Honorable Mention: February 1, 1901: Frank Buckles. He turned out to be the last living American veteran of World War I, lying about his age to get into the Army, and driving ambulances and motorcycles.
He hadn't intended to also serve in World War II, but was in the Philippines on business, working in the shipping industry, when he was taken prisoner there by the Japanese, and held for 3 years, nearly starving to death before being freed by Allied forces.
He was still driving a tractor on his West Virginia farm at age 103. He said, "If your country needs you, you should be right there, that is the way I felt when I was young, and that's the way I feel today." But he also said the country should not go to war, "unless it's an emergency." He lived until 2011, just past his 110th birthday.
Honorable Mention: February 1, 1917: Eiji Sawamura. In 1934, a group of American baseball players visited Japan to hold a baseball clinic and play some games against Japanese teams. Sawamura, only 17, pitched for the Yomiuri Giants, and lost the game on a home run by Lou Gehrig, but not before managing to strike out Charlie Gehringer, Babe Ruth, Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx in succession.
He was killed in action in World War II. The award for the best pitcher Japan's major leagues, their version of the Cy Young Award, is named the Eiji Sawamura Award.
Somewhat Honorable Mention: February 1, 1924: Richard Hornberger. A U.S. Army surgeon in the Korean War, he wrote a novel based on his experiences, under the name Richard Hooker: MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. He based the character of Hawkeye Pierce on himself. (It wasn't a complete match: Hawkeye was a lifelong resident of Maine, whereas Hornberger was from Trenton, New Jersey, and went to Maine for college and stayed there.)
The book was made into a movie in 1970, and a CBS TV series in 1972. But the TV show took the character of Hawkeye further and further from what Hornberger was really like, and he was not happy about it: He was considerably more conservative than the Alan Alda version of the character became.
Dishonorable Mention: February 1, 1969: Andrew Breitbart. Few people claiming to be journalists have done so much damage.
10. February 1, 1970: Malik Sealy. An All-American forward at St. John's University, He played 8 seasons in the NBA, before a drunk driver killed him in 2000. He was playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves at the time, and they retired his Number 2.
9. February 1, 1937: Garrett Morris. One of the original "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on Saturday Night Live from 1975 to 1980. He played baseball star Chico Escuela, and Merkon, leader of the Coneheads. He was later part of the regular casts of the sitcoms Martin, The Jamie Foxx Show and 2 Broke Girls.
8. February 1, 1882: Louis St. Laurent. The 2nd French-Canadian to be Prime Minister of Canada, he served from 1948 to 1957.
7. February 1, 1895: Conn Smythe. The longtime head coach and general manager built Maple Leaf Gardens, and oversaw 7 Stanley Cup wins from 1932 to 1951.
The NHL's trophy for the Most Valuable Player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is named for him. So was one of the League's former Divisions.
6. February 1, 1915: Stanley Matthews. He began his professional soccer career at age 17, with Stoke City of Staffordshire in the English Midlands. He ended it at age 50, also with Stoke. In between, "The Wizard of Dribble" became one of the greatest players the sport has ever seen, and remains the only English footballer to be knighted while still playing.
At 19, he was considered good enough to play for the England team that, while it did not enter the 1934 World Cup, beat the team that won it, Italy. At 38, playing for Blackpool F.C., he so dominated the FA Cup Final, winning his only major trophy, that it became known as "The Matthews Final" despite his teammate, Stan Mortensen, scoring the only hat trick (3 goals in a game) in FA Cup Final history. At 60, he went to South Africa, and defied the apartheid laws to manage an all-black team.
Honorable Mention: February 1, 1966: Michelle Akers. She scored 105 goals for the U.S. women's national soccer team, helping them win the Women's World Cup in 1991 and 1999 and the Olympic Gold Medal in Atlanta in 1996.
5. February 1, 1894: John Ford. He directed his 1st film in 1917, and his last in 1973. In between, he became the defining director of Western movies, including Stagecoach, Drums Along the Mohawk, My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and How the West Was Won.
It wasn't just Westerns. He also directed Young Mr. Lincoln, The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley and The Quiet Man. Okay, there were horses in those films, and The Grapes of Wrath could be called a Western. But no cowboys. And no horses in Mr. Roberts.
4. February 1, 1937: Don Everly. With his younger brother Phil, he formed the Everly Brothers, charter members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With them, the Beatles never would have made it, nor the Beach Boys, nor Simon & Garfunkel, nor anybody they influenced.
Honorable Mention: February 1, 1909: George Beverly Shea. One of the leading gospel singers of all time, he was known for his performances at Billy Graham's "Crusades." He lived to be 104.
Somewhat Honorable Mention: February 1, 1993: Harry Styles. Like the other members of One Direction, he never would have been noticed if he wasn't good-looking.
3. February 1, 1931: Boris Yeltsin. Originally supporting Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, then criticizing him for not going far enough, he almost singlehandedly saved Russia from a return to pre-Gorbachev-style Communism after the 1991 coup. He then served as President of the Russian Federation for 8 years, helping re-stabilize the world after the Cold War.
His record is far from perfect, and he also deserves to be remembered as the man who elevated Vladimir Putin to a place of power.
2. February 1, 1901: Clark Gable. He was no angel. Neither were the characters he played. Buy in films like It Happened One Night and Gone with the Wind, he was just so charming that he became one of America's all-time most beloved actors.
1. February 1, 1902: Langston Hughes. It may be appropriate that America's most celebrated black poet, James Mercer Langston Hughes, was born on the 1st day of what became, after his death in 1967, Black History Month.
Honorable Mention: February 1, 1894: James P. Johnson. Like Hughes, he was a part of what became known as the Harlem Renaissance. He composed "The Charleston," which became the biggest dance craze of the 1920s.
Still alive as of this writing: Morris, Akers, Styles.