Honorable Mention: February 9, 1961: Vic DiBitetto. The Brooklyn-born-and-raised, Central Jersey-residing comedian knows. He just knows. You gotta get the bread and milk? I gotta guy who can get you the bread and milk for two dollars!
10. February 9, 1928: Rinus Michels. He built the greatest sports team ever to come out of the Netherlands, AFC Ajax of Amsterdam. His "total football" philosophy meant that every player on the team should be able to do what every other player could do. Which isn't easy, given that his best player was Johan Cruijff, who is in the conversation for the honor of "anybody's best player, ever."
The team he built would win the European Cup (the tournament now known as the UEFA Champions League) in 1971, 1972 and 1973. Later, he would manage the Netherlands national team to its only major tournament win, Euro 88.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1931: Josef Masopust. The greatest soccer player that Czechoslovakia -- together or apart -- has ever produced, he led Dukla Prague to 8 league titles. He led the Czech national team to the Final of the 1962 World Cup.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1937: Clete Boyer. He wasn't a notable hitter, although he did have some power. But he was a spectacularly-fielding 3rd baseman for the New York Yankees in the 1960s, winning 5 straight American League Pennants. His performance in the 1961 World Series preceded those of Brooks Robinson of Baltimore in 1970 and Graig Nettles of the Yankees in 1978.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1946: Vince Papale. He was a high school football and track star outside Philadelphia. He got a track scholarship to St. Joseph's University, which didn't have a football team, so he figured his football career was over.
But he played semi-pro football as a receiver, and signed with the Philadelphia Bell of the World Football League. That caught the attention of the Philadelphia Eagles, and he made the team in 1976, earning the nickname "Rocky," because, like the city's fictional boxer, his story seemed so improbable. Unfortunately, a shoulder injury ended his career before he could play on the 1980 NFC Champions and play in Super Bowl XV. Mark Wahlberg starred as him in the movie Invincible.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1956: Mookie Wilson. A center fielder, William Julius Wilson played 10 seasons for the New York Mets, and would still be one of the most popular players in team history, even if he hadn't been the man who hit the ball that went through Bill Buckner's legs, spurring them on to win the 1986 World Series.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1961: John Kruk. The 1st baseman didn't look or act like an athlete. But he knew it: When a female reporter told him athletes shouldn't smoke, he said, "I ain't an athlete, lady. I'm a baseball player."
In spite of the jokes, including about how his scruffy, chunky appearance made him the symbol of the Philadelphia Phillies team known as Macho Row, he was a damn good one: He made 3 All-Star teams, helped the Phillies win the 1993 National League Pennant, and retired with a lifetime batting average of exactly .300. He has since become a TV studio analyst for the sport.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1997: Saquon Barkley. The nephew of former Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Champion Iran Barkley, the running back is probably the best NFL player for a New York Tri-State Area team today. How long that remains true may depend less on the Giants (or the Jets) bringing in somebody more talented, and more on whether he can get out of there and onto a team that’s trying to win.
9. February 9, 1975: Vladimir Guerrero Sr. We now have to add the suffix, because his son, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., has become a baseball superstar. But he's got a long way to go to match his father, as the right fielder is in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He made 9 All-Star Games, batted .318 lifetime, hit 449 home runs, had one of the best outfield arms of all time, and was named American League Most Valuable Player in 2004.
8. February 9, 1923: Brendan Behan. Nobody ever enjoyed being an Irish writer more than he did. Perhaps a little too much. Living in New York's Chelsea Hotel, as did his fellow writing drunkard, Wales' Dylan Thomas (although not at the same time), didn't help.
7. February 9, 1897: Charles Kingsford Smith. In 1928, he made the first flight across the Pacific Ocean from America to Australia, his homeland. He also made the first nonstop crossing of Australia, the first flights between Australia and New Zealand, the first flight eastward across the Pacific from Australia to America, and flew from Australia to London in less than 11 full days to set a new record.
In 1935, "Smithy" and co-pilot Tommy Pethybridge were attempting the reverse record, London to Australia, when they disappeared between Allahabad, India and Singapore. Pieces of their plane have been found, but their bodies never have.
