. To that point, Bond was a six-time member of Team USA and was hired as a Nebraska assistant coach in September 2021.”

December 13

1642 - New Zealand was discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman.

1862 - Union forces led by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside launched futile attacks against entrenched Confederate soldiers during the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg; the soundly defeated Northern troops withdrew two days later.

1918 - President Woodrow Wilson arrived in France, becoming the first U.S. president to visit Europe while in office.

1937 - During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese soldiers massacred an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 citizens, war prisoners and soldiers in the Chinese city of Nanjing.

1978 - The U.S. Mint began stamping the Susan B. Anthony silver dollar, the first U.S. coin honoring a woman.

1981 - The Polish government imposed martial law in an attempt to crush the Solidarity movement.

1989 - South African President F.W. de Klerk met with Nelson Mandela for the first time.

1996 - Kofi Annan of Ghana is selected secretary-general of the United Nations.

2000 - Republican George W. Bush claimed the presidency a day after the U.S. Supreme Court shut down further recounts of disputed ballots in Florida; Democrat Al Gore conceded, delivering a call for national unity.

2001 - The Pentagon publicly released a captured videotape of Osama bin Laden in which the al-Qaida leader said the deaths and destruction achieved by the Sept. 11 attacks exceeded his ''most optimistic'' expectations.

2003 - American forces capture Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who was found hiding in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit.

2014 - Thousands of protesters marched in New York, Washington and other U.S. cities to call attention to the killing of unarmed Black men by white police officers.

2019 - The House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment accusing President Donald Trump of abuse of power in his dealings with Ukraine and obstruction of Congress in the investigation that followed.

2022 - President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act providing federal recognition and protection for same-sex and interracial marriages, saying "the law, and the love it defends, strike a blow against hate in all its forms."

Birthdays
21 - Maisy Stella (actress)
28 - Jana Craig (reality star)
29 - Emma Corrin (actress)
35 - Taylor Swift (singer)
35 - Katherine Schwarzenegger (author)
43 - Amy Lee (singer)
49 - Tom Delonge (singer)
50 - Ashley Hosbach (reality star)
55 - Sergei Federov (hockey player)
57 - NeNe Leakes (actress/reality star)
57 - Jamie Foxx (actor/comedian)
64 - Richard Dent (football player)
67 - Morris Day (singer)
67 - Steve Buscemi (actor)
70 - John Anderson (musician)
74 - Wendie Malick (actress)
75 - Randy Owen (singer)
76 - Ted Nugent (musician)
76 - Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (musician)
82 - Ferguson Jenkins (baseball player)
83 - John Davidson (singer/TV host)
99 - Dick Van Dyke (actor/comedian)

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Today in Sports History - December 13

1931 - The Green Bay Packers win the NFL Championship Game, defeating the New York Giants 27-0.

1936 - The Green Bay Packers defeat the Boston Redskins 21-6 to win the NFL Championship Game; the game marked the final for the Redskins in Boston, with the franchise moving to Washington, D.C. the following year.

1942 - The Washington Redskins defeat the Chicago Bears 14-6 to win the NFL Championship Game.

1949 - The American League rejected a revival of the spitball, which had been outlawed since 1920.

1956 - Jackie Robinson (Los Angeles Dodgers) was traded to the Giants for pitcher Dick Littlefield and $35,000. Robinson retired instead of accepting the trade.

1966 - The rights to the first four Super Bowls were sold to CBS and NBC for a total of $9.5 million.

1973 - Detroit became the first city to receive a franchise for the World Football League.

1977 - Fourteen members of the University of Evansville men's basketball team are killed in a plane crash.

1983 - An NBA record was set when the Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets played a triple overtime that resulted in Pistons winning 186-184.

1995 - Paul Coffey (Detroit Red Wings) became the first NHL defenseman to reach 1,000 career points.

1997 - Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson wins the Heisman Trophy.

1998 - Gary Anderson (Minnesota Vikings) kicked six field goals against Baltimore. In the game Anderson set an NFL record for 34 straight field goals without a miss.

1998 - Marshall Faulk set a new Colts record for total yards from scrimmage in a season with 2,090. The record had been held by Eric Dickerson with 2,036.

1999 - Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne wins the Heisman Trophy.

