Then... and Now Episode 15

The podcast "Then and Now" discusses various topics, including historical events, birthdays, and personal anecdotes. In this episode, the host talks about the Marshall Plan, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the discovery of AIDS, the death of Ronald Reagan, and the Talmadge High School softball team winning the state championship. The host also mentions birthdays of notable individuals such as Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes, Marion Motley, Mark Wahlberg, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. The episode covers significant events on June 6th, including D-Day and the death of Senator Kennedy. June 7th highlights the proposal for American independence, the birth of Dean Martin, and the death of Thurman Munson. On June 8th, the host discusses the proposal of the Bill of Rights, the secession of Tennessee, the first ship sailing through the Panama Canal, and the capture of James Earl Ray. June 9th features the completion of the Triple Crown by Secretariat Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whatever time it is, wherever you are. Welcome to episode 15 of the podcast, Then and Now. I'm your host, John Schomo, as always. Welcome in, where we talk about what's going on now, what happened then, and, as always, make time at the end for three good questions. If you have a good question for our podcast, please send it in to the email address, threegoodquestions, T-H-R-E-E, goodquestions at gmail.com. That's threegoodquestions at gmail.com. It really helps to have input from our audience, and we seem to get it every week, so happy about that. Okay, let's get going. First up, we will deal with facts of the week for the week of June 5th through June 11th. Starting with June 5th, we'll start in 1947, when former General and Secretary of State George Marshall gave a speech at Harvard unveiling a plan to aid the European countries, which needed help getting out of their situation after the war. It became known as the Marshall Plan. It was accepted by most Western European countries, and, unfortunately for them, the countries under the thumb of the Soviet Union were not allowed to accept that aid. The Marshall Plan was unveiled at Harvard on June 5th, 1947. June 5th, 1968, a lot of bad memories there. Senator and presidential candidate, former Attorney General Robert Kennedy, was shot and mortally wounded in a kitchen hallway at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after accepting and declaring victory in the California Democratic presidential primary of 1968. It was a scary time, it was a scary summer, as a nine-year-old remembering the chaos at our house when we found out about it that morning. It was the last day of school that day, actually. Just a terrible, awful event. The first five cases of the disease that became known as AIDS were discovered in Los Angeles on June 5th, 1981. Former President Ronald Reagan, the 40th president, died in California on June 5th, 2004. That's 20 years ago. In better news, better memories, the Talmadge High School softball team won the 1993 AA State Championship down in Ashland, 6-1 over Richmond Edison South. It was the first softball championship that I was honored to be a part of as an assistant coach. Never forget it. It's been 31 years and it seems like yesterday. I remember everything about it. Great experience. Some birthdays. Adam Smith. Here's a couple of economics ones for you. Adam Smith, who wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776, was born on June 5th, 1723. The Scotsman. John Maynard Keynes, who was a really big economic advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt, primed the pump was his version of how we got out of the Depression. Spend money to make money. John Maynard Keynes, born on June 5th, 1883. Canton native, Pro Football Hall of Famer from the Cleveland Browns, Marion Motley, born on June 5th, 1920. Actor Mark Wahlberg will be 53 on June 5th. And this one will take a little story here. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, pardon me, Big Z, Cleveland Cavaliers Center, will be 49 years old on June 5th. I got a story about that one. I was playing baseball in the Roy Hobbs 30 and Over Baseball League in the summer of 1996. That's when Big Z was drafted in the first round by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The draft was held on Friday or Saturday night. The next morning, our baseball team, the Akron Braves, was getting ready, stretching, warming up to play a ball game. On our team at that time was the man who eventually would be the TV voice of the Cavaliers for several years, Michael Regi, great guy, does a podcast with Kenny Rhoda right now. Michael was part of the Baltimore Orioles broadcast team for a while. He did Cleveland Indians pregame on Sports Channel back in the day. Great teammate. We were stretching. We were warming up. And I had to ask him, I said, Michael, how are you going to deal with having to announce the name Zydrunas Ilgauskas every time this guy gets the ball, or words to that effect? And Reg looked at me and he said, Johnny, it's going to be Big Z from now on. And, by golly, he was really right. He became known as Big Z, great member of the Cavaliers team for a long time. Okay, moving on to June 6th. June 6th will be the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Normandy by the Allies, the Americans, the British, and the Canadians. I can't find the words, really, to express how important that was 80 years ago on June 6th. They saved Western civilization, those people. Many