FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regarded as the greatest boxer of all time, pound-for-pound.

Robinson was a dominant amateur, but his exact amateur record is not known. It is usually listed as 85–0 with 69 knockouts, 40 in the first round. However it has been reported he lost to Billy Graham and Patsy Pesca as a teenager under his given name, Walker Smith Jr. He turned professional in 1940 at the age of 19 and by 1951 had a professional record of 128–1–2 with 84 knockouts. From 1943 to 1951 Robinson went on a 91-fight unbeaten streak, the third-longest in professional boxing history. Robinson held the world welterweight title from 1946 to 1951, and won the world middleweight title in the latter year. He retired in 1952, only to come back two-and-a-half years later and regain the middleweight title in 1955. He then became the first boxer in history to win a divisional world championship five times (a feat he accomplished by defeating Carmen Basilio in 1958 to regain the middleweight championship). Robinson was named “fighter of the year” twice: first for his performances in 1942, then nine years and over 90 fights later, for his efforts in 1951. Historian Bert Sugar ranked Robinson as the greatest fighter of all time and in 2002, Robinson was also ranked number one on The Ring magazine’s list of “80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years”. As of November 2021, BoxRec ranks Robinson as the greatest boxer, pound-for-pound, of all time.

Renowned for his classy and flamboyant lifestyle outside the ring, Robinson is credited with being the originator of the modern sports “entourage“. After his boxing career ended, Robinson attempted a career as an entertainer, but it was not successful. He struggled financially until his death in 1989. In 2006, he was featured on a commemorative stamp by the United States Postal Service.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Annunciation or Lady Day

The precession of the equinoxes has moved the astronomical beginning of spring back four days to March 21, but its previous date of March 25 became identified with the Virgin Mary, who was told by the angel Gabriel on that day that she would become the mother of Christ. Lady Day, as this day was commonly called, was one of the great quarterly dividing points of the year (the others being Midsummer Day, Michaelmas, and Christmas). It was traditionally the day for paying rents, signing or vacating leases, and hiring farm laborers for the year. The flower cardamine, or lady’s-smock, with its milky white flowers, is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and appears about this time. For a discussion about this plant’s significance, go to this site.

Question of the Day

I’m not old enough to remember the Moon landings. I’d like to know what phase the Moon was in on July 20, 1969.It was in the waxing phase, six days old. (The new Moon was on the 14th.)

Advice of the Day

Sitting on a table will prevent you from marrying.

Home Hint of the Day

Always store slate roofing tiles on edge, like a stack of phonograph records. There’s less chance of breakage that way.

Word of the Day

NodeEither of the two points where a body’s orbit intersects the ecliptic. Ascending: The body is moving from south to north of the ecliptic. Descending: The body is moving from north to south of the ecliptic.

Puzzle of the Day

What word is that to which if you add a syllable, it will make it shorter?Short

Born

• Arturo Toscanini (conductor) – 1867
• Bela Bartok (composer) – 1881
• Ed Begley, Sr. (actor) – 1901
• Howard Cosell (sportscaster) – 1920
• Eileen Ford (business executive) – 1922
• Flannery O’Connor (novelist) – 1925
• James Arthur Lovell, Jr. (astronaut) – 1928
• Gloria Steinem (women’s rights activist) – 1934
• Aretha Franklin (singer) – 1942
• Elton John (musician) – 1947
• Bonnie Bedelia Culkin (actress) – 1948
• Marcia Cross (actress) – 1962
• Sarah Jessica Parker (actress) – 1965
• Jeffrey Healey (Canadian musician) – 1966
• Sheryl Swoopes (basketball player; Olympic gold medalist) – 1971
• Lee Pace (actor) – 1979
• Danica Patrick (race car driver) – 1982
• Aly Michalka (actress) – 1989

Died

• Edward Steichen (photographer) – 1973
• Viscountess Dilhorne (trained pigeons to carry secret communications in Europe during WWII) – 2004
• Buck Owens (singer) – 2006
• Herb Peterson (invented McDonald’s Egg McMuffin) – 2008

Events

• Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano arrived off Outer Banks of North Carolina– 1524
• George Washington planted pecans at Mount Vernon– 1775
• Congress authorized first U.S. medal for Gen. George Washington, for forcing British army to evacuate Boston– 1776
• First U.S. public demonstration of pancake making, NYC– 1882
• Jacob S. Coxey’s army of jobless men began march from Ohio to Washington, D.C., to demand relief measures from Congress– 1894
• Socialist Party of the United States organized at Indianapolis, Indiana– 1900
• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in NYC killed 148 women trapped by locked fire escape doors– 1911
• Washington D.C.’s Daily News was the first U.S. newspaper to have a perfumed ad– 1937
• The Jimmy Durante and Garry Moore Show premiered on the radio. The duo replaced the popular Abbott and Costello– 1943
• Sugar Ray Robinson won world’s middleweight boxing championship by defeating Carmen Basilio, in Chicago– 1958
• About 25,000 civil rights demonstrators ended a five-day march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, with a rally demanding equal rights for blacks– 1965
• U.S. Supreme Court declared the poll tax to be unconstitutional for all elections– 1966
• Multinational agreement to coordinate efforts to control trade in narcotic drugs signed in Geneva– 1972
• The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an employer may voluntarily act to redress imbalances in the workforce through affirmative action programs for women. It was the first time that the court specifically addressed such programs for women– 1987
• Residents of Innisfail, Australia, set a new Guinness record for longest banana split. It was 26,377 feet 11.4 inches long and included 40,000 bananas, more than 2,000 gallons of ice cream and 528 gallons of toppings.– 2017

Weather

• Seven inches of rain fell at Columbus, Indiana– 1913
• Mar. 25-26: Amarillo, Texas, had 20.6 inches of snow in 24 hours– 1934
• Fourth day (March 22 to 25) of blizzard weather affecting the Oklahoma/Texas panhandles– 1957
• This day brought Florida “the most economically destructive force ever to hit the Orlando area,” as thunderstorms dropped hailstones up to four inches in diameter. Literally millions of panes of glass were broken during the storm, with damages totaling $60 million.– 1992

COURTESY www.almanac.com