1497 - The first European to set foot on the North American continent after the Vikings was John Cabot (also spelled Cabot, Cabotto, Caboote, Gabote, Calbot, or Talbot), a mariner who was probably born in Genoa, Italy.  In 1496, King Henry VII of England granted Cabot a charter to sail west to Asia and set up a spice-trade monopoly. Cabot's ship, a 70-foot caravel called the Matthew, embarked from Briston, England, on May 27, 1497, and arrived on the coast of Newfoundland---or possibly Maine---on June 24. After planting the English and Venetian flags, Cabot and his men spent a few hours exploring the landing site, then returned to their ship.
According to historians, Christopher Columbus was attempting to follow
Cabots route; however, he never landed in North America, but in the
what is now called the Caribbean.
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/education/fact_files/fact_cabot.html
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/journals/EH/EH33/croxto33.html
    1579 - The first Christian religious service in English on the Pacific Coast was the Holy Communion service conducted at San Francisco Bay, CA, by the Reverend Francis Fletcher, who read from the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England.  Fletcher was chaplain on Sir Francis Drake's ship, the Golden Hind, during its voyage of cirumnagation from 1577 to 1580.  Drake named the place Nova Albion, Latin for New England.  A 57 foot marble cross commemorates the event in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Ca.  There is a controversy this day to where he actually anchored, many think it is Bolinas Bay in Marin County, as his log so indicates, and a plaque so describes (but that is another story).  He navigated the North Coast of California. 
http://www.longcamp.com/nav.html
    1647 - The first woman in America to appeal for the right to vote was Margaret Brent, a niece of Lord Baltimore, the founder of the colony of Maryland. She came to America from England in January, 1638, and was the first woman in Maryland to own property in her own name. She became one of the colony's principal landowners and a person of influence, raising troop of soldiers in 1644.  On June 24, 1647, she appealed for the right to vote in the colonial assembly by virtue of her position as secretary to Governor Leonard Calvert, asking for a “place and voyce,” but was ejected from the meetings. At the death of Calvert, she became his executor and acting governor, president over the General Assembly, but was refused a voice in the affairs of the government as “it would set a bad example to the wives of the colony.”  She moved to Virginia in 1650. 
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/1998/brent.html
    1675 – In colonial New England, King Philip’s War begins when a band of Wampanoag warriors raid the border settlement of Swansee, Massachusetts, and massacre the English colonists there. In the early 1670s, 50 years of peace between the Plymouth colony and the local Wampanoag Indians began to deteriorate when the rapidly expanding settlement forced land sales on the tribe. Reacting to increasing Native American hostility, the English met with King Philip, chief of the Wampanoag, and demanded that his forces surrender their arms. The Wampanoag did so, but in 1675 a Christian Native American who had been acting as an informer to the English was murdered, and three Wampanoag were tried and executed for the crime. King Philip responded by ordering the attack on Swansee on June 24, which set off a series of Wampanoag raids in which several settlements were destroyed and scores of colonists massacred. The colonists retaliated by destroying a number of Indian villages. The destruction of a Narragansett village by the English brought the Narragansett into the conflict on the side of King Philip, and within a few months several other tribes and all the New England colonies were involved. In early 1676, the Narragansett were defeated and their chief killed, while the Wampanoag and their other allies were gradually subdued. King Philip’s wife and son were captured, and on August 12, 1676, after his secret headquarters in Mount Hope, Rhode Island, was discovered, Philip was assassinated by a Native American in the service of the English. The English drew and quartered Philip’s body and publicly displayed his head on a stake in Plymouth. King Philip’s War, which was extremely costly to the colonists of southern New England, ended the Native American presence in the region and inaugurated a period of unimpeded colonial expansion.
    1714 - Considered the birthday of Matthew Thornton (1714-1803), signer of the Declaration of Independence, born in Ireland.
