1492 - Christopher Columbus discovers Cuba. He and his men take many slaves back to Spain, their main bounty in the mission.
    1610 - Thomas West, baron De La Mar, was appointed as the first Governor of Virginia colony
    1636 – A vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes the first college in what would become the United States, and Harvard College was founded.
    1646 - At Nonantum, Mass., colonial missionary John Eliot ("Apostle to the New England Indians"), 42, conducted the first Protestant worship service for the Indians of North America. He also delivered the first sermon preached to the Indians in their native tongue.
    1768 - Germans and Acadians joined French Creoles in their armed revolt against Antonio de Ulloa, the Spanish governor of New Orleans. This combined militia will force his resignation the next day.
    1775 - A British proclamation forbids residents from leaving Boston.
    1776 - Battle of White Plains; Washington retreats to NJ. The American forces were dislodged from their position, but once again, British Gen. Howe failed to pursue his opponents and waited for reinforcements. By November 1, the British were ready to resume their offensive, but a heavy wind and rain storm slowed their progress. Washington took advantage of the British lethargy and retreated northward to another hilltop location, this time about five miles away near the town of North Castle. Washington and his dispirited army believed that a major, perhaps decisive, battle would occur within the next few days. To their utter amazement, dawn on November 4 brought the sight of the British turning their backs on the lightly entrenched Americans and beginning a march back to Manhattan. Washington made a crucial decision to divide his army and led about 2,500 men into New Jersey.  The British captured Chatterton Hill.
http://www.myrevolutionarywar.com/battles/761026.htm
    1790 - New York gives up claims to Vermont for $30,000
    1793 - Eli Whitney applies for a patent on the cotton gin. According to history, one of his black slaves had come up with the idea from using a comb to a cylinder, in which he had made a prototype of wood. Upon seeing it, Whitney made some experiments, put it to paper, and sent a letter to register the idea. He then spent a year making a metal prototype. He called it a cotton gin (short for “engine”).  It turned quickly, easily separating cottonseed from the short-staple cotton fiber. Whitney's cotton gin was capable of maintaining a daily output of 23 kg (50 lbs.) of cleaned cotton, and its effect was far-reaching, making southern cotton a profitable crop for the first time. Whitney, however, failed to profit from his invention. Numerous imitations appeared, and his 1794 patent was not validated until 1807. In 1798, Whitney obtained a government contract to make 10,000 muskets. He demonstrated that machine tools--manned by workers who did not need the highly specialized skills of gunsmiths--could produce standardized parts to exact specifications and that any part could be used as a component of any musket. The firearms factory he built in New Haven, Conn., was thus one of the first to use mass production methods.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h1522.html
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/african_american_history/61415
    1793 – Birthday of Eliphalet Remington (d. 1861) in Suffield, CT.  He founded the Remington Arms Company. 
    1798 - Birthday of Levi Coffin (d. 1877), founder of The Underground Railroad, born New Garden, North Carolina.
http://www.indianahistory.org/heritage/levic.html
http://www.visitrichmond.org/history/levicoffin/
http://www.waynet.org/nonprofit/coffin.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAScoffin.htm
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp;
jservsessionid=6183044723fd99786b3ce31
3e3fe6bd11f1f51f80_10-15-20-208.86.1035589086776.:0f?product_id=1047862&sourceid
=0100000030390613102498
    1818 – Abigail Adams, second First Lady of the US, died of typhoid fever in Quincy, MA.  She and John Adams were married in 1764 and she was the First Lady to live in The White House after the nation’s capital was moved there in 1800. 
    1842 - Birthday of Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (d. 1932) at Philadelphia, PA.  Influential American orator and author of the Civil War era, as an advocate of abstinence, abolition and woman suffrage, she earned the nickname, “American Joan of Arc.”
    1846 - The pioneering Donner Party, a group of 90 people consisting of immigrants, families and businessmen led by George and Jacob Donner and James F. Reed, head toward California from Springfield, IL, in hopes of beginning a new life. They experienced the normal travails of caravan travel until their trip took several sensational twists, Indian attacks and winter weather which forced them to interrupt their journey.  Famine and outright cannibalism took their toll on members of the party whose numbers dwindled to 48 by journey's end.
    1858 - Rowland Hussey Macy opened his first New York store at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan.  First day’s receipts:  $11.06!
