September 2nd

Hall of fame basketball coach John Thompson is 66 today. Funny how things stick in your memory. I can remember a photo of Thompson in a basketball magazine when he was a player at Providence College. It was one of those silly posed photos — they had him with a basketball in each hand, held like a pair of softballs.

Terry Bradshaw is 59, Mark Harmon 56 and Jimmy Connors 55 today.

Harmon’s father was “Old 98,” Tom Harmon, a football great at Michigan and for the L.A. Rams. Mark himself played quarterback at UCLA, where he graduated cum laude.

Keanu Reeves is 43.
MacArthur signs
And Salma Hayek is 41. Ms. Hayek received a best actress Oscar nomination for Frida.

It was on the morning of September 2, 1945, that the Japanese officially surrendered to Gen. Douglas MacArthur aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. MacArthur signed the articles at 9:07 am Tokyo time, ending World War II. President Truman declared Sunday, September 2nd V-J Day in the U.S.