DYKs

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Top 10

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Article (date) Image DYK views Per hour Hook
1. The Italian (1915 film), George Beban (10/5/09)   14,100 + 6,002 = 20,102 3,350 ... that the 1915 film The Italian tells the story of an immigrant played by George Beban (pictured) who goes to America in search of fortune but finds a "Darwininan jungle" on New York's Lower East Side?
2. Henri Salmide (3/19/10) 19,654 3,276 ... that Heinz Stahlschmidt was credited with saving 3,500 French lives when he refused to blow up the port of Bordeaux and instead blew up the munitions bunker, killing approximately 50 Germans?
3. Vincent Mroz (12/3/12) 23,000 2,875 ... that United States Secret Service agent Vincent Mroz shot an attempted presidential assassin in the "biggest gunfight in Secret Service history"?
4. Millard House (8/28/08)   21,783 2,793 ... that Frank Lloyd Wright said of the Millard House (pictured) that he "would rather have built this little house than St. Peter's in Rome"?
5. Charlie Bennett (7/15-7/16/14)   20,537 2,567 ... that the baseball career of Charlie Bennett (pictured), who reportedly invented the chest protector, ended when both legs were run over by a train?
6. LAHCM in SFV (9/30/08) 13,664 + 770 = 14,567 2,428 ... that a tower of 2,000 wooden Schlitz beer pallets described as "a rotting vestige of one man's egotism" that festers "like a sore on the community's body" is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument?
7. Ernest Allmendinger (2/10/09)   14,326 2,368 ... that American football player "Aqua" Allmendinger (pictured), once described as "a young giant in perfect physical condition," acquired his nickname after working as a waterboy for railroad building crews?
8. Marshall Newell (6/1/09)   14,200 2,367 ... that "Ma" Newell (pictured), one of the few four-year All-Americans in college football history, was run over by a railroad engine on Christmas Eve 1897?
9. Garden Gnome Liberationists (12/17/08)   14,200 2,367 ... that the leader of the French Garden Gnome Liberation Front was given a suspended sentence after the group "liberated" over 150 garden gnomes in 1997?
10. William Wilson Talcott (12/4/10)   13,247 2,283 ... that ice cream manufacturer William Wilson Talcott (pictured) killed himself by jumping from an excursion steamer into Lake Michigan with rocks in his pockets after he was unable to extricate his wife from a "love cult" in 1922?

Michigan football

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Article (date) Image DYK views Per hour Hook
1. Vincent Mroz (12/3/12) 23,000 2,875 ... that United States Secret Service agent Vincent Mroz shot an attempted presidential assassin in the "biggest gunfight in Secret Service history"?
2. Ernest Allmendinger (2/10/09)   14,326 2,368 ... that American football player "Aqua" Allmendinger (pictured), once described as "a young giant in perfect physical condition," acquired his nickname after working as a waterboy for railroad building crews?
3. Michigan quarterbacks (12/5/10)   14,000 2,333 ... that the quarterbacks for the Michigan Wolverines football teams of the 19th century included a Brigadier General decorated for valor in World War I, the brother of a famous novelist, one of the founders of General Motors, the physician at a Kimberly-Clark mill, the son of the Governor of Wyoming, a steamboat builder, a Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias (pictured) and a sheep rancher from Walla Walla?
4. William Wilson Talcott (12/4/10)   13,247 2,283 ... that ice cream manufacturer William Wilson Talcott (pictured) killed himself by jumping from an excursion steamer into Lake Michigan with rocks in his pockets after he was unable to extricate his wife from a "love cult" in 1922?
5. Thomas S. Hammond (3/30/10)   12,500 2,083 ... that American football player Tom Hammond (pictured) always played without protective padding, saying "I want them to feel my bones"?
6. 1902 Michigan Wolverines football team (11/5/10)   12,155 2,033 ... that 10 players from the 1902 "Point-a-Minute" Michigan football team (pictured), which outscored opponents 644–12, became head coaches?
7. Walter D. Graham (12/17/10)   11,800 1,967 ... that Michigan football player "Octy" Graham (pictured) at age 16 was called a "young Hercules" after "gripping machines did not register high enough to show his strength"?
8. 1901 Michigan Wolverines football team (3/22/10)   8,730 1,453 ... that Michigan's 1901 "Point-a-Minute" team (pictured), rated one of the greatest college football teams of all time, outscored its opponents 550–0 and beat Stanford 49–0 in the first Rose Bowl game?
9. Horace Greely Prettyman (2/27/09)   8,713 1,452 ... that Horace Prettyman (pictured) played eight years of "college" football for the University of Michigan from 1882 to 1890, some when he was in his 30s and no longer a student?
10. Biff, the Michigan Wolverine (4/2/08) 7,908 1,318 ...that the Michigan Wolverines' practice of parading their live mascot Biff before matches was stopped as the animal grew larger and more ferocious?
11. Curtis Redden (8/8-8/9/09)   7,457 1,243 ... that Michigan end Curtis Redden (pictured) died in World War I after he had described the night sky over the battlefield as "weird, hideous, fascinating, sublime"?
12. Neil Snow (2/10/09)   6,688 1,239 ... that Neil Snow (pictured), ranked by Grantland Rice as one of the three greatest all-around athletes ever turned out in college sports, died of heart failure at age 34 after a game of squash?
13. William Ward (5/20/11)   9,300 1,163 ... that Michigan football coach William Ward later became a physician who experimented with the surgical creation of artificial vaginas? (16,991 views for artificial vaginas)
14. Hercules Renda (7/28/10) 6,581 1,097 ... that Hercules Renda was described as a "midget from the hills of West Virginia" who "ran, squirmed and tackled" his way into the hearts of Michigan football fans in the 1930s?
15. Denard Robinson (9/15/10)   6,500 1,083 ... that in his first two games as a starter, Denard "Shoelace" Robinson achieved the two highest single-game total offense totals in Michigan Wolverines history—and did so with his shoes untied? 78,893 views from 9/11-9/19
16. Henry M. Senter (11/29/10)
 
6,300 1,050 ... that Mort Senter (pictured), Michigan's 1896 football captain, became involved in a diplomatic incident after Colombian soldiers seized property from his home in 1902?
17. William Dennison Clark (11/17-11/18/10)   6,192 1,032 ... that William Dennison Clark, whose "wretched blunder" in 1905 ended Michigan's 56-game unbeaten streak in football, killed himself 27 years later, reportedly expressing the hope to atone for his error?
18. Irving Kane Pond (3/16-3/17/10)   6,054 1,009 ... that Irving Pond (pictured) designed three National Historic Landmarks, performed a backflip on his 80th birthday, and scored the first ever touchdown for the Michigan Wolverines?
19. Fred Rehor (3/17-3/18/11)   7,843 980 ... that Fred Rehor (pictured), a 256-pound pharmacy student from the University of Michigan, helped lead the 1917 Massillon Tigers to the "world's professional football championship" against Jim Thorpe's Canton Bulldogs?
20. Archie Weston (4/17/09)   5,587 931 ... that Michigan's All-American quarterback Archie Weston (pictured) was once tackled during a game by an irate female fan?
21. Craig Roh (9/25/10)   5,329 888 ... that Craig "Death" Roh adopted a diet of six meals and more than 4,000 calories a day because he considered himself "tiny" at 230 pounds (104 kg)?
22. Len Ford (10/3/14)   10,233 853 ... that in his NFL debut season, Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Len Ford (pictured) was injured so severely in a game he required plastic surgery to "virtually rebuild" his face?
23. Bob Chappuis (1/3-1/4/08)   4,912 819 ... that, after eluding capture for three months when his B-25 bomber was shot down behind enemy lines in World War II, Bob Chappuis was the MVP of the Rose Bowl 60 years ago?
24. James E. Lawrence (8/5/11)   6,400 800 ... that James E. Lawrence (pictured) was once "considered the greatest place-kicker the University of Michigan ever had"? (20,290 views on 9/12/10)
25. John McLean (6/26/09)   4,600 767 ... that the 1906 firing of John McLean (pictured) for paying an athlete to play college football was called "the biggest scandal in the history of Missouri athletics"?
26. Roger Sherman (4/19/10)   4,600 767 ... that Roger Sherman (pictured in 1890) was accused of offering a football player $600 to play for Michigan and later served as president of the Chicago and Illinois State Bar Associations?
27. James Duffy (4/16/10)   4,400 733 ... that Michigan's James Duffy (pictured) played seven years of college football and set a world record by drop kicking a football 168 feet, 7-1/2 inches?
28. Bob Westfall (8/5/09)   4,300 717 ... that Michigan's "chunky fullback," "Bullet Bob" Westfall, known for his "spinner play," was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987?
29. George Dygert (4/17/10)
 
George Dygert
4,200 700 ... that Michigan's 1892/1893 captain George Dygert (pictured) played professional football for a Butte, Montana, team sponsored by mine owners that defeated teams from Denver and San Francisco?
30. Irwin Uteritz (8/10/09)   4,152 692 ... that Irwin Uteritz (pictured), "one of the lightest 'big time' quarterbacks in American football history" at 140 pounds, led Michigan to two undefeated seasons and a national championship?
31. Frank Steketee (12/19/07)   5,512 689 ...that, though records from the era are sketchy, press accounts reported that All-American football player Frank Steketee once kicked a 100-yard punt?
32. Paul J. Jones (8/11/09)
 
3,900 650 ... that federal judge Paul Jones sentenced a pregnant mother of ten to jail for selling a quart of liquor, lectured her on birth control, and asked, "Doesn't this woman know how to stop it?"
33. 1895 Michigan Wolverines football team (1/2-1/3/10)   3,222 644 ... that the 1895 Michigan football team (player pictured) outscored its opponents 266 to 14 and clinched a claim to the Western championship of American football?
34. Allen Steckle (7/2/09)   5,585 621 ... that medical doctor A.C. Steckle (pictured) gained fame coaching the University of Nevada, a school with only 80 students, to a 1903 victory over the University of California football team?
35. Charles S. Mitchell (7/8/11)   4,700 588 ... that Charles S. Mitchell (pictured), "goal-keeper" on the first Michigan football team, became the editor-in-chief of the Washington Herald?
36. John A. Bloomingston (12/19/10) 3,500 583 ... that Michigan fullback John Bloomingston (pictured), who became one of Chicago's best known trial lawyers, was disbarred in 1896 for playing professional baseball?
37. Franklin Cappon (2/19/09)   3,547 572 ... that "Cappy" Cappon (pictured), known for his "five-man weave" basketball offense, was mentor to Princeton athletes from the 1930s to the 1960s, including Bill Bradley and Frank Deford?
38. Brady Hoke (1/20/11)   3,421 570 ... that it had been said that the new Michigan Wolverines football coach Brady Hoke would "crawl on hot, broken glass to work inside Schembechler Hall as the head coach"? (81,329 views 1/11-12/11)
39. Arthur Karpus (3/22/11)
 
4,500 563 ... that Michigan's Arthur Karpus (pictured) played for Big Ten championship teams in football, basketball and baseball?
40. Willie Heston (7/11/10)   3,346 558 ... that Willie Heston (pictured), rated by Knute Rockne as the greatest back of all time, helped Michigan outscore its opponents 2,326 to 40 in his four years with the team?
41. James Baird (4/16/10) 3,300 550 ... that Michigan quarterback James Baird supervised the construction of the Flatiron Building (video right), the Lincoln Memorial, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?
42. 1895 Michigan Wolverines football team (1/2/10)
 
1895 player Forrest Hall
3,200 533

... that the 1895 Michigan football team (player pictured) outscored its opponents 266 to 14 and clinched a claim to the Western championship of American football?