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/thornton.htm
    1813 - Birthday of Henry Ward Beecher (1813-87), famous American clergyman and orator, at Litchfield, CT.  His dying words were, “Now comes the mystery”.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASbeecher.htm
    1816 - The cold weather of early June finally gave way to several days of 90 degree heat in Massachusetts, including a reading of 99 degrees at Salem. 
    1842 - Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) was born in Meigs County, Ohio. American newspaper columnist, satirist, essayist, short-story writer and novelist, disappeared in the Mexican Revolution. Presumably died in the siege of Ojinega in January, 1914. Strongly influenced by Edgar Allan Poe, his experiences in the Civil War marked him for life.
http://www.literature-web.net/bierce
http://www.creative.net/~alang/lit/horror/abierce.sht
    1846 - Col. Castro's forces from Monterey, under the command of Joaquín de la Torre, fought the "Battle of Olompali" north of San Rafael with Frémont's troops from Sonoma. Two Americans and five or six Californios were killed. (one time home of the Grateful Dead) 
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=22728 
http://www.chezbabcock.com/genealogy/histories/Olompali.txt 
    1850 - The San Francisco Town Council passed an ordinance for the proper organization of the Fire Department. Rules and regulations were adopted for the first time. Destruction by fire was common in the West, as it was earlier in the East, and having a fire department was paramount for survival in a city due to all the buildings being made of wood and lighted by gas or oil wick. 
    1864 – Colorado Governor John Evans warns that all peaceful Indians in the region must report to the Sand Creek reservation or risk being attacked, creating the conditions that will lead to the infamous Sand Creek Massacre.
    1869 - Abolitionist Mary Ellen "Mammy" Pleasant is named Voodoo Queen of San Francisco.  http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/BHM/mepleasant.html 
    1880 - Agnes Nestor birthday - U.S. labor leader. AN emerged as the leader of the 1898 women glove-maker's strike in Chicago when she was only 18. The strike victory ended the pay deduction women had to pay for the rental of the machines the women used to sew gloves. A short time later she led the women into their own union because men did not always support women's needs. She held posts with the International Glove Workers Union for the rest of her life and served as president of the Chicago Women's Trade Union League 1913-1948.   She was a longtime advocate of the eight-hour day that became a reality in 1937. Child labor, minimum wage, maternity-health, and women's suffrage were also part of her life's work.
http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/images/hall/nestor.jpg
http://womenshistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAWkenney.htm
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5728/
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.u 
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_nestor_agnes.htm k/USAWnestor.htm
    1880 - "O Canada," with music by Calixa Lavallee and French lyrics by Judge A.B. Routhier, was performed for the first time at the Skaters' Pavilion in Quebec City. Three bands, playing together, performed "O Canada" during a banquet at a national convention of French Canadians. Canada's future national anthem was reported to have been received enthusiastically. 
    1885 - The first African-American Episcopal bishop was the Reverend Samuel David Ferguson, who was elected to the House of Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church.   He was consecrated in 1885, at Grace Church, New York City as the successor of the Missionary Bishop of Liberia. 
http://newark.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/blackexperience.html
    1895 - Birthday of William Harrison “Jack” Dempsey (1895-1983), boxing heavyweight champion and sports icon of the 1920s, at Manassa, CO. Dempsey boxed under several pseudonyms in western mining camps, came east and picked up Jack “Doc” Kearns as his manager. After defeating all available heavyweights, Dempsey took on champion Jesse Willard in Toledo, OH, on July 4, 1919.  Dempsey won when Willard failed to answer the bell for the fourth round.  He reigned as champ for seven years but defended his title only six times, losing to Gene Tunney in 1926.  Following his boxing career, he became a successful New York restaurateur. 
