This Day in History

Dec 19, 1968:
"Bullitt" hits the silver screen in Sweden

On December 19, 1968, Warner Brothers releases the movie "Bullitt," starring Steve McQueen, in Sweden, some two months after its debut in U.S. theaters. Many critics consider "Bullitt" to be one of the greatest action movies ever made, not because of its script or special effects--the plot is impenetrable, the dialogue is fairly awful, and nothing explodes--but because of one sublime seven-minute car chase through the streets of San Francisco. In poll after poll, moviegoers have named that chase the best in film history.

In the movie, McQueen plays Frank Bullitt, a San Francisco police lieutenant charged with protecting a government witness in a mob trial. After his witness gets murdered, Bullitt sets off to find the hit men who did it. He spies their black 1968 R/T Dodge Charger in traffic and trails them in his 1968 "Highland Green" Ford Mustang GT 390 fastback. Once the driver of the Charger spots McQueen, the chase is on!

Moviegoers who are familiar with San Francisco will note that the chase is an implausible one, as it leaps from street to street and neighborhood to neighborhood. The two cars speed up and down San Francisco's hilly streets and past a number of far-flung landmarks, including Potrero Hill, Russian Hill and the Guadalupe Canyon Parkway. (The movie's director especially wanted to film on the Golden Gate Bridge, but the city refused to allow it.) The car chase is not interrupted by music or dialogue: All you can hear is the revving and clutching of the engines, whining and squealing tires, and the shots of the assassins' Winchester rifle.

The chase sequence took three weeks to film. Stunt coordinators used two identical Chargers and two identical Mustangs; the Mustangs, on loan from Ford, had to be modified so they could keep up with the more powerful Dodge cars. (While filming, the Chargers lost six hubcaps in all; careful viewers will note that different ones are missing at different times during the scene.) Steve McQueen, an accomplished driver, did some of his own driving, but he left the riskiest maneuvers to stunt driver and motorcycle racer Bud Ekins. Viewers can tell when McQueen is driving: When the Mustang's rearview mirror is visible in a shot, McQueen is behind the wheel; when it's not, Ekins is driving.

In 2001, Ford issued a new Mustang model it called the Bullitt GT. Some 6,500 of the cars were produced.



   
   
   
       
   
       
   

   
       

This Day in History

 Dec 17, 1986:
"Operation Iceman" nabs the culprit



Richard Kuklinski, a suspect in several murders, is arrested by undercover agents at a truck stop off the New Jersey Turnpike, marking the culmination of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms' "Operation Iceman." Kuklinski had sealed his fate when he showed operative Dominick Polifrone how to poison a person with cyanide.

The first murder authorities were able to link Kuklinski to was that of George Mallibrand, whom he shot over a debt in 1980. He then stuffed Mallibrand's body into a 55-gallon drum in Jersey City. In July 1981, Kuklinski's partner, Louis Masgay, mysteriously disappeared on the eve of an illegal business transaction, but there was no evidence linking Kuklinski to the incident. When his body turned up in September 1983, authorities determined that Masgay had been shot in the head and kept frozen since the day of the disappearance; his body was then dumped two years later.

In 1982, Kuklinski joined Dan Deppner and Gary Smith in a scam to steal cars. But because he apparently believed Deppner and Smith to be inept crooks, Kuklinski decided to kill them in order to protect himself. In a northern New Jersey hotel, Kuklinski poisoned Smith's hamburger and then stuffed the dead body under the bed. Despite the fact that other guests had rented the room in the meantime, Smith was not discovered for four days.

In May 1983, a plastic bag containing Dan Deppner's body was discovered near a tree in northern New Jersey. Because he was believed to have died from cyanide poisoning, police were convinced that Kuklinski was behind the series of murders, and they decided to institute a sting operation. Kuklinski was later taped discussing cyanide's efficacy as a murder weapon, saying "It's quiet, it's not messy, it's not noisy... You can spray it in someone's face and they go to sleep."

At his trial in 1987, Kuklinski argued that Smith and Deppner had not been killed with poison. Indeed, it is difficult to prove murder by cyanide since the poison leaves few traces behind. Nonetheless, the prosecution managed to prove Kuklinski's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. He later confessed to killing Louis Masgay.

This Day in History

 Dec 16, 1944:
Battle of the Bulge

 On this day, the Germans launch the last major offensive of the war, Operation Mist, also known as the Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, an attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. The Battle of the Bulge, so-called because the Germans created a "bulge" around the area of the Ardennes forest in pushing through the American defensive line, was the largest fought on the Western front.

