Johnny Bower, 1924-2017

The number of living people who were a goaltender on a Toronto Maple Leafs team that won the Stanley Cup had been 1 -- the same as the man's uniform number.

It is now 0.

John William Kiszkan was born on November 8, 1924 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Or... was he? Like baseball pitcher Satchel Paige and boxer Archie Moore -- and, much later, baseball pitcher Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez -- his age was called into question.

"I joked that the town hall where the births were registered in Prince Albert burned down," he said, "and I didn't know how old I was. Somebody wrote it, and the joke grew from there."

It grew to the point where, when negotiating with Maple Leafs head coach and general manager George "Punch" Imlach, as tightfisted as anybody in the league at the time, "I said I had found my birth certificate after a long search. I was two years younger than I thought, and deserved $1,000 more than he was offering. He said if I showed him the certificate, he would give me the $1,000, not much now, but a lot then. I had to tell the truth, but he gave me the money, anyway."

His Ukrainian family, in which Johnny was the only boy among 7 sisters, was poor. He used a crooked tree branch as a hockey stick, and old mattresses as goalie pads.

"When I was a little guy," he said, "we had nothing at all. But the ambition that I had as a kid was to play hockey as long as I could, because it was always my dream to have my name engraved on the Stanley Cup."

His lying about his age started early -- but for a good caused. At 15, he went to the Canadian Army, told them he was 18, and spent most of World War II stationed in England. He developed rheumatoid arthritis, and was discharged in 1944. He returned home, and signed with the Prince Albert Blackhawks of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

In 1945, he was signed by the Cleveland Barons, probably the best team in the world outside the NHL. At a time when there were only 6 NHL teams, 120 jobs -- 6 for starting goaltenders and, essentially, 6 more for emergency goalies -- Bower, having dropped his Slavic name for an anglicized one, presumed that this was as good as it was going to get.

But it was pretty good. Jim Hendy, the team's owner, paid his players more than NHL teams were willing to do. Indeed, after the 1954 season, having just won their 8th Calder Cup, their 4th with Bower in the net, they issued a formal challenge to the NHL, saying they wanted to face the Stanley Cup winners, the Detroit Red Wings, for the Cup. After all, the original deed to the Cup said that it was a "challenge trophy."

Whether Bower, Fred Glover, Jack Gordon and the rest could have beaten Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, Red Kelly and Terry Sawchuk is academic, since the NHL refused the challenge. Cleveland would briefly have a Barons in the NHL, as the California Golden Seals moved there in 1976, but they failed after 2 seasons, and the city hasn't had an NHL team since.

Bower had been American Hockey League Most Valuable Player 3 times, but had briefly played for the New York Rangers in 1954. But he was soon sent back down. Then, in the late 1950s, Leafs owner Stafford Smythe (son of longtime owner Conn Smythe) bought his NHL rights.

"I really had little interest in going to the Leafs," he said. "I had a good situation in Cleveland, and planned to play a couple more years, then retire. But Jim Hendy encouraged me to try the NHL again, and gave me the safety net of returning to Cleveland if it didn't work with the Leafs. Then the Leafs got Punch Imlach, and he convinced me to sign."

Imlach knew he had a gem on his hands, calling him, "the most remarkable, and maybe the best, athlete in the world. It was a time of extraordinary goalies in the NHL: Jacques Plante, Glenn Hall, Terry Sawchuk, Gump Worsley. But if my team had a big game to win, the guy I wanted in goal was Bower. When it really mattered big, he turned into The China Wall."

He earned the nickname because he was short, and, in those less politically correct days, "Chinese" meant "short" or "cheap." (The close left field fence forced by the shape of the Los Angeles Coliseum forced the Dodgers to put up a screen that became known as "the Chinese Wall," and cheap home runs, such as those that went over it, were "Chinese home runs.)

"It was a pretty wonderful time to be a Maple Leaf," Bower said, "a great bunch of guys and players, and there never was a dull moment with Imlach. He loved to keep the pot stirred up."

Imlach liked veterans, having such older players as Bower, George "Chief" Armstrong, Allan Stanley, and Red Kelly, whom he'd brought in from Detroit, where he'd won 4 Stanley Cups. He also had some exciting young players, such as Frank Mahovlich, the high-scoring "Big M," Dave Keon, and Eddie Shack, known as Eddie the Entertainer for his moves on the ice.

The Leafs reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1959 and 1960, losing to the Montreal Canadiens. But the Canadiens' dynasty got old, and, after a Cup by the Chicago Blackhawks, the Leafs took over, winning the Cup in 1962, 1963 and 1964.

For all his praise of Bower, Imlach brought in his fellow Ukrainian, Sawchuk, in 1965. They shared the Vezina Trophy in 1965. (Under the old system, it was fewest goals allowed, not simply the subjective "most valuable goaltender." That would change in 1981.) It was Bower's 2nd Vezina, having won it in 1961; and Sawchuk's 4th, having won it in 1952, 1953 and 1955.

After the Canadiens won 2 more Cups, there would be a showdown between Canada's 2 NHL teams in 1967, the nation's Centennial year. In Game 3 of the Finals, at age 42, Bower became the oldest man ever to start in goal in a Stanley Cup Finals game. (In 1928, Rangers coach Lester Patrick, then 44, had to step in as an emergency goalie in mid-game.) The Leafs won the Cup in 6 games on May 2, 1967. They have not played in a Finals game since.