    1900 - Blues singer-guitarist Memphis Minnie born Algiers, LA. 
http://www.blueflamecafe.com/index.html
http://www.ping.be/ml-cmb/mmindex.htm
    1916 - Birthday of John Ciardi (1916-86) at Boston, MA.  American poet, critic, translator, teacher, etymologist and author of children's books.  John Anthony Ciardi's criticism and other writings were often described as honest.
http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=697&CFID=9794231
& CFTOKEN=6584556
    1916 - The most lucrative movie contract to the time was signed by actress, Mary Pickford. She inked the first seven-figure Hollywood deal. Pickford would get $250,000 per film with a guaranteed minimum of $10,000 a week against half of the profits, including bonuses and the right of approval of all creative aspects of her films. Not a bad deal for the former vaudeville and stage actress, who once appeared on Broadway with Cecil B. DeMille in "The Warrens of Virginia" for a measly $25 a week.
    1917 - Portia White’s (1917-68) birthday.  African-Canadian concert and operatic contralto. 
http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~jay/pages/docs/who.html
http://www.acappellacanada.ca/cdwhite/portia.html
    1922 - The American Professional Football Association took on a new name. They decided to name themselves the National Football League.
    1924 - Six men at a rock quarry south of Winston-Salem, NC, sought shelter from a thunderstorm. The structure chosen contained a quantity of dynamite. Lightning struck a near-by tree causing the dynamite to explode. The men were killed instantly.
    1929 - Bessie Smith records sound-track for her only movie, “St. Louis Blues.” 
http://www.blueflamecafe.com/index.html
    1930 - Dr. Albert Hoyt Taylor and Leo C. Young of the Naval Aircraft Radio Laboratory, Anacostia, DC (now part of Washington DC), discovered radar by noting that airplanes reflect radio waves even though they fly above the transmitter and receiver, rather than between them.
    1931 - Lili de Alvarez shocks social propriety by playing at Wimbledon in shorts instead of the longish, hampering dresses that were de rigueur.
    1936 - Mary Jane McLeod Bethune (1875-1955), born in Mayesville, SC the daughter of slaves, became the first Federal administrator who was an African-American woman.  President Franklin Delano Roosevelt named her director of the Negro Division of the National Youth Administration, thus becoming the first African-American woman to receive a major federal appointment.  In 1904, Bethune founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls, later known as Bethune-Cookman College, located in Daytona Beach, FL.  She was also the founder and first president of the National Council of Negro Women. In 1991, her home and offices in Washington, DC, were designated a national historic landmark.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/dreamteam/marybethune.html
http://www.nahc.org/NAHC/Val/Columns/SC10-6.html
    1942 - Mick Fleetwood, drummer with Fleetwood Mac, was born in London. Originally a blues band when it was formed in 1965, Fleetwood Mac developed into a pop group that put out one of the world's best-selling albums, "Rumours," in 1977. It sold 15-million copies. In 1980, Mick Fleetwood recorded a solo album in Ghana with African musicians. Fleetwood Mac made a comeback in 1987 with the album "Tango in the Night." He lives in Hawaii, where he has a restaurant in Lahaina.
    1944 - Jeff Beck, one of the great rock guitarists, was born in Surrey, England. Beck's first important band was the Yardbirds, where he was the replacement for Eric Clapton in 1964. In 1967, he formed the Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood. The beginnings of heavy metal could be heard in the group's blues-based songs. The Jeff Beck Group broke up after only two albums, and Beck was then sidelined for 18 months with a fractured skull suffered in a car accident. A new Jeff Beck Group put out two more LPs before Beck formed a band with two former members of Vanilla Fudge, Tim Bogert and Carmen Appice. But that group dissolved as well, in 1974. Beck then began playing fusion music, often in collaboration with keyboards player Jan Hammer. Jeff Beck has made only rare appearances since 1980, but his aggressive style has heavily influenced rock guitarists who followed him.
    1944 - Pianist Bruce Johnston was born in Chicago. He joined the touring version of the group in 1965 when Brian Wilson decided to quit touring after a nervous breakdown. Johnston has continued to be associated with the Beach Boys over the past quarter century, both as performer and producer. 