2001 - Michael Frank Goodwin was arrested and booked on two counts of murder, one count of conspiracy and three special circumstances (lying in wait, murder for financial gain and multiple murder) in connection to the death of Mickey Thompson. Thompson and his wife Trudy were shot to death in their driveway on March 16, 1988. Thompson, known as the "Speed King," set nearly 500 auto speed endurance records including being the first person to travel more than 400 mph on land.

2003 - Oklahoma quarterback Jason White wins the Heisman Trophy.

2007 - Major League Baseball's Mitchell Report was released, identifying 85 names to differing degrees in connection with the alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.

2010 - Auburn quarterback Cam Newton wins the Heisman Trophy.

2014 - Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota wins the Heisman Trophy.

2015 - Alabama running back Derrick Henry wins the Heisman Trophy.

2018 - Dirk Nowitzki takes the floor for a record 21st season with the Dallas Mavericks, surpassing Kobe Bryant's 20 years with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Fast-fact Friday and, as always, I’m writing these verbatim straight from the daily calendar:

“Fan support of the Nebraska women’s soccer team has been nothing short of amazing since the program burst onto the scene in 1994. Most recently, since moving into Hibner Stadium, the team consistently draws attendance among the Top 30 programs nationally and Top 3 in the Big Ten.”

I just wanted to take a minute to say thank you for your votes of trust in making me your supreme poster of the year. Due to covid, we had to hold a private ceremony in Sean’s mansion but it was very lovely. I’ve attached a photo of the event below.

@SantaBarbaraSker supplied the entertainment and danced for everyone afterward but unfortunately photography was not allowed. Then @BBTown Bomber wrestled @Husker Hank but it only lasted 12 seconds before they both fell asleep.

But seriously, thank you. I love you all and it’s awesome that I didn’t even have to split the award like @lee_carvallo_12 did.

Nate,

Not sure how this works, but there is a '18 OT prospect out of Maryville, MO that may be worth a look from our coaches (at least as a preferred walk on type). His name is Jalen Sundell. He's really flown under the radar due largely to his size I believe, but has now grown a couple inches and about 30 lbs over the last year to 6'5" about 260 and still growing. He has an offer from hometown Northwest Missouri State who wants him bad (not your run of the mill D2 team) and a couple lower D1 teams (like Central Michigan I believe).

He's an athletic kid with good feet (5.01 40) and has some great bloodlines. His mom played college hoops and his dad was a stud hoopster and also still holds the MIAA record (and had an Olympic tryout) in the high jump at 7'5". He doesn't have a Rivals profile, but his does have some Hudl film from junior year. He loves Nebraska.

Vote

Proud dad here. Sorry.

My son has just always been fast. First time my dad saw him run at age 4 on a soccer field he looked at me and said “he can run. He’s got ‘it’.”

My dad (ex Husker player) once held the World Record in the Low Hurdles (later broken by an Olympic gold medalist) and my wife was a track star who held a school record at our university. I could run.

We put him in track this year for the first time because he had been the fastest kid in his elementary school since he was in second grade and we were curious how fast. We never timed him or anything and didn’t know how that compared to other fast kids from other towns. There is ALWAYS a faster kid out there somewhere.

So after a spring season of practice, he ran at Regionals and we were super nervous. He set all time meet records in his three events. Blew them out.

Below are pics of the first race he ever ran (Regional Meet - 50m hurdles heat race) - he set a meet and state record in it. One pic is of his finish (white line - no one in the pic) and when 2nd and 3rd were crossing the finish line (two kids aren’t even in the pic still).

This weekend he ran at the State meet and won gold in all three of his events. He owns the fastest 50m and 50m hurdles times in state meet history and won the 100m (missed all time state mark by .22).

I’ve been trying to look online to see how his times look compared to other kids and can’t find much.

Coco’s 50m hurdles mark of 8.28 seconds is faster than this guys YouTube video with 1.5 million views where his “super fast 9 year old” ran 8.91 seconds 50m (not hurdles just dash) and smoked the other kids. My kid ran that same distance AND cleared hurdles and beat his time by .68 seconds. This dad is in for a rude awakening someday.

Coco’s State record 50m dash time he smashed was 7.60 for reference.


Some other “fast” 9 year old (THE VIDEO IS NOT MY KID) on YouTube with 1.5 million views.
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There is always a faster kid though somewhere. Someday he will run against him and get beat. But for now I’m a proud dad that’s just thankful for his God-given ability.

Thanks for reading.


PICS ARE MY KID - First Race ever. Finish and when 2nd/3rd crossed.

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"It is all over but the crying in Lincoln".

Nice call BTN