June 2
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Events on This Day
1886 - Grover Cleveland became the first -- and only U.S. President to get married in the White House. He exchanged vows with his bride, Florence Folsom.1896 - In England, Guglielmo Marconi filed British Patent number 12039, the first radio patent. He had succeeded the previous year in sending longwave radio signals over a distance of about two kilometres. And in 1897, Marconi formed a wirless telegraphy company to develop its commercial applications. In 1901, Marconi succeeded in sending the letter ‘S’ across the Atlantic from Cornwall, England to a receiving station in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
1897 - Responding to rumors that he was dying or perhaps even dead, humorist Mark Twain, 61, was quoted by the New York Journal in London as saying that “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”
1924 - Congress passed the Snyder Act, which granted full citizenship to Native Americans born in the United States.
1928 - Kraft’s Velveeta processed cheese (“Digestible as milk itself!”) was introduced. It was wrapped in tinfoil and packaged in a wooden box. When melted, it became smooth as velvet (but much better tasting).
1933 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt inspected -- and approved -- the first swimming pool to be built inside the White House. Roosevelt got plenty of use out of the pool, considering that he was the only President to be elected four times. He won election over Herbert Hoover, Alf Landon, Wendell Wilkie and Thomas E. Dewey.
1941 - Baseball’s ‘Iron Horse’, Lou Gehrig, died in New York of a degenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was 37 years old.
1942 - The American aircraft carriers Enterprise, Hornet and Yorktown moved into position for what was to become known as the Battle of Midway.
1944 - The ‘shuttle bombing’ of Germany began, with allied bombers departing from Italy and landing in the Soviet Union.
1953 - The coronation of 27-year-old Queen Elizabeth II was broadcast. The crowning of the new Queen of England became one of the first international news events to be given complete coverage on television. All three American TV networks plus the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) provided colorful descriptions of the pomp and circumstance. Most viewers saw the coronation in black and white because color TV was not yet the standard of the industry. Quality of the pictures, in fact, was lacking compared to today’s international and often instantaneous broadcasts. There was no satellite TV transmission at the time. The ‘live’ pictures were relayed by shortwave radio.
1957 - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was interviewed by CBS-TV. News correspondent Daniel Schorr was first to interview the Soviet leader.
1960 - For the first time in 41 years, the entire Broadway theatre district in New York City was forced to close. The Actors Equity Association and theatre owners came to a showdown with a total blackout of theatres.
1964 - The original cast album of Hello Dolly! went gold -- having sold a million copies. It was quite a feat for a Broadway musical.
1967 - The Beatles’ album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, was released in the U.S. (on Capitol) this day -- one day after its release in the U.K. (on Parlophone). The world is still humming and singing along and tapping fingers and toes to the likes of A Day in the Life, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, With a Little Help From My Friends, When I'm Sixty-Four, She’s Leaving Home, the title song and several others. It had taken the Fab Four only 12 hours to record their first album, Please, Please Me. It took the supergroup 700 hours to complete Sgt. Pepper’s. And, who are all of those characters on the cover of the album? See https://www.triskelion-ltd.com/beatfaq.html#Q27 for the answers.
1969 - The Australian aircraft carrier Melbourne sliced the U.S. destroyer Frank E. Evans in half off the coast of South Vietnam. 74 people died.
1972 - The 1950s group Dion and the Belmonts reunited for a show at Madison Square Garden in New York. The concert was captured on the LP Reunion.
1975 - Baseball’s Billy Martin appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, 19 years after his April 23, 1956 cover debut in the same publication. It set the record for length of time between covers on the same subject.
1977 - The U.S. state of New Jersey legalized casino gambling in Atlantic City.