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/x.dll?UID=2:55:11|PM&p=amg&sql=B18553
http://www.del-fi.com/albumcovers/ac71228.html
  (My high school friend, who also played piano in my band, and he would reciprocate when someone was sick in his band and he needed a replacement. I ran into him in Monterey and he did not remember me, but of course, I not only wear glasses now, weigh fifty pounds more—in high school I weighed 144, plus am bald, and go by the name of “Kit,” as I forgot in high school and college I was known by Larry, named after my father.  I called myself Kit to him. )
    1948 - In the early days of the Cold War, the Soviet Union challenged the West's right of access to Berlin. The Soviets created a blockade, and an airlift to supply some 2,250,000 people resulted. The airlift lasted a total of 321 days and brought into Berlin 1,592,787 tons of supplies. Joseph Stalin finally backed down and the blockade ended on May 12, 1949. 
    1948 - Thomas Dewey of New York became the first presidential candidate to be re-nominated after a defeat.  He lost to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1944 and won re-nomination this day in 1948.  He was defeated in the 1948 election by Harry S. Truman, Roosevelt's Vice-President who assumed office after the death of the president in office.  The newspapers of the Election Day had printed up early morning editions that said “Dewey Won,” but it was Truman who stomped for election all over the United States, pulling one of the biggest American political upsets. He won 24,104,836 popular votes to Dewey's 21,969,500; the electoral vote was 304 to 189.  Dewey actually received 22,006,285 votes in 1944 but only 99 electoral votes.  In the 1948 election, Strom Thurmond, States Rights Democrat, 1,169,312; Henry A. Wallace, Progressive, 1,157,172, which pollsters said would draw votes from Truman in the South.  The key was Truman went out and worked for the votes, train stop-to-train stop, where the mustached Dewey and his advisors thought he had the election in the bag.
    1949 - “Hopalong Cassidy” premiered on television, the first TV western.  It starred William Boyd in the title role as a hero who wore black and rode a white horse, Topper.   The original episodes were segments edited from 66 movie features of Hopalong Cassidy and his sidekick, Red Connors (Edgar Buchanan).  The films were so popular that Boyd produced episodes especially for TV with Gabby Hayes as his sidekick. During his reign, Hoppy had many sidekicks.  It was popular for us boys to wear his two six guns and black hat.  Television was about to introduce many Western heroes, as all the Saturday Western movies were brought back to the tube. 
http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/memories/show
_mem.php?ID=S1564
    1951 - *BENNETT, EMORY L., Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Sobangsan, Korea, 24 June 1951. Entered service at: Cocoa, Fla. Born: 20 December 1929, New Smyrna Beach, Fla. G.O. No.: 11, 1 February 1952. Citation: Pfc. Bennett a member of Company B, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in action against an armed enemy of the United Nations. At approximately 0200 hours, 2 enemy battalions swarmed up the ridge line in a ferocious banzai charge in an attempt to dislodge Pfc. Bennett's company from its defensive positions. Meeting the challenge, the gallant defenders delivered destructive retaliation, but the enemy pressed the assault with fanatical determination and the integrity of the perimeter was imperiled. Fully aware of the odds against him, Pfc. Bennett unhesitatingly left his foxhole, moved through withering fire, stood within full view of the enemy, and, employing his automatic rifle, poured crippling fire into the ranks of the onrushing assailants, inflicting numerous casualties. Although wounded, Pfc. Bennett gallantly maintained his l-man defense and the attack was momentarily halted. During this lull in battle, the company regrouped for counterattack, but the numerically superior foe soon infiltrated into the position. Upon orders to move back, Pfc. Bennett voluntarily remained to provide covering fire for the withdrawing elements, and, defying the enemy, continued to sweep the charging foe with devastating fire until mortally wounded. His willing self-sacrifice and intrepid actions saved the position from being overrun and enabled the company to effect an orderly withdrawal. Pfc. Bennett's unflinching courage and consummate devotion to duty reflect lasting glory on himself and the military service. 