In 1969, against the Boston Bruins, Bauer broke Patrick's record as the oldest-ever Playoff goalie. On December 10, 1969 -- 8 days before I was born -- the Leafs lost 6-3 to the Canadiens, and Bower, 45 years old, played his last game. He was the oldest NHL player ever, and while Gordie Howe would break that record, Bower remains the oldest goaltender ever. He officially retired on March 19, 1970, with 250 wins and a 2.51 goals-against average. That's 250 wins despite not playing in the NHL until he was 30, and not having his 2nd full NHL season until he was 35.

He was married to a woman named Nancy for 69 years, and had a son, John Jr.; 2 daughters, Cindy and Barbara; 8 grandchildren, and lived to see 6 great-grandchildren. In 2014, Patika Avenue, where the Bowers lived during the Cup years, was renamed Johnny Bower Boulevard. In retirement, he lived in the adjoining city of Mississauga.

In 1976, he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1998, The Hockey News ranked him 87th on their list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. In 2007, he received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame. In 2014, the Leafs erected a statue of him outside the Air Canada Centre. In 2017, he was named to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players.

For a long time, the Leafs had only 2 retired numbers: Bill Barilko's 5 and Ace Bailey's 6, because their careers ended early. The other people whose numbers hung from the rafters at Maple Leaf Gardens, and later the Air Canada Centre, were "Honoured Numbers": The players were honored, but the numbers remained in circulation. Bower and Walter "Turk" Broda, the goalie who helped the Leafs win 4 Cups from 1942 to 1951, were "honoured" with Number 1. In 2016, as part of the team's 100th Anniversary season, all the Honoured Numbers, including the 1 of Broad and Bower, were officially retired.

Today, December 26, 2017, Johnny Bower died after being stricken with pneumonia. He was 93 years old.

With his death, there are now 10 surviving players from the 1962 Stanley Cup Champion Toronto Maple Leafs: Red Kelly, Larry Hillman, George Armstrong, Frank Mahovlich, Dave Keon, Eddie Shack, Bobby Baun, Dick Duff, Bob Nevin and John MacMillan. Those same 10 are the survivors of the 1963 Stanley Cup Champion Toronto Maple Leafs.

There are 11 surviving players from the 1964 Stanley Cup Champion Toronto Maple Leafs: Kelly, Hillman, Armstrong, Mahovlich, Keon, Shack, Baun, Duff, Nevin, Don McKenney and Jim Pappin.

And there are 13 surviving players from the 1967 Stanley Cup Champion Toronto Maple Leafs: Kelly, Hillman, Armstrong, Mahovlich, Keon, Shack, Baun, Pappin, Pete Stemkowski, Mike Walton, Brian Conahcer, Ron Ellis and Larry Jeffrey.

Hall of Fame Rangers player and St. Louis Blues general manager Lynn Patrick said it best: "If you don't like Johnny Bower, there's not much hope for you."

UPDATE: Bower was buried at Glen Oaks Memorial Gardens in the Hamilton suburb of Oakville, Ontario.

I Hate Election Day

From this year's election episode

of Epic Rap Battles of History:

Epic Lloyd Ahlquist as Donald Trump,

Kimmy Gatewood as Hillary Clinton.

I hate Election Day. I love Election Night, once the returns start coming in. But, aside from the actual process of voting, Election Day is long and boring, and, if you're a political junkie, you're practically begging for any information.

Info is ammo. But, on Election Day, info is hard to get, since the TV networks and the newspapers (and the websites of both) are prohibited from giving you any numbers, however rudimentary, before the polls close in the State in question.

It's annoying.

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November 8, 1572: The States General of the Netherlands (Staaten-Generaal) openly rebels against the Empire of Spain. In 1581, it will proclaim the Dutch Republic. In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia guaranteed, among other things, that Spain would accept the sovereignty of the Dutch Republic.

The Republic was replaced in 1795 by the Batavian Republic, in 1806 by the Kingdom of Holland (as a client state of Napoleon Bonaparte's Empire of France), and in 1815 by the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 1830, Belgium broke away. In 1839, so did Luxembourg.

But the Netherlands became a great nation, renowned for art, culture and tolerance. And, in the 1970s, soccer, though it would lose 2 World Cup Finals -- in each case, to the host nation: West Germany in 1974 and Argentina in 1978. In 2010, in South Africa, a nation with a heavy Dutch influence, Spain would gain a small measure of revenge for losing the Dutch, by beating the Netherlands team in a nasty World Cup Final.

November 8, 1861: The USS San Jacinto intercepts the British ship RMS Trent, and captures 2 Confederate diplomats who were sailing to Europe to try to enlist Britain and France into allying with the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War.

The British government demanded an apology over what became known as The Trent Affair. President Abraham Lincoln walked a fine line, releasing the diplomats, and disavowing the San Jacinto's actions, but not apologizing. The diplomats did reach Britain and France, but failed.

Had they succeeded, the entry of Britain and France into the conflict would have led to the Union's defeat, and slavery might have survived in North America for years to come.