43. 1918 Michigan Wolverines football team (11/20-11/21/10)   3,042 507 ... that the 1918 Michigan Wolverines football team (game program pictured), which had its season shortened by a global flu pandemic, was recognized decades later as a co-national champion?
44. Wally Weber (2/13-2/14/08) 3,157 493 ...that Wally Weber, football player, coach and broadcaster at Michigan for 45 years, was renowned for his "polysyllabic fluency" and sounding like an "an educated foghorn"?
45. Bob Mann (10/6/10)   2,904 484 ... that Bob Mann, the first black player for Detroit and Green Bay, claimed he was "railroaded" out of football when he objected to a pay cut after leading the NFL in receiving yards?
46. John Brennan (3/8/10) 2,900 483 ... that John Brennan, a 201-pound football player, was voted "queen" of the University of Michigan ice carnival after challenging the pulchritude of the school's co-eds?
47. Derrick Green (9/3/13) 3,800 475 ... that Derrick Green, rated the No. 1 running back in the college football recruiting Class of 2013, has been described as follows: "Look at him from the back and the side, he's a huge human being"?
48. Bob Topp (9/8/10) 470 2,820 ... that Bob Topp helped the New York Giants defeat the Cleveland Browns in 1956 by intercepting radio signals used to relay plays onto the field from the Browns' bench?
49. 1910 Michigan Wolverines football team (4/24/12)
 
3,700 463 ... that the undefeated 1910 Michigan football team featured three All-Americans in Albert Benbrook, Stanfield Wells and Joe Magidsohn (pictured)?
50. 1884 Michigan Wolverines football team (3/20/12)
 
3,600 450 ... that the 1884 Michigan football team's (pictured) first game was part of a "field day" that included heavyweight boxing, "catch-as-catch-can wrestling" and "chasing greased pig"?
51. Joe Maddock (8/12/09)   2,500 417 ... that Joe Maddock (pictured) was one of the biggest ground gainers, and played four positions, for Michigan's 1903 "Point-a-Minute" football team?
52. Cliff Sparks (11/17/09)   2,425 404 ... that Cliff Sparks, hailed in 1916 as "eel-like," a "whirlwind" and "the greatest quarterback Michigan ever has had," punted by forcefully throwing the ball at his uprising foot?
53. Forrest M. Hall (4/26/12)
 
3,200 400 ... that Forrest Hall (pictured) played for Princeton's 1893 national championship football team, coached Auburn to a 94–0 victory over Georgia Tech in 1894, and set a shot put record at Michigan in 1895?
54. 1922 Michigan Wolverines football team (1/30/12) 3,200 400 ... that the undefeated 1922 Michigan football team held opponents to 1.8 points per game and shut out Vanderbilt and Ohio State at dedication games for their new stadia?
55. George W. Gregory (5/30/11) 3,200 400 ... that Stanford University's president wrote in 1907 that the career of Michigan center George W. Gregory illustrated "the evils of football"?
56. Mike Murphy (1/27/09)   2,313 399 ... that Mike Murphy (pictured) trained heavyweight boxing champion John L. Sullivan, was the first Michigan Wolverines football coach, and has been called the "the father of American track athletics"?
57. John Chase   3,100 388 ... that ophthalmologist John Chase (pictured) commanded the Colorado National Guard in the Colorado Labor Wars, the arrest of Mother Jones, and the Ludlow Massacre? (4,900 hits for Mother Jones; 3,900 hits for Ludlow Massacre; 2,000 hits for Colorado Labor Wars)
58. Bernard Kirk (4/10/09)   2,413 377 ... that Michigan end Bernard Kirk, who Knute Rockne called the "apple of my eye," died of complications from a fractured skull days after being named an All-American in December 1922?
59. 1886 Michigan Wolverines football team (2/28/09) 2,398 369 ... that the 1886 Michigan football team had a "goalkeeper" and played games measured in "innings"?
60. Butch Woolfolk (12/12/07) 2,500 357 ...that college football running back Butch Woolfolk was named MVP of both the Rose Bowl and the Bluebonnet Bowl in the same year?
61. Fred Trosko 2,089 348 ... that Eastern Michigan football coach Fred Trosko suffered a 29-game winless streak after the school refused to follow a conference policy allowing athletic scholarships?
62. Dana Coin, 1971 Michigan Wolverines football team (6/3/16) 4,146 346 .. that a linebacker was the leading scorer on the 1971 Michigan Wolverines football team?
63. Henry Hatch (12/19/09) 2,013 336 ... that University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor inductee Henry Hatch lived with his wife and daughter on the grounds of Michigan Stadium for more than a decade?
64. Jim Van Pelt (9/2/10) 1,944 324 ... that former Michigan quarterback Jim Van Pelt set Canadian Football League records with a 107-yard touchdown pass and seven touchdown passes in one game?
65. 1896 Michigan Wolverines football team (1/2/10)   1,923 310 ... that the 1896 Michigan football team (pictured) appeared in the first college football game played indoors and under electric lights?
66. Darryl Stonum (9/8/10) 1,730 288 ... that, after receiving contact lenses in 2010, Michigan wide receiver Darryl Stonum reported, "I could see everything like in HD"?
67. M Club banner (10/11/22)   6,893 287 ... that the Michigan banner survived an attack by uniformed men from Ohio during the Ten Year War?
68. 1887 Michigan Wolverines football team (11/24/10)   2,143 268 ... that the 1887 Michigan Wolverines football team taught the members of the newly formed Notre Dame team how to play the game of football?
69. Milan Lazetich (8/4/09) 1,589 265 ... that All-Pro linebacker Milan "Sheriff" Lazetich, a rodeo rider before joining the NFL, reported that no end or back ever threw a block like a wild pony "when he feels the first touch of a saddle"?
70. 1899 Michigan Wolverines football team (1/1/10)   1,588 265 ... that after taking the 1899 Michigan football team to an 8–2 season, coach Gustave Ferbert (pictured) resigned to participate in the Klondike Gold Rush and became a millionaire?
71. Gerald White (10/22/10)   1,576 263 ... that running back Gerald White played football for Bo Schembechler at Michigan, Tom Landry at Dallas and Don Shula at Miami?
72. John Wangler (8/26/10) 1,561 260 ... that after watching "the greatest single play" in team history, Bob Ufer exclaimed "Johnny Wangler to Anthony Carter will be heard until another 100 years of Michigan football is played!"?
73. Mike Lantry (8/7/09) 1,487 248 ... that Mike Lantry, a Vietnam veteran and walk-on place-kicker, broke the University of Michigan record for the longest field goal twice in the same quarter?
74. Boss Weeks (2/11/09) 1,450 246 ... that Boss Weeks was quarterback of Fielding H. Yost's "Point-a-Minute" University of Michigan football teams in 1901–1902 that outscored opponents 1,211 to 12?
75. Dennis Fitzgerald (8/7/10) 1,458 243 ... that Dennis Fitzgerald won a gold medal in wrestling at the 1963 Pan American Games, and set the Michigan Wolverines football record with a 99-yard kickoff return?
76. Robert Kolesar (3/10/10) 1,457 243 ... that medical student Bob Kolesar was one of Michigan's renowned "Seven Oak Posts" in 1942?
77. Tom Beckman (9/11/10) 1,297 220 ... that Michigan linebacker Tom Beckman worked more than 30 years for General Motors where he was in charge of new vehicle launches?

Historic sites

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Article (date) Image DYK views Per hour Hook
1. Millard House (8/28/08)   21,783 2,793 ... that Frank Lloyd Wright said of the Millard House (pictured) that he "would rather have built this little house than St. Peter's in Rome"?
2. LAHCM in SFV (9/30/08) 13,664 + 770 = 14,567 2,428 ... that a tower of 2,000 wooden Schlitz beer pallets described as "a rotting vestige of one man's egotism" that festers "like a sore on the community's body" is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument?
3. SS Catalina (7/15/08) 12,887 2,148 ... that SS Catalina, after reportedly carrying more passengers than any other ship anywhere, has been stuck half-submerged in Ensenada, Mexico for more than ten years?
4. Encino Oak Tree (10/6/08)   11,367 1,903 ... that Los Angeles police were sent to guard the remains of the 1000-year-old Encino Oak Tree, a victim of "slime flux", after it was felled by an El Niño storm in 1998?
5. San Dimas Hotel (9/4/08)   9,549 1,611 ... that the 33-room San Dimas Hotel (pictured) built in 1887 never had a paying guest due to a land boom that never occurred?
6. Ralphs Grocery Store (Westwood) (8/8/08)   9,000 1,500 ... that Ralphs Grocery Store (location pictured), part of a plan to build the "model college town" in 1929, was photographed by Ansel Adams?
7. Breakers Hotel (Long Beach) (9/29/09)   11,500 1,438 ... that the Sky Room atop the Breakers Hotel (pictured) was the local Airwatch headquarters in World War II?
Hunter's Hot Springs (12/9/08)   11,300 1,413 ... that the "Old Perpetual" geyser (pictured) at Hunter's Hot Springs in Lake County, Oregon, releases a plume of near-boiling water 50 to 60 feet (15–18 m) into the air every 90 seconds? (hook only)
8. Phillips Mansion, Louis Phillips (9/5/08)   6,256 + 1,408 = 7,740 1,290 ... that the Phillips Mansion, described as having been built in the "Classic Haunted Mansion" style, was the home of the richest man in Los Angeles County from 1875 to 1900?
9. Ramsay-Durfee Estate (8/12/08)   7,898 1,215 ... that the widow-owner of the Durfee Mansion died in 1976 at age 99, leaving an untouched wine cellar stocked with vintage wines and whisky dating to the 1890s?
10. Hollywood Studio Club (5/31-6/1/08)   8,630 1,151 ... that Marilyn Monroe posed naked in 1948 to raise US$50 to pay the rent for her room at the Hollywood Studio Club (pictured)?
11. Storer House (6/12/08)   7,353 1,050 ... that Frank Lloyd Wright's textile block work, Storer House, was restored in the 1980s by Joel Silver, producer of the films Die Hard and The Matrix?
12. Hacienda Arms Apartments (11/24/08)   6,104 1,017 ... that Hacienda Arms on the Sunset Strip was the "most famous brothel in California" in the 1930s and now houses a celebrity-owned restaurant described by Newsweek as "so hip it hurts"?
13. Highland Park Masonic Temple (8/1/08)   5,905 984 ... that the old Lodge Room at the Highland Park Masonic Temple (pictured) has been preserved with original anaglyphs and cherry wood paneling?
14. El Greco Apartments (6/18/08)   6,785 969 ... that the El Greco Apartments (pictured), once home to Casablanca director Michael Curtiz, were saved from demolition with fund-raising help from Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy?
15. John Sowden House (6/08)   5,700 950 ... that the Lloyd Wright-designed John Sowden House (pictured) is known as the "Jaws House" because its facade resembles the open mouth of a shark? (9,800 photo views)
16. Walter L. Dodge House (1/8/09)   6,607 943 ... that the 1916 Early Modern Dodge House in West Hollywood, California, called one of the fifteen most significant houses in the United States, was demolished in 1970 to make way for apartments?
17. Garbutt House (7/7/08) 5,624 937 ... that the 20-room Garbutt House in Los Angeles, California was built with concrete walls and ceilings, steel-reinforced doors and no fireplaces due to the owner's intense fear of fire?
18. Frederick Mitchell Mooers House (7/30/08)   5,170 861 ... that Mooers House (pictured), an example of West Coast Victorian architecture, is named for its owner who struck gold after years of prospecting in the Mojave Desert?
19. Adamson House (9/7/08)   5,153 859 ... that Adamson House, called the "Taj Mahal of Tile", has an elaborately tiled dog bath (pictured)?
20. Kappe Residence (1/9/09) 5,039 840 ... that the Kappe Residence, described as "a virtual tree house poised over a steep hillside", was named one of the top ten houses in Los Angeles by an expert panel selected by the Los Angeles Times?
21. Hollywood Masonic Temple (5/29/08)   5,037 840 ... that the Neoclassical Hollywood Masonic Temple (pictured) has been used as a Masonic Lodge, opera house, and nightclub, and is now the home of the Jimmy Kimmel Live! television show?
22. Hale House   5,007 835 ... that the 1880s Victorian Hale House (pictured), with its exuberant ornamentation and color scheme, has been called "the most photographed house" in Los Angeles? (7,800 DYK photo views)
23. Broadway Theater District (Los Angeles) (7/7/08)   4,638 773 ... that the Broadway Theater District, with 12 movie palaces (example pictured) in six blocks, is the first and largest historic theater district listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places? (5,000 photo views)
24. Golden Gate Theater (5/14/08)   5,511 765 ... that the historic Golden Gate Theater was saved by a stop-work order after demolition crews had begun to dismantle the walls?
25. Drum Barracks (8/31/08)   4,100 759 ... that Drum Barracks were built in 1862 and 1863 at a cost of US$1 million to quell pro-Confederacy sentiments in Los Angeles?
26. The Manor (5/19/09) 4,200 724 ... that Aaron Spelling's 56,500-square-foot mansion, known as The Manor, is the largest house in Los Angeles County?
27. Sunset Tower (9/1/08)   3,600 706 ... that the Sunset Tower (pictured) in West Hollywood, California was home to Howard Hughes, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, and gangster Bugsy Siegel, who was asked to leave after being charged with running a bookmaking operation there?
28. Louden Machinery Company (10/11/12)   5,600 700 ... that Louden Machinery Co. designed more than 25,000 barns (catalog pictured) as well as monorail devices used in manufacturing the first atomic bomb and at a B-29 bomber plant?
29. Harold Lloyd Estate (9/1/08)   4,200 677 ... that Harold Lloyd's Estate, called "the most impressive movie star's estate ever created," included a golf course and a 900-foot canoe stream?
30. Stimson House (5/10/08)   4,624 661 ... that after surviving a dynamite attack in 1896, fraternity parties in the 1940s, and an earthquake in 1994, Stimson House (pictured) is now a convent for Catholic nuns?
31. Ebell of Los Angeles (6/18/08)   4,988 648 ... that young Judy Garland was discovered, and Amelia Earhart made her last public appearance, at Ebell of Los Angeles (pictured)?
32. Santa Fe Freight Depot (7/23/08)   3,885 648 ... that Sci-Arc architecture school built its Los Angeles campus from the 1907 Santa Fe Freight Depot (pictured), a concrete structure with 120 bays stretching as long as the Empire State Building is tall?
33. Watts Station (7/15/08)   4,525 646 ... that Watts Station was the only structure to remain intact along "Charcoal Alley" during the Watts Riots?
34. Burro Flats Painted Cave (9/23/08)   3,800 633 ... that some believe the pictographs in Burro Flats Painted Cave were drawn by Native American maidens who slept in the cave as part of a puberty ritual?
35. Hillcrest Country Club (4/2/08) 5,400 621 ...that Groucho Marx joined Hillcrest Country Club even though it was willing to have him as a member?
36. Jardinette Apartments (5/28/08)   4,010 617 ... that Richard Neutra's Jardinette Apartments in Hollywood is considered one of the first Modernist buildings in America?
37. South Park Lofts (7/10/08)   3,700 617 ... that South Park Lofts in Los Angeles, originally an eight-story parking garage, was converted to lofts, whereupon residents complained about a lack of parking?
38. The Rock Hotel (10/24/12)   4,600 575 ... that John Lennon married Yoko Ono at The Rock Hotel?
39. Wilshire Boulevard Temple (4/29/08)   4,497 562 ... that Wilshire Boulevard Temple, with its landmark Byzantine dome (pictured), is the oldest Jewish synagogue in Los Angeles?
40. Centinela Adobe (6/9/08)   3,200 533 ... that the builder of Centinela Adobe traded his 2,200-acre (880 ha) ranch encompassing the modern city of Inglewood for a keg of whisky and a small home in Los Angeles?
41. Montecito Apartments   3,156 526 ... that the Art Deco Montecito Apartments (pictured) had been the home of Ronald Reagan, James Cagney, Montgomery Clift, and George C. Scott before becoming a senior citizens' housing project?
42. Camarillo Ranch House (9/17/08)
 
