Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Births Obituaries Aviation Business Capitol City Communication Crime Education Entertainment Exploration Farm and Ranch Indian Affairs Labor Lifestyles Media Military Music National Oil Political Railroads Religion Science Society Sports Technology Transportation Travel Veterans Weather 1600s 1700s 1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

Vol 8, No 201

July 20, 1969

Sunday Evening

US wins Space Race! First Man on the Moon!

Today in Sports
Rogers Hornsby dismissed by the St Louis Browns
ST LOUIS MO  (1937)   On this date in 1937, Texas born, Rogers Hornsby ended his 23 year long career as a player in the major leagues.
   Hornsby won seven batting titles, two HR titles and four RBI crowns. As a player-manager with the St Louis Browns in 1937, Hornsby only played three games, the last on this date in 1937.
   Hornsby was known for being hard on players who didn't have the same drive that he did. When he was let go from the Browns, the players presented an award to the owner for firing Hornsby.
   Hornsby would manage briefly in the 1950s. In the 1960s, Hornsby served as a scout for the Chicago Cubs. He died in Chicago in 1963.

Born This Date
DJ and Rapper, DJ Screw born in Bastrop
BASTROP   (1971)   On this date in 1971, Rapper and Disc Jockey, Robert Earl Davis, Jr (DJ Rapper) was born in Bastrop.
   Davis died of a drug overdose in the restroom of his Houston recording studio on November 16, 2000   
Coasters baritone, Billy Guy born in Itasca
FORT WORTH   (1936)    On this date in 1936, Frank Phillips was born in Itasca. Better known as the baritone Billy Guy of the Coasters, he was part of a revolution in music.
   The Coasters were at the cutting edge of Rock and Roll with their hits "Charlie Brown" and "Yakety Yak", and one of the first black group to cross over to main stream American pop music.   

Neil Armstrong on Moon
HOUSTON (1969)  On this date in 1969, while the entire world watched on television, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin gently set down their moon lander, The Eagle, onto a plain called the Sea of Tranquility, on the surface of the moon.
   This was the culmination of a generation of effort by thousands of scientists, in Texas and around the world. Apollo 11, with Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins, who remained in the command module orbiting above the surface of the moon, had set down on the moon.
    From the Eagle, Neil Armstrong broadcasting to NASA and the rest of the world, spoke the first words ever spoken from the Moon, "Houston, Tranquility Base Here. The Eagle has landed". Thus "Houston" became the first word ever broadcast from the moon.
   While Michael Collins orbited above in the command module, Neil Armstrong descended from the lander and placed his boot into the dust on the surface of the moon, realizing a dream that has been part of mankind since he first looked up at the moon and wondered what it would be like to walk on the moon.
   Armstrong immortalized the moment with the first words spoken by a man from the actual surface of the moon, "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind."
   And so it was.

Railroads Desk
Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio RR Chartered
HOUSTON  (1870)   In 1868, Texas first Railroad, the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado, fell on hard times, and was unable to pay its debts.
   To satisfy judgements against the line, which extended from Harrisburg (Houston) to Columbus (the last 3 miles over the Columbus Tap Railroad), the line was sold to an investment and shipping group for $13,000. On July 20, 1870 a charter was issued for a new railroad, the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railway.
   In 1877, the GH&SA RR reached San Antonio. Meanwhile, Southern Pacific wishing to build Eastward from El Paso, arranged with GH&SA to use their charter to eventually connect in 1881 with the Texas and Pacific at Sierra Blanca to open the nation's second Transcontinental Railroad.
   In the ensuing months, Southern Pacific extended it Texas Line from West Texas to San Antonio, where it began running it's Sunset Limited from New Orleans to Los Angeles, the Texas portion over the GH&SA right-of-way. By avoiding the long journey around South American, this southern Trans-Continental route reduced the travel and shipping time to the West Coast by months.