November 8, 1864: After looking like he would lose just 2 months earlier, President Abraham Lincoln is re-elected. General William Tecumseh Sherman won the Battle of Atlanta, and after that, Lincoln's challenger, his former General-in-Chief, George McClellan, didn't have a chance. Lincoln won 55 percent of the popular vote to McClellan's 45, and took 22 States to McClellan's 3 -- New Jersey, Delaware and Kentucky -- for a 212-21 Electoral Vote win.

McClellan had run as a "peace candidate," willing to give the Confederacy its independence in exchange for an end to the war. Now, victory was in sight, and Lincoln was a far easier winner than anyone had anticipated.

November 8, 1889: Montana enters the Union as the 41st State.

November 8, 1892: For the 1st time, a former President is returned to the office. Grover Cleveland, the 22nd President of the United States, becomes the 24th President (a ruling by the State Department said that he is both), defeating the man who, under dubious circumstances, defeated him 4 years earlier, the 23rd President, Benjamin Harrison.

It was a 3-way race, and, as a result, for the 3rd time, Cleveland finished 1st in the popular vote without getting a majority: He had 46 percent, Harrison 43 percent, and James P. Weaver of the Populist Party 8.5 percent. Cleveland won 277 Electoral Votes, Harrison 145, and Weaver 22.

November 8, 1894: Michael Joseph Kelly, sometimes (erroneously) called baseball's 1st true superstar, dies in Boston, where he had been scheduled to appear in vaudeville. He had taken a ferry up from New York, and caught pneumonia. Had today's medicine been available then, he would have been fine. Instead, the pneumonia, and the toll of years of alcoholism, killed him at age 36.

The catcher for the Chicago White Stockings (Cubs), the 1st player sold for $10,000 (after the 1886 season, to the Boston Beaneaters, forerunners of the Braves), definitely the subject of the song "Slide, Kelly, Slide," and possibly the inspiration for the poem "Casey at the Bat," Kelly had played his last major league game only 14 months earlier, and his last professional game 3 months previously. As great a player as he was, he wasn't very smart when it came to handling himself. He was thus a precursor to many players, including Mickey Mantle and Manny Ramirez.

He was married, but his only child had died shortly after birth, earlier in 1894. The Baseball Hall of Fame was not established until 1936. When it elected him in 1945, there was no one available to accept his plaque. Had he taken better care of himself, he would then have been 87.

November 8, 1896: Stanley Raymond Harris is born in Port Jervis, Rockland County, New York, and grows up in nearby Pittston, Pennsylvania. In 1919, Bucky Harris debuted as the 2nd baseman for the Washington Senators. In a 1920 game, there was an incident on the field, and he stood up to Ty Cobb. His status as a respected player was immediate. And in 1924, only 27 years old, he was named the Senators' permanent manager -- the youngest in baseball history to that point. (Roger Peckinpaugh had been 23 when he finished out the 1914 season as interim manager of the Yankees.)

It worked: While still excelling as a player, Harris led the Senators to back-to-back Pennants, and their only World Championship in 1924. He was fired after the 1928 season, and bounced around, managing the Senators a total of 3 times. He managed the Yankees to a World Championship in 1947, but after a 3rd place finish in 1948, he was fired for Casey Stengel.

He last managed with the Detroit Tigers in 1956, still ranks 7th on the all-time list of managerial wins (although he lost more games, managing mostly weak teams), was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975, and died on his 81st birthday, November 8, 1977.

November 8, 1903: Luigi Allemandi is born in San Damiano Macri, Piedmont, Italy. In 1926, the left back for Turin's Juventus was offered 50,000 lira to throw the season-ending Turin derby with Torino, which had already clinched the Serie A (Italian league) title. He got the promised 25,000 before the game, and Torino won. But when he went to collect the rest after the game, he was refused, and this was overheard by a reporter. As a result, Torino was stripped of the title, and 2nd place Juventus was awarded it. But Allemandi was stripped of his right to a winner's medal, and banned for live.

He was pardoned in 1928, and he joined Milan side Internazionale, known as Ambrosiana during the Mussolini regime, and won the title in 1930. He was with the Italy team that won the 1934 World Cup on home soil, and later served as Italy's Captain, his rehabilitation complete. He later managed Rome club SS Lazio, and died in 1978.

November 8, 1904: Theodore Roosevelt, who became President when William McKinley was assassinated 3 years earlier, is elected in his own right. It was an easy choice: The massively charismatic and widely-experience TR was opposed by the incredibly boring Alton B. Parker, whose highest office was as a federal judge. That's how strapped for talent the Democratic Party was at the time.

TR got 56 percent of the popular vote, Parker not even 38 percent. TR got 336 Electoral Votes, Parker only 140, all in the "Solid South," which wouldn't have voted for Jesus if he were nominated by the Party of Lincoln. (It was only 40 years since the Civil War, after all.)

That night, TR makes a big mistake: He tells the press he won't run for what would amount to a 3rd term in 1908. He keeps his promise, but he tries again in 1912, and it splits the Republican Party. In a way, that split between well-meaning progressives and selfish conservatives has never been healed.

November 8, 1913: Frank Joseph McGuire is born in Manhattan. Although he played basketball at St. John's University in Queens, and also in an early pro league, he is better known as a coach. He was St. John's head coach from 1947 to 1952, reaching the 1952 NCAA Final, losing to the University of Kansas.