Camarillo Ranch House
4,200 525 ... that Camarillo Ranch House (pictured), headquarters for "the largest bean ranch in the world", was renowned for its Arabian stallions that led the Rose Parade?
43. Minnie Hill Palmer House (8/27/08)   3,100 517 ... that the namesake of the Minnie Hill Palmer House was born there in 1886 and remained in the 1970s, still tending her garden, then located adjacent to a golf course, with an antique hand plow?
44. Punta Gorda Fish Co. (10/10/12)   4,000 500 ... that ten Florida fish cabins and icehouses built by the Punta Gorda Fish Co. have been listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places?
45. LAHCM Harbor + Powder Magazine (10/6/08)   3,000 500 ... that the historic monuments in the Los Angeles Harbor area include a Civil War Powder Magazine, a World War I coastal artillery battery, and the bridge of a World War II heavy cruiser?
46. Albert C. Martin Sr. (9/12/08)   2,756 492 ... that architect Albert C. Martin successfully defended his design of the 28-story Los Angeles City Hall (pictured) against those who argued the city government could fit into the first four floors? (7,800 views for LA City Hall, 5,200 DYK photo views)
47. Mary Andrews Clark Memorial Home (7/17-7/18/08) 3,165 480 ... that the Clark Memorial Home, built in 1913 as a home for single working women, has been a shooting location for Rocketeer, Twins, and Mr. Saturday Night?
48. Avenel Cooperative Housing Project (7/3/08) 2,800 467 ... that units in LA's Avenel Cooperative Housing Project, reportedly built as "a cooperative living experiment for a group of communists", were selling for US$300,000 in 2002?
49. The Salt Box (3/2/09) 2,825 457 ... that The Salt Box, one of the first Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments, was razed by fire seven months after being relocated to make room for a $500 million skyscraper development?
50. Neutra VDL Studio and Residences (5/21/05/22/09)   2,705 451 ... that architect Richard Neutra used mirrors and reflecting pools to provide spaciousness for his home on a small lot, the Neutra VDL Studio and Residences, on Silver Lake in Los Angeles?
51. Olson House (8/8/11)   3,400 425 ... that Olson House, made famous by its depiction in Christina's World, was designated a National Historic Landmark in June 2011?
52. Pico Canyon Oilfield (8/4/08) 3,800 422 ... that Well No. 4 in the Pico Canyon Oilfield was the first commercially successful oil well in the Western United States and the longest producing oil well in the world at 114 years?
53. U.S. Post Office - Los Angeles Terminal Annex (8/11/08)   3,100 419 ... that the Terminal Annex Post Office was LA's central mail processing facility for 50 years and became a filming location when it closed?
54. Orcutt Ranch Horticulture Center (10/4/08) 2,500 417 ... that the main house on the grounds of the city-owned Orcutt Ranch Horticulture Center in Los Angeles incorporates swastikas in its architecture?
55. Breed Street Shul (5/3/08)
 
2,500 417 ... that Breed Street Shul, now vacant in a Hispanic part of Los Angeles, was the largest Orthodox synagogue in the western United States from 1915 to 1951?
56. Cooper Arms Apartments (9/25/09)   3,300 413 ... that when Cooper Arms opened in Long Beach, California, it boasted the latest amenities, including "disappearing beds" and "dustless roller screens"?
57. List of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in South Los Angeles (10/15-10/16/08)   2,555 406 ... that the Historic-Cultural Monuments in South Los Angeles include Ray Charles' recording studio, a stadium that hosted two Summer Olympics (pictured), and an early home of the Oscar ceremonies?
58. Smith Estate (8/1/08)   2,700 403 ... that the Smith Estate was the home of a writer on occultism, the head of a railroad, and a deputy mayor, and the shooting location for the cult film Spider Baby?
59. El Cortez Apartment Hotel (5/15/08)   2,500 397 ... that San Diego's El Cortez Hotel, site of the world's first outdoor glass elevator and moving sidewalk, became a school for evangelists in the 1970s?
60. List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles (5/21/08) 2,728 390 ... that the City of Los Angeles has 186 sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places?
61. De Mores Packing Plant (7/12/12) 3,100 388 ... that a pretender to the French throne built the De Mores Packing Plant in the Dakota Territory in 1883?
62. Pisgah Home Historic District (7/23/08)   2,745] 381 ... that the Pisgah Home (pictured) was the centre of a controversial movement in the early 1900s by a Pentecostal faith healer to care for the poor and downtrodden?
63. Opa-locka Thematic Resource Area (10/24/12) 2,950 369 ... that the Opa-Locka Thematic Resource Area includes 20 buildings developed by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss using an "Arabian Nights" theme?
64. Highland Park Police Station (8/4/08)   2,300 369 ... that the Highland Park Police Station, where the radical Symbionese Liberation Army once planted a bomb that proved to be a dud, is now the Los Angeles Police Museum?
65. El Cabrillo (7/6/08)   2,300 365 ... that El Cabrillo courtyard apartments, built in 1928 by Cecil B. DeMille and later home to transvestite actor Divine, are said to be "steeped in old Hollywood lore"?
66. List of Registered Historic Places in Pasadena (9/15/08)   2,200 361 ... that there are nearly 100 Registered Historic Places in Pasadena, California, including a 25-foot Space Simulator and the JPL Space Flight Operations Facility (pictured)? (3,400 photo views, 1,300 for Space Flight Operations Center)
67. Old Warner Brothers Studio(8/28/08) 2,756] 349 ... that the Old Warner Brothers Studio, where the first "talkie" was filmed in 1927, has recently been the location for Judge Judy and Hannah Montana?
68. Villa Riviera (9/20/09)   1,964 327 ... that the luxurious Villa Riviera was the second tallest building in Southern California from the time of its completion in 1929 through the mid-1950s?
69. Palm Court (Alexandria Hotel) (3/1/09) 1,919 320 ... that the Palm Court, called "the most beautiful room in Los Angeles," has been the site of speeches by Presidents Taft and Wilson and balls where Rudolph Valentino danced with starlets?
70. Thompson-Starrett Co. (10/11/12) 2,142 268 ... that Thompson-Starrett Co. built six National Historic Landmarks in the U.S., including the Rockefeller Estate and the tallest skyscraper in the world from 1913 to 1930 (pictured)?
71. Sportsmen's Lodge (4/8/08)   1,600 267 ...that Robert Kennedy stayed at the Sportsmen's Lodge (sign pictured) (formerly the "Hollywood Trout Farms") in Studio City, California the night before his assassination?

