A Brief History On October 16, 2008, Ohio handyman Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher was all the rage among supporters of Senator John McCain’s bid for the presidency. McCain mentioned this “average Joe” several times in the previous night’s debate, and “Joe the Plumber” became an instant national celebrity. Digging Deeper As it turned out, Wurzelbacher’s first name was not Joe, and he was not even a licensed plumber in Ohio. Wurzelbacher had told candidate Barack Obama that he was a plumber thinking about starting his own business, a patently false scenario. Joe the Plumber was not even employed at the time! …
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A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on October 15th. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On October 15, 1815, Emperor of the French, Napoleon I (Bonaparte) began his second and final exile on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic. On October 15, 1863, The H. L. Hunley, a Confederate (the South!) submarine, sank during a test, killing its inventor and namesake, Horace L. Hunley. On October 15, 1888, George Lusk, the chairman of the…
A Brief History On October 15, 1989, Ukrainian-Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky passed Gordie Howe to become the all-time leading scorer in the NHL. Not only does Gretzky have more goals and assists than any other player, his 2,857 regular season points remains the NHL record. Digging Deeper Some of the other all-time leading scorers include: Baseball: Rickey Henderson’s 2,295 runs scored edge Ty Cobb’s 2,245 for the MLB record. Basketball: LeBron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 2023 to become the NBA scoring champ with 38,652 points. College Basketball: Pistol Pete Maravich narrowly remains the all-time scorer, with 3,667 points,…
A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on October 14th. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On October 14, 1066, the Normans under William the Conqueror defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings. On October 14, 1586, Mary Queen of Scots went on trial for conspiracy against her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England. On October 14, 1912, a certain badass former U.S. president was shot while giving a speech…and he continued to speak!? On October 14,…
A Brief History On October 14, 2003, Chicago’s Wrigley Field was the scene of a baseball play that fit right in with the “Curse of the Billy Goat.” The hapless Cubs were playing in the National League Championship Series for a chance to win their first pennant since 1945, when a Cubs fan derailed the team’s efforts. Digging Deeper Leading the series 3 to 2 and the game, 3-0, the Cubs seemed on the brink of beating the curse. When a foul ball was hit, a fan, Steve Bartman, tried to catch the ball and got in the way of…