Among his players were the brothers Al and Dick McGuire, no relation to him. Dick became a great player for the Knicks. While Al was a marginal player for the Knicks, he became the head coach at Marquette University in Milwaukee, leading them to the 1977 National Championship, and becoming a great sportscaster.

After the 1952 NCAA Tournament, Frank McGuire was hired by the University of North Carolina. He brought down New Yorkers, Irish Catholics like Tommy Kearns and Jews like Lennie Rosenbluth. It became known as the Underground Railroad -- almost the opposite of the original version, although his players were hardly slaves. In 1957, he led the Tar Heels to an undefeated season, beating Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain in the Final.

In 1961, a point-shaving scandal forced him to leave Chapel Hill, and hand the reins to his assistant -- ironically, given his 2 Final appearances, a Kansas man, Dean Smith. McGuire became the head coach of the Philadelphia Warriors, with Chamberlain, who had the greatest individual season any basketball player has ever had, averaging 50.4 points per game, including a 100-point game against the Knicks on March 2, 1962.

But when the Warriors were sold to Frank Mieuli, he moved them to San Francisco, and McGuire didn't want to go west. He spent 2 years working in public relations in New York, and then from 1964 to 1980 coached the University of South Carolina, leading them to the 1971 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. He went 549-237 in his career, was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, and lived until 1994.

November 8, 1918: For the 8th and last time, and just 3 days before the Armistice ending it, a Major League Baseball player dies as a result of serving in World War I.

La Verne Ashford "Larry" Chappell was an outfielder, and played for the Chicago White Sox in 1913, '14 and '15; the Cleveland Indians in 1916; and the Boston Braves in 1916 and '17. He never made it overseas, dying in the Spanish Flu epidemic at a U.S. Army camp in San Francisco. He was 28 years old.

November 8, 1922: Ademir Marques de Menezes is born in Recife, Brazil. Better known by just his first name, Ademir was one of the leading figures in Brazilian football, starring for hometown club Sport Recife and Rio de Janeiro club Vasco da Gama.

He led the Brazilian national team to the Final of the 1950 World Cup on home soil, but specatcularly lost. He did, however, take them to victory in the 1952 Panamerican Championship. He died in 1996.

November 8, 1924: War Memorial Stadium opens on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin. Surprisingly, the Longhorns lose to Baylor, 28-10.

It is renamed simply Memorial Stadium in 1948, Texas Memorial Stadium in 1977, and Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in 1995, after the coach who led the Longhorns to the 1963, 1969 and 1970 National Championships. This past September 4, for Texas' 50-47 double-overtime win over Notre Dame, it attracted a record crowd of 102,315.

Also on this day, John William Kiszkan is born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. We know him as Johnny Bower. He served in the Canadian Army during World War II, but was discharged due to rheumatoid arthritis. But it didn't stop him from becoming one of the top hockey goaltenders of all time.

Having only 6 teams in the NHL at his peak meant that he toiled for one of the top minor-league teams, the Cleveland Barons, from 1945 to 1958, with occasional callups to the New York Rangers from 1954 to 1957. He helped the Barons win 3 Calder Cups.

In 1958, he was acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs, finally a regular starter at age 34. He helped them reach the Stanley Cup Finals 6 times, including winning the Cup in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967, the last of these at age 42. He retired in 1969.

He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1976 and The Hockey News' 100 Greatest Players in 1998. The Cleveland Monsters retired his Number 1 in honor of his work with the Barons, and, while the Leafs don't retire numbers, they do have "Honoured Numbers," and they honored his Number 1 along with his predecessor, Turk Broda. Bower is still alive, and was part of the Leafs' on-ice celebrations for the 50th Anniversary of their 1962, '63 and '64 Cups. Hopefully, he'll still be there later this season, when they honor the '67 Champions.

November 8, 1927: Leonard Edward Willis is born in Hackney, North London. A right back, he was with local side Arsenal when they won the 1950 FA Cup and the 1953 League title, but didn't make his senior debut with them until the following season, playing 9 seasons. He left soccer completely, and now, at age 89, is retired from retail carpentry.

November 8, 1929: Robert Clekler Bowden is born in Birmingham, Alabama. A quarterback at Samford University in his home State, he never played pro ball. He went into coaching, and in 1970, he became the head coach at West Virginia University. There was no conference title for him to win at the time, but he got them into the Peach Bowl twice, losing in the 1972 season, and winning in 1975.

Florida State University, for whom he had once coached receivers, hired him for the 1976 season. It was a tough job. Their 2nd-best-known player ever was a receiver he'd coached, Oakland Raiders superstar Fred Biletnikoff. First? Actor Burt Reynolds. How tough was it? As Bobby himself explained, "At West Virginia, the bumper stickers say BEAT PITT. Here, they say BEAT ANYBODY."

He did. In just 2 years, he went from 5-6 to 10-2. From 1987 to 2000, he went 152-19-1, for a winning percentage of .887. Losing to the University of Miami on last-play field goals cost him shots at the National Championship, in 1991 and 1992, but they finally won it in 1993, and won it again in 1999. When the Seminoles entered the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1992, they won 12 of their 1st 14 shots at the title. He won 4 Sugar Bowls, 3 Orange Bowls and a Cotton Bowl. His last game was the 2010 Gator Bowl, a win over, appropriately enough, West Virginia.