Other football

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Article (date) Image DYK views Per hour Hook
1. Marshall Newell (6/1/09)   14,200 2,367 ... that "Ma" Newell (pictured), one of the few four-year All-Americans in college football history, was run over by a railroad engine on Christmas Eve 1897?
2. Laurens Shull (6/22/09)   9,460 1,577 ... that University of Chicago football star Laurens "Spike" Shull died of wounds suffered rushing a machine gun nest at the Battle of Château-Thierry (pictured)?
3. 1906 All-America team (2/28/10) 7,400 total 1,233 ... that the 1906 College Football All-America Team included Princeton quarterback Eddie Dillon, Harvard guard Francis Burr, Yale end Bob Forbes, Cornell center Bill Newman, a midshipman who was the strongest man in the U.S. Naval Academy, and a guard who was described as "one of the largest men who ever played on a college gridiron"? (2,700 for Elmer Thompson, 2,400 for Percy Northcroft)
4. Franklin Morse (7/10-7/11/09
 
Franklin Morse
6,188 1,031 ... that American football halfback Franklin Morse (pictured) was the model for a drawing, prints of which reportedly "hung in most college rooms throughout the country" during the 1890s?
5. James Bond (4/1/13)   7,600 950 ... that James Bond played briefly in the National Football League after completing his military service?
6. Yale Bulldogs football (11/2-11/3/10)
 
5,335 889 ... that the Yale Bulldogs football team (mascot pictured) has won 27 national championships and ranks second in wins in college football history?
7. Herb Treat (4/7/09) 4,007] 691 ... that Herb Treat, unanimously selected as a 1922 College Football All-American, was hit by a car in 1943 and plunged nine stories from a hotel window in 1947?
8. Harvard Crimson football (11/6/10)   4,037 673 ... that the Harvard Crimson football team (home stadium pictured) has won 12 national championships and is the eighth winningest team in NCAA Division I football history?
9. George Crowther 3,366 673 ... that Brown's All-American 135-pound quarterback "Kid" Crowther played with an elastic band around his head in lieu of a helmet?
10. Paul Bunker (7/15/09)   3,977 663 ... that Paul Bunker died in a Japanese POW camp in 1943 but kept hidden a remnant of the U.S. flag from Corregidor now displayed at the West Point Museum?
11. Mel Groomes (9/4/13)   5,266 658 ... that in April 1947, halfback Mel Groomes (pictured) became the first African-American player signed by the Detroit Lions?
12. 1889 College Football All-America Team (4/29/09) 3,874 635 ... that the quarterback for the first College Football All-America Team in 1889 was Edgar Allan Poe?
13. Tom Shevlin (6/18/09)   3,707 618 ... that four-time All-American football end and millionaire lumberman Tom Shevlin (pictured) died of pneumonia after contracting a cold while training the Yale football team?
14. Arthur Matsu (8/19/11)   4,671 584 ... that Arthur Matsu was the first Asian American student at The College of William & Mary, the first Asian American quarterback in the NFL and the first Japanese coach in American football?
15. 1912 Army Cadets football team (1/11/22)   6,944 579 ... that a future president of the United States played halfback for the 1912 Army Cadets football team?
16. William Shakespeare (4/1/10) 3,200 533 ... that William Shakespeare was nicknamed "The Merchant of Menace"?
17. Charley Barrett (3/11/10) 3,100 517 ... that Hall of Fame quarterback Charley Barrett died of an illness contracted in an explosion on the USS Brooklyn in Yokohama Harbor during World War I?
18. Ted Coy (6/21/09)   3,020 503 ... that Yale All-American Ted Coy (pictured), who played football with "his long blonde hair held back by a white sweatband," was the basis for a character in a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald?
19. Vernon Prichard (3/17/10)   2,970 495 ... that General Vernon Prichard, commander of the "Old Ironsides" armored division during the Italian Campaign in World War II, was Dwight Eisenhower's quarterback at West Point?
20. Stan Pennock (3/11/10) 2,879 480 ... that College Football Hall of Fame inductee Stan "Bags" Pennock was killed in an explosion that wrecked the chemical plant he opened in an abandoned New Jersey slaughterhouse?
21. Don Doll (10/9/10)   2,885 481 ... that Don Doll, the only player in NFL history to register 10 or more interceptions in 3 separate seasons, changed his surname to "Doll" after being discharged from the Marines?
22. Irby Curry (11/24-11/25/09) 2,756 459 ... that Vanderbilt's 130-pound quarterback Irby "Rabbit" Curry, an elusive runner who "only needed the suspicion of an opening to wriggle through," was killed in aerial combat in 1918?
23. Eddie Mahan (9/3/09)   2,689 448 ... that three-time All-American Eddie Mahan was named by Jim Thorpe as the greatest football player of all time?
24. Walter S. Kennedy (4/29/10) 3,500 438 ... that quarterback Walter Kennedy's amateur status became a national media story in 1898 after his mother said he was receiving $500 a year to play football at the University of Chicago?
25. Clarence Herschberger (6/29/09)   2,557 426 ... that University of Chicago fullback Clarence Herschberger (pictured) has been credited as the first player to run the Statue of Liberty play?
26. 1955 Hillsdale Dales football team, Nate Clark 10,041 (7,189 + 2,858) 418.4 ... that the undefeated 1955 Hillsdale Dales football team declined a Tangerine Bowl bid because the bowl insisted that four black players—including national scoring leader Nate Clark—stay home?
27. Dudley Dean (5/25/09)   2,315 386 ... that Harvard's All-American football quarterback Dudley Dean was cited by Theodore Roosevelt for bravery after the Rough Riders' charge of San Juan Hill (pictured)?
28. Bryant Moniz (11/2-11/3/10) 2,301 384 ... that American football player Bryant Moniz, who began the 2009 season as a walk-on for Hawaii delivering pizzas to pay his expenses, currently leads the NCAA in both passing yards and total offense?
29. Truman Spain (7/23/09) 2,306 384 ... that SMU All-American Truman "Big Dog" Spain, known for his "rumba king" good looks, was described as "hard as ship's steel and as torrid as a foundry furnace"?
30. Ernie Caddel (12/21/10) 2,300 383 ... that Stanford and Detroit Lions running back Ernie Caddel, known as the "Blond Antelope," led the NFL in average yards gained per rushing carry for three consecutive years?
Lynn Bomar (8/29/14) 9,013 376 ... that "The Blonde Bear" supervised the ransacking of black households in the 1946 Columbia Race Riot? (nom)
31. Cleo A. O'Donnell (5/2/10) 2,150 358 .. that Cleo O'Donnell coached the 1914 Everett team that outscored opponents 600 to 0 and was rated by Sports Illustrated as the greatest high school football team of all time?
32. Henry Torney (4/26/10) 2,812 352 ... that Army All-American Henry Torney, who later became a millionaire, was arrested at a 1910 Shirtwaist Strikers protest that led the New York Mayor to rebuke the "police dictators"?
33. Mike Koken (3/18/22) 4,220 352 ... that after surviving D-Day, former quarterback Mike Koken wrote that playing American football for Notre Dame left one "prepared for the toughest stuff the Jerries can throw at you"?
34. Mally Nydahl (1/5/22)   4,189 349 ... that Mally Nydahl, "one of the greatest backs ever to come out of the Middle West", used his football earnings to pay for medical school and became a professor of orthopedic surgery?
35. Art Murakowski (4/20/10) 1,994 332 ... that East Chicago native Art Murakowski survived a kamikaze attack during the Battle of Okinawa and was named the most valuable football player in the Big Ten Conference in 1948?
36. Frank Hudson (1/25/13) 2,592 324 ... that in 1898, Frank Hudson, a five-foot, three-inch quarterback from the Laguna Pueblo tribe, became the first Native American to be selected as an All-American football player?
37. Johnny Gilroy (6/23/09)   1,920 320 ... that "The Great Gilroy", the leading scorer in college football in 1916, was charged in 1940 with stealing 35 shoe stitching machines from a Massachusetts factory?
38. Francis Bacon (1/7/22)   3,796 316 ... that Francis Bacon played in the first National Football League game and became the first NFL player to return a punt for a touchdown?
39. Peter Hauser (8/27/14)   3,700 308 ... that Native American football player Peter Hauser has been credited with throwing the first spiral pass?
40. 1970 Wichita State Shockers football team (9/12/20) 3,517 293 ... that 14 players and the coach of the 1970 Wichita State Shockers football team died when its "Gold" plane crashed in the Colorado mountains?
41. Manny Martin (9/27/10) 1,727 288 ... that former American football player Manny Martin made the Buffalo Bills team in 1996, despite being considered by media as "the longest of long shots"?
42. Tootie Perry (11/24/14) 3,360 285 ... that the American football players inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as "Gator Greats" include "All-American Waterboy" Tootie Perry, attorney Goldy Goldstein, and halfbacks Red Bethea and Larry Dupree? (stats for Perry only)
43. Carson Steele (11/17/22) 6,764 282 ... that Carson Steele, known as the "Man of Steele", has a pet alligator named Crocky-J and has been called "the most interesting man" in college football?
44. Edward Leonard King (3/16/10) 1,684 281 ... that footballer Edward King was honored for heroism in the Philippines and tactical skill in France and later became Commandant of the Army Command and General Staff College?
44. Lloyd Brazil (9/15/09) 1,679 280 ... that Lloyd Brazil, once called "the ideal football player," averaged more than eight yards per carry and gained 5,861 yards in three years at the University of Detroit?
45. Pudge Wyman (11/22/09) 1,672 278 ... that Minnesota's Pudge Wyman scored the first kickoff return for a touchdown, the first blocked punt returned for a touchdown, and the first passing touchdown in the history of the NFL?
46. Ivy Williamson (7/31/10) 1,658 276 ... that less than six weeks after being fired from his 20-year career as the University of Wisconsin's football coach and athletic director, Ivy Williamson died from falling down a staircase?
47. Harold Ballin (3/15/10) 1,650 275 ... that Hall of Fame tackle Harold Ballin was "the hardest-hitting player" ever faced by fellow Hall of Famer Charles Brickley and the last Princeton player to play without a helmet?
48. Robert Treat Paine Storer (11/11/09)   1,600 267 ... that Bob Storer, captain of Harvard's undefeated, untied 1913 football team, was cited for bravery for saving a French officer during World War I?
49. Larry Kelley (8/28/22) 3,177 265 ... that Heisman Trophy winner Larry Kelley turned down multiple offers to play professional football to become a school teacher? (Sunday daytime)
50. Ralph Kohl (7/28/10) 1,572 262 ... that long-time NFL scout Ralph Kohl was considered the top "judge of football flesh" in BLESTO, the scouting combine of the Bears-Lions-Eagles-Steelers Talent Organization?
51. Harry Stiteler (5/14/10) 1,519 253 ... that Texas A&M football coach Harry Stiteler resigned in 1951 after admitting he had misrepresented the facts about being beaten by a stranger near a Houston hotel?
52. Charles de Saulles (7/15/09) 1,520 252 ... that Charles de Saulles coached an undefeated football team of workers from a Kansas zinc smelting works that defeated the Carlisle Indians and was dubbed "the oddest football team in the country"?
53. Jim Trickey (11/13/09)   1,500 250 ... that flags at the University of Iowa were flown at half-mast following the death from peritonitis of Jim Trickey, one year after he became the first Hawkeye to win All-American honors in 1912?
54. Vince Banonis (9/19/14)   2,888 245 ... that College Football Hall of Fame inductee Vince Banonis (pictured) was an All-American center for the University of Detroit and All-NFL for the Chicago Cardinals?
55. Peter Mazzaferro (7/3/10) 1,465 244 ... that Peter "Papa Bear" Mazzaferro was removed as head football coach at Bridgewater after 19 years, sued for age discrimination, and coached another 17 years there after being reinstated?
56. Ockie Anderson (9/9/09) 1,434 239 ... that Buffalo's "Ockie" Anderson scored more points in the 1920 NFL season (the league's first) than four entire teams?
57. Westminster teams (12/22/21) 5,725 239 ... that the 1970, 1976, 1977, 1988, 1989, and 1994 Westminster Titans football teams all won national championships?
58. Tony Furst (9/17/20) 2,800 233 ... that the Detroit Lions' tackle Tony Furst saw combat action in the Guadalcanal campaign and later became a florist? (7,308 for all linked terms)
59. Willis Glassgow (4/24/10) 1,786 223 ... that Big Ten MVP Willis Glassgow was called the "Dancing Master" for his shiftiness on the gridiron and because he managed the most popular ballroom in Iowa City?
60. [[Arnold Oehlrich] (1/20/22) 2,618 218 ... that Nebraska's "Itch" Oehlrich was lured by the "scratch" of $100 per game to play in the National Football League?
61. Huntington Hardwick (3/15/10) 1,291 215 ... that Football Hall of Famer Huntington "Tack" Hardwick was called "a big, fine-looking aristocrat from blue-blood stock" who "loved combat – body contact at crushing force – a fight to the finish"?
62. Art Pharmer (1/5/22) 2,524 210 ... that former NFL halfback Art Pharmer pursued, tackled, and captured a shoplifter who ran from the sporting goods store where Pharmer worked?
63. Walter Nolen (8/27/22) 2,446 204 ... that Walter Nolen was ranked by ESPN and USA Today as the number-one player in the 2022 college football recruiting class? (overnight slot)