The Germans threw 250,000 soldiers into the initial assault, 14 German infantry divisions guarded by five panzer divisions-against a mere 80,000 Americans. Their assault came in early morning at the weakest part of the Allied line, an 80-mile poorly protected stretch of hilly, woody forest (the Allies simply believed the Ardennes too difficult to traverse, and therefore an unlikely location for a German offensive). Between the vulnerability of the thin, isolated American units and the thick fog that prevented Allied air cover from discovering German movement, the Germans were able to push the Americans into retreat.

One particularly effective German trick was the use of English-speaking German commandos who infiltrated American lines and, using captured U.S. uniforms, trucks, and jeeps, impersonated U.S. military and sabotaged communications. The ploy caused widespread chaos and suspicion among the American troops as to the identity of fellow soldiers--even after the ruse was discovered. Even General Omar Bradley himself had to prove his identity three times--by answering questions about football and Betty Grable--before being allowed to pass a sentry point.

The battle raged for three weeks, resulting in a massive loss of American and civilian life. Nazi atrocities abounded, including the murder of 72 American soldiers by SS soldiers in the Ardennes town of Malmedy. Historian Stephen Ambrose estimated that by war's end, "Of the 600,000 GIs involved, almost 20,000 were killed, another 20,000 were captured, and 40,000 were wounded." The United States also suffered its second-largest surrender of troops of the war: More than 7,500 members of the 106th Infantry Division capitulated at one time at Schnee Eifel. The devastating ferocity of the conflict also made desertion an issue for the American troops; General Eisenhower was forced to make an example of Private Eddie Slovik, the first American executed for desertion since the Civil War.

The war would not end until better weather enabled American aircraft to bomb and strafe German positions.




   
       

   
   
   
       
   
       
   

This Day in History

 Dec 15, 1973:
Jockey Sandy Hawley wins record 500th race



On December 15, 1973, Sandy Hawley becomes the first jockey to win 500 races in a single year. Born in Ontario, Canada, Hawley began working at Toronto race tracks when he was a teenager. He won his first race in October 1968 at Toronto’s Woodbine race track and quickly racked up more successes, becoming North America’s leading jockey by 1970, when he won 452 races. In 1972, Hawley decided to try his luck on the Southern California race track circuit, where he would be based for the next 16 years.

Hawley achieved his historic 500th win aboard Charlie Jr., in the third race at Maryland’s Laurel Park race track on December 15, 1973. By season’s end, he had crossed the finish line first 15 more times for a total of 515 wins, smashing the previous record of 485 set by the legendary Bill Shoemaker. In 1976, Hawley was named the winner of Santa Anita Park’s George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Eclipse Award as the top jockey in North America.

Decorated with the Order of Canada, his native country’s highest honor, Hawley continued his stellar career throughout the 1980s and into the ‘90s. At Canterbury Downs in June 1986, he won his 5,000th career race aboard Mighty Massa, becoming the youngest jockey ever to reach that mark. Diagnosed with skin cancer in 1987 and given only months to live, Hawley successfully battled the disease and continued his racing career for another decade. He won his 6,000th race in November 1992 at the Greenwood (formerly Woodbine) track, aboard Summer Commander. Upon his retirement in July 1998, Hawley boasted 31,455 mounts and 6,449 wins (plus 4,825 second- and 4,158 third-place finishes) and a staggering total of $88,666,071 in purse earnings.

This Day in History

 Dec 12, 1965:
NFL rookie Gale Sayers ties single-game TD record

Born in 1943, Sayers was a two-time All-American at the University of Kansas at Lawrence. In 1965, he was drafted by both the Bears of the NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League (AFL). Though Kansas City offered him more money, Sayers chose to play for the Bears. He scored his first pro touchdown in the second game of the season, a losing effort against the Los Angeles Rams, and never looked back, amassing a total of 2,272 combined rushing, receiving and kick-return yards and 22 touchdowns, a record for a rookie. In the December 12 game against the 49ers, Sayers triumphed over muddy conditions to score his historic six touchdowns--four rushing, one receiving and one return--tying an NFL record held by Ernie Nevers of the Chicago Cardinals (1929) and Dub Jones of the Cleveland Browns (1951). Sayers was voted the NFL Rookie of the Year for 1965.