His total career record, in 44 seasons as a head coach, was 377-129-4. For a time, he and Penn State's Joe Paterno went back and forth for the record of most career coaching wins. Paterno lasted longer, but then, while Bowden's career was hardly unblemished, the crimes on his watch were considerably lesser.

His son Terry coached at Auburn, where he was named 1993 Coach of the Year -- ahead of his father, who won the National Championship that season. His son Tommy was the head coach at Clemson, and his son Jeff was his offensive coordinator at FSU. Terry and Jeff now coach at the University of Akron, while Bobby, now 87, enjoys his retirement.

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November 8, 1930: Florida Field opens on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville. The opener does not go well for the Gators, who lose 20-0 to Alabama.

As the years pass, and as UF grew in prominence, the 21,769-seat facility grows to its present 88,548. The field is now named for "the Ol' Ball Coach" who was also their 1st Heisman Trophy winner, and the stadium is named for a citrus magnate and politician, also a UF graduate: Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

November 8, 1932: Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected President of the United States, defeating the incumbent Republican, President Herbert Hoover. Due to the Great Depression, in just 4 years, Hoover went from winning 40 States for 444 Electoral Votes vs. 87, and winning 58.2 percent of the popular vote, to losing 42 States for 472 Electoral Votes vs. 59, and losing the popular vote 57.4 to 39.7.

This was not so much a hiring of FDR as it was a firing of Hoover. And, yes, he can be blamed for how he handled the Depression: He didn't think he could do much, and the things that he did do, that worked a little, he should have done harder, and didn't. Indeed, much of FDR's New Deal was based not just on what he'd done in New York, but on some things Hoover did, like the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC).

But Hoover shouldn't be blamed for the Depression itself.

Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression

5. No Oversight. There was a Federal Reserve Board, but there wasn't yet a Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to keep stock traders honest, or a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to protect banks. Those would come with FDR's New Deal the next year.

4. The Farm Belt. It had already been in a depression since the end of World War I, 11 years earlier.

3. Calvin Coolidge. Hoover's predecessor, possibly seeing the Crash of 1929 coming, left Hoover holding the bag. No one blames the man who got a full term in 1924 on "Coolidge Prosperity" for the Crash that came less than 8 months after he left office. But he should have.

2. Wall Street Speculators. As we've seen, Greed is not good.

1. Andrew Mellon. Appointed Secretary of the Treasury by Warren Harding, and kept all through the Coolidge years and most of Hoover's term, America's 3rd-richest man (behind John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford) was a Pittsburgh-based banking titan, whose name lives on after a merger with the Bank of New York: BNY Mellon. But he basically let big business do whatever it wanted.

As a poem of the time went, "Hoover blew the whistle, Mellon rang the bell, Wall Street gave the signal, and we all went to hell!"

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November 8, 1935: Mutiny On the Bounty premieres, starring Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian and Charles Laughton as William Bligh. Like most versions of the story, it takes as many liberties with the truth as Blight's men took with the native women.

November 8, 1937: Peter Brabrook (no middle name) is born in Greenwich, East London. A right wing, he was a member of local club West Ham United's team that won the 1964 FA Cup and the 1965 European Cup Winners' Cup. He played for England in the 1958 World Cup. He is still alive.

UPDATE: He died on December 10, 2016.

November 8, 1938: Thomas Ernest Sanders is born in Manhattan. A forward, "Satch" Sanders played for New York University, and won 8 NBA Championships with the Boston Celtics from 1961 to 1969. But that's not why he's in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

He was elected as a "Contributor," because he coached at Harvard in 1977-78, making him the 1st black head coach in the Ivy League; and for running the Rookie Transition Program, which has helped many new players adjust to NBA life. He is still alive.

November 8, 1940: According to DC Comics, Billy Batson first says, "Shazam!" and turns himself into Captain Marvel on a November 8. The characters debuted in Whiz Comics #2, dated February 1940.

Due to copyright issues, Marvel Comics holds the trademark on the name "Captain Marvel," and has used it for a succession of superheroes. So, for legal reasons, DC can use the name Captain Marvel for its character, but can't use that name as the title of any publication or video production based on him.

As a result, their comics, cartoons, and a 1974-77 live-action Saturday-morning CBS show have had to use the title Shazam, which was the name of the ancient wizard who gave Billy his powers and identity, and also the magic word Billy says to transform (and spoken by Cap to change back). This has led to confusion, with some people thinking that the caped hero in the red costume with the yellow lightning bolt on his chest is, in fact, named Shazam.

This was not the case in 1941, when The Adventures of Captain Marvel made him the 1st superhero ever to appear in a movie. (Superman appeared in a cartoon later in the year, but not in a live-action film until 1948, with Batman debuting on screen in 1943.) Frank Coughlan Jr., a former child actor already too old to play the part, played Billy Batson, and Tom Tyler played Captain Marvel.

November 8, 1942: Alessandro Mazzola is born in Turin, Italy, where his father, Valentino Mazzola, was a star with soccer team Torino, but died with most of his teammates in a plane crash in 1949, known as the Superga Disaster.

Sandro and his brother, Ferruccio Mazzola, overcame the loss of their father, and both played top-flight calcio (what the Italians call soccer). Ferruccio (1945-2013) was a midfielder for several teams, helping Rome club Lazio win its 1st Serie A (national league) title in 1974, alongside future New York Cosmos star Giorgio Chinaglia.