6. February 9, 1945: Mia Farrow. Daughter of actress Maureen O'Sullivan, ex-wife of singer Frank Sinatra and conductor Andre Previn, ex-partner of director Woody Allen (infamously so), and mother of journalist Ronan Farrow, her acting tends to get lost in the fuss over her connections. It shouldn't.
In 1974, in connection with playing Daisy Buchanan in the Robert Redford version of The Great Gatsby, she was on the cover of the 1st issue of People magazine.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1891: Ronald Colman. The Englishman was one of the top film actors of the 1930s.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1943: Joe Pesci. The Belleville, New Jersey native built a career playing loudmouths who aren't as tough as they pretend to be. Don't tell him he's funny.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1949: Judith Light. She was the boss, and she was boss at it.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1955: Charles Shaughnessy. He played Maxwell Sheffield on The Nanny.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1981: Tom Hiddleston. Sorry, Loki, but you don't make the Top 10. Not yet.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1987: Michael B. Jordan. He's certainly a better actor than that other Michael Jordan. He's been in movies for both DC (voicing Victor Stone, a.k.a. Cyborg, in the 2013 animated film Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox) and Marvel (playing Erik Stevens, a.k.a. Killmonger, in Black Panther). He is currently filming Creed III, the latest installment in the Rocky franchise, in which he plays Apollo's son Adonis "Donnie" Creed.
5. February 9, 1944: Alice Walker. She wrote The Color Purple, and that's enough to get her on this list all by itself.
4. February 9, 1939: Barry Mann. There were 3 big husband & wife songwriting teams in rock and roll in the early 1960s: Gerry Goffin & Carole King (more about them momentarily); Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich; and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil. Barry and Cynthia are the only ones who stayed married. They're also the only ones who kept writing hits together beyond the early 1970s.
Here's just a few: "Blame It On the Bossa Nova,""Uptown,""On Broadway,""Walking in the Rain,""I'm Gonna Be Strong,""We Gotta Get Out of This Place,""You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin',""(You're My) Soul and Inspiration,""Kicks" (one of the earliest anti-drug songs to become a hit), "I Just Can't Help Believing,""Shape of Things to Come,""Rock and Roll Lullaby,""Here You Come Again" (Dolly Parton sang it, but she didn't write it), "Don't Know Much" and "Somewhere Out There."
Mann and Goffin actually collaborated on one hit song, which Barry sang, which was autobiographical for both men: "Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)."
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1909: Carmen Miranda. "The Brazilian Bombshell" was one of the earliest Latin American entertainers to make it big in America, a huge star during World War II, famed for her fruit-basket hat and hip-shaking samba dancing. After the war, her popularity dropped, and heavy drinking and prescription drug use ended her life in 1955. She still inspires parodies and homages today.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1914: Ernest Tubb. Probably the biggest star in country music in the 1940s, before Hank Williams came along.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1943: Barbara Lewis. An R&B singer, she had hits in the mid-1960s with "Hello Stranger" and "Baby I'm Yours."
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1960: Holly Johnson. He was the lead singer of Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
Somewhat Honorable Mention: February 9, 1963: Travis Tritt. A country star who once said, "Country music is the soundtrack for the working man." Of course, he also had a hit with a song titled "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'." He recently came out as pro-Trump, anti-vaccine and anti-mask. Hey, Travis, to paraphrase another of your hits: Here's two quarters; if you can find a pay phone, call someone who cares.
3. February 9, 1942: Carole King. Have a look at her resume. With her then-husband Gerry Goffin, she wrote "Will You Love Me Tomorrow,""Take Good Care of My Baby,""Some Kind of Wonderful,""Chains,""Keep Your Hands Off My Baby,""The Loco-Motion,""Go Away Little Girl,""Up On the Roof,""Hey Girl" and "One Fine Day." All that within 3 years, before she turned 22 years old.
Later, "I'm Into Something Good,""Just Once In My Life,""Don't Bring Me Down,""Pleasant Valley Sunday" and "A Natural Woman." She still hadn't turned 26.
After splitting with Gerry and going solo, she wrong and sang "You've Got a Friend,""It's Too Late,""I Feel the Earth Move" and "Sweet Season." And if you were a kid in the 1970s or '80s, then you may know her voice because she wrote and sang the soundtrack album for Really Rosie. Believe me.