    1864 - Second Battle of Fair Oaks located on the defensive perimeter around the Confederate capital of Richmond. General Robert E. Lee's army constructed five lines of trenches that stretched 25 miles south to Petersburg. For five months, Lee's troops had been under siege by the forces of Union General Ulysses S. Grant. The monotony of the siege was broken only periodically by a Union attempt to break Lee's lines. One such attack came at Hatcher's Run, southwest of Petersburg, on October 27. At the same time, Grant ordered an attack at Fair Oaks, about 24 miles from the assault at Hatcher's Run. The Richmond defenses were formidable, so any direct assault was unlikely to succeed. By attacking at Fair Oaks, Grant hoped to prevent Lee from shifting any troops along the Richmond-Petersburg line to reinforce the lines at Hatcher's Run. Some 1100 Union men were killed, wounded, or captured during the attack, while the Confederates lost just 450. The planned diversion did not work--at the far end of the defenses, the Yankees failed to move around the end of the Confederate line at Hatcher's Run.
    1864 - Battle of Wauhatchie, TN, one of the few night engagements of the Civil War, won by the Union troops to open up a badly needed supply route, establishing what was then called “The Cracker Line.”
http://www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/battles/tn021.htm
    1864 - In the midst of the Battle of Burgess' Mill in VA, cavalry commander CS Gen Wade Hampton came upon his sons, mortally wounded Frank Preston Hampton and Wade Hampton, Jr. who had been shot while coming to his brother's aid.
    1867 - Maimonides College in Pennsylvania is first Jewish college in the US.  The need of such an institution was strongly felt as there were numerous synagogues in the country, but few persons capable of filling the rabbinical office. The seminary was established under the joint auspices of the Hebrew Education Society and the Board of Delegates of American Israelites, and was named "Maimonides College" with Isaac Leeser as its provost.
    1875 - Birthday of Gilbert H. Grosvenor (d. 1996), at Istanbul, Turkey.  The editor credited with transforming National Geographic Magazine from a small scholarly journal into a dynamic world-renowned monthly.
(Lower half of: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/oct28.html)
    1886 - Frederic Auguste Barthold's famous sculpture, the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World, on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland.  A sonnet by Emma Lazarus, inside the pedestal of the statue, contains the words: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door." Here is a little known fact, when the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor, women were barred from the ceremony because it would be too crowded and rough for the ladies, the city declared, but a group of women chartered a boat and circled the island singing and shouting women's rights messages.  The event was also celebrated with New York City’s first ticker tape parade.
    1896 - Birthday of Howard Hanson (d. 1981), Wahoo, NE.  Composer/conductor/educator, in 1921 he became the first American to win the Prix de Rome. In 1924, he became head of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, NY, where he served for 40 years. Best known for the music he composed, Hanson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize as outstanding contemporary composer in 1944 for his composition Symphony No. 4, the George Forster Peabody Award in 1946, the Laurel Leaf of the American Composers Alliance in 1957 and the Huntington Foundation Award in 1959.
    1897 – Birthday of motion picture costume designer Edith Head (d.1981), Searchlight, NV.  She won a record eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, starting with “The Heiress” (1949) and ending with “The Sting” (1973).
    1904 - St Louis police try a new investigation method-fingerprints.
http://www.onin.com/fp/fphistory.html
    1907 - Birthday of alto sax player Rudy Power, New York City, NY
    1914 - Birthday of Jonas Salk (d. 1995) at New York, New York.  Developer of the Salk polio vaccine, he announced his development of a successful vaccine in 1953, the year after a polio epidemic claimed some 3,300 lives in the US. Polio deaths were reduced by 95 percent after the introduction of the vaccine. Salk spent the last 10 years of his life doing AIDS research.
    1919 - Congress passed the Volstead Act, prohibiting the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors" in the United States. The Roaring Twenties were about to begin. A little known fact:  the Volstead Act did cut down the alcoholic rate in the United States, with less fatalities and family problems. Many of the nightclubs legally sold alcohol beverages as anything in their inventory was “legal.” Crime in the Midwest was rampant before the 1920's. The advent of the machine gun and automatic weapons increased the crime rate, not the commerce of alcohol from Canada and Mexico.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/oct28.html
    1916 - Birthday of Trombone player/composer Bill Harris (d. 1973).