Sandro Mazzola was an attacking midfielder who played 17 seasons for Internazionale Milano, leading La Grande Inter to league titles in 1963, 1965, 1966 and 1971, and the European Cup in 1964 and 1965. He and Ferruccio were briefly teammates in 1967, when Inter again reached the European Cup Final, losing to Celtic.

He helped Italy win Euro 1968, but they lost the Final of the 1970 World Cup, because the manager, Ferruccio Valcareggi, could never find a way to put together the 2 great Milan-based stars of the era, Sandro Mazzola of Inter and Gianni Rivera of AC Milan. Sandro also played in the 1966 and 1974 World Cups. He became a commentator for Italian network RAI, including for Italy's wins in the 1982 and 2006 World Cups, and is still active in that role.

November 8, 1943: Martin Stanford Peters is born in Plaistow, East London. The midfielder starred for his local club, West Ham United, and while he wasn't yet a regular when they won the 1964 FA Cup, he blossomed for them as they won the 1965 European Cup Winners' Cup.

That got him noticed by Alf Ramsey, manager of the England national team, and Peters was selected for the 1966 World Cup, which England won on home soil, with Peters starting in the Final. He later played in the 1970 World Cup, and for North London's Tottenham Hotspur, and won the League Cup in 1971 and 1973 and the UEFA Cup in 1972.

He later managed Sheffield United. Although he lived to see the 50th Anniversary of the World Cup win, this was also the year he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, along with several other members of that England team.

November 8, 1946, 70 years ago: The Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, which had debuted on radio in 1942, makes its television debut on NBC. For all intents and purposes, it is America's 1st sports TV show, and runs until 1960.

Also on this day, Guus Hiddink is born in Varsseveld, the Netherlands. An ordinary as a soccer midfielder, he became a great manager. With PSV Eindhoven, he won the Eredivisie (national league) in 1987, 1988, 1989, 2003, 2005 and 2006; the KNVB-Beker (Dutch Cup) in 1988 (a Double), 1989 (a Double), 1990 and 2005 (a Double); and the 1988 European Cup (the Netherlands' only European Treble).

With Chelsea, he won the 2009 FA Cup. In the World Cup, he managed the Netherlands to 4th place in 1998, host South Korea to 4th in 2002, and Australia to the Round of 16 in 2006. He managed Russia to the Semifinal of Euro 2008. After a brief return to Chelsea last season, possibly saving them from relegation, he is currently out of the game.

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November 8, 1952: Gerald Peter Remy is born in the Boston suburb of Fall River, Massachusetts. In 1978, the 2nd baseman was an All-Star for his hometown Red Sox, but they couldn't beat the Yankees. By the time they won the Pennant in 1986, he was retired due to injuries.

In 1988, "RemDawg" became a Red Sox broadcaster. He is to New England what Phil Rizzuto was to the New York Tri-State Area, Richie Ashburn to the Delaware Valley, Herb Score to Northern Ohio, Joe Nuxhall to the Ohio Valley, Ron Santo to Chicagoland: The local player who became the beloved storytelling announcer. He also owns RemDawg's, a concession stand on Yawkey Way across from Fenway Park; and Jerry Remy's Sports Bar & Grill, on Boylston Street behind Fenway. The Red Sox have elected him to their team Hall of Fame.

Also on this day, John Allen Denny is born in Prescott, Arizona. In 1976, the St. Louis Cardinals pitcher led the NL in earned run average. In 1983, he won the NL Cy Young Award, and helped the Philadelphia Phillies win the Pennant. He finished his career with 123 wins. He later coached with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

November 8, 1960: Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts is elected the 35th President of the United States. At 43, he is the youngest man ever elected to the office, although Theodore Roosevelt was 42 when he was first sworn in. He is also the 1st Catholic to achieve the office, and remains the only one.

He beats the Republican nominee, incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon. It is incredibly close: JFK wins 49.72 percent of the popular vote, Nixon 49.55, a margin of 118,000 votes. The Electoral Vote goes 303 to 219 for Kennedy (with 15 votes from Southern electors going elsewhere), making it look like it wasn't so close.

Kennedy won Illinois by about 4,500 votes. To this day, Republicans say JFK's friend, Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago, "stole" the State's vote for him.

Top 5 Reasons You Can’t Blame Richard J. Daley for Richard Nixon Losing the 1960 Presidential Election

5. The Curse of Herbert Hoover. While Americans still said, "I like Ike," in reference to the outgoing Republican, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, they viewed him as more of a nonpartisan leader. The last truly conservative, truly Republican President was Hoover, who presided over the Crash of 1929 and the 1st 3 years of the subsequent Great Depression.

Would Nixon have brought another Depression? Probably not, but who knows? He did preside over the mild recession of 1970-71, and the nastier recession of 1973-76 began on his watch. Certainly, imagining him as President during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 is scary.

4. Richard Nixon. He ran a lousy campaign. With 2 new States making 50, he was determined to campaign in all 50 States. As a result, he was exhausted, and even got sick. When he debated JFK on television, he looked awful. Moreover, he didn't argue his own case well.

3. John F. Kennedy. He ran a great campaign, both face-to-face and on TV. Although Presidents had been appearing on TV since FDR in 1939, and regularly since Harry Truman in 1947, JFK was the 1st candidate for President to really master the still-new medium.

