In 1996: In a touching ceremony, Muhammed Ali lights the in the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Struggling with Parkinson’s Disease, Ali receives one of the warmest ovations in Olympic history. Ali won a boxing gold medal in the 1960 Games. IOC President Juan Antonio Samarach gave what would prove to be an ominous speech, saying, “We still live in a world where human tragedies persist.” A week later, two people were killed and many more injured in a bombing in the Olympic Village.
In 1991: This is a day Mike Tyson would like to have back. While in Indianapolis, Tyson met a Miss Black America pageant contestant named Desiree Washington. At around 1 A.M., they went to Tyson’s hotel room. Six months later, Tyson was convicted of rape and served three years of a six year sentence in an Indiana prison. Tyson would not fight again until 1995.
In 1918: Demonstrating how differently baseball players were treated back then and today, Secretary of War Newton Baker declares that baseball is a “non-essential occupation,” and thereby not exempt from being drafted in the first World War. As a result many players were sent to fight or work in shipyards or other defense industries. The league would shut down in early September.
