Honorable Mention: February 3, 1969: Beau Biden. Given that he was a war hero and the Attorney General of the State of Delaware, I thought that, one day, I might vote for Joseph Robinette Biden III for President. But it was not to be.
10. February 3, 1950: Morgan Fairchild. One of the top actors in nighttime soap operas. Morgan Fairchild. Yeah, that's it. That's the ticket.
Honorable Mention: February 3, 1918: Joey Bishop. The comedian might have been the "Ringo" of the Rat Pack. But he was funny. He was also the only one of them I ever saw in person -- unless you count Shirley MacLaine or Angie Dickinson, and I should get to meet one of them.
Honorable Mention: February 3, 1925: Shelley Berman. He was at least as funny as Joey Bishop.
Honorable Mention: February 3, 1925: John Fiedler. You might not know his name, but you face, and you certainly know his high, squeaky voice -- from the movie Twelve Angry Men, and from "Wolf in the Fold," the Jack the Ripper episode of Star Trek.
Honorable Mention: February 3, 1938: Victor Buono. If you only know him as the supervillain King Tut on the 1966-68 Batman series, he was a lot more than that. He was one of the funniest men alive, for as long as he lived, which, sadly, was not long. Like Nipsey Russell, he used comedy in rhyme, but his funny poems were a lot longer.
Honorable Mention: February 3, 1943: Blythe Danner. She may now be best remembered as the mother of actress Gwyneth Paltrow, but she's a better actress.
Honorable Mention: February 3, 1956: Nathan Lane. I had to mention him. I wouldn't want him to
throw a fit.
9. February 3, 1874: Gertrude Stein. The most prominent woman among the 1920s "Lost Generation" group of writers.
8. February 3, 1945: Bob Griese. He remains the only quarterback to lead Purdue University to victory in a Rose Bowl, and the only one to lead the Miami Dolphins to victory in a Super Bowl. He's also a great broadcaster.
Honorable Mention: February 3, 1940: Fran Tarkenton. Fran the Scrambler was a better runner and a better passer than Griese. But Griese was 2-1 in Super Bowls, while Tarkenton was 0-3 in them. Griese is also a better broadcaster, although Tarkenton is a good one. Both are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Honorable Mention: February 3, 1952: Fred Lynn. In 1975, he became the 1st player to win either League's Rookie of the Year and its Most Valuable Player award in the same year, helping the Boston Red Sox win the American League Pennant. In 1979, he led the AL in batting average.
In 1982, he helped the California Angels win the AL Western Division Championship, and was named the MVP of the AL Championship Series, although the Angels lost. Injuries kept him from reaching the Baseball Hall of Fame, but he made 9 All-Star Games, 4 Gold Gloves, still hit 306 home runs.
Honorable Mention: February 3, 1960: Joachim Löw. It's hard to imagine a German with a name pronounced like "love," but "Jogi" has earned some. He won the DFB-Pokal (the German version of the FA Cup) with Stuttgart, the Austrian Bundesliga (national league) with Tirol Innsbruck, and the World Cup with the German national team in 2014.
Honorable Mention: February 3, 1968: Vlade Divac. Probably the best basketball player to come from what used to be Yugoslavia, he starred in that country's league before reaching the NBA Finals with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1991, and then starring with the Sacramento Kings, who retired his Number 21. He is in the Basketball Hall of Fame, and has served as President of the Serbian Olympic Committee.
7. February 3, 1907: James Michener. Perhaps America's greatest writer of historical fiction, his best-known work was of then-recent fiction, World War II: Tales of the South Pacific. It became the basis for the Broadway musical and film South Pacific, a bold statement against bigotry.
6. February 3, 1938: Emile Griffith. The native of the U.S. Virgin Islands first won a boxing World Championship in 1961, winning the Welterweight Championship. He last held one in 1968, the Middleweight Championship.
5. February 3, 1943: Dennis Edwards. The best lead singer of The Temptations, taking charge of their "psychedelic soul" period, 1969 to 1972.
Honorable Mention: February 3, 1947: Dave Davies. Lead guitarist for The Kinks. "They didn't call it 'heavy metal' when I invented it."
4. February 3, 1811: Horace Greeley. Champion of freedom through his anti-slavery New York newspaper, and while he was a champion of westward expansion, he probably didn't say, "Go west, young man."
3. February 3, 1809: Felix Mendelssohn. One of the greatest composers of the 1st half of the 19th Century.
2. February 3, 1920: Henry Heimlich. We may never know how many lives his anti-choking maneuver has saved.
1. February 3, 1894: Norman Rockwell. He was considered the All-American writer. Until -- or, depending on your politics, especially -- when he starting painting pro-civil rights works.
Still alive as of this writing: Fairchild, Danner, Lane, Griese, Tarkenton, Lynn, Löw, Divac.