    1951 - Twelve inches of hail broke windows and roofs, and dented automobiles, causing more than fourteen million dollars damage. The storm plowed 200 miles from Kingmand County KS into Missouri, with the Wichita area hardest hit. It was the most disastrous hailstorm of record for the state of Kansas. 
    1951—Top Hits
“Too Young” - Nat King Cole
“On Top of Old Smokey” - The Weavers (vocal: Terry Gilkyson)
“How High the Moon” - Les Paul & Mary Ford
“I Want to Be with You Always” - Lefty Frizzell
    1952- President Harry Truman signs the bill that directs women be commissioned officers in the Army, Navy, and Air Force as various medical specialists such as dentists, doctors, osteopaths, and veterinarians.
    1952 - Thunderstorms produced a swath of hail 60 miles long and 3.5 miles wide through parts of Hand, Beadle, Kingsbury, Miner and Jerauld counties in South Dakota. Poultry and livestock were killed, and many persons were injured. Hail ten inches in circumference was reported at Huron SD
    1952 - Eddie Arcaro set a thoroughbred racing record for American jockeys by winning his 3,000th horse race.
    1953 - Al Kaline signed with the Detroit Tigers on this day (following his graduation from high school). The future all-star of the Tigers was 18 years old. http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/
hofer_bios/kaline_al.htm    
    1955- In an effort to speed up the game, primarily for television viewers, major league baseball announces a new rule which requires a pitcher to deliver the ball within 20 seconds after taking a pitching position.
    1957-Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald session on Verve “Take the A Train.”
    1959—Top Hits
“Personality” - Lloyd Price
“Lonely Boy” - Paul Anka
“Along Came Jones” - The Coasters
“The Battle of New Orleans” - Johnny Horton
    1961-President John F. Kennedy assigned Vice-President Lyndon Johnson with unifying the US satellite program, who played a significant role in bringing the communication and space age to a leader in the world. 
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jun24.html
    1962- The longest game ever played in Yankee history ends thanks to a home run hit by Jack Reed in the 22nd inning. The Mississippi native's lone big league career homer helps the Bronx Bombers beat Detroit in Tiger Stadium, 9-7.
    1964--Sam Cooke starts a two week stay at New York's Copacabana Club. A 70-foot billboard announcing the engagement is erected in Times Square
    1966--Lenny Bruce Mothers of Invention @ S.F. Fillmore Auditorium

Artist: Wes Wilson & Edmund Shea
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/dt/lenny-bruce-postcard/BG013-PC.html 
    1966--Show: Zig-Zag Man Big Brother and the Holding Company Quicksilver Messenger Service
Bill Ham @ SF Avalon Ballroom

Artist: Stanley Mouse
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/dt/big-brother-and-the-holding-company-poster/FD014-PO.html 
    1966--- John Lennon's second whimsical book of original prose, poetry, and drawings, entitled A Spaniard In The Works, is published in his native England
    1966--- In an watershed moment for the brother/sister duo later known as the Carpenters, the jazz combo known as the Richard Carpenter Trio wins the Hollywood Bowl's "Battle of the Bands" contest.
    1966--- With the McCoys and the Standells opening, the Rolling Stones' 1966 tour begins at the Manning Bowl in Lynn, Massachusetts, inciting yet another crowd riot that the police counteract with tear gas. Rock concerts are banned from the venue for nearly two decades.
    1967-- 5th Dimension make their TV debut performing their hit single "Up, Up and Away" on ABC's American Bandstand.
    1967 -- Guitarist Zal Yanovsky quits the Lovin' Spoonful after their gig at the Forest Hills Music Festival in New York.
    1967-Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" enters the Billboard chart, where it will peak at #5. The song was written by the band around a melody composed by the group's organist, Matthew Fisher, who was inspired by the chord progression of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Orchestral Suite in D", composed between 1725 and 1739. 
