Daily Almanac for Sunday December 12, 2025

By Kiesly Jameson

Dominique Wilkins, NBA star and Hall of Famer turns 65 today (courtesy Atlanta Hawks)

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

 

Jacques Dominique Wilkins (born January 12, 1960) is an American former professional basketball player who primarily played for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Wilkins was a nine-time NBA All-Star, a seven-time All-NBA Team member and is widely viewed as one of the most acrobatic slam dunkers in NBA history, earning the nickname “the Human Highlight Film“. In October 2021, he was honored as one of the league’s greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. Wilkins is the leader in most years with the Hawks for 12 seasons, the most games played with 882 in Hawks franchise history, the most minutes played with 32,545 in Hawks franchise history, the most career points in Hawks franchise history with 23,292 points, and the most points per game in Hawks franchise history, with 26.4 points per game.

Wilkins led the NBA in scoring in the 1985–86 season. In 2006, Wilkins was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

In addition to his 11 seasons with the Hawks, Wilkins had short stints with the Los Angeles Clippers, the Boston CelticsPanathinaikos of the Greek Basket League, with whom he won his first titles (the FIBA European League and the Greek Cup), Fortitudo Bologna of Lega Basket Serie A, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Orlando Magic before he retired in 1999. As a member of the U.S. men’s national team, Wilkins won gold at the 1994 FIBA World Championship.

Wilkins was born in Paris while his father was stationed in France as an officer in the U.S. Army. He has a younger brother, Gerald Wilkins, who also played in the NBA, mainly for the New York Knicks. His family moved to Dallas and Baltimore before settling in Washington, North Carolina, where he attended Washington High School.

Wilkins’s stepson, Isaiah Wilkins, played for the University of Virginia and was the 2018 ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

I haven’t gardened before but am thinking about growing some vegetables. How do I begin?

The best way to begin is to think about the type of vegetables you most like to eat. Look through seed catalogs to help you. Next, prioritize your list and research the important characteristics for growing each vegetable—for example, how much space it will need, how much sun, what kind of soil, how much moisture, when it must be planted, and how long it needs to grow before it can be harvested. Choose vegetables that you know grow well in your area. Ask your local nursery or the county extension office for suggestions. We’ve written an entire beginner gardening guide—check it out here: Learn How to Grow a Vegetable Garden

Advice of the Day

Clutter control: Next time you add to your wardrobe, discard something.

Home Hint of the Day

PVC (polyvinyl chloride) glue works by welding — dissolving the surfaces to be joined and mating them chemically — so it’s most effective when the surfaces being joined are free of all foreign material.

Word of the Day

Filibuster

A lawless military adventurer, especially one in quest of plunder; a freebooter; — originally applied to buccaneers infesting the Spanish American coasts, but introduced into common English to designate the followers of Lopez in his expedition to Cuba in 1851, and those of Walker in his expedition to Nicaragua, in 1855. A tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches

Puzzle of the Day

You may pass over a flat piece of ground whose name read backward or forward is always the same.

Level

Died

  • Marie-Antoine Carême (French haute cuisine founder) – 
  • Shep (loyal dog) – 
  • Agatha Christie (author) – 
  • Cyrus Vance (Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter) – 
  • Maurice Gibb (with his brothers built the Bee Gees into a disco sensation with hits like Stayin’ Alive” and “More Than a Woman”“) – 

Born

  • John Singer Sargent (artist) – 
  • Frank Gerber (manufacturer) – 
  • Jack London (author) – 
  • Joe Lewis (comedian) – 
  • Tex Ritter (singer) – 
  • Jose Arcadio Limon (dancer) – 
  • James Leonard Farmer Jr. (civil rights activist) – 
  • Katherine MacGregor (actress) – 
  • Tim Horton (hockey player) – 
  • Joe Frazier (boxer) – 
  • Rush Limbaugh (American radio personality and writer) – 
  • Kirstie Alley (actress) – 
  • Christiane Amanpour (broadcast journalist) – 
  • Dominique Wilkins (basketball player) – 

Events

  • First public museum in America, Charleston Museum, organized in Charleston, South Carolina – 
  • Mission Santa Clara de Asis in California established – 
  • Forward pass legalized in football – 
  • A couple from China became the youngest parents in history. The dad was 9 years old and the mom was 8 – 
  • Ford Motor Co. raised minimum daily wage from $2.30 to $5.00 – 
  • Hattie Caraway was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She was appointed in 1931 to fill the Arkansas seat left vacant by the death of her husband, and then elected in 1932 and re-elected in 1938 – 
  • U.S. State Department denied passports to American Communist Party members – 
  • Batman made its television debut – 
  • Boeing 747 landed at Heathrow Airport in London after its first trans-atlantic proving flight from NY – 
  • All in the Family made its television debut – 
  • Swimmer Melvin Stewart set world record in 200-meter butterfly – 
  • Fictional Hal 9000 computer in film 2001: A Space Odyssey became operational – 
  • Launch of Deep Impact spacecraft to study comet Tempel 1 – 
  • A 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook Haiti approximately 16 miles from the capital city of Port-au-Prince – 

Weather

  • Coldsnap that froze Columbia River on January 9th spawned Great Plains blizzard, 200 lives lost – 
  • Schoolchildren’s Blizzard in Great Plains killed 235 people – 
  • Record high of 57 degrees F in Helena, Montana – 
  • -35 degrees F in Chester, Massachusetts – 
  • Snowstorm of the century in southern Texas. San Antonio recorded more snow in 24 hours (nine inches) than was received during any entire winter in the previous 100 years. Total snowfall for the storm was 13.5 inches. – 

 

COURTESY www.almanac

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