Then... and Now Episode 13

Good day out there, everybody. Thanks for choosing the podcast then and now. I'm your host, John Schobo, for episode 13 of our little foray into facts and birthdays and anniversaries and current events and three good questions at the end. Don't forget to send in your questions, if you have one, to our email address, threegoodquestionsatgmail.com. First, some breaking news as I sit down to do this today. The headline in the Beacon Journal says Revere High School evacuated after potentially explosive mixture accidentally made in class. Students and faculty were dismissed early from Revere High School in Bath Township when a student inadvertently created a mixture with potentially explosive properties during class. Members of the Summit County Bomb Squad successfully destroyed the beaker that contained the half-ounce mixture. Everybody's okay. They don't think there was bad intent. They think it was just a, you know, science experiment going awry. No one was hurt. The school would resume normal operations tomorrow. You know, I wasn't the greatest science student ever, to grace the halls of any school I was ever at, but I never screwed up that bad, so I kind of feel good, actually, about that. I'm glad everybody's okay up there in Revere, and hopefully things get back to normal tomorrow up there. Okay. Let's begin where we usually do with our anniversaries, birthdays, historical facts for the week of May 22nd through May 28th. We'll start with May 22nd. On that date in 1972, President Richard Nixon became the first sitting American president to visit Moscow in the Soviet Union. He signed a nuclear arms deal with Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet leader at the time, while he was on the trip. Johnny Carson, the best to ever do it, signed off on his final episode of The Tonight Show on May 22nd, 1992. He was the host of The Tonight Show for 31 years, and as I said, nobody ever did it better, in my humble opinion, than Johnny Carson. Couple of birthdays to celebrate on May 22nd. Former Kent State quarterback Julian Edelman will be 38 years old. Julian Edelman, as you may know, went on to be a very key member of the New England Patriots, a favorite target in clutch time of Tom Brady's, as together they won several Super Bowls. Julian Edelman is one of those guys you could probably get a pretty good debate about whether or not he is a Hall of Fame worthy player. His statistics, regular season statistics, probably don't add up quite, but boy did he make some big plays and some big moments for those Patriots teams that won some championships. I'm not so sure he shouldn't get really pretty serious consideration for the Hall of Fame. Elton John's lyricist, Bernie Taupin, is 74 years old today. He wrote the lyrics for nearly every great hit song that Elton John ever performed on records or CDs or albums or live or whatever. So happy 74th to Bernie. On May 23rd, 1788, South Carolina became the eighth state in the Union. Now some of you younger folks won't remember CliffsNotes. Some of you older folks like me certainly remember CliffsNotes, maybe rather fondly. CliffsNotes were first published on May 23rd, 1953. They were condensed versions of novels or books or whatever the genre might be. I have to be real honest about this. I think CliffsNotes probably got me through high school English back in the 70s. I am very thankful that they were ever made. I know they're probably not called that anymore, but there's a hundred different ways you can get synopses of books now, but boy, I was happy CliffsNotes were around. The Who released the first ever rock opera, Homme, on May 23rd, 1969. That certainly was a seminal moment in rock and roll history. Drew Carey, Northeast Ohio native, Cleveland area guy, will be 66 on May 23rd. Drew Carey, host of The Price is Right. And sticking with the game show theme, Jeopardy host Ken Jennings will turn 50 on May 23rd. Following in some large footsteps there, I would say. May 24th, 1935, down in Cincinnati, Ohio, the first ever night game in Major League Baseball history was played. They turned on the lights. Franklin Roosevelt actually threw a switch at the White House to turn on the lights in Cincinnati at Crosley Field, and then the Reds proceeded to dial the Philadelphia Phillies two to one in that first ever night game in Major League history. Three birthdays on May 24th. Daniel Fahrenheit, I think we all can guess what he invented, born on May 24th, 1686. Queen Victoria of Great Britain, born on May 24th, 1819, hers was the longest reign ever for a British monarch until that record was broken by the now late Queen Elizabeth II. And an American original, certainly, Robert Zimmerman of Hibbing, Minnesota, his stage name is Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan will be 83 years old on May 24th, one of two very famous people from Hibbing, Minnesota, the other being the Boston Celtics Hall of Famer Kevin McHale. On May 25th, 1787, in Philadelphia, the Constitutional Convention opened. Twelve of the 13 states were represented. Rhode Island figured they were not going to come out very good either way, so they just didn't send anybody. The other 12 states sent their delegates. They began the deliberations on May 25th. They ended in mid-September in that very hot room with no air conditioning on Market Street in Philadelphia. But boy, what they came up with sure has changed the course of world history, that's for sure. Dave Ruth, finishing it out with the Boston Braves in 1935, in his final three home runs of his career, 7-12, 7-13, and 7-14, in