http://shopping.yahoo.com/shop?d=product&id=
1927005706&clink=dmmu.artist&a=b
    1926 – The former Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Bowie Kuhn (d. 2007), was born in Takoma Park, MD.  Kuhn was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008, after having been elected nine months after his death.  His tenure was marked by labor strikes, owner disenchantment, and the end of baseball's reserve clause, yet baseball enjoyed unprecedented attendance gains (from 23 million in 1968 to 45.5 million in 1983) and TV contracts during the same time frame.  Kuhn suspended numerous players for involvement with drugs and gambling, and took a strong stance against any activity that he perceived to be "not in the best interests of baseball."  In 1970, he suspended star Detroit Tigers’ star pitcher Denny McClain indefinitely (the suspension was later set at 3 months) due to McLain's involvement in a bookmaking operation, and later suspended McLain for the rest of the season for carrying a gun. He barred both Willie Mays (in 1979) and Mickey Mantle (in 1983), arguably two of the game’s greatest stars ever, from the sport due to their involvement in casino promotion; neither was directly involved in gambling.  Also in 1970, Kuhn described former player Jim Bouton’s seminal “Ball Four” as "detrimental to baseball" and demanded that Bouton retract it. The book has been republished several times and is now considered a classic.  On October 13, 1971, the World Series held a night game for the first time.
    1928 - Birthday of accordion player Iry LeJeune (d. 1955), Point Noir, LA
http://www.cajunculture.com/People/LeJeuneIry.htm
http://www.cajunfrenchmusic.org/biographies/lejeune-i.htm 
http://www.carencrohighschool.org/la_studies
/ParishSeries/FrenchMusic/IryLejeune.htm
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000001O54/avsearch-musicasin-20/
103-0570268-6906239
    1928 - The first men's field hockey game: The Westchester Field Hockey Club of Rye, NY, defeated the Germantown Cricket Club of Germantown, PA, 2-1, in the first organized men's field hockey game played in the US.
    1934 – The Brooklyn Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers play a penalty-free NFL game.
    1936 - The temperature at Layton, NJ, dipped to 9 above zero to establish a state record for the month of October. 
    1936 – Charlie Daniels, Country musician, was born in Leland, NC.
    1937 – Birthday of NBA coach, Lenny Wilkens, in Brooklyn.  At the time of his retirement in 2010, Wilkens was the NBA’s winningest coach with 1,332 victories, a record since surpassed by Don Nelson.
    1938 - John Kirby records his trumpet man Charlie Shavers' “Undecided,” Decca.
    1939 - Birthday of singer Andy Bey, Newark, NJ
    1941 - Birthday of Curtis Lee in Yuma, AZ.  Lee hit the charts in the early 1960s with “Pretty Little Angel Eyes” (#7) and “Under the Moon of Love” (#46).
    1942 – The Alaska Highway, also known as the Alcan Highway is completed across Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska.
    1944 - ADAMS, LUCIAN, Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, 30th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near St. Die, France, 28 October 1944. Entered service at: Port Arthur, Tex. Birth: Port Arthur, Tex. G.O. No.: 20, 29 March 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 28 October 1944, near St. Die, France. When his company was stopped in its effort to drive through the Montagne Forest to reopen the supply line to the isolated third battalion, S/Sgt. Adams braved the concentrated fire of machineguns in a lone assault on a force of German troops. Although his company had progressed less than 10 yards and had lost 3 killed and 6 wounded, S/Sgt. Adams charged forward dodging from tree to tree firing a borrowed BAR from the hip. Despite intense machinegun fire which the enemy directed at him and rifle grenades which struck the trees over his head showering him with broken twigs and branches, S/Sgt. Adams made his way to within 10 yards of the closest machinegun and killed the gunner with a hand grenade. An enemy soldier threw hand grenades at him from a position only 10 yards distant; however, S/Sgt. Adams dispatched him with a single burst of BAR fire. Charging into the vortex of the enemy fire, he killed another machine gunner at 15 yards range with a hand grenade and forced the surrender of 2 supporting infantrymen. Although the remainder of the German group concentrated the full force of its automatic weapons fire in a desperate effort to knock him out, he proceeded through the woods to find and exterminate 5 more of the enemy. Finally, when the third German machinegun opened up on him at a range of 20 yards, S/Sgt. Adams killed the gunner with BAR fire. In the course of the action, he personally killed 9 Germans, eliminated 3 enemy machineguns, and vanquished a specialized force which was armed with automatic weapons and grenade launchers, cleared the woods of hostile elements, and reopened the severed supply lines to the assault companies of his battalion. 