Due to serious knee injuries sustained in 1968 and 1970, Sayers’ NFL career lasted only six seasons, during which he twice led the league in rushing, in 1966 and 1969, and garnered the best-ever career kickoff-return average in the NFL (30.65 yards). After briefly attempting to play again after his second injury, he retired for good in 1972.

Sayers is also well-known for his close friendship with his fellow Bears halfback Brian Piccolo, who motivated Sayers through rehabilitation after his first knee injury and who died in 1970 after a struggle with cancer. The 1971 TV movie Brian’s Song, a sentimental favorite for many, was adapted from Sayers’ memoir, I Am Third. In 1977, the 34-year-old Sayers became the youngest player ever to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

This Day in History

 Dec 11, 1981:
Muhammad Ali vs. Trevor Berbick



On this day in 1981, the Jamaican boxer Trevor Berbick beat former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali in a unanimous 10-round decision, before a crowd of 10,000 at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre in Nassau, the Bahamas.

At the age of 39, Ali (born Cassius Clay) was attempting his second comeback from retirement. Crowned as the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight champ in 1964 after beating Sonny Liston, he had successfully defended the title eight times before he was convicted of draft evasion in 1967, stripped of his boxing license and title and sentenced to five years in prison. Though the conviction was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, Ali was inactive for two years and announced his retirement in 1970. He returned to the ring after only a short time, however, and regained his heavyweight title in 1974 after a win against George Foreman in Zaire. After losing and regaining the crown again in 1978, Ali announced his retirement for the second time. He reemerged in October 1980 to fight a championship bout against Larry Holmes, who knocked him out in the 11th round in a one-sided battle. Ali refused to accept the result, however, and pushed to set up the fight with Berbick in the Bahamas in order to prove himself.

Immensely popular with the fans, Ali put in his best performance in the middle of the Berbick fight, seeming to win the fifth and sixth rounds with his combinations and aggressive punches. From the seventh round on, however, control belonged to the 27-year-old Berbick, whose speed and power allowed him to inflict a series of damaging punches, batter Ali in the corner, land a punch to the head in the ninth, and get him on the ropes in the tenth. In the end, all three judges gave the match to Berbick.

Ali retired for good after the fight, finishing his career with an overall record of 56-5 and earning a lasting reputation as one of the 20th century’s most influential sportsmen. For his part, Berbick won the WBC heavyweight title in 1986 but was beaten in his first defense by the 20-year-old Mike Tyson. Berbick continued boxing for another 14 years but was plagued by issues in his personal life, including various arrests and a conviction for sexual assault. His boxing license was revoked in 2000 after a post-fight CAT scan found a blood clot in his brain. In October 2006, Berbick was found dead, with massive wounds to the head, in a church courtyard in his native town, Norwich, near Kingston, Jamaica. His 20-year-old nephew and a friend were charged in the killing.

This Day in History

 Dec 10, 2006:
LaDainian Tomlinson breaks single-season touchdown record

On December 10, 2006, the San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson racks up his 29th touchdown of the year, breaking the National Football League (NFL) record for touchdowns scored during a single season.

Born in 1979, Tomlinson was selected by the Chargers in the first round of the NFL draft in 2001, after a triumphant career at Texas Christian University. As the team’s starting running back, he made an immediate impact, proving lethally effective at rushing, catching and passing. In 2003, he became the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards and record 100 receptions in the same season. He was also the seventh player to run, catch and throw for a touchdown in the same game, a Chargers victory over the Oakland Raiders in October 2005. Tomlinson broke some ribs near the end of the 2005 season, but continued to play, finishing with a then-career-high 20 touchdowns (18 rushing, two receiving).

From the beginning to the end of the 2006 season, Tomlinson was unstoppable, leading the Chargers to the playoffs (though not to the Super Bowl) and smashing NFL records along the way. Facing the Denver Broncos on December 10, Tomlinson took a handoff at the Broncos’ seven-yard line into the end zone for his third touchdown of the day and 29th of the season, breaking the previous record set by Shaun Alexander of the Seattle Seahawks in 2005. By season’s end, he had improved his total to 31 touchdowns. He also set new single-season records for rushing touchdowns (28) and total points scored (186). The previous points record, held by Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers, had stood since 1960.

Despite San Diego’s loss to the New England Patriots in the division playoffs, Tomlinson raked in almost every available honor during his record-breaking season, including the NFL’s Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year awards