one game at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh against the Pirates on May 25th, 1935. His third and last home run, number 7-14, cleared the right field roof in Forbes Field. Not a lot of guys ever did that. Willie Stargill did it about eight times, but Dave Ruth was the first. His final home run was a real doozy, as fitting, it should be. Now, this is going to take a couple of minutes, but this is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, athletic achievement that I've ever heard of in my life. Ohio State had a track star in the 1930s named Jesse Owens. Perhaps you've heard of Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens, probably most famous for his performance in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he won four gold medals in the face of Hitler's rising popularity over there. They are making a movie about that. I don't remember off the top of my head what the title will be, but they're making currently a movie about that now. But on this, on May 25th, 1935, Jesse Owens was running for the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten track championships, and he broke or tied four world records that day. Doing that in one day is unheard of. He did those things in a span of 45 minutes at Ferry Field and at Arbor, Michigan, of all places. Here are the events and the times that he, and the records that he set. He ran the 100-yard dash. They didn't go, they hadn't gone to meters yet for track. He ran the 100-yard dash in 9.4 seconds. That was a world record. He long-jumped 26 feet, 8 1⁄4 inches, which was a record for quite a long time. He ran the 220-yard dash in 20.3 seconds, and he ran the 220-yard hurdles in 22.6. One of those tied a world record. The other three broke world records. I don't know of any athlete who has a more spectacular hour in his or her history than that. This is Jesse Owens at Ann Arbor in 1935. The folks up at the University of Michigan were kind enough, and I really do salute them for that, and you know what that takes for me to salute them. They are going to put a monument at Ferry Field on the campus of the University of Michigan to commemorate Jesse Owens' unbelievable performance there, unequaled, unmatched, whatever adjective you want to use. That's awesome. I hope some Ohio State folks go up there and maybe lay a buckeye down at the monument one of these days. That would be great. Anyway, just a stunning achievement by Jesse Owens. Star Wars premiered in theaters across the country on May 25, 1977. Who knew that it would spawn so many sequels and so many other movies and just a complete genre of films, really? A couple of other birthdays on May 25. The late, great Casey Jones of the Boston Celtics, born on May 25, 1932. Casey won about eight rings as a player, and he won two more as a coach, the head coach of the Boston Celtics in the mid-1980s. Casey Jones was a college teammate at the University of San Francisco of the late, great Bill Russell. Also, actor-comedian Mike Myers from up north in Canada. Mike Myers will be 63 on May 25. Okay, moving on. May 26. The greatest game ever pitched by a losing pitcher belongs to Harvey Haddix, left-handed pitcher of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who in Milwaukee on May 26, 1959, pitched 12 perfect innings against a very good Milwaukee Braves team and lost the game. How may you ask did that happen? The Pirates forgot to score for the first 12 innings of the game. It was after 12 innings, no score, no base runners for the Braves. The Pirates did not score in the 13th. The Braves got a base runner on on an error. They bunted him up in the bottom of the 13th, intentional walk. Henry Aaron hit the ball over the fence to win the game. Ironically, there's a really asterisk to that. The game's final score was 1-0. How could that be if Henry Aaron hit a three-run homer? Well, he passed the runner in front of him on the bases. So he was ruled out. So the only run that counted was the first run that scored the runner that got a board on the error. So Harvey Haddix gives up an unearned run after pitching 12 perfect innings, and he's the losing pitcher in the ballgame. Just an unbelievable set of events. Larry Bird, one of his many great plays, he stole the ball with seconds remaining in a key Game 5 in the playoffs, the Eastern Conference Finals against the Detroit Pistons, very famously stole the inbound pass, fed Dennis Johnson for a layup, and the Celtics kind of miraculously won that game. One of his greatest plays. Several birthdays to celebrate on May 26th. John Wayne, the fabulous mostly Western film star of olden days. John Wayne, born on May 26th, 1907. Brett Musburger, longtime voice of CBS Sports, later ABC and ESPN, now does a gambling radio show from Las Vegas. He was doing Raider games last I knew. Brett Musburger, 85 years old on May 26th. There's a campaign currently being headed by Dan Patrick and others of trying to get Brett Musburger into the NFL football, the Pro Football Hall of Fame down in Canton for his contributions to the sport. We'll see if that takes place. One of the co-lead singers of Fleetwood Mac back in the late 70s, early 1980s, Stevie Nicks. She will be 76 years old on May 26th. What a great voice. And the late astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, born May 26th, 1951. All right, moving on to May 27th. The Golden Gate Bridge opened for traffic and pedestrians in San Francisco on May 27th, 1937. One of the great golfers of all time, Slammin' Sammy Sneed from West Virginia, born May 27th, 1912. Sam Sneed was one of those