Baseball

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Article (date) Image DYK views Per hour Hook
1. Charlie Bennett (7/15-7/16/14)   20,537 2,567 ... that the baseball career of Charlie Bennett (pictured), who reportedly invented the chest protector, ended when both legs were run over by a train?
2. Emil Gross (7/23-7/24/14)   25,861 2,155 ... that Emil Gross set a Major League Baseball record by appearing in 87 games as catcher?
3. Dummy Taylor (9/2/11)   13,403 1,675 ... that Dummy Taylor, once the highest salaried deaf person in the United States, was ejected from a baseball game for cursing out the umpire in sign language?
4. Deacon McGuire (7/24/14)   17,330 1,444 ... that an x-ray of catcher Deacon McGuire's gnarled left hand (pictured) showed "36 breaks, twists or bumps all due to baseball accidents"?
5. Carl Lundgren (4/6/11)   7,514 939 ... that Cubs pitcher Carl Lundgren (pictured) had "speed to burn green hickory and an assortment of curves that would keep a cryptograph specialist figuring all night but he was wild as a March hare in a cyclone"?
6. Lil Stoner   10,047 837 ... that pitcher and "smokeball artist" Lil Stoner (pictured) also enjoyed baking and growing flowers?
7. Bobby Lowe (4/4/11)   5,837 730 ... that Boston Beaneater Bobby "Link" Lowe (pictured) was the first Major League player to hit four home runs in a game and was selected in 1911 as the best utility player in baseball history?
8. Charlie Getzein (3/15-3/16/13)   5,493 713 ... that Charlie Getzein, known for his "pretzel curve" pitch, won 59 games in 1886 and 1887, including four games in the 1887 World Series?
9. Icehouse Wilson 3,908 651 ... that Icehouse Wilson, a member of "Oakland's first World Champion Baseball team," had a career batting average of .000 in Major League Baseball?
10. Mysterious Walker (5/27/10)   3,778 630 ... that Mysterious Walker, who played for or coached more than 30 baseball, basketball and football teams, earned his nickname pitching for the San Francisco Seals under a pseudonym and wearing a mask?
11. Fred Dunlap (9/2/11)   4,758 595 ... that Fred Dunlap, who was once the highest paid player in professional baseball, died penniless at the age of 43?
12. Jerry Dorgan (7/10/14) 4,800 592 ... that professional baseball player Jerry Dorgan suffered from an "unconquerable appetite for liquor" and died after being discovered inebriated in a barn with an empty liquor bottle by his side?
13. Ned Hanlon (7/28/14)   6,628 562 ... that "Foxy Ned" Hanlon (pictured), inventor of the "Baltimore chop", was "The Father of Modern Baseball"?
14. Heinie Meine (8/30/11)   4,500 555 ... that during the Prohibition era, the National League's leading pitcher Heinie Meine (pictured) operated a speakeasy known for "moose milk that would peel the paint off a battleship"?
15. Frank Ringo (7/9-7/10/14) 7,125 509 ... that baseball player Frank Ringo, who was "inordinately fond" of whiskey, married in January 1889 and killed himself in April of that same year?
16. Willie Hernández (9/4/22)   6,069 506 ... that Puerto Rico's Willie Hernández (pictured) became the highest paid player in Detroit Tigers history after winning Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards and a World Series?
17. John Hiller (9/2/19)   5,743 479 ... that after suffering a heart attack at the age of 27, relief pitcher John Hiller (pictured) made a comeback and broke Major League Baseball's record for saves in a season?
18. Sadie Houck (6/9/14)   5,703 475 ... that Sadie Houck was blacklisted by the National League for being "addicted to drink" despite being acknowledged as "one of the best short stops in the country and a thorough ball player"?
19. Tip O'Neill (8/7/14)   5,200 444 ... that Tip O'Neill won the triple crown and set at least eight Major League Baseball batting records?
20. Count Campau (6/25-6/26/14)   3,485 436 ... that 19th-century baseball player Count Campau could reportedly run the bases in 14 seconds, and once converted an infield popup into a home run?
21. Bill Armour (1/29/14)   3,488 436 ... that Bill Armour (pictured) was manager of the Cleveland Bronchos when they signed Nap Lajoie to the most lucrative contract in baseball up to that time, and of the Detroit Tigers when they signed Ty Cobb?
22. Dupee Shaw   4,520 383 ... that Dupee Shaw's delivery may have been the first pitching wind-up, created "a genuine sensation" and led baseball writers of his day to call him "a monkey, a mountebank and other harsh names"?
23. Pete Conway (3/27/11)   2,730 341 ... that Pete Conway won 30 games as a pitcher for the Detroit Wolverines in 1888, "snapped a cord in his arm" in 1889, later worked as a mule skinner, and was dead by age 36?
24. Jumping Jack Jones (8/23/14)   3,900 333 ... that baseball pitcher, dentist, and voice trainer Jumping Jack Jones (pictured) leapt into the air before throwing, making him "the twirling marvel of his time"?
25. Dick Burns (9/20/14) 3,781 323 ... that the baseball player Dick Burns's "up-shoot" was called "a beauty"?
26. Duncan Curry (6/14/12) 2,450 306 ... that Duncan Curry, sometimes called the "Father of Baseball", was the president of the first organized baseball team and helped draft the first written rules of the game in 1845?
27. Chick Lathers (9/17/09) 1,791 299 ... that Chick Lathers quit Major League Baseball in 1913 to become a car salesman for Ford Motor Company?
28. Mayo Smith (11/213)   2,387 298 ... that ESPN.com ranked the decision by Mayo Smith (pictured) to move Mickey Stanley to shortstop for the 1968 World Series as the third "gutsiest call" in sports history?
29. Baby Doll Jacobson (3/1/14)   2,372 289 ... that Baby Doll Jacobson (pictured) received his nickname after hitting a home run while a band played "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" on opening day of the 1912 season?
30. Ed Beatin (7/10/14)   2,959 282 ... that pitcher Ed Beatin, who had "the most astonishing slow ball that was ever offered up to a batter", was twice a 20-game winner?
31. Bun Troy (6/16/14)   2,302 281 ... that baseball pitcher Bun Troy, who won a doubleheader while pitching all nine innings of both games, was killed in action during World War I?
32. Jack Rowe (8/3/14)   3,270 279 ... that baseball players Jack Rowe (pictured) and Hardy Richardson were two of the "Big Four", a group "regarded for many years as the greatest quartette in the history of the national pastime"? (stats for Rowe only)
33. Frank G. Menke (8/21/11) 2,200 275 ... that after debunking Abner Doubleday as the inventor of baseball, Frank Menke was placed in "the class that would belittle Washington, Lincoln and other men who have played their part in American history"?
34. Dan Casey (8/21/14)   3,500 246 ... that in later life, baseball player Dan Casey claimed he was "Casey at the Bat"?
35. Red Snapp (11/3/11) 2,800 233 ... that Red Snapp was considered the "king of the minor leagues?
36. Cal Broughton (8/15/14)   3,128 232 ... that baseball catcher Cal Broughton later became a police chief who captured a gang of train robbers after a gun fight in Wisconsin?
37. Prince Oana (6/13/14)   1,726 216 ... that professional baseball player "Prince" Oana was falsely advertised by his promoters as a full-blooded Hawaiian royal?