1983 - 23 (of 46 passengers/crew) died after a fire started aboard an Air Canada jetliner, which was forced to make an emergency landing at Greater Cincinnati International Airport (Covington, Kentucky). The accident became a watershed for global aviation regulations, which were changed in the aftermath of the accident to make aircraft safer. New requirements to install smoke detectors in lavatories, strip lights marking paths to exit doors, and increased firefighting training and equipment for crew became standard across the industry, while regulations regarding evacuation were also updated. Since the incident, it has become mandatory for aircraft manufacturers to prove their aircraft could be evacuated within 90 seconds of the commencement of an evacuation, and passengers seated in overwing exits are now instructed to assist in an emergency.
1985 - The R.J. Reynolds Company proposed a major merger with Nabisco (National Biscuit Company) that would create a $4.9 billion conglomerate of food distribution and other popular products, including tobacco.
1985 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became the all-time leading point scorer in the National Basketball Association playoffs. He rang up a total of 4,458 points, smashing the previous record held by Jerry West, also of the Los Angeles Lakers.
1985 - The (39th annual) Tony Awards show was held at the at the Shubert Theatre, New York. Winners included Biloxi Blues (best Play); Big River (best Musical and six other Tonys); Derek Jacobi in Much Ado About Nothing (best Actor Play); Stockard Channing in Joe Egg (best Actress Play); Ron Richardson in Big River (featured Actor Musical); and Leilani Jones in Grind (featured Actress Musical).
1987 - Bandleader Sammy Kaye died of cancer at the age of 77. Kaye, of “Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye” fame, was born Samuel Zarnocay Jr. in 1910 in Lakewood (Cleveland), Ohio. His band scored major hits in the 1940s and 1950s, with Daddy (1941), There Will Never Be Another You (1942) and Harbor Lights (1950). Sammy Kaye’s orchestra also backed Don Cornell on the 1950 million-seller It Isn’t Fair.
1987 - Classical guitarist Andrés Segovia died at his home in Madrid at the age of 94. Segovia is credited with establishing the guitar as a concert instrument. He was one of the few classical guitarists to earn a gold record for sales of an album.
1988 - The publishers of Consumer Reports magazine called for a ban on the Suzuki Samurai. The magazine said the popular sport utility vehicle tended to roll over in tight turns. (Suzuki sued the magazine in 1996 -- a year after it quit selling the small sport utility vehicle. The suit was finally settled in 2004 with both sides claiming victory.)
1990 - Deaths on this day: Frederick Mellinger, 76, founder of Fredericks of Hollywood; and actor Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady) -- in New York at 82 years of age; comedic actor Jack Gilford (Cocoon) died of stomach cancer. He was 82 years old.
1991 - The (45th annual) Tony Awards show was held at the at the Minskoff Theatre in New York City. Winners included Lost in Yonkers (best Play); The Will Rogers Follies (best Musical); Nigel Hawthorne in Shadowlands (best Actor Dramatic); Mercedes Ruehl in Lost in Yonkers (best Actress Dramatic); Jonathan Pryce in Miss Saigon (best Actor Musical); and Lea Salonga in Miss Saigon (best Actress Musical).
1992 - In the California primary election, Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were nominated to U.S. Senate seats. (California became the first state to have two women in the U.S. Senate.)
1995 - A U.S. Air Force F16C was shot down by a Bosnian Serb surface-to-air missile while on a NATO air patrol in northern Bosnia. The pilot, Capt. Scott F. O’Grady, evaded capture by Bosnian Serb forces for six days before his rescue June 8 by a Marine Corps search and rescue team with multinational support.
1996 - Ray Combs, host of the game show Family Feud (1988-1994), committed suicide in Glendale, California. Combs, born April 3, 1956, was 39 years old. Combs, apparently distraught over marital and professional problems, had been admitted to the psychiatry ward of Glendale Adventist Medical Center the day before. There he used bedsheets to hang himself in a closet.
1996 - The (50th annual) Tony Awards show was held at the at the Majestic Theatre, New York City. Winners included Master Class (best Play); Rent (best Musical); George Grizzard in A Delicate Balance (best Actor Dramatic); Zoe Caldwell in Master Class (best Actress Dramatic); Nathan Lane in A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum (best Actor Musical); and Donna Murphy in The King and I (best Actress Musical).