guys who did not complete the Grand Slam of golf that you might think he would have done it. Never won the U.S. Open, of all things. Couple of baseball Hall of Famers that were literally born on the same day, May 27th, 1969. Frank Thomas, over 500 home runs in his career. Most of them were the Southsiders, the Chicago White Sox. And Jeff Bagwell, who played almost his entire career with the Houston Astros. Both played a lot of first base. Both men born, as I said, May 27th, 1969. Both in the Hall of Fame. That's pretty amazing. All right, finishing up with our anniversaries, birthdays, et cetera, this week, May 28th, 1951. After starting his Major League career 0 for 26, Willie Mays got his first Major League Baseball hit on May 28th, 1951. The rest, as they say, is history. The greatest living ball player, Willie Mays. Jim Thorpe, the greatest athlete, perhaps, of the first half of the 20th century. Jim Thorpe, born May 28th, 1888. Played for the Canton Bulldogs at one point in time in football. Ian Fleming, who wrote the James Bond novels. Ian Fleming, born May 28th, 1908. James Bond was a creation of his mind, if you will. Three birthdays to get to. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, currently being mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket this year. Marco Rubio will be 53 on May 28th. John Fogarty, lead singer, leader of the band Creedence Clearwater Revival. John Fogarty will be 79 years old on May 28th. And Mr. Clutch, you older basketball fans know who I'm talking about. The great Jerry West, the hick from Cabin Creek. West Virginia University and the Los Angeles Lakers. Jerry West will be 86 years old on May 28th. Not only a great player, by the way, but one of the great front office people, one of the great talent evaluators in the history of basketball. Part of his Hall of Fame plaque says so. He has been just – his career is unmatched, really. The logo. He's the NBA logo, for those of you that didn't know. Okay. That's it for our anniversaries, birthdays, et cetera, for this week. We'll do that again next week on Episode 14. Okay. A few topics to get to. First of all, first most notably, for me at least, this week marks the graduation of the class of 2024 in a lot of places, but for me particularly at Talmadge High School. Congratulations, seniors. You made it. It's a stopping point along the way. It's a great stopping point. It's a great achievement. But remember, wherever you go from here – and you're all going to go to a lot of different places and hopefully do great things – wherever you go, never forget where you came from. Good luck also to a couple of Talmadge athletic programs. Good luck to the softball team this week in the regional tournament. And good luck to the Talmadge High School track teams, both boys and girls. Lots of people going to the regionals in track. Remember, the last stop this year for the track championships is not in Columbus. It's in Dayton. So, Dayton will be the goal for the track folks this week. Good luck to all of you. Okay. Moving to golf. The PGA Championship was just concluded a few days ago. Xander Schauffele got his long-sought-after major victory finally. He's been a terrific player, one of the best out there. Kind of got the monkey off his back. I'm not sure if it's fair, really, to say that about anybody. But he was, you know, that quote-unquote best player ever to win a major. Well, not anymore. He got his major championship. Very dramatic tournament. Very interesting. Very fun to watch. It was marred by a real terrible incident on day two, Friday morning last week, where a man was struck and killed by a bus in front of the golf club very, very early in the morning before sunlight. And in the ensuing traffic mess that followed, as you may know, the number one player in the world, Scotty Scheffler, got arrested, spent an hour or two in jail. He said he did his stretches in jail cell, which was a new thing for him. When Scotty Scheffler was released, got to the course in time to make his tee time and shot a 66 on Friday. I don't know how you do that, really. Just, of course, those of you that know me know I don't know how to shoot a 66. But he shot 66 in a major championship, really just getting out of jail that morning. His hearing in Louisville, which is where it all happened, has been postponed now until June 3rd. That's the week, I believe, that the PGA Tour event is held down in Dublin, Ohio, the Memorial Tournament down at Jack's Place. Okay, the next major that we played two of our major championships this year, the Masters and the PGA Championship. The next one up is the U.S. Open, which will be held this year, not for the first time, at Pinehurst No. 2 down in Pinehurst, North Carolina, during the week of June 10th through 16th. That's one up in terms of major titles. Okay, in the NBA, we're down to the Final Four, if you will. In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics will play the Indiana Pacers. And in the Western Conference, kind of a surprise to a lot of folks, the Minnesota Timberwolves – very talented group, by the way – are taking on the Dallas Mavericks. If you ask me, it's going to be Celtics-Mavs, so the Boston fans can hoot Kyrie Irving right out of the garden. That's what I'm hoping for. But we'll see. I really admire the Timberwolves. They are a young, very good, very talented team. We'll see how those series go. That will be interesting. Okay, moving on to the news cycle. In the trial of the former president up in New York, both sides rested their case this week. It looks like the judge, probably