gave their lives. Many were wounded. Many are survivors. Some of the D-Day veterans, believe it or not, are over in France as we speak, commemorating the 80th anniversary of that unbelievably important moment in the history of the 20th century. June 6th, 1968, Senator Kennedy died of his wounds that he had received the day before. The YMCA, Young Men's Christian Association, founded in London on June 6th, 1844. Digressing for another moment, the Talmadge softball team won the 1998 state title on June 6th of that year. One-nothing game over Keystone was my last game in uniform as an assistant coach, and I don't have time to tell you enough, all of the stuff that went on in that game. It was one of the most crazy, amazing games I've ever been a part of. Suffice it to say, we won it on a squeeze bunt on a 3-2 count with two outs and a runner at third. And that ought to tell you just some of what happened in that game. But congratulations to that team on the anniversary of their state championship. A couple of birthdays on June 6th. Jorn Borg, the many times Wimbledon and other major champions from tennis. Jorn Borg will be 68 on June 6th. And the actor Paul Giamatti, the Academy Award-winning actor Paul Giamatti, will be 57. Moving on to June 7th. June 7th, 1776, probably a more important day than most people realize. Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, Richard Henry Lee, proposed a resolution for American independence. The Congress took it up. They would appoint a committee to write a declaration. And within a month or so, we had a declaration of independence. The first video cassette recorder. You younger people don't even know what that is. The first VCR was sold on June 7th, 1981. And while we're celebrating Talmadge softball titles, the Talmadge softball team won the 1997 state title, 8-0 on June 7th, 1997, over Minford. That team was the best team in the state regardless of division, that our 1997 team was better than anybody else. Okay, says me, the very unbiased source. Okay, birthdays June 7th. Dean Martin, the great singer, crooner, born in Steubenville, Ohio, on June 7th, 1917. Herb Score, who many of us grew up listening to on the radio, doing the Cleveland Indians radio broadcasts for so many years, was a very good pitcher for Cleveland, had a star-crossed career that didn't last as long as it should have. Herb Score, born June 7th, 1933. The singer Tom Jones, 84 years old today. Thurman Munson, born in Akron, Ohio, on June 7th, 1947, played for the Kent State Golden Flashes, went to what is now Glen Oak High School in Canton, was the captain of the New York Yankees, died in a plane crash at Akron Canton Airport on August 2nd, 1979, while he was still very much playing for the Yankees. Let's see, Liam Neeson, the actor, 72 today. Former Vice President Mike Pence will be 65 on June 7th. Allen Iverson, known as The Answer in his playing days, mostly with the Philadelphia 76ers, Allen Iverson will be 49. And Prince, full name Prince Rogers Nelson, born June 7th, 1958, would be 66 where he's still alive. Moving to June 8th, James Madison, delegate from Virginia, proposed the Bill of Rights in Congress on June 8th, 1789. State of Tennessee seceded and joined the Confederacy on June 8th, 1861. The first ship sailed through the brand new Panama Canal on June 8th, 1914. The accused assassin of Martin Luther King, James Earl Ray, was captured in London, England on June 8th, 1968. Birthdays, we have several. Ida McKinley, the First Lady from 1897 until 1901, wife of President William McKinley. Ida was born in Canton, Ohio on June 8th, 1847. Byron Whizzer White, former Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, also Heisman Trophy winner at Colorado, was President Kennedy's only appointee to the court. Whizzer White, born June 8th, 1917. Former First Lady, the late Barbara Bush, born June 8th, 1925. Nancy Sinatra, Frank Sinatra's daughter, had a couple of big hit songs of her own, including These Boots Are Made for Walking. Nancy Sinatra will be 84. Boz Skaggs will be 80. My first Blossom concert was in the summer of 1976. I went to see Boz Skaggs. He had a big hit song out right then. He'll be 80 on June 8th. Butch Reynolds, born in Akron, Ohio, Olympic medalist, sprinter, extraordinaire. Butch Reynolds will be 60. And Kanye West, whatever name he's going by now, he'll be 47 on June 8th. Okay, June 9th, Secretariat, the greatest racehorse ever, completed the Triple Crown at the Belmont, June 9th, 1973. If you've never seen that, you ought to find it on YouTube. He won by maybe 30 lengths. Nobody could believe it. Jack Nicklaus, the great golfer, said he was watching at home with tears in his eyes, the greatness of this moment. Secretariat, the greatest ever. The first appearance of Donald Duck in cartoons was June 9th, 1934. The Roman Emperor Nero died, I don't know if he had his fiddle or not, on June 9th, 68 A.D. Robert McNamara, President Kennedy and President Johnson's Secretary of Defense, certainly a controversial figure from the 1960s. Robert McNamara, born June 9th, 1916. Dave Parker, the former Pirates right fielder, at one point the best player in baseball, the Cobra, will be 51, I'm sorry, will be 73, pardon me, he'll be 73 years old on June 9th. Michael J. Fox, the actor, will be 63. Aaron Sorkin, creator of the West Wing, for all you West Wing government fans out there, Aaron Sorkin will be 63 on June 9th. And the actress Natalie Portman, great actress, will be 43. A couple more days to go here. June 10th, Alcoholics Anonymous, AA, was founded by Dr. Bob and his friends in Akron, Ohio, on