Somewhat Honorable Mention: January 26, 1905: Maria von Trapp. Yes, the lead character of The Sound of Music was a real person. But, apparently, she wasn't nearly as nice as the character played by Julie Andrews in the movie.
Dishonorable Mention: January 26, 1891: Frank Costello. One of New York's biggest Mob bosses from 1931 to 1957. A nearly successful assassination attempt scared him into "retiring" and fleeing the country.
Dishonorable Mention: January 26, 1944: Jerry Sandusky. He could have done nothing wrong, and Joe Paterno would still have had a corrupt football program at Pennsylvania State University. But what Sandusky did do made it far worse.
Dishonorable Mention: January 26, 1963: José Mourinho. With cheating, the soccer teams he has managed have won 8 national league titles (in 4 different countries), 4 national cups, the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League twice, and the UEFA Champions League with 2 different teams. Without cheating, he would be the Portuguese Sam Allardyce, forever struggling to stay in his homeland's 1st division, and never even being considered for a job elsewhere.
10. January 26, 1958: Ellen DeGeneres. One of the top comedians of the 1990s, her sitcom Ellen was groundbreaking, She is about to wrap up the talk show she's had since 2003.
9. January 26, 1913: Jimmy Van Heusen. With Johnny Burke, he wrote "Swinging On a Star." With Sammy Cahn, he wrote "All the Way,""High Hopes, "Call Me Irresponsible" and "My Kind of Town." He not only wrote lots of songs for Frank Sinatra, he once saved Sinatra's life. In return, Sinatra paid for his funeral.
Honorable Mention: January 26, 1934: Huey "Piano" Smith. With his band The Clowns, he recorded some classic early rock and roll songs, including "Don't You Just Know It" and "The Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu."
Honorable Mention: January 26, 1958: Anita Baker. One of the best pure singers of the last 40 years.
8. January 19, 1919: Valentino Mazzola. The star of the Torino team that dominated Italian soccer in the 1940s, before most of it, including he, were killed in a plane crash in 1949. His son, Sandro Mazzola, was an even better player.
Honorable Mention: January 19, 1919: Bill Nicholson. In 1961, "Bill Nick" managed North London team Tottenham Hotspur to the first "Double" -- winning the Football League and the FA Cup in the same season -- since 1897. He would win 2 more FA Cups.
7. January 26, 1934: Bob Uecker. He turned a mediocre career in baseball into a great career as a broadcaster and a good career in comedy. The longtime voice of the Milwaukee Brewers starred in the sitcom Mr. Belvedere in the 1980s, and he riffed on his broadcasting job for the Major League movies.
6. January 26, 1977: Vince Carter. One of the greatest dunkers in basketball history, "Vinsanity" was an 8-time NBA All-Star who remained a productive player at age 37, and was still averaging 14 minutes a game at 43. It didn't seem to occur to him that he'd never make the Basketball Hall of Fame if he didn't retire. He finally becomes eligible in 2023.
5. January 26, 1955: Eddie Van Halen. I was not a fan. But he was, clearly, one of the most talented guitarists of all time. And anybody that Valerie Bertinelli says she loves, even after the divorce, has gotta have something going for him.
4. January 26, 1961: Wayne Gretzky. No, he's not the greatest hockey player of all time. He never played defense. But he was, far and away, the greatest offensive force that hockey will ever know, doing for his sport what Babe Ruth and Wilt Chamberlain did for theirs.
3. January 26, 1921: Akio Morita. The co-founder and visionary who turned Sony into one of the world's greatest companies.
Speaking of Japan:
2. January 26, 1880: Douglas MacArthur. No, he was not a completely honorable man. He was an egomaniac who left his first wife for a burleseque dancer. He was, as much as anyone, responsible for the massacre when the Bonus Army was routed from Capitol Hill in 1932. It wasn't his fault that he had to evacuate his people from the Philippines in 1942, but his actions made things worse
He nearly started World War III by trying to invade China when it looked like he had the Korean War won. And he went behind President Harry S Truman's back to the Republican leaders of Congress, earning his firing.
But he was also a genuine hero in World War I, and, tactically speaking, the best Allied General of World War II. He did keep his promise to the Philippines that he would return. He acted nobly as military governor of Japan after The War. And his "D-Day" at Inchon was genius, and saved South Korea from Communist domination.
1. January 26, 1925: Paul Newman. Like Humphrey Bogart before him, and Denzel Washington after him, he built a career of playing guys who were flawed, but we still had to root for them, because they were just so darn charming. And he put his fame and fortune into selling food products that raised a lot of money for charity. "Boy, I got vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals."
Still alive as of this writing: Mourinho, DeGeneres, Baker, Uecker, Carter and Gretzky.