    1944 - BROSTROM, LEONARD C., Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company F, 17th Infantry, 7th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Dagami, Leyte, Philippine Islands, 28 October 1944. Entered service at: Preston, Idaho. Birth: Preston, Idaho. G.O. No.: 104, 15 November 1945. Citation: He was a rifleman with an assault platoon which ran into powerful resistance near Dagami, Leyte, Philippine Islands, on 28 October 1944. From pillboxes, trenches, and spider holes, so well camouflaged that they could be detected at no more than 20 yards, the enemy poured machinegun and rifle fire, causing severe casualties in the platoon. Realizing that a key pillbox in the center of the strong point would have to be knocked out if the company was to advance, Pfc. Bostrom, without orders and completely ignoring his own safety, ran forward to attack the pillbox with grenades. He immediately became the prime target for all the riflemen in the area, as he rushed to the rear of the pillbox and tossed grenades through the entrance. Six enemy soldiers left a trench in a bayonet charge against the heroic American, but he killed 1 and drove the others off with rifle fire. As he threw more grenades from his completely exposed position he was wounded several times in the abdomen and knocked to the ground. Although suffering intense pain and rapidly weakening from loss of blood, he slowly rose to his feet and once more hurled his deadly missiles at the pillbox. As he collapsed, the enemy began fleeing from the fortification and were killed by riflemen of his platoon. Pfc. Brostrom died while being carried from the battlefield, but his intrepidity and unhesitating willingness to sacrifice himself in a l-man attack against overwhelming odds enabled his company to reorganize against attack, and annihilate the entire enemy position. 
    1944 - OKUBO, JAMES K., Medal of Honor.
Technician Fifth Grade James K. Okubo distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 28 and 29 October and 4 November 1944, in the Foret Domaniale de Champ, near Biffontaine, eastern France. On 28 October, under strong enemy fire coming from behind mine fields and roadblocks, Technician Fifth Grade Okubo, a medic, crawled 150 yards to within 40 yards of the enemy lines. Two grenades were thrown at him while he left his last covered position to carry back wounded comrades. Under constant barrages of enemy small arms and machine gun fire, he treated 17 men on 28 October and 8 more men on 29 October. On 4 November, Technician Fifth Grade Okubo ran 75 yards under grazing machine gun fire and, while exposed to hostile fire directed at him, evacuated and treated a seriously wounded crewman from a burning tank, who otherwise would have died. Technician Fifth Grade James K. Okubo’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.
    1944 - THORSON, JOHN F., Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company G, 17th Infantry, 7th Infantry Division. Place and date: Dagami, Leyte, Philippine Islands, 28 October 1944. Entered service at: Armstrong, lowa Birth: Armstrong, lowa. G.O. No.: 58, 19 July 1945. Citation: He was an automatic rifleman on 28 October 1944, in the attack on Dagami Leyte, Philippine Islands. A heavily fortified enemy position consisting of pillboxes and supporting trenches held up the advance of his company. His platoon was ordered to out-flank and neutralize the strongpoint. Voluntarily moving well out in front of his group, Pvt. Thorson came upon an enemy fire trench defended by several hostile riflemen and, disregarding the intense fire directed at him, attacked single-handed He was seriously wounded and fell about 6 yards from the trench. Just as the remaining 20 members of the platoon reached him, 1 of the enemy threw a grenade into their midst. Shouting a warning and making a final effort, Pvt. Thorson rolled onto the grenade and smothered the explosion with his body. He was instantly killed, but his magnificent courage and supreme self-sacrifice prevented the injury and possible death of his comrades, and remain with them as a lasting inspiration.
    1944 – “Sipowicz”, actor Dennis Franz was born in Maywood, IL.  Franz was one of the leads in the popular TV series, “NYPD Blue” from 1993-2005.
    1945 – Birthday of Wayne Fontana (of The Mindbenders), born Glyn Geoffrey Ellis in Manchester, England.
    1946 - Our favorite flying cowboy was heard on ABC radio for the first time. "Sky King" starred Jack Lester, then Earl Nightingale, and finally, Roy Engel, as Sky. Beryl Vaughn played Sky's niece Penny; Jack Bivens was Chipper and Cliff Soubier was the foreman. "Sky King" was sponsored by Mars candy.
    1948 - In St. Louis, MO, Chuck Berry marries his first and only wife, Themetta "Toddy" Suggs.
    1949 - Birthday of Caitlyn, formerly William Bruce, Jenner, sportscaster, Olympic gold medal decathlete, Kardashian ex-husband, Mount Kisco, NY.
   1949 - Helen Eugene Moore Anderson became the first woman to hold the post of US ambassador when she was sworn in by President Harry S. Truman. She served as Ambassador to Denmark.