June 10th, 1935. What a great organization. Ray Charles, the great Ray Charles, died on June 10th, 2004, 20 years ago. Judy Garland, born June 10th, 1922, and actress Elizabeth Hurley will be 59 on June 10th. Finally for this week, June 11th, the Congress created the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence on June 11th, 1776. Those five men were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston of New York, and Richard Sherman of Connecticut. Those five men. We know that Jefferson wrote most of it. Spain declared war on the United States June 11th, 1898. Governor George Wallace of Alabama pulled his stunt of standing in the schoolhouse door to prevent two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from registering for classes at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. That was June 11th, 1963. President Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard, and the governor gave a speech and then withdrew, and Vivian and James registered. That night, President Kennedy went on television proposing what became the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It's maybe his greatest speech. You ought to find that one on YouTube, too. He laid it out just brilliantly. E.T. the Extraterrestrial, the movie, was released on June 11th, 1982. Birthdays include Jeanette Rankin, the first female elected to Congress, born on June 11th, 1880. The great Vince Lombardi, who the Super Bowl trophy is named after, the longtime coach of the Green Bay Packers. Vince Lombardi, born June 11th, 1913. Actor Gene Wilder, born June 11th, 1933. He starred in the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He starred in Blazing Saddles. He starred in a lot of films. Joe Montana, the great quarterback out of Notre Dame and the San Francisco 49ers, mostly. Joe Montana will be 68. And five-time gold medalist and still playing in the WNBA, Diana Taurasi, will be 42 years old. All right. That's a long list. That was more than usual. But that was our anniversaries and birthdays segment. We'll move on to what's happening now. Well, we'll save the best for last here. All right. Shout-out to my team at last week's Talmadge City Schools Teachers Golf Outing over at Sunny Hill Golf Course. Coach Karnath, Dr. Falvey, and Coach Epstein. Sorry I didn't contribute more. We couldn't pull out a victory, but we had a lot of fun. Okay. Now, to Major League Baseball first. The records of Major League Baseball now will include verifiable statistics from the Negro Leagues for the first time ever. It's about time. It's long overdue. The problem really is it's very, very difficult to verify some of the game results. Newspapers didn't publish box scores every day. They were kind of sporadic about that. Researchers have spent years combing through archives to find out these statistics, et cetera. Several of the Negro Leagues, there were many, there were many more than I even knew about. Several of the Negro Leagues are deemed by these researchers to have been virtual equivalents of Major League Baseball at the time in the 20s and 30s particularly. And so those statistics will now go into the official baseball statistics. The biggest news from that is that the great catcher Josh Gibson from the Pittsburgh Crawfers and the Homestead Grays had a career average that's verifiable of 372. That puts him atop the all-time list. He's now ahead of Ty Cobb whose career batting average was 367. It's great that Josh Gibson will be recognized and young people can look up what he did and the feats that he performed on a baseball field. He was unbelievable. There's still a lot of research work to do. For instance, a lot of people believe that Henry Aaron should now be credited with 760 home runs rather than 755. He hit five home runs that were accounted for when he was playing as a very young man in the Negro Leagues before he went to the Braves. Looks like the answer is no for now because by 1952, many of the great black stars had gone to the Major Leagues and they don't really consider the 1952 Negro Leagues as an equivalent to Major League Baseball. That could change. It's an issue that's in flux, we'll see, but it's very interesting to those of us who love the sport. The NBA Finals coming up here as we speak. As it was predicted here on Then and Now, it's the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks. Hopefully, the Celtics will be raising banner number 18 in a couple of weeks here. The Stanley Cup Final is set. The Edmonton Oilers hope to bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada for the first time since 1993 when the Montreal Canadiens won. They will take on the Florida Panthers. I'd like to see Canada get it again. Who cares? Florida, who cares if Florida gets a hockey trophy, you know? Booey. Okay, I've tiptoed around it. Now, here we go. Somebody got convicted in a courtroom in New York last week. And there's a lot of things that a lot of people will say and have said. What I'm going to say is that I think it proves that the system is stronger than we thought. There was a jury selected through the normal process. No alternates were needed. Alternates were chosen. They sat through the entire trial. Not one of the 12 jurors had to abdicate their place and be replaced by an alternate. But they all sat through the trial. The former President of the United States and presumptive 2024 Republican nominee is now a 34-times convicted felon, as well as having been found responsible in a civil trial for the sexual assault of E. Jean Carroll. Remember, as he comes out and gives interviews to friendly newsmen