Film/TV

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Article (date) Image DYK views Per hour Hook
1. The Italian (1915 film), George Beban (10/5/09)   14,100 + 6,002 = 20,102 3,350 ... that the 1915 film The Italian tells the story of an immigrant played by George Beban (pictured) who goes to America in search of fortune but finds a "Darwininan jungle" on New York's Lower East Side?
2. Clara Williams (10/6/09)   11,247 1,867 ... that silent film star Clara Williams (pictured), known for her "forty famous frocks", appeared in more than 100 films between 1910 and 1918?
3. Forbidden Area (11/5/20)   18,272 1,523 ... that Rod Serling's Forbidden Area (actor pictured), a nuclear-war thriller, launched the four-year run of a series voted in 1970 as "the greatest television series of all time"?
4. Luke Matheny (3/4/11) 10,590 1,324 ... that Luke Matheny, whose hair was described as "a vast black bouffant that makes him look like an untidy microphone", began his Academy Award acceptance speech by joking, "I should've gotten a haircut"?
5. Civilization (film) (10/5/09)   7,000 1,167 ... that the epic anti-war film Civilization (poster pictured), depicting Jesus walking through the carnage of war, was credited with helping re-elect U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in 1916?
6. Sex (film) (9/28/09)   9,300 1,163 ... that the 1920 film Sex, opening with its star performing a seductive "spider dance" clad in "a translucent cloak of webs", had its title censored in Pennsylvania?
7. In the Presence of Mine Enemies (9/30/20) 20,907 871 ... that Leon Uris called Rod Serling's In the Presence of Mine Enemies "the most disgusting presentation in the history of American television" and demanded that the negative be burned?
8. Junior Coghlan (9/22/09) 6,547 818 ... that Frank Coghlan said "damn" in Gone with the Wind, but is best known known for saying "Shazam" in Captain Marvel, the first big screen depiction of a comic book superhero?
9. The Green Pastures (Hallmark Hall of Fame) (12/14/20)   9,491 791 ... that The Green Pastures (1957) (advertisement pictured) was critiqued in the white Southern press for having "bowed to the inverted prejudice which insists that Negroes shall never be portrayed as Negroes"?
10. The Mystery of Thirteen (3/29/21)   8,499 708 ... that Jack Lemmon starred in The Mystery of Thirteen as a real-life physician who Charles Dickens called "the greatest villain that ever stood in the Old Bailey"?
11. Around the World in 90 Minutes (3/30/21)   8,256 688 ... that Around the World in 90 Minutes featured Elizabeth Taylor cutting a 30-foot-long (9.1 m) cake, Walter Cronkite reporting, and Hubert Humphrey delivering a speech?
12. The Wolf Woman (9/27/09)   5,100 638 ... that reviewers called The Wolf Woman the "greatest vampire picture of all" and its star, Louise Glaum, "the greatest vampire woman of all time"?
13. Shorty Hamilton (10/6/09) 3,800 633 ... that silent film comedian Shorty Hamilton died in 1925 when his automobile crashed into a steam shovel in Hollywood?
14. The Defender (11/3/20) 6,763 564 ... that Steve McQueen and William Shatner starred in The Defender, the first live television drama divided for broadcast on separate nights, "leaving audiences dangling on the cliff"?
15. The Strike (8/7/22) 13,512 563 ... that "The Strike" (1954), about an American officer's turmoil in ordering an air strike on his own men, was rated as Rod Serling's best script he had written to date?
16. Sacco-Vanzetti Story (10/2/20) 13,149 548 ... that the 1960 television play Sacco-Vanzetti Story was called "one of the most controversial ever seen on television"?
17. The Plot to Kill Stalin (10/5/20) 12,951 540 ... that the Soviet Union called The Plot to Kill Stalin "filthy slander" and retaliated by closing the CBS news bureau in Moscow?
18. The Jet Propelled Couch   6,167 514 ... that the producers of The Jet Propelled Couch hired "Miss Color TV", Vampira (pictured in black and white), and several Miss Americas to portray attractive creatures inhabiting an imaginary planet?
19. The Ford 50th Anniversary Show (10/17/20)   11,238 468 ... that a 1953 television special broadcast simultaneously on NBC and CBS attracted 60 million viewers and was called "a milestone in the cultural life of the '50s"?
20. Lorenzo Tucker (4/30/08) 4,191 432 ... that a scandal arose when African-American actor Lorenzo Tucker, known as the "Black Valentino", playing a pimp in a play, kissed Mae West, playing a prostitute?
21. A Town Has Turned to Dust (10/9/20) 9,915 413 ... that sponsors refused to back the lynching story A Town Has Turned to Dust until writer Rod Serling moved the setting out of the South and changed the victim from black to Mexican?
22. A Night to Remember 9,391 391 ... that A Night to Remember, a live broadcast about Titanic's final night, featured 107 actors and 31 sets, and proved that "TV occasionally can rise to great heights"?
23. Bang the Drum Slowly (10/23/20) 8,867 369 ... that Bang the Drum Slowly, in which Paul Newman stepped in and out of character to double as a Greek chorus, was called "daring television of rare quality"?
24. P.O.W. (10/25/20) 7,505 313 ... that P.O.W. was based on interviews with repatriated prisoners about communist "brainwashing treatment" during the Korean War?
25. For Whom the Bell Tolls (Playhouse 90) (10/29/20) 7,333 306 ... that Ernest Hemingway watched the television adaptation of For Whom the Bell Tolls from a flea-bitten motel as the screenwriter held the "rabbit ears" for him? (also 4,218 views for "rabbit ears")
26. Paul Weiland (10/2/09) 1,831 305 ... that director Paul Weiland, whose credits include Mr. Bean, 66 and more than 500 television commercials, owns an 18th-century country estate in Wiltshire, England?
27. Bill Littlejohn (10/1/10) 1,676 279 ... that the work of "animation God" Bill Littlejohn includes Tom and Jerry, A Charlie Brown Christmas and an Oscar-winning short with Dizzy Gillespie debating the possibility of nuclear war?
27. Wagon Tracks (10/7/09)   1,872 271 ... that The Atlanta Constitution wrote that William S. Hart's face (pictured) was "the synonym for power and manliness" in its review of the film Wagon Tracks?
28. The Turn of the Screw (Ford Startime) (11/9/20) 2,862 239 ... that Ingrid Bergman won Emmy and Sylvania Awards for her world television debut in John Frankenheimer's horror movie The Turn of the Screw? (14,397 for all linked terms)
28. [[Wilfred Buckland] (10/1/09) 1,900 238 ... that an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1980 argued that "everything we know as Hollywood traces to Wilfred Buckland", film innovator and Hollywood's first art director?
28. Judgment at Nuremberg (10/19/20) 5,608 234 ... that Claude Rains's reference to the Nazis' "gas ovens" was cut from the audio during the broadcast of Judgment at Nuremberg due to an objection by a gas-company sponsor?
. Victoria Regina (10/16/20) 4,368 ... that a makeup artist used a rubber mask and fake nose to age Julie Harris by 60 years in the Emmy-winning "program of the year" Victoria Regina? (8,997 for all linked terms)
. No Time for Sergeants (10/20/20)   3,710 ... that The New York Times review of the 1955 television play No Time for Sergeants questioned whether Andy Griffith was "versatile enough to qualify for other important roles"? (12,094 for all linked terms)
. The Moon and Sixpence (11/10/20) 2,185 ... that Laurence Olivier won an Emmy for his role as a London stockbroker, Parisian artist, and Tahitian leper in The Moon and Sixpence? (7,641 for all linked terms)
. The Turn of the Screw (11/9/20) 2,862 ... that Ingrid Bergman won Emmy and Sylvania Awards for her world television debut in John Frankenheimer's horror movie The Turn of the Screw? (14,397 for all linked terms)
. Albert Heschong (10/16/20) 1,801 ... that Albert Heschong parlayed his childhood interest in model boats and Erector Sets into building huge stage sets, including a $15,000 Victorian house for ABC's Pulitzer Prize Playhouse? (4,837 for all linked terms)

Churches

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Article (date) Image DYK views Per hour Hook
1. St. Brendan (Los Angeles) (4/24/08)   5,270 811 ...that St. Brendan's Church (pictured) has been a location for two apocalypse movies: the Martian attack in 1953's War of the Worlds and the wedding at the end of Armageddon?
2. Scottish Rite Cathedral (9/22/09)   5,800 725 ... that the Scottish Rite Cathedral (pictured), covered in some 250 tons of ornamental terra cotta, was among the first eight structures designated as a Long Beach Historic Landmark?
3. Mary Star of the Sea (4/28/08)   3,900 629 ... that the bronze of Mary atop Mary Star of the Sea, known as the "Fishermen's Church," is lit at night so she can be seen from the Port of Los Angeles harbor?
4. McCarty Memorial Christian Church (5/7-5/8/08)   4,357 622 ... that McCarty Church (pictured) in Los Angeles gained attention for its pastor's decision to racially integrate his white Protestant church in the mid-1950s? (4,200 photo views)
5. Precious Blood Church (12/2/09)   3,600 580 ... that the Los Angeles Times wrote that a motorist passing the playground at Precious Blood Church (pictured) might think "he'd been transported to a Catholic school in circa-1950s Chicago or Pittsburgh"?
6. St. Augustine Catholic Church, Culver City (4/22/08)   4,000 519 ...that a Muslim fundamentalist beheaded a statue of the Virgin Mary at St. Augustine's and carted a statue of Father Serra to a nearby mosque in October 2001?
7. St. Basil Catholic Church (12/3/09)   2,500 431 ... that the 1969 dedication of St. Basil Church in Los Angeles prompted a "club-swinging mob" of Chicanos to break into the church during Christmas Midnight Mass?
8. St. Cyril of Jerusalem Church and School (4/20/08)   3,400 377 ... that St. Cyril of Jerusalem Church was the site of the baptism of Clark Gable's son, the wedding of Annette Funicello, and the funeral of Mercury Seven astronaut "Gordo" Cooper?
9. St. Monica Catholic Church, Santa Monica (4/22/08)   2,200 289 ... that Academy Award winner Going My Way was filmed at St. Monica's , and the irascible old Irish priest character was based on its pastor?
10. St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church (12/6/09)   1,700 283 ... that the day after a UCLA art student set the St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church afire, the pastor of the church prayed for forgiveness for the arsonist?
Proposed hook: ... that St. Martin of Tours Church (pictured) was the site of Dan Akroyd's eulogy to John Candy and a media frenzy when O. J. Simpson appeared at his slain wife's funeral?
11. St. Andrew's Church (4/19/08)   1,600 250 ...that when St. Andrew's Church in Pasadena was built in the 1920s, it was compared to "a jeweled crown on the head of a Byzantine queen"?
12. Blessed Sacrament Church (4/28/08)   1,700 243 ... that Hollywood's Blessed Sacrament Church was the site of Bing Crosby's wedding and funerals for John Ford and Mack Sennett?
13. Incarnation Church (4/20/08)   2,100 233 ...that police patrolled Incarnation Church during the 2000 funeral of a Hispanic youth killed with a tire iron by Armenian-Americans after a retaliatory shooting at a donut shop?
14. St. Charles Borromeo Church (4/13/08)   1,700 213 ... that Paul Salamunovich, choir director since 1949 at St. Charles Borromeo Church (pictured) in North Hollywood, has also conducted choirs for dozens of feature films, including The Devil's Advocate?
. Bardsdale United Methodist Church (9/20/08)   ... that the 1898 Carpenter Gothic Bardsdale Methodist Episcopal Church in California underwent extensive renovations after a portion of the ceiling fell on a parishioner during a 1982 service?
. Alvarado Terrace Historic District (6/20/08)   6 57 ... that the Alvarado Terrace Historic District includes a church built in 1912 that was the LA home of Jim Jones' Peoples Temple before the group's 1977 mass suicide in Jonestown?
. Wadsworth Chapel (6/6/08)   ... that the 1900 Carpenter Gothic Wadsworth Chapel has separate Catholic and Protestant chapels under one roof?
. Padre Serra Parish (4/27/08)   366 ...that Cardinal Mahony petitioned Rome to name Padre Serra Church after Junipero Serra despite controversy over his treatment of California Indians?
. St. Finbar (Burbank) (4/20/08)   ...that St. Finbar Church in Burbank, faced with a dwindling flock and changing demographics, was one of the first U.S. parishes to offer Spanish language Mass?
. St. Robert Bellarmine (Burbank) (4/17/08)   464 ...that the pastor of Burbank's St. Bellarmine Church was a World War I chaplain who modeled the campus on Monticello and Independence Hall?
. St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church (Los Angeles) (12/5/09)   600 ... that a 1999 fire in St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church caused an estimated $1.2 million in damage?
. St. Timothy Catholic Church (Los Angeles) (12/5/09)   740 ... that St. Timothy Catholic Church in Los Angeles, California, has an antique gold leaf altarpiece believed to have been made in Spain in the 1600s?
. St. Cecilia Catholic Church (Los Angeles) (12/1/09)   1,000 ... that LA's St. Cecilia Church, built in 1927, adapted to its multiethnic community by installing shrines to a beatified Nigerian priest, a Oaxacan Virgin, and a Guatemalan "Black Christ"?
. First Congregational Church (Long Beach) (9/29/09)   ... that a pastor of the First Congregational Church in Long Beach, California, vowed to defy an order to block homeless people from sleeping on the church steps?

Music

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Article (date) Image DYK views Per hour Hook
1. Double entendre songs (1/1/21)   13,757 + 6,108 + 6,308 + 6,080 + 5,306 = 37,559 1,565 ... that a ranking of the greatest double-entendre songs of all time included "Big Long Slidin' Thing" by Dinah Washington (pictured), "Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl" by Bessie Smith, "It Ain't the Meat (It's the Motion)" by the Swallows, "Keep On Churnin' (Till the Butter Comes)" by Wynonie Harris, and "Big Ten Inch Record" by Aerosmith?
2. Leonard Skinner (9/29/10) 8,823 1,471 ... that The New York Times called Leonard Skinner, the namesake of Lynyrd Skynyrd, "arguably the most influential high school gym teacher in American popular culture"? (approximately 45,000 views that week and 34,910 on 2/21/14)
3. McCabe's Guitar Shop (4/2/08)   7,100 1,183 ...that more than a dozen artists have recorded live albums in the back room of McCabe's Guitar Shop, including Townes Van Zandt, Ralph Stanley, and R.E.M.?
Sue K. Hicks (12/11/08) 5,914 986 ... that Sue K. Hicks, a prosecutor in the Scopes Monkey Trial who later became a judge in Tennessee, may have been the inspiration for the song, "A Boy Named Sue," popularized by singer Johnny Cash in 1969? (nom)
Lucy Vodden (10/4/09) 8,600 717 ... that Lucy Vodden was John Lennon's inspiration for the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"? (nom)
4. Macorina (song) 7,728 644 ... that "Macorina", the first erotic song dedicated to one woman by another, became a "lesbian hymn"?
5. Wang Dang Sweet Poontang (11/11/20, 3 hrs), (12/3/20, 12 hrs) 2,035 + 6,071 = 8,106 540 ... that a satirical website reported that Joe Biden was energizing donors with "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang"?
.. that music critic Greg Kot described "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" as "despicable misogyny", but listed it among his guilty pleasures because the "rawwwk doesn't get much rawer"?
6. Chaino (1/27-1/28/11) 3,109 518 .. that bongo player Chaino, whose albums included Jungle Mating Rhythms, claimed to be an orphan from a lost tribe in central Africa but was actually born in Philadelphia and raised in Chicago?
7. Fujiyama Mama (1/13/21) 4,959 413 ... that "Fujiyama Mama", an American rockabilly song that compared a woman's energy to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was a number-one hit in Japan in 1958?
8. Filipino Baby (12/28/20) 5,223 218 ... that "Filipino Baby", a song about a sailor's love for a Filipino girl, described as "my treasure and my pet", was a top-five hit for three different artists in 1946?
. America, Why I Love Her (1/11/21) 2,376 ... that an album of poetry read by John Wayne reached the number-13 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Albums chart?