wisely, is going to say, hey, both sides will make their final presentations, final arguments next week so that there's not an interruption for the Memorial Day weekend in the trial. I think that's a pretty prudent judgment by the judge there. So final presentations will be – what would the day be? May 28-ish in the courtroom in New York City. Then the jury will get the case probably the next day. And we'll see. Really, you can go broke predicting what a jury's going to do. I wouldn't make any bets on that. A guilty verdict would sure wreck the debate plans for late June, though, wouldn't it? I don't think you're going to have a debate with one guy standing at a lectern and one guy in a jail cell in an orange jumpsuit. I just don't think that would work very well. So we'll see. No predicting what a jury's going to say, what a jury's going to do. Been around long enough to know that that's a bad bet. So we'll just have to see what happens, won't we? Okay. We got some really good questions this week from a couple of different sources. We'll go first to 2012 Talmadge High School class officer Pat Riley, who will be attending his seventh Indy 500 this weekend, by the way. He wanted me to pass that along. Have fun, Pat. Hope it's a good race. His question is, prefaced by this statement, the Indy 500 and NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 have been held on the same day, the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, that would be, since 1994. His question is, and I'm going to throw this out there to the audience and we'll give you the answer next week, how many drivers have completed both of those races on the same day? In other words, driving, completing the Indy 500 in Indianapolis, taking a helicopter to the airport, flying to Charlotte, getting in a car, and completing the Coca-Cola 600 at night down in Charlotte. How many drivers have completed both races on the same day? Again, we'll give you the answer next week. If you have a guess and you'd like to turn in a guess, email your guesses to threegoodquestions at gmail.com. And if you get it right, we'll salute you on next week's episode. Great question, Pat. Thanks for checking in. Thanks for listening. Glad you do. Have a great time this weekend. Hope it's a great race. Hope the weather is conducive to great racing down in Indianapolis. Okay. The second question from Jeff Cole, how did the city of Talmadge get its name? That's a good question. It got its name from a Revolutionary War hero named Colonel Benjamin Talmadge. And I had to look some of this up, believe it or not, having fought here for a long time. I probably should know this by heart. He was appointed by George Washington, General Washington at the time, as Director of Military Intelligence for the Continental Army. Pretty big job. One of the 36, he was also one of the 36 speculators, pardon me, who purchased what's known as the Connecticut Western Reserve. For those of you not familiar with Northeast Ohio, there's a sliver of Northeast Ohio, which barely includes the Akron area at the southern border, which was deeded, if you will, to Connecticut back in the early days before Ohio became part of the Northwest Territory and later a state in 1803. So he was probably the biggest name of the 36 speculators who purchased the Connecticut Western Reserve. And that's where Talmadge is located, here in Northeast Ohio. So that's where the city of Talmadge draws its name. It's been a city since 1807, by the way. It's a long time, over 200 years. Thanks, Jeff. Okay. The third and final question for this week is from Mr. Oscar. Okay. Mr. Oscar asks, what are your three favorite movies of all time? Now one would think that would set me to thinking and really, you know, scratching my head and everything. Really it was a pretty easy answer for me. They came right away. And it's pretty, three pretty different movies, really. I don't know what that says about me. But in no particular order, my three favorite movies are Casablanca, the 1942 classic, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, et cetera. Animal House, late 1970s, 1978, John Belusi and a cast of thousands, hundreds, maybe. A real, you know, sophomoric humor. That says a lot about me, I think. And the last one, 1974's The Godfather, 1972 originally, I guess. The Godfather. Either one of the first two Godfather movies, really. I think it's awesome when they put them together and run them chronologically. That's just a great presentation. But we'll go with Casablanca, Animal House, and The Godfather. Again, none of those are kind of the same thing. I don't know what that says about me, but anyway, those are my three. So thank you, Mr. Oscar, for the questions. Again, if you have a good question, or if you have an answer to Pat's question this week, send them along. Email threegoodquestions, T-H-R-E-E, goodquestions, at gmail.com. Thanks for that. Thanks for listening. It always amazes me, I run into two or three, or talk to two or three people, it seems, every week who mention the podcast and say that they're enjoying it, and I'm very, very gratified by that, humbled by that. Thank you for listening. Spread the word. You can get us on Spotify, usually drop on Wednesday mornings. So again, thanks for all of you for tuning in and picking us in the podcat-osphere. We'll be back next week for episode 14 of Then and Now. Have a great week, a great Memorial Day weekend. Remember what it's for. We honor those who have given their lives in the service of our country. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you next week.