    1950 - “The Jack Benny Program” premiered on television. One of radio's favorite comedians, Jack Benny made the transition to favorite TV personality with this situation comedy-variety show in 1950. In March 1932, then-newspaper columnist Ed Sullivan, dabbling in radio, asked Benny, a star in vaudeville, to do an on-air interview. Benny reluctantly agreed. His comedy, though, was so successful that Benny was offered his own show.  In many of these skits, Benny portrayed himself as a vain egomaniac and notorious penny-pincher who refused to replace his (very noisy) antique car and who kept his money in a closely guarded vault. His regulars included his wife, whose character, Mary Livingstone, deflated Benny's ego at every opportunity; Mel Blanc, who used his famous voice to play Benny's noisy car, his exasperated French violin teacher, and other characters; and Eddie Andersen, one of radio's first African American stars, who played Benny's long-suffering valet, Rochester Van Jones. The program ran until 1955. One of my favorite lines came from a skit where a robber sticks a gun in his ribs and says, “Your money or life? “ The silence went on for many minutes, until Benny turns deadpan to the camera and answers, “I'm THINKING! “
    1950 - "All My Love" by Patti Page topped the charts and stayed there for 5 weeks.
    1951 - BURKE, LLOYD L., Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company G, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. Place and date: Near Chong-dong, Korea, 28 October 1951. Entered service at: Stuttgart, Ark. Born: 29 September 1924, Tichnor, Ark. G.O. No.: 43. Citation: 1st Lt. Burke, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and outstanding courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. Intense enemy fire had pinned down leading elements of his company committed to secure commanding ground when 1st Lt. Burke left the command post to rally and urge the men to follow him toward 3 bunkers impeding the advance. Dashing to an exposed vantage point he threw several grenades at the bunkers, then, returning for an Ml rifle and adapter, he made a lone assault, wiping out the position and killing the crew. Closing on the center bunker he lobbed grenades through the opening and, with his pistol, killed 3 of its occupants attempting to surround him. Ordering his men forward he charged the third emplacement, catching several grenades in midair and hurling them back at the enemy. Inspired by his display of valor his men stormed forward, overran the hostile position, but were again pinned down by increased fire. Securing a light machine gun and 3 boxes of ammunition, 1st Lt. Burke dashed through the impact area to an open knoll, set up his gun and poured a crippling fire into the ranks of the enemy, killing approximately 75. Although wounded, he ordered more ammunition, reloading and destroying 2 mortar emplacements and a machine gun position with his accurate fire. Cradling the weapon in his arms he then led his men forward, killing some 25 more of the retreating enemy and securing the objective. 1st Lt. Burke's heroic action and daring exploits inspired his small force of 35 troops. His unflinching courage and outstanding leadership reflect the highest credit upon himself, the infantry, and the U.S. Army. 
    1952 - Top Hits 
“You Belong to Me” - Jo Stafford 
“Wish You Were Here” - Eddie Fisher 
“I Went to Your Wedding” - Patti Page 
“Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” - Hank Williams
    1953 – “The Ol’ Red Head”, Red Barber, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ lead announcer, was selected by Gillette, which sponsored the World Series broadcasts, to call the games on NBC along with the Yankees’ Mel Allen. Barber wanted a larger fee than was offered by Gillette, however, and when Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley refused to back him, Barber declined to work the Series and Vin Scully partnered with Allen on the telecasts instead.  Barber resigned after the Series and signed to join Allen with the Yankees.  This also marked the first time Vin Scully took the lead role as Dodgers’ announcer, a role he maintains today in LA.
    1954 - Marilyn Monroe finalized her divorce from DiMaggio.
    1955 - Birthday of Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist, William H. Gates, Seattle, Washington. Gates and his childhood friend, Paul Allen, began programming in high school, when they created and sold a program to control traffic patterns in Seattle. Gates dropped out of Harvard in 1975 after he and Allen created a compiler for the BASIC computing language and sold it to fledgling PC company MITS. In 1977, Gates and Allen founded Microsoft and built the company by creating versions of BASIC for various personal computers. The company's biggest break came in 1981, when IBM introduced the IBM PC, running Microsoft DOS as its operating system. Microsoft's lock on the operating system market grew stronger, and Gates became one of the wealthiest men in America by the time he turned thirty-five. Today he is the wealthiest individual in the United States.
    1955 - A local kid from Lubbock, TX opened a concert for Marty Robbins and Elvis Presley. In the audience was a youngster by the name of Scott Davis. He would later become a superstar. We know him as Mac Davis. The kid who opened the concert was Buddy Holly.