Michigan athletics (non-football)

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Article (date) Image DYK views Per hour Hook
1. Charles F. Watkins (3/25/11)   10,800 1,350 ... that Michigan Wolverines baseball player and coach Charles F. Watkins sustained severe burns from an X-ray machine, which ultimately resulted in his death?
2. Weldy Walker (6/7/12)   10,348 1,294 ... that an 1888 letter written by Weldy Walker, the second African American in Major League Baseball, was called "perhaps the most passionate cry for justice ever voiced by a Negro athlete"?
3. Charles Dvorak (2/28-3/1/11)   6,883 1,147 ... that Charles Dvorak (pictured) missed the pole vault finals at the 1900 Olympics after being told the event was postponed, but returned to win the gold medal at the 1904 Olympics?
4. Thomas Trueblood (1/29-1/30/08)   6,678 1,113 ...that University of Michigan elocution professor Thomas Trueblood received nationwide attention when the Chicago Tribune reported in 1903 that he was offering a new "course in love making"?
5. Steve Farrell (1/26/09)   5,400 931 ... that Steve Farrell, called "the greatest professional foot-racer" in America, raced against horses for several years in the 1890s and reportedly only lost a half dozen times?
6. Syque Caesar (7/30/12) 5,900 738 ... that a University of Michigan gymnast dubbed the "Golden Syque" won the first gold medal in international competition for Bangladesh and was chosen to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London?
7. Robert and Hume Ross (1/15/09) 3,700 698 ... that twin brothers Robert and Ross Hume became known as the "Dead Heat Kids" after finishing nine straight mile races, including the Big Ten and NCAA championships, holding hands in dead heat victories? (5.3 hour queue)
8. Mel Wakabayashi (2/25/09) 3,100 500 ... that Mel Wakabayashi, born in a wartime Japanese-Canadian internment camp, was called "perhaps the most unlikely star in the long history of Michigan sports, and surely one of the most inspirational"?
9. Edward Moulton (7/20/11) 3,462 433 ... that "Dad" Moulton, a participant in Sherman's March to the Sea, was the U.S. sprint champion in the 1870s, and trained the "world's fastest human" in the 1880s?
10. Connie Hill (9/13/13) 3,400 425 ... that Connie Hill (pictured), captain of the first hockey team to win the Frozen Four, received a Ph.D. for his dissertation, "Mood, self-derogation and anomia as factors in response unreliability"?
11. Sam Stoller (1/27/09) 2,495 423 ... that the U.S. Olympic Committee awarded medals to Sam Stoller and Marty Glickman 62 years after the only two Jews on the U.S. track team were pulled from the 400-meter relay team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics?
12. Vicki Morrow (2/27/08) 2,237 358 ...that softball pitcher Vicki Morrow was named Big Ten Player of the Year in 1987 after winning 26 games, including 18 shutouts, and striking out 446 batters?
13. Charlie Fonville (2/8-2/9/08) 2,523 355 ...that Charlie Fonville broke a 14-year-old shot put world record by almost 12 inches (30 cm) at the 1948 Kansas Relays but was not allowed to stay with the other athletes because he was African-American?
14. Casey Close (1/16/11) 1,900 328 ... that Casey Close was Baseball America's National Player of the Year, married former Miss America Gretchen Carlson and negotiated more than $350 million in contracts for Derek Jeter and Ryan Howard?
15. Walter B. Rea (4/16/12) 2,565 321 ... that Walter Rea, the leading scorer for the 1919–20 Michigan Wolverines basketball team, later became the university's spokesman on "panty raids"?
16. Nikki Nemitz (6/7/09) 1,819 303 ... that after facing 2009 All-American softball pitcher Nikki Nemitz's fastball, a sports writer for the Detroit Free Press wrote that he "actually felt a breeze" and his "knees buckled"?
17. Alicia Seegert (6/10/09) 1,762 294 ... that catcher Alicia Seegert set Big Ten Conference records for batting average, hits, total bases and RBIs while playing softball for the University of Michigan from 1984 to 1987?
18. John Tidwell (5/6/10) 2,283 285 ... that John Tidwell broke the University of Michigan's single game and season basketball scoring records in 1960 despite "the handicap of a short and twisted left arm"?
19. Francie Kraker Goodridge (2/21/08) 1,700 283 ...that Francie Kraker Goodridge, who set a world indoor record in the 600-yard run, did not receive a varsity letter or sports scholarship and had to work as a waitress to put herself through college?
20. John Giordano (3/29/11) 2,200 275 ... that John Giordano, named 1981 collegiate Coach of the Year by The Hockey News, was fired three years later when all 22 of his players signed a petition listing their grievances against him?
21. Tiffany Haas (7/15/13) 3,200 267 ... that All-American second baseman Tiffany Haas did not commit an error in her last 60 games for the Michigan Wolverines softball team?
22. Bob Webster (2/7/08) 1,800 240 ...that two-time Olympic diving gold medalist Bob Webster won his first collegiate diving title for a junior college with no pool, training off a board in his coach's back-yard sand pit?
23. Eddie Tolan (2/1/09) 1,361 239 ... that Eddie Tolan, the first African-American to be the "world's fastest human" after winning double gold at the 1932 Olympics, returned home jobless and appeared in vaudeville with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson?
24. Gordon Wilkie (2/25/09) 2,185 238 ... that when Gordon Wilkie and his Michigan Wolverines teammates scored 21 points in a single ice hockey game against Ohio State University, their coach threatened to bench anyone else who scored?
25. Frank Bliss (6/7/12) 1,600 200 ... that Frank Bliss, the first Michigan Wolverine to play Major League baseball, tucked his trousers into long boots for shin protection as a catcher in the early 1870s?

Ventura

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Article (date) Image DYK views Per hour Hook
1. San Buenaventura Mission Aqueduct (9/16/08)   6,512 868 ... that the seven-mile-long Ventura Mission Aqueduct, built between 1780 and 1815, has been called "an engineering marvel"?
2. Battle of San Buenaventura (5/24/22) 9,525 794 ... that the Battle of San Buenaventura was described by the Los Angeles Times as a "quirky skirmish ... that emptied the mission of wine and left its adobe walls pockmarked by cannon fire"?
3. Serra Cross (7/18/18)   7,823 326 ... that the Serra Cross (pictured) in Ventura, California, was sold in response to a threatened lawsuit challenging the use of public funds to maintain a religious symbol on public land?
4. Cephas L. Bard (10/6/22)   5,272 220 ... that Cephas L. Bard, the first American physician in Ventura, California, was also the first person to die in the hospital he built there?

Crime and law enforcement

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Article (date) Image DYK views Per hour Hook
1. Garden Gnome Liberationists (12/17/08)   14,200 2,367 ... that the leader of the French Garden Gnome Liberation Front was given a suspended sentence after the group "liberated" over 150 garden gnomes in 1997?
Lilian Lenton (11/12/08)   13,185 2,217 ... that the force-feeding (pictured) of suffragette, arsonist and hunger-striker Lilian Lenton caused food to enter her lungs and led to public outrage? (nom)
2. Troy axe murders (9/14/22) 14,138 1,178 ... that in the Troy axe murders a former fireman killed his wife, five-year-old daughter, and five stepchildren and left love notes on their bodies? (overnight)
3. Hazelwood massacre (8/14/22) 25,760 1,073 ... that the 1971 Hazelwood massacre was the largest mass murder in the history of "Murder City"?
4. Murder of the DeLisle children (10/20/22) 11,625 969 ... that a 28-year-old tire store manager drowned his four children in the same station wagon in which his father fatally shot himself in the head?
Stop AAPI Hate, murder of Vicha Ratanapakdee (3/11/21) 10,058 (3,149 + 6,699 + 210) 838 .. that Stop AAPI Hate was formed in 2020 in response to increased racially motivated violence against Asian people, which now includes the murder of Vicha Ratanapakdee? (nom)
5. Eugene Goodman (1/27/21)   10,003 834 .. that Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman has been credited with having "saved American Democracy" on January 6, 2021? (also received 105,788 views, 1/20-1/23)
6. Rock Road massacre (8/21/22) 18,943 789 ... that a livestock auctioneer and former Army sharpshooter shot and killed seven family members in the Rock Road massacre?
7. Richard Frederick Dixon (10/30/22) 8,663 722 ... that after his release from a hospital for the criminally insane, Richard Dixon burgled $16 from a credit union and hijacked a jet to Cuba?
8. Court-martial of William T. Colman (9/25/22) 17,025 710 ... that the court-martial of William T. Colman, the commander of a U.S. air base, created a storm of protest when he was merely reduced in rank after shooting a black soldier?
9. Procopio (12/26-12/27/08) 2,645 551 ... that 19th-century California bandit Procopio, also known as Red-Handed Dick, was said to "love the feel and the color of warm blood," and his name was used by mothers to frighten their children?
10. Royal Oak post office shootings (10/1/22) 9,284 399 ... that an investigation into the Royal Oak post office shootings led one congressman to accuse the Postal Service of having been "asleep at the switch"?