1997 - A U.S. federal jury in Denver, CO convicted Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people. McVeigh targeted the federal government, specifically, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, for the Branch Davidian tragedy at Waco, Texas, in which ATF agents participated. He and Army buddy Terry Nichols bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City, which housed ATF offices. McVeigh was later sentenced to death; Nichols to life in prison.
1998 - 65-year-old Bishop J. Keith Symons announced his resignation as head of the Palm Beach, FL diocese after admitting that he molested five boys early in his career. Symons was the first American bishop to admit to homosexual malfeasance.
1999 - The World Court rejected Yugoslavia’s contention that NATO bombing was unlawful and that the Western alliance was committing genocide. The court also refused to call for a cessation of hostilities.
2000 - Films debuting in the U.S.: Big Momma’s House, starring Martin Lawrence, Nia Long, Paul Giamatti and Terrence Howard; and Running Free, with Chase Moore, Jan Decleir, Arie Verveen, Maria Geelbooi and Lukas Haas.
2001 - Comedienne Imogene Coca died at age 92 in Westport, CT. Coca co-starred with Sid Caesar on TV’s Your Show of Shows in the 1950s.
2002 - A fire broke out at Buckingham Palace, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people and marring the four-day celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s 50 years on the throne.
2002 - The (56th annual) Tony Awards show was held at the at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Winners included The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? (best Play); Thoroughly Modern Millie (best Musical); Private Lives (best Play Revival); Into the Woods (best Musical Revival); Alan Bates in Fortune’s Fool (best Actor Play); Lindsay Duncan in Private Lives (best Actress Play); John Lithgow in Sweet Smell of Success (best Actor Musical); and Sutton Foster in Thoroughly Modern Millie (best Actress Musical).
2003 - The U.S. FCC eased media ownership rules and allowed companies to own both a newspaper and a broadcast station in the same market.
2004 - Romania’s President Ion Iliescu unveiled the Logan sedan, a joint venture between Renault and Romania’s Dacia. Starting prices were around $6,100.
2005 - Network server giant Sun Microsystems Inc. said it agreed to buy Storage Technology Corp. for $4.1 billion in cash, bolstering its presence in the fast-growing market for data storage.
2005 - Israel released 398 Palestinian prisoners, completing a pledge made under a cease-fire agreement. This, a few hours after Israel and the Palestinians announced their leaders would soon meet for the first time in several months.
2005 - 13-year-old Anurag Kashyap won the U.S. spelling bee championship by correctly spelling the word appoggiatura, which refers to an embellishing musical note.
2006 - The U.S. government and five news organizations agreed to pay $1.65 million to Wen Ho Lee, a former nuclear scientist, who claimed his privacy was violated by leaks that portrayed him as a spy.
2007 - Virgin Atlantic chairman Richard Branson landed in Kenya on Virgin Atlantic Airways’ maiden flight to the east African country. And Branson announced a plan to help protect some 2,000 elephants that were being threatened by encroachment. Branson said the elephants were being hemmed in by small farms mushrooming around Mount Kenya, stifling centuries-old migratory routes and sending some crashing across homesteads, threatening lives and damaging crops.
2007 - Authorized won the Epsom Derby in England, giving riding legend Frankie Dettori his first win in the race after 15 tries.
2008 - Rhythm and blues, rock & roll pioneer Bo Diddley died in Florida at 79 years of age. In 1954, he teamed up with Billy Boy Arnold and recorded I’m a Man and Bo Diddley, which landed him a spot on the Ed Sullivan Show. Diddley was also well known for his technical innovations, including his trademark rectangular-shaped guitar, but is probably most fondly remember for his jive-talking routine on Say Man, a U.S. top-20 hit in 1959.
2009 - Razortooth opened in the U.S. The horror thriller stars Kathleen LaGue, Doug Swander, Matt Holly and Tim Colceri.
