General Snapshots

 

1.    Ronald Reagan is President

 

2.    Jan - The first federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honoring Martin Luther King Jr., is observed.

 

3.    Jan - The first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll HOF, included Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, and 3 other white performers. Also inducted were, James Brown*, Little Richard*, Fats Domino*, Ray Charles*, Chuck Berry*, Sam Cooke*, Robert Johnson*, and Jimmy Yancey*.

 

4.    Jan - Super Bowl XX: The Chicago Bears defeat the New England Patriots 46–10 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

 

5.    Jan - Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch, killing the crew of seven astronauts, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe (see Space Shuttle Challenger disaster). President Ronald Reagan postpones for one week the State of the Union address that had been scheduled for the evening and instead addresses the nation on the Challenger disaster.

 

6.    Mar - Halley's Comet is a comet visible from Earth every 75–76 years. It last appeared in the inner parts of the Solar System in 1986 and will next appear in mid-2061.

 

7.    Apr - The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults, hosted by Geraldo Rivera, is a two-hour live American television special.

 

8.    Apr - In Ukraine, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes, creating the world’s worst nuclear disaster. 31 are killed directly by the incident, many more die from cancer in later years, many thousands more are exposed to significant amounts of radioactive material, and vast territories in Ukraine and Belarus are rendered uninhabitable.

 

9.    May - Hands Across America: approximately 6.5 million people form a human chain from New York City to Long Beach, California, to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness. The event raised about $15 million. A total of 24 cities participated along the route, including: Champaign, Illinois (with Walter Payton), Chebanse, Illinois (A cornfield in central Illinois served as center-point of the nation with 16,000 people in attendance), Springfield, Illinois (with 50 Abraham Lincoln impersonators), and St. Louis, Missouri (with Kathleen Turner under the St. Louis Arch)

 

10.    Aug - In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers before committing suicide.

 

11.    Sep - Desmond Tutu becomes the first black Anglican Church bishop in South Africa’s Cape Town, the most senior position in southern Africa's Anglican hierarchy.  Theologically, he sought to fuse ideas from black theology with African theology; politically, he identifies as a socialist.

 

12.    Nov - Iran–Contra affair: The United States has been selling weapons to Iran in secret, in order to secure the release of 7 American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon. Also, profits from the covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua. National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, start shredding documents implicating them.

 

13.    Nov - Mike Tyson wins his first world boxing title by defeating Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas. Tyson won the title by TKO in the second round, and at the age of 20 years and 4 months became the youngest heavyweight champion in history. Tyson won his first 19 professional fights by knockout or stoppage, 12 of them in the first round.

 

14.    Dec - Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.

 

15.    Open Comments:

 

16.    Top 3 Pop Songs

 

17.    1 "That's What Friends Are For, Dionne and Friends

 

18.    2 "Say You, Say Me", Lionel Richie

 

19.    3 "I Miss You", Klymaxx

 

20.    Grammy Award Winners

 

21.    Record of the Year: "Higher Love", Steve Winwood

 

22.    Album of the Year: Paul Simon (producer & artist) for Graceland

 

23.    Song of the Year: Burt Bacharach & Carole Bayer Sager (songwriters) for "That's What Friends Are For" performed by Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder

 

24.    Best New Artist: Bruce Hornsby & the Range

 

25.    Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female: Anita Baker for Rapture

 

26.    Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male: James Brown for "Living in America"

 

27.    Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group: Prince and The Revolution for "Kiss"

 

28.    Best Rhythm & Blues Song: "Sweet Love" performed by Anita Baker

 

29.    Open Comments

 

30.    Top 3 Movies

 

1.    Top Gun

 

2.    Crocodile Dundee

 

3.    Platoon

 

31.    Other Notables: The Karate Kid Part II, Star Trek IV, Back To School, Aliens, The Golden Child, Ruthless People, Ferris Bueller's Day Off,  Crocodile Dundee, The Fly, Howard the Duck, Labyrinth, Little Shop of Horrors, Platoon, Pretty in Pink, Stand By Me, Top Gun, The Three Amigos ---AND UNDER THE CHERRY MOON!

 

32.    Open Comments

 

33.    Top 3 TV Shows

 

1.    The Cosby Show

 

2.    Family Ties

 

3.    Cheers

 

34.    Open Comments

 

35.    Economic Snapshot

 

36.    New Home: 89,463

 

37.    Avg Rent: 385

 

38.    Avg. Income: 22,300

 

39.    New Car: 9,300

 

40.    Harvard:10,600 yearly

 

41.    Movie Ticket: 2.75

 

42.    Gas: .89

 

43.    Stamp: .22

 

44.    Social Scene: Chicago Bears – Super Bowl Shufflin!!

 

45.    “In March of 1920 a man telephoned me. Mr. Chamberlain asked if I would like to come to Decatur and work for the Staley Company. [George Chamberlain was general superintendent of the A. E. Staley Company, a food starch company of Decatur, Illinois. In 1919, the company's Fellowship Club had formed a football team. It had done well against other local teams, but Mr. Staley wanted to build it into a team that could compete successfully with the best semi-professional and industrial teams in the country.” - George Halas, in his book Halas by Halas.

 

46.    The franchise was founded in Decatur, Illinois, on September 17, 1920 and moved to Chicago in 1921. It is one of only two remaining franchises from the NFL's founding in 1920, along with the Arizona Cardinals, which was originally also in Chicago. Originally named the Decatur Staleys, the company hired George Halas, a Chicago native, and Edward "Dutch" Sternaman in 1920 to run the team. The 1920 Decatur Staleys season was their inaugural regular season completed in the newly formed American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football League (NFL) in 1922). The team relocated to Chicago in 1921, where the club was renamed the Chicago Staleys. Under an agreement reached by Halas and Sternaman with Staley, Halas purchased the rights to the club from Staley for $100 (~$1,400 in 2019). In 1922, Halas changed the team name from the Staleys to the Bears. The team moved into Wrigley Field, which was home to the Chicago Cubs baseball franchise and, as with several early NFL franchises, the Bears derived their nickname from their city's baseball team. Halas liked the bright orange-and-blue colors of his alma mater, the University of Illinois, and the Bears adopted those colors as their own.

 

47.    The 1985 Bears were simply the greatest team ever, and here's why. The collection of players Chicago put together not just on defense, but also offense, made them one of the most talented teams ever assembled. The Bears steam-rolled their way through the regular season with a 15-1 record. In Super Bowl XX, they destroyed the Pats 46-10, with the only 10 points they would give up