1818 – Congress decides on the US flag: 13 red and white stripes & 20 stars.
1902 – Cecil Rhodes scholarship fund forms with $10 million.
1911 – Hugh Chambers, automaker, suggests idea of baseball MVP.
1917 – US Senate agrees (82-6) to participate in WWI.
1937 – 4th Augusta National Invitation Tournament (Masters) Golf: Byron Nelson wins first of his 5 major titles by 2 strokes ahead of Ralph Guldahi.
1945 – World War II: US Army occupies Bielefeld in north-eastern Germany.
1949 – North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) treaty signed in Washington, D.C.
1960 – 32nd Academy Awards: “Ben-Hur”, Charlton Heston & Simone Signoret win.
1964 – Beatles’ “Can’t Buy Me Love” single goes #1 stays #1 for 5 weeks.
1968 – US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.
1971 – Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 524 performances, then most expensive Broadway musical.
1972 – 1st electric power plant fueled by garbage begins operating.
1974 – Hank Aaron ties Babe Ruth’s home-run record by hitting his 714th in Cincinnati, facing Jack Billingham.
1976 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800.
1983 – 45th NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: North Carolina State beats Houston, 54-52: Wolfpack win with buzzer-beating dunk by Lorenzo Charles off a desperation 30 foot shot from Derek Whittenburg.
1987 – “Always & Forever” 2nd studio album by Randy Travis (Billboard Album of the Year 1988)
1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania.
1999 – Jack Ma founds Chinese internet company Alibaba.
2005 – 67th NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: North Carolina beats Illinois, 75-70; Tar Heels’ 4th national championship.
2006 – 25th NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship: Maryland beats Duke, 78-75 OT: Terrapins’ first national title: Laura Harper MOP.
2017 – Alibaba becomes the world’s largest retailer according to US Securities and Exchange Commission.
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