2009 - Mexican truckers filed a lawsuit against the U.S. seeking $6 billion in compensation for losses they suffered after Washington banned them from crossing the border in violation of a trade pact.
2009 - An airplane seat, life jacket, metallic debris and fuel residue were found in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean by Brazilian military pilots searching for missing Air France Flight 447.
2010 - Iran barred private schools from teaching music, saying it clashed with the establishment’s Islamic values. This, following a push to enforce moral standards that were expected to lead to a national dress code for university students.
2010 - The crew of a Libyan-owned cargo ship pounced on their sleeping Somali captors , disarmed the pirates and killed five of them, regaining control of the MV Rim. It had been hijacked on Feb 2, 2010.
2012 - Former Family Feud TV host Richard Dawson died in Los Angeles. He was 79 years old. Dawson hosted the family friendly competition show from 1976-1985 and also starred in the sitcom Hogan’s Heroes from 1965 to 1971.
2013 - Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the nation’s legislature and constitutional panel had been illegally elected. The decision dealt a serious blow to the legal basis for the Islamists’ hold on to power.
2014 - Spain’s King Juan Carlos announced that he intended to abdicate his throne in favor of his son, Crown Prince Felipe. Juan Carlos had led Spain’s transition from dictatorship to democracy but faced royal scandals amid the nation’s near financial meltdown. But it seemed that Bogachev was enjoying admiration and apparent sanctuary in his home in a resort on Russia’s Black Sea coast
2014 - The U.S. Justice Dept. announced charges against Evgeniy Bogachev, the Russian mastermind of a scheme where hackers implanted viruses on hundreds of thousands of computers around the world, seized customer bank information and stole more than $100 million. The FBI issued a ‘Most Wanted’ poster for his arrest. Meanwhile, Bogachev was being lauded as a hero at home.
2015 - Dias Kadyrbayev, a friend of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was sentenced to six years in prison for aiding Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the aftermath of the 2013 terror attack.
2015 - The U.S. Senate passed the USA Freedom Act and POTUS Obama swiftly signed it into law. It replaced and reformed a lapsed provision of the Patriot Act. The new law stopped the indiscriminate harvesting of phone-call records by the NSA. It also contained changes to shine some light on the secret FISA court, established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
2016 - Norway announced that nine scientists had won the 2016 Kavli Prize. The winners were selected for the direct detection of gravitational waves, the invention and realization of atomic force microscopy, and for the discovery of mechanisms that allow experience and neural activity to remodel brain function.
2017 - Movies debuting in U.S. theatres included: the animated action adventure, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, featuring the voices of Jordan Peele, Kevin Hart, Nick Kroll, Kristen Schaal, Thomas Middleditch, Ed Helms, and Lesley Nicol; Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot, Robin Wright and Chris Pine; Churchill, starring Brian Cox, Miranda Richardson and John Slattery; Dean, with Asif Ali, Jesaiah Baer and Kathrine Barnes; The Exception, starring Lily James, Jai Courtney and Christopher Plummer; Past Life, with Nelly Tagar, Joy Rieger and Doron Tavory; and Vincent N Roxxy, starring Emile Hirsch, Zoë Kravitz and Zoey Deutch.
2017 - The European Union announced its increased cooperation with China to curb climate change. This, after POTUS Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris accord on climate change. The U.S. pullout triggered a furious global backlash.
2018 - Police moved the last group of evacuees from homes on the eastern tip of the Big Island of Hawaii as lava flowing from the Kilauea volcano began cutting off road access to the area.
2018 - G7 finance ministers ended their annual meeting in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada united in condemning POTUS Trump’s aggressive protectionism, calling on him to reverse his decision to impose punishing metal tariffs.
2019 - Thousands of Israeli religious nationalists paraded through the streets of Jerusalem and into the main entrance of the Old city’s Muslim Quarter to mark Jerusalem Day, celebrating the region's capture in 1967 from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel later annexed East Jerusalem, a move unrecognized by most of the international community. The city and its sites holy to Muslims, Christians and Jews are the emotional epicenter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
2020 - Nine states held primary elections. Joe Biden and Donald Trump swept their respective primary contests.
