Categories: History Tags: 1978, Al Unser, Andy Gibbs, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Emmylou Harris, Garfield, Grease, Jaws 2, John Travolta, June, Margo Smith, Mel Tillis, Oak Ridge Boys, Olivia Newton-John, Rolling Stones, Ronnie Milsap, The End, this week in history, Willie Nelson
This Week In History, June 12-18, 1986
Greetings from Asheville, where there’s always good music on the turntable, in the CD, or on the MP3. As we like to do on our Sundays, let’s take a look back in time to this week as it was in 1986. That’s twenty-five years ago.
JUNE 12
This date fell on a Thursday in 1986. South Africa was still in the midst of the Apartheid struggle and on this day, the country’s State President, P. W. Botha, declared a State Of Emergency as the rest of the world continued to increase pressure on the Country.
Are you old enough to remember when there was actually more than one decent show on primetime television? How about a whole evening? Thursdays in 1986, arguably fell into the latter, as NBC led things with the immensely popular “The Cosby Show”, followed by “Family Ties, “Cheers” (I still miss this show), “Night Court” (this one, too), and “Hill Street Blues”. CBS’ offering wasn’t a slouch, with “Magnum P. I.”, “Simon And Simon”, and “Knot’s Landing”. ABC’s lineup wasn’t bad, either, with “Fall Guy”, “The Colbys”, and “20/20”.
JUNE 13
Quite a few well-known folks passed away, this week, including on this date, Benny Goodman, the legendary clarinetist and bandleader, at age 77. On the flip side, the future child TV-star twins, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen were born.
Going to the movies this weekend? Most likely you went to see “Top Gun”, “Poltergeist 2”, “Back To School”, or “Legal Eagles”.
JUNE 14
It’s Flag Day in the U. S. and a tragic day in Canada as a roller-coaster, set up in a Edmonton mall, derailed, killing three.
Longtime “Wild Kingdom” host Marlin Perkins passed away at 81, and we also lost Broadway legend Alan Lerner at age 67.
JUNE 15
Mother Theresa was visiting the States, on this day, speaking to a group of teens in Colorado.
Lots of racing on this day, as NASCAR was visiting Michigan for the Miller American 400. Geoffrey Bodine and Harry Gant led the most laps, but Bill Elliott led when it counted the most. CART was on the road course in Portland, Oregon. Michael Andretti had the race won, but ran out of fuel on the last lap, giving the win to his dad, Mario. Formula 1 was in North America, as well, running the Canadian Gran Prix. There, Nigel Mansell dominated for the win.
One other major sports note for that day, Raymond Floyd was two strokes better than Chip Beck and Lanny Wadkins, winning the U. S. Open.
JUNE 16
Bristol-Myers was in the process of removing Excedrin capsules from all store shelves, due to the cyanide-related deaths in Seattle.
You also most certainly remember in April, the disaster at the nuclear plant in Chernobyl, USSR. On this day, the USSR announced the dismissals of the plant’s Director and Chief Engineer for mishandling the disaster.
JUNE 17
Kate Smith, best known for her rendition of “God Bless America”, died at age 79. Being a former resident of Raleigh, North Carolina, I was surprised to learn that was the location of her passing.
The NBA Draft was on this day; UNC’s Brad Daugherty was the top pick, going to Cleveland. With the second pick, the Boston Celtics took Maryland star Len Bias; two days later he was dead from a cocaine overdose.
If you’re a fan of military aircraft, you may know that this day saw the last flight of a B-47 bomber, as one was transferred from China Lake, California, to Castle Air Force Base in California, to be put on permanent display.
JUNE 18
A tragic day in the Grand Canyon in Arizona. A sightseeing plane and a sightseeing helicopter collided, killing everyone, 25 total.
41 year old Don Sutton won his 300th game, leading the California Angels (as they were known then) to a 5-1 win over Texas.
ALSO THIS WEEK…
Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger announced his retirement. His last day was September, 26th.
You could get a home mortgage loan with an interest rate between 8%-9%.
Amoco was promoting a new Ultimate Premium Lead-Free gasoline.
For ONLY $275, you could get a new Samsung VCR with wireless remote.
TOP ALBUMS THIS WEEK…
On the Country side, Waylon Jennings’ “Will The Wolf Survive” sold the most, while on the Pop side, it was Whitney Houston’s self-titled offering that was making the most waves.
ON THE RADIO THIS WEEK…
Turn on Country radio, this week, you would have heard “Happy Happy Birthday Baby” by Ronnie Milsap; Steve Wariner’s “Life’s Highway”; The Forester Sisters, “Mama’s Never Seen Those Eyes”; and Willie Nelson’s “Living In The Promisedland”. Those in or close to my age group were into records like “Live To Tell” from Madonna; Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald’s “On My Own”; “There’ll Be Sad Songs” from Billy Ocean; and Simply Red’s “Holding Back The Years”.
Oh, and yours truly was a month removed from his first year of college.
And that’s how it was, this week in 1986.
SOME MUSIC TO RETURN YOU TO 1986
Categories: History Tags: 1986, Alan Lerner, Apartheid, B-47, Benny Goodman, Bill Elliott, Brad Daugherty, Bristol-Myers, Cheers, Chernobyl, Family Ties, Forester Sister, Hill Street Blues, Kate Smith, Len Bias, Madonna, Magnum P. I., Marlin Perkins, Michael Andretti, Michael McDonald, Nigel Mansell, Night Court, Patti LaBelle, Raymond Floyd, Ronnie Milsap, South Africa, Steve Wariner, The Cosby Show, this week in history, Top Gun, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson
Categories: History Tags: 1956, Adlai Stevenson, Algeria, Carl Perkins, Chesapeake And Ohio, Desi Arnez, Dwight Eisenhower, Elvis Presley, J. C. Penney's, Joe Montana, Johnny Cash, June, Kenny G, NASCAR, Niagara Falls, Patricia Cornwell, Ray Price, RC Cola, Red Sovine, this week in history, Webb Pierce
Categories: History Tags: 1966, ABC, Beatles, Born Free, CBS, Cleveland Indians, Dean Martin, Dottie West, Eddy Arnold, Indianapolis 500., Jim Reeves, May, Merle Haggard, Montreal Canadians, NASCAR, NBC, New York Yankees, Our Man Flint, Richard Petty, Sean Connery, The Silencers, this week in history, Thunderball
Categories: History Tags: 1981, Abbie Hoffman, ABC, Alabama, AMC, Caveman, CBS, Conway Twitty, David Frizzell, Dolly Parton, Ernst Levy, Excalibur, Fernando Valenzuela, Going Ape, Hall & Oates, Joe Louis, John Phillips, Longest baseball game, Mickey Gilley, NBC, Oakland A's, REO Speedwagon, Ronald Reagan, Ronnie Milsap, Shelly West, Soap, The Howling, this week in history, Troy Polamalu
