Today in History for December 1980

Months in 1980: January February March April May June July August September October November

Historical Events

Events 1 - 54 of 54

1st - 46th Heisman Trophy Award: George Rogers, South Carolina (RB)
1st - Mel Harris appears on M*A*S*H in "Cementing Relationships"
1st - US Justice Dept sues Yonkers siting racial discrimination
2nd - 4 American Maryknoll nuns killed by death squads in El Salvador
3rd - NY Federal jury finds Reps Thompson D-NJ & Murphy, D-NY, guilty
4th - 2 months after death of drummer John Bonham, Led Zeppelin breaks up
4th - Islanders end 15 game undefeated streak (13-0-2) (Col Rockies)
5th - Bank of Canada's Canadian Currency Museum opens
6th - Jim Bakker rapes Jessica Hahn
6th - NASA launches Intelsat V satellite, no. 502
8th - "Bravo" network premieres on cable TV
9th - 61°F in Boston at 1 AM
10th - Soyuz T-3 returns to Earth
10th - USSR performs underground nuclear test
11th - Dirk Wellham scores 100 on 1st-class debut, NSW v Victoria
11th - The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (known as either CERCLA or Superfund) is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
12th - US's copyright law amended to include computer programs
13th - "Perfectly Frank" closes at Helen Hayes Theater NYC after 16 perfs
14th - "Onward Victoria" opens/closes at Martin Beck NYC for 1 performance
14th - Anders Kailur scores on 6th Islander penalty shot
14th - At 2 PM EST there is 10 minutes of silence in memory of John Lennon
14th - Minnesota Vikings pass for 456 yards against Cleveland Browns, winning 28-24
14th - Nancy Lopez/Curtis Strange wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
14th - New Orleans Saints end 14 game losing streak, beat NY Jets 21-20
14th - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
15th - NY Yankee Dave Winfield becomes highest-paid player, 10 years $15M
15th - Premier Queddei troops conquers Chad capital N'djamena
15th - ZBZ Sangha registered after 5 yrs of administrative hassles in Warsaw
16th - Alexander Haig named Reagan's Secretary of State
16th - Pres-elect Reagan announces Alexander Haig as secretary of state
17th - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
17th - Mauritania provisional constitution published
18th - Bruce Sprinsteen's concert at Madison Sq Garden
18th - Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts minister Van Agts abortion laws
18th - IRA's Sean McKenna becomes critically ill, ends hunger strike
18th - Vietnam adopts constitution
19th - Anguilla becomes a British dependency separate from St Kitts
19th - Iran requests $24 billion in US guarantees to free hostages
19th - Mutaual Broadcasting cancels Sears Radio Theater
20th - NBC broadcasts NY Jets' 24-17 win over Dolphins without audio
20th - USSR formally announces death of Alexei Kosygin
21st - Harold Carmichael ends NFL streak of 127 consecutive game receptions
22nd - Cardinals release outfielder Bobby Bonds
22nd - Pres-elect Reagan appoints J Kirkpatrick (UN) & James Watt (Interior)
23rd - Sam Shepard's "True West," premieres in NYC
24th - Americans remembered Iran hostages by shining lights for 417 seconds
26th - Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.
27th - Calvin Murphy (Rockets) begins longest NBA free throw streak of 78
28th - Mexico terminated fishing agreements with US
29th - Shuttle STS-1 moves from Vandenberg AFB to Launch Complex 39A
30th - "Wonderful World of Disney," last performance on NBC-TV
31st - A Jewish owned hotel in Nairobi Kenya is bombed killing 18
31st - NY Islanders greatest shutout margin (9-0) vs Chicago Black Hawks
31st - Senegal president Leopold Senghor resigns

Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 45 of 45

1st - Mohammad Kaif, Indian cricketer
3rd - Anna Chlumsky, Chicago Ill, actress (My Girl)
3rd - Jenna Dewan, American actress
3rd - Jim Sorgi, American football player
5th - Shizuka Ito, Japanese voice actress (seiyū)
5th - Ibrahim Maalouf, Lebanese-born French trumpeter
6th - Steve Lovell, British footballer
6th - Ehren Wassermann, American baseball player
7th - John Terry, English footballer
9th - Ryder Hesjedal, Canadian cyclist
10th - Sarah Chang, American violinist
10th - Ledley King, English footballer
10th - Massari, Lebanese-born Canadian singer
11th - Rider Strong, SF California, actor (Shawn Hunter-Boy Meets World)
11th - Arya, Indian actor
14th - Didier Zokora, Ivorian footballer
14th - Frankie J, American singer
14th - Tata Young, Thai-American singer
15th - Sergio Pizzorno, English guitarist (Kasabian)
17th - Ryan Hunter-Reay, American race car driver
17th - Eli Pariser, American political activist (MoveOn.org)
Singer Christina Aguilera (18th) 18th - Christina Aguilera, American singer (Genie in a Bottle, What a Girl Wants)
19th - Jake Gyllenhaal, Los Angeles, California, actor (Donnie Darko, Jarhead)
19th - Marla Sokoloff, American actress
20th - Ashley Cole, English footballer
20th - Fitz Hall, English footballer
20th - Tony, French-born Portuguese footballer
21st - Royce Ring, American Major League Baseball Player
22nd - Chris Carmack, American actor
23rd - Cody Ross, American baseball player
24th - Tomas Kalnoky, American musician (Streetlight Manifesto)
25th - Locó, Angolan footballer
25th - Marcus Trufant, American football player (Seattle Seahawks)
25th - Reika Hashimoto, Japanese actress
25th - Laura Sadler, British actress (d. 2003)
26th - Serena Phillips, Corvallis Ore, figure skater (1997 Pruetten champ)
Actor Jake Gyllenhaal (19th) 26th - Todd Dunivant, American soccer player
27th - Claudio Castagnoli, Swiss wrestler
27th - Cas Haley, American singer and guitarist
28th - Lomana LuaLua, Congo footballer
28th - Vanessa Ferlito, American actress
30th - Eliza Dushku, Boston MA, actress (This Boy's Life, True Lies, Journey)
30th - Kenny Kwan, Hong Kong singer
31st - Richie McCaw, New Zealand rugby player
31st - Matt Cross, American professional wrestler

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 31 of 31

1st - Sam Levene, actor (Purple Heart, Designing Women), dies at 75
2nd - Romain Gary, Lithuanian-born French writer (b. 1914)
3rd - Oswald Mosley, British politician (b. 1896)
4th - Stella Walsh-S-Walasiewicz, sprinter (Olympic-gold-1932), shot at 69
5th - Don Taylor, cricketer (3 Tests for NZ 1947-56, 159 runs), dies
7th - Darby Crash, rocker, dies at 22
8th - John Lennon, shot and killed in NY by Mark David Chapman at 40
12th - Jean Lesage, politician, premier of Quebec (b. 1912)
13th - Harm van Riel, Dutch Liberal Party politician, dies at 73
14th - Elston Howard, MVP catcher (NY Yankees), dies at 59
16th - Harland Sanders, founder Kentucky Fried Chicken, dies at 90
16th - Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (b. 1900)
18th - Alexei N Kosygin, Soviet PM (1964-80), suffers heart attack at 76
21st - Marc Connelly, playwright (One Minute Please), dies at 90
22nd - Dick Kallman, actor (Hank Dearborn-Hank), murdered at 47
24th - Alec Lafayette Chew Wilder, composer, dies at 73
24th - Karl Dönitz, German naval admiral, and last leader of Nazi Germany (b. 1891)
24th - Siggie Nordstrom, model, actress, entertainer, socialite and lead singer of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1893)
25th - Fred Emney, actor (Adventures of a Private Eye), dies at 80
Kentucky Fried Chicken Founder Colonel Sanders (16th) 25th - Louis Neefs, Belgian singer, dies at 43
25th - Oscar Romero, archbishop of El Salvador, murdered
26th - Tony Smith, American sculptor (b. 1912)
28th - Amir Elahi, cricketer, 1st Pakistani Test cricketer to die
28th - Jersey calf, lived 222 days with an artificial heart
29th - Roy Engle, actor (Police Chief-My Favorite Martian), dies at 67
29th - Tim Hardin, US singer (Bird on a Wire), dies of a drug overdose at 39
29th - Tim Hardin, American musician (b. 1941)
29th - Nadezhda Mandelstam, Russian writer (b. 1899)
31st - Arthur Wellard, cricketer (2 Tests for England, legendary 6-hitter), dies
31st - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian cultural philosopher, dies at 69
31st - Raoul Walsh, US director (High Sierra), dies at about 88