2. Dwight D. Eisenhower. He didn't come out strongly enough for Nixon. Late in the campaign, a reporter asked Ike what policy Nixon's advice had aided, and he said, "If you give me a week, I might think of one." Ouch.

We've since had 4 Presidents serve a full 2 terms. In 1988, Ronald Reagan campaigned with George H.W. Bush, and won. In 2000, Al Gore told Bill Clinton to stay away; had they made one joint appearance together in Florida, it would literally have made all the difference in the world. In 2008, John McCain told George W. Bush to stay away; this one time, it may have helped. And here in 2016, Barack Obama has campaigned with Hillary Clinton. We shall see.

1. It Didn't Matter. Winning Illinois wouldn’t have given Nixon the Electoral Vote, or even denied Kennedy a majority of them. Plus, there are stories that the real reason Nixon didn't contest the Illinois vote is that he knew that Southern Illinois had seen vote-tampering in his favor. Indeed, only 1 State had a vote so close that, as with Florida in 2000, a legally-mandated recount kicked in. It was the newest State, Hawaii. And it did switch... from Nixon to Kennedy.

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November 8, 1963: Hugo Ernesto Pérez Granados is born in Morazán, El Salvador, and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area at age 11, gaining U.S. citizenship. A midfielder, Hugo Pérez had the misfortune to be an American soccer star at a crisis moment for the sport in America.

He played for the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the San Diego Sockers, and on the U.S. Olympic team in 1984, but when the original North American Soccer League (NASL) folded in 1984, the Sockers stayed together, moved indoors to the San Diego Sports Arena, and dominated the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), the league that played on artificial turf on a pitch that fit into a hockey rink, with the boards preventing most balls from going out of bounds, resulting in higher scores.

He helped the Sockers win the MISL title in 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1990. In 1990, he was a member of the 1st U.S. Men's National Team to qualify for the World Cup in 40 years, but did not play due to injury. He also played on the U.S. team that won the 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the USMNT's 1st international tournament title. He moved on to Örgryte IS of Gothenburg, Sweden, and was named the U.S. Soccer Player of the Year in 1991.

He played for the U.S. in the 1994 World Cup, then went to his homeland, and led Club Deportivo Futbolistas Asociados Santanecos, a.k.a. C.D. FAS (pronounced "Fahss"), for whom his father and grandfather had both played, to the El Salvadoran league title in 1995 and 1996, at which point he retired as a player.

He then went into management, including managing the U.S. Under-14 and Under-15 teams, and is now an assistant with the El Salvador national team. He is a member of our National Soccer Hall of Fame.

November 8, 1965: Jeffrey Michael Blauser is born in the San Francisco suburb of Los Gatos, California. The shortstop was a 2-time All-Star, and a member of 6 postseason teams with the Atlanta Braves, including 4 Pennant winners and the 1995 World Champions; and the Chicago Cubs' Wild Card winners of 1998. He later managed in the Braves' minor-league system.

November 8, 1966, 50 years ago: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law an antitrust exemption that makes the planned merger of the National Football League and the American Football League into a single NFL possible.

November 8, 1967: Henry Anderson Rodríguez Lorenzo is born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The outfielder, known professionally as Henry Rodríguez, reached the postseason with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995, was an All-Star with the Montreal Expos in 1996, and reached the postseason with the Cubs in 1998 and the Yankees in 2001.

November 8, 1968: José Antonio Offerman Dono is born in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic. The shortstop reached the postseason with the Dodgers in 1995, the Boston Red Sox in 1999, and the Minnesota Twins in 2004. He was an All-Star in 1995 and 1999. He now manages the Veracruz Red Eagles in the Mexican League.

November 8, 1971: The National Hockey League grants a franchise to Long Island, and the New York Islanders are born. They also grant one to Georgia, and the Atlanta Flames are born. In 1980, the Islanders win their 1st Stanley Cup, while the Flames move to Calgary.

November 8, 1975: The Summit opens in Houston. The arena becomes the home of the Houston Rockets, who win their 1st game there on this night, 116-112 over the Cleveland Cavaliers. It will be their home until the Toyota Center opens in 2003, including back-to-back NBA Championships in 1994 and 1995.

It is also the home of the World Hockey Association's Houston Aeros from 1975 to 1978. It is now the Lakewood Church Central Campus, the seat of Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch." It probably pisses him off to no end that the cheers he gets there are less than those gotten there by Hakeem Olajuwon, a black Muslim.

November 8, 1977: Nicholas Paul Punto is born in San Diego. The shortstop reached the postseason with the Minnesota Twins in 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2010; won the World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011; and reached the postseason with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2013 and the Oakland Athletics in 2014.

November 8, 1981: Joseph John Cole is born in Paddington, West London. The left winger won the Intertoto Cup with East London's West Ham United in 1999. With West London's Chelsea, he won the Premier League in 2005, 2006 and 2010; the FA Cup in 2007, 2009 and 2010 (a Double); and the League Cup in 2005 and 2007 (a Cup Double). He now plays for the new version of the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the new version of the North American Soccer League.