    1967—Top Hits
“Groovin'” - The Young Rascals
“She'd Rather Be with Me” - The Turtles
“Windy” - The Association
“All the Time” - Jack Greene
    1968 - Jim Northrup becomes the sixth big leaguer to hit two grand slams in the same game. The “Slammer’s” power surge in the fifth (off Eddie Fisher) and sixth (off Billy Rohr) frames enables the Tigers to rout the Indians at Cleveland Stadium, 14-3.
    1970-On an amendment offered by Senator Robert Dole (R-Kansas) to the Foreign Military Sales Act, the Senate votes 81 to 10 to repeal the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. In August 1964, after North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked U.S. destroyers (in what became known as the Tonkin Gulf incident), President Johnson asked Congress for a resolution authorizing the president "to take all necessary measures" to defend Southeast Asia. Subsequently, Congress passed Public Law 88-408, which became known as the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, giving the president the power to take whatever actions he deemed necessary, including "the use of armed force." The resolution passed 82 to 2 in the Senate, where Wayne K. Morse (D- Oregon) and Ernest Gruening (D-Alaska) were the only dissenting votes; the bill passed unanimously in the House of Representatives. President Johnson signed it into law on August 10. It became the legal basis for every presidential action taken by the Johnson administration during its conduct of the war.
    1972 - "I Am Woman", by Helen Reddy, was released by Capitol Records. The number one tune (December 9, 1972) became an anthem for the feminist movement. Reddy, from Australia, made her stage debut when she was only four years old. She had her own TV program in the early 1960s. Reddy came to New York in 1966 and has appeared in the films "Airport 1975", "Pete's Dragon" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Reddy also had four million-sellers: "I Am Woman", "Delta Dawn", "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)" and "Angie Baby". She had a total of 14 hits on the pop music charts. http://www.helenreddy.com/  
    1972 --- At tonight's show in Fort Worth, TX, the Rolling Stones film the performance that would become the quadrophonic concert documentary Ladies And Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones..
    1973-- After an extensive two-year investigation, 19 major music label heads, including Clive Davis of Arista and the Gamble-Huff team behind Philadelphia International, are indicted by the state of New Jersey for "payola" practices and income tax evasion
    1973 -- Legendary rock organist Al Kooper rejoins his first band, Blues Project, onstage during a concert in Central Park.
    1983-Pitcher Don Sutton of the Milwaukee Brewers struck out Alan Bannister of the Cleveland Indians, the 3,000th strikeout in his career.  The Brewers won, 6-2.  Sutton wound up his career with 3,574 strikeouts.
    1973- In his first year of eligibility, Warren Spahn receives 316 of the 380 votes cast to become a member of the Hall of Fame. The southpaw, who recorded thirteen 20-win seasons, retired as the winningest left- handed pitcher in big league history with 363 victories.
    1975—Top Hits
“Love Will Keep Us Together” - The Captain & Tennille
“When Will I Be Loved” - Linda Ronstadt
“Wildfire” - Michael Murphey
“You're My Best Friend” - Don Williams
    1975--The U.S. Attorney in Newark, New Jersey hands down indictments to 19 music industry executives in a two year investigation. Counts of income tax evasion and payola are leveled. Among those named include: Clive Davis, former president of Columbia Records and Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, architects of the Philadelphia sound of the 70's.
    1977-Madison Wisconsin Police Detective Bruce Frey witnessed one of the strangest events of his career when he saw Elvis Presley jump out of his limo and stop two teenagers who were beating up a younger lad at a local gas station. Elvis said, "I'll take you on." Frey remembers; "They looked up at him, froze in mid-punch and the victim ran into the gas station." The pair quickly apologized and Elvis got back into the limo and headed for his hotel room at the Sheraton. 
    1980-- Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon purchase the Mets for an estimated $21.1 million. The price tag is the highest amount ever paid for a baseball franchise.
