By Cassie Lee
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
John David Newcombe AO OBE (born 23 May 1944) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in both men’s singles and men’s doubles. Newcombe won a combined 26 major titles: seven in singles, a former record 17 in men’s doubles, and two in mixed doubles. He also contributed to five Davis Cup titles for Australia during an age when the Davis Cup was deemed as significant as the majors. Tennis magazine rated him the 10th best male player of the period 1965–2005.
Newcombe was the last of the Australians who dominated tennis in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, included Newcombe in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time.
Newcombe was captain of the Australian Davis Cup team from 1995 until 2000.
He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985 and in 1986 his achievements were recognised with his induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
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In 1701, Capt. William Kidd was hanged in London for piracy and murder.
In 1829, Cyrill Demian was granted a patent for his musical instrument called the accordion.
In 1900, U.S. Army Sgt. William H. Carney became the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor. He was cited for his efforts during the Civil War battle of Fort Wagner, S.C., in June 1863.
In 1934, Clyde Barrow and his cigar-smoking sweetheart, Bonnie Parker, who lived and died by violence, were ambused by police and killed in Bienville Parish, La.
In 1939, the U.S. Navy submarine Squalus sunk off New Hampshire in 240 feet of water. Twenty-six men died. Thirty-three were saved in a daring rescue with a diving bell. The submarine was raised in September 1939 and recommissioned the USS Sailfish.
In 1945, Heinrich Himmler, the former Gestapo chief, killed himself in a British military prison in Luneburg, Germany.
In 1963, the Alabama Supreme Court removed Birmingham Mayor Art Hanes and two city commissioners, including segregationist Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Conner.
In 2009, police said South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, 62, linked to a corruption investigation, leaped to his death off a cliff near his home after leaving a suicide note.
In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that California’s overcrowing of prisons violated the Eighth Amendment, banning “cruel and unusual punishment.”
In 2018, the National Football League approved a new rule requiring all players to stand for the national anthem or remain in the locker room. Under the new rule, the league planned to fine teams if players kneel during the anthem.
In 2023, the Illinois attorney general announced that an investigation found that 451 Catholic priests in the state had allegedly abused nearly 2,000 children since 1950.
COURTESY www.almanac.com
