Today’s Birthdays: August 21st

Kenny Rogers is 73 today. Probably time enough for countin’.

Patty McCormack is 66. The actress, known now as Patricia McCormack, was nominated for the supporting actress Oscar as an 11-year-old for her performance in The Bad Seed.

The only two-time Heisman Trophy winner, Archie Griffin is 57 today.

Kim Cattrall of Sex in the City is 55.

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, is 38 today.

The world’s fastest human, Usain Bolt, is 25.

Hayden Panettiere of Heroes is 22.

William “Count” Basie was born on this date in 1904.

Count Basie was a leading figure of the swing era in jazz and, alongside Duke Ellington, an outstanding representative of big band style.

Quotation from the PBS website for Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns. The page has a nice biography of Basie with some audio clips, including Basie’s 1937 recording of “One O’Clock Jump,” one of NPR’s 100 “most important American musical works of the 20th century.”

Wilt Chamberlain was born in Philadelphia 75 years ago today. Usually called “The Stilt” because it rhymed with Wilt, Chamberlain actually preferred the nickname “The Big Dipper.” He named his Bel Air house Ursa Major.

• Scored 800 points in first 16 high school games.
• Unanimous All-American at Kansas 1957, 1958, averaging nearly 30 points per game.
• Four-time NBA MVP.
• Scored 31,419 points (30.1 ppg) in 1,045 pro games, including 100 in one game against the Knicks.
• All-time scoring leader when he retired, since surpassed.

Chamberlain died in 1999.

Two of the top sportscasters of a previous generation were born on August 21, 1924 — Jack Buck and Chris Schenkel. Buck died in 2002 and Schenkel in 2005.

“Gibson…swings and a fly ball to deep right field. This is gonna be a home run! UNBELIEVABLE! A home run for Gibson! And the Dodgers have won the game, five to four; I don’t believe what I just saw! I don’t BELIEVE what I just saw!” — Jack Buck, 1988 World Series.

Schenkel was the host on ABC for the 1972 Munich Olympics. Everyone remembers Jim McKay reporting the terrorist attack, but that’s because McKay filled in for Schenkel, who was asleep after doing the 2AM-5AM German time live coverage for the U.S. Schenkel covered the Professional Bowlers’ Tour for 36 years.

Hawaii entered the Union as the 50th state on this date in 1959. The eight major islands in the chain are Ni’ihau, Kaua’i, O’ahu, Moloka’i, Lāna’i, Kaho’olawe, Maui and Hawai’i.

On this date in 1831 a 30-year-old black slave named Nat Turner, supported by about 60 followers armed with guns, clubs, axes and swords, launched the bloodiest slave revolt in American history.