By Zola Elder
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Robert E. Lee Pettit Jr. (/ˈpɛtɪt/ PET-it; born December 12, 1932) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 11 seasons in the NBA, all with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks (1954–1965). In 1956, he became the first recipient of the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award and he won the award again in 1959. He also won the NBA All-Star Game MVP award four times. As of the end of 2022-2023 regular season, Pettit is still the only regular season MVP in the history of the Hawks, despite the team relocating to Atlanta following his retirement in 1965.
The first NBA player to score more than 20,000 points, Pettit was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970. He is one of four players who was named to all four NBA anniversary teams and one of only two living members as of 2023 with Bob Cousy. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest power forwards of all time.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Esaias Tegner (writer) –
- Lady Caroline Ponsonby Lamb (author) –
- Edwin Booth (actor) –
- Robert Louis Stevenson (author) –
- Louis Brandeis (U.S. Supreme Court justice) –
- Alexander Scourby (actor) –
- Richard Mulligan (actor) –
- Garry Marshall (producer, director, & actor) –
- Dack Rambo (actor) –
- Chris Noth (actor) –
- Whoopi Goldberg (actress) –
- Jimmy Kimmel (television host) –
- Monique Coleman (actress) –
Died
- Gioacchino Rossini (composer) –
- Irv Rubin (Jewish Defense League leader) –
- Robert Pershing “Bobby” Doerr (baseball player) –
- Katherine MacGregor (actress) –
Events
- David Kirke granted co-proprietorship of Newfoundland–
- U.S. General Montgomery captured Montreal–
- Thousands of meteors fell per hour in the eastern United States–
- The Holland Tunnel between New York and New Jersey opened–
- Ginger Rogers married Lew Ayres–
- Walt Disney’s Fantasia premiered at the Broadway Theater in New York; first film to attempt to use stereophonic sound–
- Sammy Davis Jr. married May Britt–
- Bob Pettit was the first to reach 20,000 career points in the NBA–
- Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet (Mars)–
- Li’l Abner, Al Capp’s 43-year-old comic strip, appeared in newspapers for the last time–
- The Wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedicated, Washington, D.C.–
- Volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupts in Colombia, killing over 23,000 people.–
- Groundbreaking ceremony held for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.–
Weather
- The first great storm of what became the Dust Bowl spread a pall from the Great Plains to New York–
COURTESY www.alamanac.com