2020 - Joe Biden blasted POTUS Trump a day after police drove back peaceful protesters near the White House making room for Trump to pose with a Bible before a damaged church in Philadelphia.
2020 - George Floyd death reaction:
1)Bank of America Corp pledged $1 billion to help communities across the country address economic and racial inequality. It was the first big bank to vow monetary support following violent protests after the death of an unarmed black man at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
2)77-year-old David Dorn, a former police captain, was shot and killed outside of a friend’s pawn shop in St. Louis, Missouri during unrest over Floyd’s death. The pawn shop was looted.
3)In France riot police fired volleys of tear gas at Paris protesters, who assembled at the city’s main courthouse despite a coronavirus-related ban on protests. And it wasn’t just Floyd: the crowd also paid homage to Adama Traore, a French black man who died in police custody.2020 - COVID-19 news:
1)Iran reported 3,117 new cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours bringing the overall caseload to 157,562. The virus claimed another 64 lives in the past day, raising the overall death toll to 7,942. The health ministry lamented that people were ignoring social distancing rules.
2)Japan approved saliva-based tests for the coronavirus, offering a safer, simpler way to diagnose infection than nasal swabs as it looks to boost its testing rates.2021 - Churchill Downs suspended Bob Baffert, a seven-time winner of the Kentucky Derby and the most recognizable figure in the sport, from entering horses at the racetrack in Louisville -- for two years. This followed the confirmation of Medina Spirit’s positive drug test after the 2021 Kentucky Derby -- becoming the second horse in the 147-year history of the race to be disqualified as 1st-place winner because of a failed drug test.
2021 - Authorities said a ring of Venezuelans living in South Florida and Mexico had stolen more than $800,000 in U.S. government stimulus checks from people who lost their jobs or had struggled financially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2022 - Queen Elizabeth II marked her Platinum Jubilee (the first British Monarch to reach that plateau), marking 70 years of service. Four days of celebrations began with a military parade at Buckingham Palace.
2022 - The Jury in the defamation case brought by Johnny Depp against ex-wife Amber Heard awarded Depp $15 million in damages and compensation. Heard was awarded $2 million in her countersuit at the trial in Fairfax, Virginia.
and more...
Birthdays on This Day June 2
1731 - Martha Washington (Dandridge Custis)
first First Lady of the U.S., wife of 1st U.S. President George Washington; made a mean cherry pie, we hear; died May 22, 18021740 - Marquis de Sade (Comte Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade)
author: Justine; died Dec 2, 18141773 - John Randolph
Virginia statesman and early advocate of the states’ rights: U.S. representative and senator; died May 24, 18331835 - Saint Pius X (Giuseppe Melchiorre Sato)
257th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church; died Aug 20, 19141840 - Thomas Hardy
writer, poet: related the “...tragedy of 19th-century humanity.”; died Jan 11th 19281857 - Sir Edward Elgar
composer: Pomp and Circumstance; died Feb 23, 19341904 - Johnny (Peter John) Weissmuller
swimmer: won total of 5 gold medals in Olympic swimming [1924, 1928], he also collected 52 U.S. and 67 world swimming records; actor: Tarzan, the Ape Man, Tarzan and His Mate, Tarzan Escapes, Tarzan Finds a Son, Tarzan’s Secret Adventure, Tarzan’s New York Adventure; died Jan 20, 1984
1908 - Ben Grauer
Broadway actor; radio actor, announcer, personality: NBC radio: Ben Grauer’s Americana; died May 31, 19771917 - Max Showalter
actor: With a Song in My Heart, Bus Stop, It Happened to Jane, The Music Man, Sixteen Candles, Racing with the Moon; died July 30, 20001920 - Tex Schramm
Pro Football Hall of Famer: president and GM of Dallas Cowboys, and a major player in the AFL-NFL merger of 1966, he promoted the six-division, wild-card playoff concepts for merged NFL; died July 15, 20031922 - Gil Stratton
actor: Broadway: Best Foot Forward; film: Stalag 17, The Wild One; TV: That’s My Boy, Dragnet; sportscaster: KNXT-TV [Los Angeles]; died Oct 11, 20081924 - Carl Butler
country entertainer, songwriter: Don’t Let Me Cross Over, I Never Got Over You, Loving Arms, Just Thought I’d Let You Know; died Sep 4, 19921926 - Milo O’Shea
actor: The Playboys, Only the Lonely, Broken Vows, The Purple Rose of Cairo, The Verdict, Sacco & Vanzetti, Paddy, Barbarella, Ulysses; died Apr 2, 20131930 - Charles ‘Pete’ Conrad Jr.
