NewMexiKen

Two football hall-of-famers, Paul Hornung (74) and Jack Ham (61) were born on this date. Those numbers are their ages, not their jersey numbers. Hornung wore 5 with Green Bay, Ham 59 with the Steelers. That’s Hornung on the SI cover while still the Golden Boy at Notre Dame — he won the Heisman, only player ever to win the award while playing for a losing team (the Irish were 2-8 in 1956).

Ham played 12 seasons for the Steelers and is regarded with Lawrence Taylor as the two best linebackers of all-time.

It’s the birthday of Montgomery Burns, Smithers, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner and Reverend Lovejoy. Comedian and voice actor Harry Shearer is 66 today.

Another hall-of-famer, Susan Lucci, is 63 today. “The conniving Erica Kane, with 10 husbands down already, will fall into the arms of a much younger man on ABC’s soap opera [All My Children] this summer. To make life a little more complicated, it’s her daughter’s ex-husband and ex-fiance’s stepson.” Ms. Lucci has been playing that role since 1970.

Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam is 45.

The author Norman Maclean was born on this date in 1902.

He grew up in Montana. He taught English at the University of Chicago for many years, and built a cabin in Montana, near the Big Blackfoot River, and he spent every summer there.

After he retired from teaching, at the age of 70, he wrote his famous autobiographical novella, A River Runs Through It, which was published in 1976 by the University of Chicago Press. It was the first work of fiction the press ever published, and it was a huge best-seller, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

It begins: “In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ’s disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman.”

The Writer’s Almanac (2008)

Sarah Breedlove Walker was born on this date in 1867.

Mrs. C. J. Walker, known as New York’s wealthiest negress, having accumulated a fortune from the sale of so-called anti-kink hair tonic and from real estate investments in the last fourteen years, died yesterday morning at her country estate at Irvington-on-Hudson. She was proprietor of the Madame Walker hair dressing parlors at 108 West 136th Street and other places in the city. Her death recalled the unusual story of how she rose in twelve years from a washerwoman making only $1.50 a day to a position of wealth and influence among members of her race.

Estimates of Mrs. Walker’s fortune had run up to $1,000,000.

The above from Mrs. Walker’s 1919 obituary in The New York Times. It’s fascinating reading. Not the least of which is identifying this self-made woman by her married name, Mrs. C.J. — more than 30 years after she was widowed.

Joseph Smith began his 38 years on earth on this date in 1805.

The Federal Reserve System was created by the Owen-Glass Act, signed by President Wilson on this date in 1913.

The first major banking reform to follow the Civil War, the Federal Reserve was organized to regulate banking and provide the nation with a more stable and secure financial and monetary system. It remains the central banking authority of the United States, establishing banking policies, interest rates, and the availability of credit. It also acts as the government’s fiscal agent and regulates the supply of currency.

Expanded since its founding, in both size and function, the Federal Reserve consists of a board of governors, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, twelve regional Federal Reserve banks, the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Advisory Council, a Consumer Advisory Council, and several thousand member banks.

Library of Congress

George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the Army on December 23, 1783.

Today is the birthday

… of Hector Elizondo. Better-known for Chicago Hope, NewMexiKen remembers this fine character actor best as the gracious hotel manager in Pretty Woman. He’s 73.

… of Steve Carlton. Lefty is 65.

Steve Carlton was an extremely focused competitor with complete dedication to excellence. He thrived on the mound by physically and mentally challenging himself off the field. His out-pitch, a hard, biting slider complemented a great fastball. He won 329 games – second only to Warren Spahn among lefties – and his 4,136 strikeouts are exceeded only by Nolan Ryan. Lefty once notched 19 strikeouts in a game, compiled six 20-win seasons, and was the first pitcher to win four Cy Young Awards.

National Baseball Hall of Fame

… of Diane Sawyer. She’s 64. New job this week.

… of Robin Gibb. The twin of Maurice (d. 2003) and brother of Barry and Andy (d. 1988) is 60.

… of Ralph Fiennes. The actor, twice nominated for the best actor Oscar, is 47.

Claudia Alta Taylor was born on this date in 1912.

In 1934 Lady Bird met Lyndon Baines Johnson, then a Congressional secretary visiting Austin on official business; he promptly asked her for a date, which she accepted. He courted her from Washington with letters, telegrams, and telephone calls. Seven weeks later he was back in Texas; he proposed to her and she accepted. In her own words: “Sometimes Lyndon simply takes your breath away.” They were married in November 1934.

The years that followed were devoted to Lyndon’s political career, with “Bird” as partner, confidante, and helpmate. She helped keep his Congressional office open during World War II when he volunteered for naval service; and in 1955, when he had a severe heart attack, she helped his staff keep things running smoothly until he could return to his post as Majority Leader of the Senate. He once remarked that voters “would happily have elected her over me.”

After repeated miscarriages, she gave birth to Lynda Bird (now Mrs. Charles S. Robb) in 1944; Luci Baines (Mrs. Ian Turpin) was born three years later.

The White House

I worked at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in the mid-1970s where I met and occasionally chatted with Mrs. Johnson. Lady Bird was a warm, impressive and attractive woman. She died in 2007.