and all of that, he didn't dare testify under oath. He never has. He didn't testify under oath in the E. Jean Carroll case. He didn't take the stand in this case. He'll go out and he'll do his ranting and raving in the hallway and out on the sidewalk and to the friendly journalists, to the cameras and everywhere else. But if you'll notice, he has never dared take an oath and then taken the stand to testify. He now has a probation officer in New York. He will have to take a drug test, et cetera. And he is due to be sentenced on July 11th, which is 7-11. And as somebody said, you know, they ought to sell Slurpees for 34 cents on 7-11, ought to do that on 7-11. You know, I don't know. It's a bad joke. Anywho, that's going on still. The other three cases look like they're bogged down. But those are the facts of the case in New York. Okay. Let's move away from that as quickly as possible. I really don't enjoy talking about that that much. But, hey, you can't ignore what's going on in the country. Okay. For our three good questions this week, we're going to combine one because it was a three-parter into a three good question this week. We'll save a couple of the other ones that we got for later on. This one comes from 1997 Talmadge High School graduate Josh Bennett. It was great to hear from Josh. He talked about some of his favorite teachers and so forth, and it was really nice to correspond back and forth with him. His question is this, what are the three best history day trips traveling from the Akron area? In other words, a trip that involves seeing some historic sites that you can easily do going back and back home to the Akron area in one day. So I didn't have to go very far, really, as I thought about it to get the answers. The first one I thought of is going down to Canton. What's in Canton? Well, there's really at least three really good spots for historians. One is the McKinley Museum, which is down by the McKinley Memorial, which is the big monument on the hill that you can see driving north on 77, where President McKinley and his wife Ida are buried. The McKinley Museum, which is down the hill and adjacent to the monument, has a lot of really good history in it, and it's a nice 90 minutes I think you could spend there. Canton has another famous museum, a couple of them actually. One is called the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 20 minutes from my house, and I don't get there that often. As a museum, it has won awards as a museum, not just because it's the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It's one of the best museums in the country. And obviously, if you like the sport of football at all, that's a must. You've got to go down there and see the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Also in Canton, many of you may not know about this, but the National First Ladies Museum is at the former home of William and Ida McKinley down in Canton, have been there as well. Gosh, you ought to make a pilgrimage to that as well, the roles that first ladies have played in the various administrations in our nation's history. OK, so Canton, you get the nod, get the number one nod there. Congratulations. Second, we'll move up to Cleveland. Obviously another easy trip. Gosh, there's something called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Right on the lake shore in Cleveland, a very interesting museum. If you like rock music at all or modern music for that matter, anything since the 1950s, you've got to go see the museum. There's so many unbelievable artifacts there alone that it's worth the trip. Right next to it on the lake shore is the Great Lakes Science Center, which is a very nice museum. And if you're in Cleveland, it's not a museum, but you've got to get a sandwich at Sliman's Deli, don't you? I think I think you do. Really? OK, so much for Cleveland. The third trip I thought of about an hour, 45 minutes from here is Pittsburgh. What might you ask is in Pittsburgh? Well, Point State Park, for one, the confluence of the Ohio and Monongahela River or the Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers to form the Ohio River where the big fountain is and the old Fort Pitt and so forth right there at the point. A couple of museums of note, the Roberto Clemente Museum honoring the great pirates, Rightfielder and My Hero. Right next to that is the Andy Warhol Museum honoring the famous artists who hailed from Pittsburgh as well. And speaking of you got to go get a sandwich, if you're in Pittsburgh, anywhere around the Pittsburgh area. Go to Primanti Brothers. OK, the sandwiches there are awesome. It's great. There's one right downtown, as they say, they're right down by the point. There are several in the Pittsburgh area. There's even one now over by Youngstown. Primanti Brothers. Got to go. Got to try it. OK, we'll use those. Thank you, Josh. That's a great little trip there. Three good, not even one tank trips, really. To paraphrase the old Channel 8 guy, Neal Zerker, great trips to take down and back in a day. You see a lot of things. So there you go. There are my recommendations as well. OK. And again, if you have a good question for the podcast, please let us know. Send it in to three good questions at gmail.com and we'll get on it again. We have a couple of stored up ones for later. I wanted to get Josh's three in there this week. So that'll do it. Thanks for listening in. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for the feedback. We'll talk to you again next week. This is John Schomo. This is then and now. Have a great week, everybody. See you next time.