U.S. astronaut: 3rd man to walk on the Moon [Apollo 12 mission]; commanded first manned Skylab 2 [1973]; awarded Congressional Space Medal of Honor by President Jimmy Carter [1978]; died Jul 8, 19991932 - Sammy Turner (Samuel Black)
singer: Lavender-Blue [Dilly Dilly], Always, Paradise; LPs: Lavender Blue Moods, Soul of Jesus Christ Superstar1933 - Jerry (Dean) Lumpe
baseball: NY Yankees [World Series: 1957, 1958], KC Athletics, Detroit Tigers [all-star: 1964]; died Aug 16, 20141934 - Johnny Carter
singer: groups: The Flamingos [pre-1958]: If I Can’t Have You, That’s My Desire, Golden Teardrops; The Dells: Oh What a Night, Stay in My Corner, There Is, Wear It On Our Face, Always Together, I Can Sing A Rainbow/Love Is Blue, The Love We Had Stays on My Mind; died Aug 21, 2009
1937 - Jimmy Jones
singer: Handy Man, Good Timin’; died Aug 2, 20121937 - Sally Kellerman
actress: M*A*S*H, The Boston Strangler, Brewster McCloud, Fatal Attraction, Meatballs III, Murder Among Friends, Boris and Natasha, Columbo: Ashes to Ashes; died Feb 24, 20221939 - Charles Miller
musician: saxophone, clarinet: group: War: LPs: All Day Music, The World is a Ghetto, Why Can’t We be Friends?; murdered in a robbery attempt in 1980 in Los Angeles; died Jun 14, 19801940 - Jim (James William) Maloney
baseball: pitcher: Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1961/all-star: 1965], California Angels1941 - (Walter) Stacy Keach Jr.
actor: Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, Conduct Unbecoming, Sunset Grill, Texas, Road Games, The Long Riders, Brewster McCloud; narrator: Plague Fighters, Olympic Glory, Savage Seas, World’s Most Amazing Videos, Nova; host: Missing Reward, Case Closed1941 - Charlie Watts
musician: drummer: groups: The Rolling Stones: [I Can’t Get No] Satisfaction, Honky Tonk Women; solo: LPs: Live at Fulham Town Hall; Charlie Watts Quintet: From One Charlie, A tribute to Charlie Parker with Strings, Warm and Tender, Long Ago & Far Away; died Aug 24, 20211943 - Charles Haid
actor: Hill Street Blues, Delvecchio, Altered States, The Fire Next Time, Children in the Crossfire1944 - Marvin Hamlisch
Academy Award-winning pianist, composer: for adapted score: The Sting [1973]; original score and song: The Way We Were [1973]; Grammy Award-winner: The Way We Were & Best New Artist; Tony Award-winner: A Chorus Line [1976]; died Aug 6, 20121944 - Garo Yepremian
football: Miami Dolphins kicker: Super Bowl VI, VII, VIII1948 - Jerry Mathers
actor: Leave It to Beaver, The Trouble with Harry, Back to the Beach1950 - Joanna Gleason
actress: For Richer for Poorer, F/X 2: The Deadly Art of Illusion, Crimes & Misdemeanors, Heartburn, Into the Woods, Love & War, Hello Larry, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Boogie Nights, Bette; daughter of TV quiz show host Monty Hall1950 - Lawrence McCutcheon
football: LA Rams running back: Super Bowl XIV1950 - Antone Tavares
singer: group: Tavares: It Only Takes a Minute, Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel1950 - Nate Williams
basketball: Utah State Univ., Sacramento Kings1951 - Larry Robinson
Hockey Hall of Famer: Montreal Canadiens, LA Kings; career: 6 Stanley Cups, scored 208 goals, had 750 assists, won both Conn Smythe and Norris Trophies; coach: LA Kings1952 - Gary Bettman