    1956 - Elvis Presley makes his second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, where the host presents him with a Gold record for "Love Me Tender".   Also, “Love Me Tender” bumps “Don’t Be Cruel” b/w “Hound Dog” out of the Billboard #1 spot, making Elvis the first artist to knock himself off the top of the charts
    1957 - The Four Lads record "Put a Light in the Window."
    1958 - In San Francisco, construction begins on the Giants' new ballpark in an area where the rocks look like candlesticks jutting into the San Francisco Bay, known as Candlestick Point. The developer, James Harney, gifts the land with the stipulation the park be named after him.  Didn’t happen.  Demolition began in 2014 and was completed in 2015 as the Giants had moved to AT&T Park near China Basin, and the 49ers moved to Santa Clara.
    1958 – In what would be his last major appearance on television, Buddy Holly appears on American Bandstand, lip-synching “It’s So Easy” and “Heartbeat.”
    1958 – The Roman Catholic Patriarch of Venice, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was elected Pope, taking the name John XXIII.
    1960 - Top Hits
“I Want to Be Wanted” - Brenda Lee 
“The Twist” - Chubby Checker 
“Devil or Angel” - Bobby Vee 
“Alabam” - Cowboy Copas
    1960 - The American Football League granted a seventh franchise to Buffalo with Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. of Detroit as principal owner.  The new team is named the Bills.  With Wilson’s passing in 2014, on October 8, 2014, Terry and Kim Pegula owner of the NHL Buffalo Sabres, received unanimous approval to acquire the Bills, assuring the team will remain in its birthplace.
http://www.buffalobills.com/history/index.cfm?include=/
includes/chronology_60.htm
    1961 - Ground is broken for the Flushing Meadow Stadium.  The future home of the New York Mets will be known as Shea Stadium in honor of Bill Shea, a lawyer who helped to bring back the NL to the Big Apple, after all but chasing the Brooklyn Dodgers away by failing to negotiate with Dodgers’ owner Walter O’Malley on a new site for the Dodgers’ ballpark at the end of the Atlantic Avenue subway line.  Shea Stadium was demolished in 2009 to furnish additional parking for the adjacent Citi Field, the current home of the Mets. 
    1961 - According to the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, this is the day on which a customer named Raymond Jones entered Epstein's Liverpool record store, NEMS, and requested a copy of the Beatles singing "My Bonnie", a 45 the group had cut in Hamburg, Germany with singer Tony Sheridan. Epstein, impressed that someone would ask for a record cut by a local group but only available as an import, tracks the band down at the Cavern Club and offers to manage them. Several Liverpool scenesters have since cast doubt on this story, claiming the group was already well-known in town.
    1961 - Chuck Berry was one of the biggest pop stars of the late 1950s when he began to have legal problems. While charges in yet another Mann Act violation were pending (which were dismissed in 1960), Berry met Janice Escalante, a Native American with roots in the Apache tribe, in a bar in El Paso, Texas. According to Berry, who took the young woman on the road with his traveling rock show, Escalante claimed to be 21 years old. After there was a falling out between the two, Escalante complained about Berry to the authorities. During his second trial, the prosecution produced a birth certificate proving that Escalante was a mere 14 years old. Berry was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison. After a short stretch in Leavenworth Federal Prison, he was transferred to a Missouri jail, where he spent his time studying accounting and writing songs. Among the songs he wrote before his release from prison in October 1963 were "No Particular Place to Go" and "You Never Can Tell," later memorialized in the film “Pulp Fiction”.
    1962 - New York Giants’ quarterback Y.A. Tittle completes 27 of 39 passes for 505 yards and a record-tying seven touchdown passes in the Giants' 49-34 victory over Washington at Yankee Stadium. 
    1962 - Withdrawal of Soviet missiles, under UN inspection, and a halt to construction of bases in Cuba, was agreed to by Premier Krushchev. Pres. Kennedy agreed to lift the trade and weapons ban when the UN had acted, and pledged that the U.S. would not invade Cuba.
    1964 - Marietta Peabody Tree was sworn in to the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations, becoming the first female United Nations permanent ambassador. She had served since 1961 as a United Nations delegate.
    1965 - The Gateway Arch (630ft/192m high), St. Louis, Missouri, was completed. Construction had begun Feb 29, 1964.
    1965 - The Supremes record "My World Is Empty Without You"
    1965 - Pope Paul VI decrees that Jews are absolved of blame for the crucifixion of Christ.
    1967 - Actress/producer Julia Roberts birthday, born Smyrna, GA.
