This Date In History

February 22

1630 - OK, movie-goers, this one’s for you! Popcorn was introduced to English colonists when Quadequine, brother of Massasoit, brought a bag of the stuff over to dinner this day.

1860 - Organized baseball’s first game was played in San Francisco, CA.

1879 - We won’t try to nickel and dime you with this nugget, but it is a fact that Frank W. Woolworth opened his first 5 and 10-cent store. Woolworth’s opened in Utica, New York. Sales at the first store were disappointing ... until Mr. Woolworth moved his operation to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and later, to the entire U.S.A. Remember the lunch counter at F. W. Woolworth’s? You could get a burger and a real vanilla soda or a lime rickey there for about a buck. Those were the days.

1918--How tall is the tallest man? Most information collected before the 1900s can not be proven. In fact, exaggeration and dishonesty prevailed. Even medical papers were unreliable. Depending on the measurements of the time and the translation of such, even Goliath stood a mere 6 feet, 10 inches. However, there is irrefutable evidence that Robert Pershing Wadlow, born on this day in 1918 in Alton, Illinois, still holds the record for being the tallest recorded man. Oh yes, Robert was quite normal at birth, weighing in at 8.5 lbs. At the age of two, he had a double hernia operation and something changed. He started to grow, and grow and grow. By age 5 he was 5’4" tall and weighed 105 lbs. On his 8th birthday, Robert weighed in at 169 lbs. and topped the ruler at six feet. He grew another foot by the time he was thirteen and still another by his seventeenth year. On June 27, 1940, Mr. Wadlow was measured by Dr. Cyril MacBryde and Dr. C. M. Charles, Associate Professor of Anatomy at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. They recorded Wadlow’s height at 8’ 11.1". A week later, Wadlow was fitted with a brace on his right leg. The brace fit poorly and inflamed his ankle, causing cellulitis. Robert Wadlow died from the infection on July 15, 1940. A coffin was made especially for him: 10’9" long, 32" wide, 30" deep. Had he not died, he would have continued to grow, according to the doctors. Wadlow, who faced constant public attention and often, ridicule, was always kind, patient and friendly, a demeanor that earned him the nickname ‘the gentle giant’. Fortunately he was a gentle giant. If he wasn’t, his harassers would have faced a 439 lb. man who wore shoes, size 37AA, a size-25 ring on hands that measured 12 3/4" from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger. His arm span was nine feet, five and three-quarter inches. (One of his shoes is on display at Fast Eddie's Bonair in Alton).

1949 - Gorgeous George and Ernie Dusek ushered in a brand new era in professional wrestling, with the debut of “flying leaps, sequins and schmaltz,” according to the sports scribes covering the event.

1956 - Elvis Presley entered the music charts for the first time. Heartbreak Hotel began its climb to the number one spot on the pop listing, reaching the top on April 11, 1956. It stayed at the top for eight weeks.

1975- Drew Barrymore is born.

1980 - A pivotal moment for ice hockey in the United States came on this day. The 1980 ‘Miracle on Ice’ U.S. victory over Russia was a dramatic, come-from-behind, 4-3, victory. The U.S. went on to defeat Finland, 4-2, two days later to win the gold medal.

1992- Christina Cox and William Johnson,III are united in marriage.

2002-Chris & Bill Johnson, Mike & Paula Williams, and Mike & Diana Cornett board plane to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico!