By Clarice Burger
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Sheila Grace Young-Ochowicz (born October 14, 1950) is a retired American speed skater and track cyclist. She won three world titles in each of these sports, twice in the same year (in 1973 and 1976). In 1976, she also became the first American athlete to win three medals at one Winter Olympics.
Her three Olympic medals in 1976 made her the first United States athlete to win three medals at one Winter Olympics. Her world sprint speed skating championships in 1973 made her the first United States female athlete to accomplish that feat. Her world sprint speed skating championship of 1973 and her world sprint track cycling championship of that same year made her the first athlete to win World championships in two sports in the same year. The United States Olympic Committee named her Sportswoman of the Year in 1976 and 1981 for her accomplishments in both cycling and speed skating. She was inducted in the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1981, the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame in 1988, and the National Speedskating Hall of Fame in 1991
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Buds will form on a Christmas cactus when it is kept at a constant temperature between 50° and 60°F or when you give it at least 13 hours of complete darkness each night. If you can achieve either of these conditions, the December blooms will be well worth the effort.
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- William Penn (Quaker; founder of Pennsylvania, named in honor of his father) –
- Francis Lightfoot Lee (American Revolutionary leader) –
- Sir Edward Sabine (astronomer) –
- Ray Ewry (track and field star) –
- Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th U.S. president) –
- e. e. cummings (poet) –
- Eugene Fodor (travel writer) –
- Charles Everett Koop (U.S. Surgeon General) –
- Roger Moore (actor) –
- Ralph Lauren (designer) –
- Sheila Young (speed skater, cyclist) –
- Harry Anderson (actor) –
- Usher (singer) –
- Jordan Brower (actor) –
Died
- Bing Crosby (singer) –
- Cleveland Amory (critic and animal rights activist) –
- Lou Albano (American professional wrestler, manager and actor) –
Events
- While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, former president Theodore Roosevelt was shot by William Schrank –
- First contingent of Canadian Expeditionary Force arrived in England, during WWI –
- A. A. Milne’s classic, Winnie-the-Pooh, was published –
- Poland presented 5.5 million goodwill signatures to the United States for 150th anniversary of American independence –
- Girl Crazy by George Gershwin opened at the Alvin Theatre in New York –
- German U-boat sank passenger ferry S.S. Caribou in Cabot Strait –
- Charles Yeager, piloting a Bell X-1 jet, became the first person to break the sound barrier, reaching Mach 1.06 –
- Queen Elizabeth II began Canadian tour –
- Eighteen-month old Jessica McClure (Baby Jessica) fell down an abandoned well in Midland, Texas –
- The Illinois Natural Resources Department confirmed that a 17-inch fish caught in Chicago’s Burnham Harbor in Lake Michigan was an invasive snakehead, a feared Frankenfish known to eat native fish and compete with them for food –
- A Ghanaian-registered Boeing 747 cargo jet crashed and burned on take off from Halifax airport in eastern Canada –
- The United States Air Force Memorial was dedicated, Arlington, Virginia –
- Khagendra Thapa Magar, from Pokhara, Nepal, turned 18 years old and was certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s shortest living man, at 26.4 inches tall. –
- Video tweet was posted of a miniature horse seen in the back seat of a neighboring car in Iowa –
Weather
- Hail in southern Oklahoma caused major crop and property damage –
- The first regularly scheduled television weathercast was seen on WNBT (later, WNBC) in New York City. –
- Albany, New York, had a temperature of 21 degrees F –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