first National Hockey League commissioner [1993-present]; National Basketball Association general counsel for [1989-1993]1953 - Craig Stadler
golf champ: Bob Hope Desert Classic [1980], Masters [1982], Byron Nelson Classic [1984], Buick Invitational [1994], Nissan Open [1996], The Bank of America Championship [2004]; 21 major victories1954 - Dennis Haysbert
actor: Major League, 24, The Unit; TV: Allstate Insurance commercials1955 - Dana Carvey
actor, comedian, impersonator: Saturday Night Live, Clean Slate, It Happened in Paradise, Wayne’s World1955 - Gary Grimes
actor: Summer of ’42, Class of ’44, Culpepper Cattle Co.1960 - Tony Hadley
singer: group: Spandau Ballet: True, Gold, Through the Barricade; autobiography: To Cut a Long Story Short1960 - Kyle Petty
NASCAR race car driver: 8 career victories; son is driver Adam Petty; father is driver Richard Petty; grandfather was race car driver Lee Petty1967 - Mike Stanton
baseball [pitcher]: Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Washington Nationals1971 - Joel Tobeck
actor: Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Cleopatra 2525, 30 Days of Night, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Eagle Vs Shark1972 - Wayne Brady
actor: Whose Line Is It Anyway?; TV host: The Wayne Brady Show, Let’s Make a Deal [2009 revival]1972 - Wentworth Miller
actor: Prison Break, Prison Break: Resurrection, Stoker, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow1973 - Neifi Perez
baseball: Colorado Rockies, KC Royals, SF Giants, Chicago Cubs1976 - Earl Boykins
basketball [guard]: Eastern Michigan Univ; NJ Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, LA Clippers, GS Warriors, Denver Nuggets1977 - Zachary Quinto
actor: Heroes, 24, So NoTORIous, Star Trek [2009]1978 - Dominic Cooper
actor: Captain America: The First Avenger, The History Boys, The Devil’s Double, Mamma Mia!, Starter for 10, The Duchess, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Dracula Untold1978 - Nikki Cox
actress: Las Vegas, Unhappily Ever After, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, General Hospital, Pearl, Sub Down, The Nanny, The Norm Show, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps1978 - Justin Long
actor: Live Free or Die Hard, Galaxy Quest, Jeepers Creepers, Dodgeball, He’s Just Not That into You, Drag Me to Hell, Alpha and Omega, Youth in Revolt; played the Mac in Apple’s Get a Mac ad campaign1979 - Morena Baccarin
actress: V, Firefly, Serenity, Stargate SG-1, Stargate: The Ark of Truth, Homeland, Numb3rs, The Mentalist, The Good Wife1980 - Abby Wambach
footballer: two-time Olympic gold medalist, FIFA Women’s World Cup champ1982 - Jewel Staite
actress: Space Cases, Firefly, Serenity, Stargate Atlantis, The L.A. Complex1996 - Brittany O’Grady
actress: The White Lotus, Above Suspicion, Star, Black Christmas2005 - Jadah Marie Johnson
actress: Mann and Wife, Descendants 3, Julie and the Phantoms
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day June 2
1952Kiss of Fire (facts) - Georgia Gibbs
Blue Tango (facts) - The Leroy Anderson Orchestra
1961
1970
1979
1988
1997
2006
2015
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
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