Celebrating Black History Month: Earl Lloyd, first African-American to play in the NBA

Earl Lloyd, born April 3, 1928 in Alexandria, Virginia, became the first African-American to play in the National Basketball Association.  He played basketball in high school and named to the All-South Atlantic Conference three times and the All-State Virginia Interscholastic Conference twice. He received a scholarship to play basketball at West Virginia State University.

Lloyd led WVSU to two Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Conference and Tournament Championships in 1948 and 1949. 

He was drafted into the NBA during the ninth round in 1950 by the Washington Capitols. Lloyd was one of three black players to be drafted at the same time.  He played his first game on Halloween night, one day ahead of Chuck Cooper, and four days ahead of Nat Clifton. 

The Nationals folded in January 1951, and he was drafted into the US Army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He served time in the Korean War before coming back to basketball in 1952. He played six seasons with Syracuse Nationals and two with the Detroit Pistons.

He retired in 1961. He passed away in February 2015 in Tennessee. 

Dick York, the original Darrin Stephens, born 1928

Dick York, born September 4, 1928 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is best known for his role as the beleaguered husband Darrin Stephens in the iconic television series Bewitched.  He appeared in the show opposite Elizabeth Montgomery and Agnes Moorehead from 1964-1969.  York suffered a serious back injury while filming They Came to Cordura in 1959, which caused him to suffer back pain for the rest of his life.  

He appeared in two episodes of the Twilight Zone before starring in Bewitched.  His chronic back problems resulted in him leaving the show in 1969.  His final on-screen appearance in Bewitched was Samantha and Darrin in Mexico City.  Daddy Does His Thing was the final episode he filmed.  During the filming, he suffered at seizure and was rushed to the hospital, at which time he was let go from the show.

He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 1968 for his performance on Bewitched.

York passed away in February 1992.  

The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) movie trailer

The Amazing Colossal Man, released in the US October 25, 1957, was produced and directed by Bert I.  Gordon. It was based on The Nth Man, a short science fiction novel by Homer Eon Flint, published in 1928.  

Glenn Langan survives a plutonium bomb explosion, only to begin growing in size.  Soon he reaches fifty feet and goes insane, attacking Las Vegas.

It spawned a sequel War of the Colossal Beast released in June 1958.  Both movies were skewered by Joel and the bots on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Georgy Dobrovolsky, Soyuz 11 cosmonaut, born June 1, 1928

Georgy Dobrovolsky, born June 1, 1928 in Odessa, Ukraine, was commander of the ill-fated Soyuz 11 mission.  He and fellow cosmonauts Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev took off June 6, 1971 and became the first crew to successfully dock with Salyut 1.  Unfortunately, he and his crew perished when a valve accidentally opened up during re-entry, suffocating the crew.  Dobrovolsky and his comrades as of now are the only people to have died in space.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Anatoly Filipchenko!

Anatoly Filipchenko, born February 26, 1928 in the former Soviet Union, has been in space twice. 

His first trip was aboard Soyuz 7 as commander in October 1969.  The mission was to rendezvous with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 8 but the project was unsuccessful.

His second and final trip was aboard Soyuz 16 as commander in December 1974.  It was a manned test flight in preparation for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project the following year.

James Garner, Oklahoma actor, born 1928

James Garner, born April 7, 1928 in Norman, Oklahoma, was an award-winning actor whose career spanned more than 50 years.  He's probably best known for his role as Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files for which he won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.  He appeared in comedies such as Support Your Local Gunfighter and Victor/Victoria.  He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Murphy's Romance.

He passed away July 19, 2014 from a massive heart attack brought on by coronary artery disease.

He was a guest on the Carol Burnett Show in 1978.

Happy birthday, Gemini and Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell!

Jim Lovell, born March 25, 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, made two flights in NASA's Gemini program and two in the Apollo program, including the Apollo 13 mission.  He was the first person to go into space four times, is one of twenty-four people to fly to the moon, and one of three people to fly to the moon twice, although he did not make a landing.

His first mission was pilot on Gemini VII with Command Pilot Frank Borman in December 1965, and they spent 14 days in orbit.

His second flight was as Commander of Gemini XII with pilot Buzz Aldrin in November 1966. They performed three EVAs and conducted the fourth space docking with the Agena target vehicle, proving men could work outside a spacecraft, which paved the way for sending men to the moon.

His third flight was on Apollo 8 as Command Module Pilot with Frank Borman and William Anders in December 1968.  It was the second manned mission of the Apollo program and the first to leave Earth's orbit, reach the moon, orbit it and then return safely to Earth.

Lovell's fourth and final flight was as Commander aboard Apollo 13, with Jack Swigert and Fred Haise in April 1970.  The disaster that occurred during the mission has been immortalized in the movie Apollo 13.  Tom Hanks portrayed Jim Lovell in the movie.  Lovell is the one who uttered the famous phrase:  "Houston, we've had a problem."

Vasily Lazarev, cosmonaut, born 1928

Vasily Lazarev, born February 23, 1928  in the Soviet Union, flew aboard Soyuz 12 and the flawed Soyuz 18a in April 1975. 

The Soyuz 12, with Lazarev and Oleg Makarov, was the first manned mission after the trafic events of the Soyuz 11, when 3 cosmonauts perished when their capsule depressurized.

On April 5, 1975, Lazarev and Makarov launched in Soyuz 18a.  Onlky minutes after take-off, the spacecraft suffered a high-altitude booster accident and the mission was aborted.  The cosmonauts landed on a snow-covered slope and began sliding downhill until the parachutes, which opened correctly, snagged on vegetation, stopping their decent.

Lazarev never recovered completely from his injuries and did not go into space again.  He passed away December 31, 1990 in Moscow.

John Colicos, Star Trek (TOS and DS9) actor, born 1928

John Colicos, born December 10, 1928 in Toronto, Canada, is probably best known for his role as Count Baltar on Battlestar: Galactica, but before that he appeared in the original Star Trek series episode Errand of Mercy as the Klingon Kor.  Years later he reprised his role as Kor on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine three times.

In the first, Blood Oath, he joined two more actors who played Klingons in the original series, William Campbell as Koloth in The Trouble with Tribbles and Michael Ansara as Kang in Day of the Dove.

Colicos returned two more times as Kor in The Sword of Kahless and Once More Unto the Breach.  He passed away March 6, 2000 in Toronto.

Happy birthday, Gemini and Apollo astronaut Frank Borman!

Frank Frederic Borman II, born March 14, 1928, is a veteran of the Gemini and Apollo programs.  He flew on Gemini 7 in 1965 with James Lovell, setting a record the time of 14 days in space.  They performed maneuvers with Gemini 6A bringing the spacecrafts within 1 foot of each other.

Later, he was part of the Apollo 8 crew with James Lovell and William Anders, December 1968.

As of Jon Glenn's death in December 2016, Borman is the oldest living astronaut.

Happy birthday, Adam West!

Probably the most famous Batman of them all!  Adam West was born September 19, 1928.

You think you have it rough?  Some days you just can't get rid of bomb!