    1967 - Diana Ross and The Supremes' "Greatest Hits" started a five week run at #1 on the US album chart. Although original member Florence Ballard is pictured on the cover and sings on all the tracks, by the time the L.P. was released, she had been fired from the group and replaced by Cindy Birdsong.
    1968 - Top Hits 
“Hey Jude” - The Beatles 
“Little Green Apples” - O.C. Smith 
“Those Were the Days” - Mary Hopkin 
“Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye” - Eddy Arnold
    1969 - Charges that an illegal war in Laos was being conducted without congressional knowledge or consent were leveled against President Richard Nixon, the administration and the Pentagon by Senator J. William Fulbright, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
    1970 - Sky marshals were appointed in accordance with President Richard M. Nixon's presidential directive to deal with the proliferation of hijackings of commercial airplanes. The Treasury Law Enforcement Officers Training School graduated 46 marshals on December 23, 1970, and 81 marshals, including four women, on April 9, 1971.
    1971 - A severe early season blizzard raged through the plateau and Rocky Mountain region. Heavy snows blocked railroads and interstate highways. Record cold accompanied the storm. Lander, WY was buried under 27 inches of snow and the temperature at Big Piney, WY plunged to 15 degrees below zero
    1972 - Birthday of football player Terrell Davis, San Diego, CA.
    1972 - The United States Council for World Affairs announces that it is adopting "Join Together" by The Who as its official theme.
    1973 – Secretariat, the colt many considered the greatest thoroughbred race of all time, concluded his career with a victory in the Canadian International Championships at Woodbine Race Course. His jockey on this occasion was Eddie Maple, substituting for the suspended Ron Turcotte.
    1974 - Rhoda Morgenstern made TV history as she married Joe Girard on "Rhoda" on CBS. The show was a spin-off from the hugely successful "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".
    1976 - Top Hits 
“If You Leave Me Now” - Chicago 
“Still the One” - Orleans 
“Rock'n Me” - Steve Miller 
“You and Me” - Tammy Wynette
    1977 - Steve Perry makes his first concert appearance with Journey at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco. He would lead them to 17 Billboard Top 40 entries over the next ten years. 
    1978 - Nick Gilder's "Hot Child in the City" was the number one single on the "Billboard Hot 100". The hit was a track from Gilder's "City Nights" album.
    1978 – The great Boston Bruins defenseman, Bobby Orr, scored his last goal, against the Detroit Red Wings.
    1980 - Annette Funicello, Cubby O'Brien, Tommy Cole, Sherry Alberoni and Jimmie Dodd joined other Mouseketeers wearing black ears and white shirts on a sound stage in Burbank, CA. They were celebrating the 25th anniversary of the "Mickey Mouse Club". While we're celebrating the "Mickey Mouse Club", do you remember the five special events each week? There was Fun with Music Day on Monday, Guest Star Day on Tuesday, Anything Can Happen Day on Wednesday, Circus Day on Thursday and Talent Roundup Day on Friday. “Y? Because we LIKE you!….M-O-U-S-E-E-E-E”
    1980 – During one of the presidential debates with President Jimmy Carter, Candidate Ronald Reagan asked America, “are you better off  now than you were four years ago?"
    1981 - Game 6 of the World Series saw the Los Angeles Dodgers storm back, winning their fourth straight game (9-2), and the championship, after having been down two games to none to the New York Yankees. Rookie pitcher Fernando Valenzuela started the Dodger comeback, and batters Ron Cey, Pedro Guerrero, Steve Garvey, and Steve Yeager took them the rest of the way. There had been genuine concern that snow might interfere with the Fall Classic since it was being played so late in the season in New York City. And we worry about that every year that there's a World Series game in a northern city.  Yankees reliever George Frazier is the loser in three games.
    1981 - Edward M McIntrye elected first black mayor of Augusta, Georgia.
    1984 - Top Hits 
“I Just Called to Say I Love You” - Stevie Wonder 
“Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)” - Billy Ocean 
“Hard Habit to Break” - Chicago 
“If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)”
  - Alabama
    1986 - In the Neiman-Marcus catalogue, the store offered, as a unique holiday gift, a 100-year subscription to "The Wall Street Journal" -- for just $6,000. That was a $5,400 saving over the regular 100-year rate!
    1988 - Arctic cold invaded the north central U.S. Valentine, NE, dipped to 8 degrees, and Cutbank, MT, reported a morning low of one degree above zero. The temperature at Estes Park, CO dipped to 15 degrees, but then soared thirty degrees in less than thirty minutes.
    1989 - The Oakland Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants 9-6 to complete a four-game sweep of the World Series, the first World Series sweep since 1976. The A's scored first in every game and never lost the lead once. Oakland pitcher Dave Stewart pitched two games, won two games, struck out fourteen hitters in sixteen innings, had an earned run average of 1.69 and was named MVP. The Series will be remembered not only for the A's dominance, but also for the earthquake before game three that killed sixty-seven people in the San Francisco Bay area.
    1989 - A storm crossing the western U.S. produced 10 to 20 inches of snow across northern and central Wyoming, with 22 inches reported at Burgess Junction. Seven cities in the Lower Ohio Valley and the Upper Great Lakes Region reported record high temperatures for the date as readings again warmed into the 70s. Alpena, MI reported a record high of 75 degrees. 
    1991 - Yakima, WA recorded 2.4 inches of snow, equaling the record for October.
    1995 - Atlanta Braves right fielder David Justice broke a scoreless tie with the Cleveland Indians. It was a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth in Game 6 of the World Series, and it was all the Braves would need. Pitcher/Series MVP Tom Glavine allowed just one hit in eight innings, and Mark Wohlers pitched a perfect ninth to seal the championship, the first in Atlanta's history as they beat the Cleveland Indians 4 games to 2.
    1996 - Newspapers reported that Egghead, Inc. had started delivering software via the Internet directly to customers' computers, a major innovation at the time. The move made Egghead the first major software retailer to deliver programs over the Internet. Egghead closed about half its retail stores in 1996, and in 1998, the company closed all its bricks-and-mortar stores and moved its entire sales operation to the Web.
    1997 - The NBA hired five new referees for the 1997-98 season, including the first two women ever, Dee Kanter and Violet Palmer.  Both had extensive experience working women's college games and both worked exhibition games as a trial. Palmer got her first regular season assignment on October 31 in Vancouver. Kantner worked her first game on November 5, Philadelphia.
    1999 - During a performance in Dallas, Kenny Rogers throws a Frisbee that hits a chandelier; a man in the audience later sues, claiming that broken glass from the chandelier left his face scarred, which ruined his sex life.
    2002 - The Mets, after being unable to get permission to talk to Lou Piniella from Seattle and deciding not to wait ten days after World Series for the availability of Giants’ skipper Dusty Baker, give Art Howe a four-year, $9.4 million deal to manage the team. New York's new skipper managed the A's to two AL West titles (2000, 2002) championships with his teams, winning 383 games during the last four seasons that matched Joe Torre's Yankee total.
    2003 – “Tonight's The Night”, a musical play written around the hits of Rod Stewart, opens in London's West End.
    2005 - Vice President Dick Cheney's top adviser, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, resigned after he was indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements in the CIA leak investigation involving Valerie Plame. Libby was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison. President George W. Bush commuted his sentence.
     2007 - During the middle of Game 4 of the World Series between the Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies, S.I. com reports Alex Rodriguez has decided to opt out of his contract with the Yankees. The timing of the announcement and being a no-show at the game to receive the Hank Aaron Award, which honors the most outstanding offensive performer in each league, is severely criticized by fans and the media.  Oh, by the way, the Red Sox swept the Rocks.
    2011 - The St. Louis Cardinals won the 11th World Series title of their history, second-most in Major League history, by defeating the Texas Rangers, 6-2, in Game 7.
    2012 – The San Francisco Giant swept the Detroit Tigers in the World Series as Pablo Sandoval takes MVP honors.  It is the second Giants’ World Series win in three years.  It is also the seventh for the franchise as the New York Giants won five.
    2012 - The U.S. East Coast prepared for Hurricane Sandy, which caused damage throughout the Caribbean and resulted in 67 deaths.  The second worst in history, Sandy is responsible, so far, for $75 billion in damage and there are still millions outstanding in unresolved claims.  After weakening somewhat on Oct 27, she turned northwesterly and viciously slammed the coasts of New Jersey and New York City.  Sandy affected 24 states, including the entire eastern seaboard from Florida to Maine and west to Michigan and Wisconsin.
    2013 - Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, is released from prison, two years after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter
    2014 - Pahoa, a town of about 1,000 people on Hawaii's Big Island, evacuated due to a stream of lava flowing at 20 yards per hour from the Kilauea volcano.

World Series Champions
    1981 - Los Angeles Dodgers
    1989 - Oakland Athletics
    1995 - Atlanta Braves
    2011 – St. Louis Cardinals
    2012 – San Francisco Giants