    1983—Top Hits
“Flashdance...What a Feeling” - Irene Cara
“Time (Clock of the Heart)” - Culture Club
“Electric Avenue” - Eddy Grant
“You Can't Run from Love” - Eddie Rabbitt
    1984-Joe Morgan of the Oakland A's hit the 256th home run of his career to break the record held by Rogers Hornsby for most home runs by a second baseman.
    1985 - The 1983 Heisman Trophy winner, Mike Rozier, jumped from the United States Football League to the Houston Oilers of the NFL. Rosier signed for more than two million dollars over a four-year period. 
    1987 - Thunderstorms spawned six tornadoes in eastern Colorado. Baseball size hail was reported near Yoder, CO, and thunderstorm winds gusting to 92 mph derailed a train near Pratt, KS. The town of Gould, OK, was soaked with nearly an inch and a half of rain in just ten minutes.
    1988 - Forty-three cities reported record high temperatures for the date. Valentine NE reported an all-time record high of 110 degrees, and highs of 102 degrees at Casper, WY, 103 degrees at Reno, NV, and 106 degrees at Winnemucca, NV, were records for the month of June. Highs of 98 degrees at Logan, UT, and 109 degrees at Rapid City, SD, equaled June records. Lightning killed twenty-one cows near Conway, SC
    1989- Paul Simon brought his "Graceland" tour to Moscow, playing the first of two concerts before 5,000 people in Gorky Park. It was Simon's first appearance in the Soviet Union.
    1989-- The Beatles finally get a US #1 Country hit when Rosanne Cash's cover of "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party" reaches the top spot.
    1991—Top Hits
“Rush, Rush” - Paula Abdul
“Losing My Religion” - R.E.M.
“Unbelievable” - EMF
“The Thunder Rolls” - Garth Brooks
    1992 - Portland, Oregon became the first city outside of New York to host the NBA (National Basketball Association draft). At the Portland Memorial Coliseum, the first overall pick went to the Orlando Magic who picked 7'1" center Shaquille O'Neal of LSU. 
    1992-- Billy Joel's old alma mater, Hicksville High in Long Island, NY, awards the singer-songwriter an honorary diploma in place of the one he never stayed in school to receive.
    1993-- Hank Williams' illegitimate daughter Jett, is awarded a piece of the country legend's estate from his son, Hank Jr.
    1998 -- Johnny Cash makes his first public appearance since announcing his battle with Shy-Drager Syndrome, walking onstage at Kris Kristofferson's latest Nashville concert to sing Cash's hit "Sunday Morning Coming Down," written by Kris.
    1998 - AT&T announced that it was buying cable TV giant TCI for $31.7 billion. The deal let AT&T move closer to its goal of providing local phone and high speed Internet service to millions of U.S. homes
    1999-Eric Clapton puts 100 of his guitars up for auction in New York at Christie's to raise money for his drug rehab clinic, the Crossroads Centre in Antigua. His 1956 Fender Stratocaster, named Brownie, was sold for a record $497,500. The guitar was used to record "Layla." The auction helped raise nearly $5 million for the clinic.
    2001-- Believed to be an historical first, sixty-eight major league umpires participate in a pre-season session to practice calling strikes as defined by the rule book. With the help of minor leaguers wearing tapes nine inches above their belts, the men in blue get a good look at pitches, normally called balls, which now will considered a strike as the correct interpret ion of the zone will be enforced this upcoming season.
    2004 -- US President George W. Bush awards the Medal of Freedom to Doris Day.
    2012----Billboard.com named Olivia Newton-John's 1982 hit, "Physical" as The Sexiest Song of All Time. Other classic Rock songs that made the top ten were Rod Stewart's "Tonight's The Night", Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On", Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" and another Rod Stewart contribution, "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy".

 Stanley Cup Champions This Date
 
1995  New Jersey Devils