Today in in history for Feb. 17: Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer gets life in prison; The Eagles release their greatest hits album, 1971-1975.
- 1598 Boris Godunov chosen as Tsar of Russia
- 1691 Thomas Neale granted English patent for American postal service
- 1714 Parliament of Paris accepts Pope Clemens XI's "Unigenitus" degree
- 1776 1st volume of Gibbon's "Decline & Fall of Roman Empire" published
- 1801 US House of Representatives breaks electoral college tie, chooses Thomas Jefferson President over Aaron Burr
- 1915 Edward Stone, 1st US combatant to die in WW I, is mortally wounded
- 1924 Johnny Weissmuller sets 100-yard freestyle record (52.4 seconds)
- 1943 NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio enlists into the US army
- 1962 Wilt Chamberlain of NBA Philadelphia Warriors scores 67 points vs St Louis Hawks
- 1967 Beatles release "Penny Lane" & "Strawberry Fields"
- 1969 Golda Meir sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of Israel
- 1970 US army officer Jeffrey MacDonald murders his pregnant wife & two small daughters
- 1972 Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford Model T
- 1974 16th Daytona 500: Richard Petty wins (140.894 MPH)
- 1979 China invades Vietnam, marking the start of the Sino-Vietnamese War
- 1980 22nd Daytona 500: Buddy Baker wins (177.602 MPH)
- 1981 Chrysler Corp reports largest corporate losses in US history
- 1985 27th Daytona 500: Bill Elliott wins (172.265 MPH)
- 1987 Don Mattingly wins highest salary arbitration ($1,975,000 per year)
- 1989 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1991 33rd Daytona 500: Ernie Irvan wins (148.148 MPH)
- 1995 Colin Fergusson found guilty of killing 6 people on the Long Island Rail Road in NY
- 1995 Federal judge allows lawsuit claiming US tobacco makers knew nicotine was addictive & manipulated its levels to keep customers hooked
- 1996 Garry Kasparov defeats Deep Blue 4-2 in chess
- 2002 44th Daytona 500: Ward Burton wins (130.81 MPH)
- 2006 A massive mudslide occurs in Southern Leyte, Philippines; the official death toll is set at 1,126.
- 2008 50th Daytona 500: Ryan Newman wins (152.672 MPH)
- 2016 Car bomb attack on military convoy in Ankara, Turkey, by Kurdish militant eaves 28 dead
Births:
- 1936 Jim Brown, American NFL Running Back(Cleveland Browns), born in St. Simons, Georgia
- 1962 Lou Diamond Phillips, Philippines, actor (La Bamba, Stand & Deliver)
- 1963 Michael Jordan, American NBAguard/forward (Chicago Bulls) and sports superstar, born in Chicago, Illinois
- 1964 Buster Olney, American sports columnist
- 1968 Bryan Cox, American NFL linebacker and coach (Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears), born in East St. Louis, Illinois
- 1972 Billie Joe Armstrong, singer/musician (Green Day), born in Oakland, California
- 1981 Paris Hilton, American actress and heiress (The Simple Life), born in NYC, New York
- 1991 Ed Sheeran, English singer-songwriter(Shape of You, Thinking Out Loud), born in Halifax, England
Deaths:
- 1989 Lefty Gomez, pitching great (NY Yankees), dies at 80
- 2006 Bill Cowsill, American singer (The Cowsills), dies at 58
- 2007 Mike Awesome, American professional wrestler (b. 1965)
- 2013 Mindy McCready, American country singer, commits suicide by gunshot at 37
- 2014 Bob Casale, American musician, dies from heart failure at 61
- 2016 Tony Phillips, American MLB player (Oakland Athletics), dies at 56
Source: OnThisDay
-- Henry Frederick, Headline Surfer