She is a double inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: As a solo performer and in the non-performer category (which includes songwriters). She is still alive and performing.
2. February 9, 1773: William Henry Harrison. So much of what people think they know about him is wrong. He wasn't a poor boy who made good while still living in a log cabin: He was born rich, on a plantation in Virginia, the son of a Singer of the Declaration of Independence, and his only other surviving residence is Grouseland, a mansion in Vincennes, Indiana.
He became famous for winning the Battle of Tippecanoe in what's now Lafayette, Indiana in 1811, beating the Native chief Tecumseh. It earned him his nickname: Old Tippecanoe, or Old Tip for short. But his more important battle gets overlooked, possibly because it was not on what's now American soil: The Battle of the Thames, in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, 2 years later, in which Tecumseh was killed.
He was the Whig Party's nominee for President in 1836, but couldn't overcome the prosperity of the Andrew Jackson years, and lost to Jackson's Vice President, Martin Van Buren. Then came the Panic of 1837, and Harrison beat Van Buren in 1840, "sung into the White House." The songs talked about Harrison's humble beginnings and mocked Van Buren for his rich ways, when it was very much the other way around.
The one thing people remember about Harrison today is that the longest Inaugural Address in Presidential history caused the shortest Presidency. On March 4, 1841, he talked for 1 hour and 45 minutes in a freezing rain, with no overcoat and no gloves. On April 4, 1841, he died of pneumonia. But his death might not have had anything to do with his foolishness about the inaugural weather.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1814: Samuel J. Tilden. A reform-minded Governor of New York, he was the Democratic nominee for President in 1876, and finished 1st in both the popular vote and the Electoral Vote. But the Electoral Vote was disputed, and a commission's ruling gave all the disputed votes to the Republican nominee, Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio.
Andrew Jackson had been similarly robbed in 1824, but won in 1828. Therefore, Tilden was the 1st person ever to be a President-elect, but never a President. He has been followed by Al Gore and Hillary Clinton.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1909: Dean Rusk. U.S. Secretary of State for the entirety of the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson Presidencies, he deserves some credit for the successful resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. But he also deserves some blame for the Vietnam War.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1946: Jim Webb. Having served as Secretary of the Navy under Republican President Ronald Reagan, he switched parties and was elected to the U.S. Senate from Virginia as a Democrat in 2006. He chose not to run for re-election. He should not be confused with James E. Webb, administrator of NASA in the 1960s, for whom the new space telescope has been named.
Honorable Mention: February 9, 1957: Terry McAuliffe. Co-chairman of President Bill Clinton's re-election campaign in 1996, and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005, he might be the most successful fundraiser in the Democratic Party's history. He was elected Governor of Virginia in 2013. That State limits its Governors to one consecutive term, but allows them to run again after waiting 4 years. He did, but lost his bid to regain the office in 2021.
1. February 9, 1737: Thomas Paine. An Englishman who was not happy with what his government was doing in regard to its American colonies, he went to America in 1774 with a friend who was also no longer welcome in London: Benjamin Franklin.
On January 10, 1776, his pamphlet Common Sense appeared, without his name on it. It was the first widely-spread publication to recommend American independence from Britain. That was declared on July 4. By December 19, it was looking like a bad idea. On that date, he published the 1st issue of his pamphlet series The American Crisis, beginning:
These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
He added, "Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." George Washington showed this to his men as they prepared to attack Trenton on Christmas. They won, and kept the patriot cause alive. Although he never used the phrase "winter soldier," the contrast with "summer soldier" and "sunshine patriot" made that phrase common.
Paine continued to publish The American Crisis through 1783, when the War of the American Revolution was finally brought to an end with Britain's capitulation in the Treaty of Paris. In 1791, Paine published The Rights of Man, a defense of the French Revolution. This would haunt him as the Revolution went out of control over the next 3 years, and haunts his reputation even now.
Still alive as of this writing: DiBitetto, Papale, Wilson, Kruk, Barkley, Guerrero, Farrow, Pesci, Light, Shaughnessy, Hiddleston, Jordan, Walker, Mann, Lewis, Johnson, Tritt, King, Webb.