In 2010, Goal.com announced 2 "done deals": Joe Cole was being signed by North London's Arsenal, and Marouane Chamakh of French club Girondins de Bordeaux was being signed by Liverpool. It turned out to be the other way around. "Reporting" things like this are why that website is called Fail.com. To be fair, though, both Arsenal and Liverpool might have been better off had Goal.com been right.

Also on this day, Bradley Joseph Davis is born in the St. Louis suburb of St. Charles, Missouri. A winger, Brad Davis made his Major League Soccer debut in 2002 for the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, now the New York Red Bulls.

A 6-time All-Star, he helped the San Jose Earthquakes win the Supporters' Shield (the regular-season overall league title) in 2005. That team then moved to become the Houston Dynamo (a new team named the San Jose Earthquakes began play in 2008), and he helped them win the MLS Cup in 2006 and 2007. He spent 10 years with the Dynamo before being traded to Sporting Kansas City this year, after which he retired. He was a member of the U.S. team that won the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and played in the 2014 World Cup.

November 8, 1986, 30 years ago: Manchester United play their 1st manager under new manager Alex Ferguson. It is a League match, away to Oxford United, and they lose, 2-0. Not an auspicious beginning.

Also on this day, Jamie Huw Roberts is born in Newport, Wales. A star for legendary Welsh rugby club Cardiff Blues, he now plays for London club Harlequins. He helped Wales win the Six Nations Championship in 2012 and 2013.

November 8, 1987: Samuel Jacob Bradford is born in Oklahoma City. The quarterback won the Heisman Trophy with the University of Oklahoma in 2008. He was NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year with the St. Louis Rams in 2010. He now plays for the Minnesota Vikings.

November 8, 1988: The 2nd ARCO Arena opens in Sacramento, and the Sacramento Kings lose to the Seattle SuperSonics, 97-75. The Kings will call the building, renamed Sleep Train Arena after a bedding company in 2012, home until 2016, when the Golden 1 Center opens.

This was also the day of my 1st election. At Hammarskjold Middle School in East Brunswick, New Jersey, which I had attended (as Hammarskjold Junior High School) from September 1981 to June 1984, I cast a vote for the straight Democratic ticket, including for the Presidential nominee, Governor Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts.

Everybody I voted for lost, with one exception. Dukakis lost to Vice President George H.W. Bush, 426 Electoral Votes to 111, 53.4 percent to 45.6. He had blown it by inadequately responding to some truly filthy and (mostly) false attacks.

The next day, I was in New Brunswick, job-hunting. I saw the Middlesex County Democratic Campaign Headquarters, and realized I'd never gotten a Dukakis button. I wanted one. So I went in, and there was the Mayor of New Brunswick at the time, John Lynch, talking to Senator Frank Lautenberg, the one person I voted for who won. Not wanting to interrupt, I waited for them to finish talking. When Lautenberg came my way, I offered him my hand and congratulated him on his re-election. He walked right past me.

I met Lynch a few years later, after he'd resigned as Mayor because he'd become President of the State Senate, making him effectively (we didn't have the office at the time) the Lieutenant Governor. He was a much nicer guy. Unfortunately, he later went to prison for corruption. But I'm still proud to have voted for Dukakis.

November 8, 1989: The NBA's expansion Minnesota Timberwolves play their 1st home game, at the Target Center in Minneapolis. But they really chose the wrong opponent: The Chicago Bulls, who win, 96-84. Michael Jordan blitzes his way to 45 points, while Tony Campbell nets 31 for the shellshocked hosts. At least the inaugural fans got their money's worth from Jordan.

Also on this day, Giancarlo Cruz Michael Stanton is born in Los Angeles. Growing up, most people called him "Mike Stanton," but, not wanting to be confused with the relief pitcher for several teams, including the Yankee Dynasty, he began going by "Giancarlo Stanton."

The right fielder for the Miami Marlins has hit 208 career home runs, including some of the longest in the major leagues since his 2010 debut. He is a 3-time All-Star, and led the National League in homers in 2014.

His contract runs out after the 2019 season. Maybe the Yankees can make the Marlins an offer they can't refuse.

Also on this day, Morgan Schneiderlin is born in Zellwiller, France. The midfielder starred for English soccer team Southampton until his acquisition last season by Manchester United, with whom he won the FA Cup. But he appears to have been frozen out by new manager Jose Mourinho. He played for France in the 2014 World Cup and helped them reach the Final of Euro 2016.

November 8, 1990: The Los Angeles Kings retire the Number 16 of Marcel Dionne. They beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Forum in Inglewood.

November 8, 2003: Tottenham Hotspur take an early 1-0 lead against their North London rivals, Arsenal, at Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. "Highbury," thanks to a goal by Darren Anderton -- who missed so many games due to injury that his nickname was "Sicknote." But a Robert Pires screamer and a wildly deflected shot by Freddie Ljungberg give Arsenal a 2-1 win.

This was early in the most successful League season any British club has ever known. Arsenal, that is, not Tottenham.

November 8, 2011: Ed Macauley in St. Louis at age 83. After starring for the Boston Celtics, who retired his Number 22, he led his hometown St. Louis Hawks to the 1958 NBA Championship. He is in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

November 8, 2014: The Montreal Canadiens retire the Number 5 of Guy Lapointe. They beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-1 at the Bell Centre.

November 8, 2016: Vote! And, in the name of all that is good in this world, for Hillary!