Other

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Article (date) Image DYK views Per hour Hook
1. Henri Salmide (3/19/10) 19,654 3,276 ... that Heinz Stahlschmidt was credited with saving 3,500 French lives when he refused to blow up the port of Bordeaux and instead blew up the munitions bunker, killing approximately 50 Germans?
2. USA Field Hockey Hall of Fame inductees (2/6/21)   25,897 (3,826 + 2,504 + 3,421 + 979 + 924 + 707 + 847 + 743 + 807 + 11,140) 2,158 ... that the first women inducted into the USA Field Hockey Hall of Fame included a WASP pilot, a World War II Marine, a "Chickie", a Hall of Fame lacrosse player, a world-champion softball player, an All-College basketball player, the founder of the first collegiate squash program in the United States, a professor and a valedictorian of Ursinus College, and a resident of Atlantis (pictured)?
The Sea of Ice (11/25/08)   11,700 1,950 ... that Caspar David Friedrich's 1824 painting The Sea of Ice (pictured) was seen as too radical in composition, and went unsold until after his death in 1840? (nom) (23,000 DYK image views [3,833 per hour])
3. Clarence Chesterfield Howerton (8/28/13)   23,019 1,918 ... that Clarence Chesterfield Howerton, aka Major Mite (pictured), was billed as the world's smallest man?
4. Joanne Siegel (3/4-3/5/11)   13,564 1,700 ... that Joanne Siegel was the original model for Lois Lane and later married Superman's co-creator?
5. Lincoln Broyhill (12/10/08) 10,108 1,685 ... that B-17 Flying Fortress tailgunner "Babe" Broyhill set a record by destroying two Messerschmitt ME-262 jet fighters in a mission over Berlin in March 1945?
Holy Land USA   11,506 1,513 ... that Holy Land USA (pictured), a Connecticut theme park intended to replicate Bethlehem and Jerusalem of the biblical era, once attracted more than 40,000 visitors annually? (nom only)
George R. Christmas (1/12/09)   11,100 1,480 ... that George R. Christmas (pictured), then known as Captain Christmas, received the Navy Cross for "extraordinary heroism" in the Vietnam War? (nom)
M33 cluster bomb (11/19/08)   8,692 1,449 ... that after testing the biological Brucella cluster bomb on 11,000 guinea pigs, a U.S. general remarked "Now we know what to do if we ever go to war against guinea pigs"? (hook)
The Swimming Hole (12/19/08)   8,600 1,433 ... that artist Thomas Eakins was fired shortly after the exhibition of The Swimming Hole pictured), cited as a prime example of homoeroticism in American art? (nom) (51,354 views on 10/16/09 [MainPage FA])
Jim McColl (1/14/09) 7,200 1,074 ... that Jim McColl, the son of a butcher, reportedly became Scotland's richest man in 2008? (nom)
Taylor Mitchell (11/5/09) 6,433 1,072 ... that in October 2009 Canadian folk singer Taylor Mitchell became the first adult in North America known to have been killed by coyotes? (nom) (44,429 views on 10/29/09)
Afghan Muscles 9,343 1,062 ... that the director of Afghan Muscles ignored the role of Afghan women in bodybuilding, noting "It's men looking at men," and "60% [of men] have their first sexual experience with another man"? (hook only)
6 Ernie Lopez (10/8-10/9/09) 6,141 1,024 ... that the selection of Ernie "Indian Red" Lopez for the California Boxing Hall of Fame led to his discovery in a Texas homeless shelter after being missing for 12 years?
Suicide bag (12/28/08) 6,100 1,017 ... that an exit bag, consisting of a large, clear plastic bag with a drawstring, is a commercially available device for committing suicide? (nom)
Florizel von Reuter (12/1/08)   5,743 957 ... that Florizel von Reuter (pictured), a child prodigy on the violin, later developed psychic interests and wrote books describing communications with dead composers, including Paganini and Rimsky-Korsakov? (nom)
Quackers (11/27/08) 5,400 900 ... that Soviet submarines patrolling in the North Atlantic in the 1970s reported mysterious frog-like sounds, dubbed "quackers", which have been classified as Unidentified Submerged Objects? (4,400 views for "unidentified submerged objects") (nom)
Mike Penner (12/4/09) 5,300 883 ... that Los Angeles Times sports writer Mike Penner told readers he was a transsexual in a 2007 essay entitled "Old Mike, new Christine"?
Talheim Death Pit (11/29/08) 5,206 868 ... that most of the skeletons found at Talheim Death Pit, a mass grave in Germany dating to 5000 BC, show signs of skull trauma, and scientists have concluded that those buried there were victims of genocide? (nom)
7. Arnall Patz (3/31/10) 5,267 850 ... that ophthalmologist Arnall Patz received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for solving one of "the great medical mysteries of the postwar era"?
8. Dale Haney (11/1/22)   9,802 817 ... that Dale Haney has walked presidential pooches from Richard Nixon's King Timahoe to Joe Biden's Commander and safeguarded George W. Bush's pets during the September 11 attacks?
Leo the Mathematician (11/20/08) 4,700 783 ... that Leo the Mathematician, called by some the cleverest man in 9th-century Byzantium, invented a system of beacons to warn of Arab raids and a fabled levitating throne for the emperor? (nom)
Miyuki Hatoyama (9/6/09) 4,700 783 ... that Japan's incoming First Lady Miyuki Hatoyama claims to have been abducted by aliens in a triangular-shaped UFO and to have known Tom Cruise when he was Japanese in a prior incarnation? (nom)
9. Lester Shubin (12/3/09) 6,807 756 ... that chemist Lester Shubin has been credited with saving the lives of thousands of police officers?
10. Rommy Hunt Revson (10/24/22)   8,787 732 ... that nightclub singer Rommy Revson earned millions of dollars from her 1986 invention of the scrunchie (examples pictured), which she originally named after her pet poodle?
Dickshooter, Idaho (4/23/11) 4,312 719 ... that Dickshooter was named for Dick Shooter?
11. World Charter for Prostitutes' Rights (11/18/08) 4,200 700 ... that the World Charter for Prostitutes' Rights, adopted in 1985, calls for the right to unemployment insurance and decriminalization of adult prostitution?
12. David Avadon (9/14/09) 4,200 700 ... that David Avadon earned his livelihood for 30 years as "a daring pickpocket with dashing finesse"?
13. Gloria Nord (1/13-1/14/10) 8,319 693 ... that pin-up girl Gloria Nord attracted more than a million people to her rolling skating exhibitions in 1942 and 1943 and later gave a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II?
14. List of Australian inventions (12/17/08) 3,800 623 ... that Australian inventions include the boomerang, didgeridoo, black box flight data recorder, Vegemite, spray-on skin, and bionic ear (pictured)?
Royal Coachman (11/14/08)
 
3,700 617 ... that the Royal Coachman (pictured), first made in 1878, may be the world's best-known fly? (nom)
15. Death by coconut (7/28/13)   4,258 532 ... that according to an urban legend, coconuts kill more people than sharks each year?
16. Berthold Beitz (8/5/13)   4,063 508 ... that businessman Berthold Beitz saved hundreds of Jews, including tailors, hairdressers and Talmudic scholars, by designating them as essential to Nazi Germany's war effort?
17. Van Nuys Boulevard (3/21/08)   3,400 507 ...that Van Nuys Boulevard, running through the heart of LA's San Fernando Valley, was a center of teenage cruising from the 1950s through the 1970s?
18. Anton Zamloch (1/11/08)   2,883 506 ...that 19th century magician and vaudeville star Anton Zamloch was accused, and then exonerated, of having "bewitched" a woman's wedding ring from her gloved hand?
19. Waldo Hunt (12/3/09) 3,000 492 ... that Waldo Hunt, "King of the Pop-Ups," could "make dinosaurs rear up, ships set sail and bats quiver in belfries"?
20. Montecito Tea Fire (11/19-11/20/08) 2,930 488 ... that the Montecito Tea Fire, which destroyed more than 200 homes in California, was caused by smoldering embers from a bonfire party at an abandoned tea house?
21. Nicolae Pleşiţă (10/5/09) 4,900 480 ... that former Romanian secret police chief Nicolae Pleşiţă, notorious for his dealings with Carlos the Jackal, admitted dragging dissident writer Paul Goma around his cell by his beard?
22. Victory Boulevard (3/11/08)   3,600 480 ...that Victory Boulevard, running the 25-mile length of the San Fernando Valley, is mentioned in Randy Newman's I Love LA: "Victory Boulevard (We Love It!)"?
23. Charles Bond (9/17/09) 2,868 478 ... that Maj. Gen. Charles Bond was credited with shooting down nine-and-a-half Japanese planes and was himself shot down twice while serving with the Flying Tigers in Burma and China?
24. Sayre Fire (11/19/08)   2,796 466 ... that the Sayre Fire resulted in the worst loss of homes due to fire in the history of Los Angeles, surpassing the loss of 484 residences in the 1961 Bel Air fire?
25. ʻIolani Luahine (1/1-1/2/09) 2,694 449 ... that Iolani Luahine, considered the high priestess of the ancient hula, was said to be able to "call up the wind and the rain" and to "make animals do her bidding"?
26. Michael van der Veen (3/3/21)   5,263 439 ... that Michael van der Veen, who represented Donald Trump at his second impeachment trial, also represented a man claiming to have been served a fried rat at a KFC?
27. Murray Sayle (10/2/10) 2,630 438 ... that Australian Murray Sayle, known for his "rat-like cunning", was a war correspondent in Vietnam, tracked Che Guevara through the Bolivian jungle, climbed Mt. Everest and sailed solo across the Atlantic?
28. Stuart Macrae (inventor) (11/13/08) 2,600 433 ... that the sticky bomb was designed by Stuart Macrae at a laboratory known as "Winston Churchill's Toyshop"? (12,600 DYK views for sticky bomb)
29. Lillian Brown (11/1/20)   5,149 429 ... that Lillian Brown, makeup artist to nine U.S. presidents, stopped Richard Nixon's sobbing before he went on television to resign the presidency?
30. Ysrael Seinuk (10/10/10) 2,560 427 ... that Ysrael Seinuk came to the United States with little more than "my slide rule and my diploma from the University of Havana" and became known as "Mr. New York"?
31. Tony Dauksza (2/15/12) 3,200 400 ... that former American football player Tony Dauksza in 1971 became the first person to traverse the Northwest Passage in anything other than a ship, completing the journey by himself in a canoe?
32. Dodge Morgan (10/1/10) 2,402 400 ... that radar detector millionaire Dodge Morgan at age 54 sailed solo around the globe without stops in 150 days, shattering the prior record of 292 days?
33. Blowout (sports) (1/16/09) 2,400 400 ... that during a blowout, fans often chant to request that players who only play in garbage time be put in the game?
Robert A. Baker (12/7/08) 4,600 383 ... that "ghost buster" Robert A. Baker was named one of the most outstanding scientific skeptics of the 20th century for his work on hypnosis, ghosts, alien abductions and false memory syndrome? (nom)
34. James Tanis (1/13/09) 2,471 358 ... that former guerrilla James Tanis undertook a trip through some twenty fast-flowing rivers and creeks before being inaugurated as the second President of Bougainville?
35. Tiny Gooch (7/16/10) 2,120 353 ... that Tiny Gooch, placed third in the discus at the NCAA track championships, won the Southwest Conference heavyweight wrestling championship and was acknowledged as "the tallest attorney in Texas" until 1950?
36. Donna Mae Mims (10/22/09) 2,786 350 .. that Donna Mae Mims, known as the "Pink Lady" of racing, became the first woman to win a Sports Car Club of America national championship in 1963?
37. Gauthier Mvumbi (2/17/21) 8,195 341 ... that Gauthier Mvumbi has been called the "Shaq of handball", the "Congo Colossus", and "the most popular handball player on the Earth"?
38. [[Dick Liddil (12/9/08) 1,700 317 ... that James-Younger Gang member "Dick" Liddil surrendered to authorities after killing Jesse James' cousin, reportedly out of fear of that James would seek revenge?
39. Jan Leighton (12/5/09) 1,300 290 ... that Jan Leighton played over 1,200 famous persons in television and print advertisements, and 1,800 more on radio?
40. Maria Gulovich Liu (10/11/09) 1,728 288 ... that Maria Gulovich sheltered Jews, worked for the anti-fascist underground, and was awarded the Bronze Star for saving the lives of OSS agents during World War II?
41. C. Ferris White (8/6/12) 2,300 288 ... that C. Ferris White designed more than 1,100 buildings in the U.S. state of Washington (example pictured) and over 300 more in the company town of Potlatch, Idaho?
42. Charles Muscatine (3/28/10) 1,676 279 ... that Chaucer scholar Charles Muscatine participated in the D-day landing on Omaha Beach and was fired by UC Berkeley for refusing to sign a McCarthyite oath?
43. Walter Boal (7/3/09) 1,671 279 ... that American hammer thrower Walter Boal astonished passengers on a ship traveling to England in 1899 by skipping rope around the deck with another athlete on his back?
44. Jan Leighton (12/5/09) 1,708 275 ... that Jan Leighton played over 1,200 famous persons in television and print advertisements, and 1,800 more on radio?
45. Zoia Horn (12/9/08) 2,200 275 ... that the Zoia Horn Intellectual Freedom Award is named for a librarian who was jailed for refusing to testify in the 1972 trial of the Harrisburg Seven anti-war activists?
46. Florence Casler (6/30/08) 2,755 276 ... that after moving to Los Angeles, California in 1912 as a widow with two daughters, Florence Casler became a pioneering woman real estate developer, constructing more than 60 buildings?
47. Leonard Paulu (12/14/09) 2,050 257 ... that Leonard Paulu won consecutive NCAA championships in the 100 yard dash despite war injuries that included the loss of an eye and a right-leg stride four inches shorter than his left?
48. Jack Karwales 1,492 249 ... that Jack Karwales spent time as a Wolverine, Bear, and Cardinal, and a coach of Billikens?
49. Rachel Hirschfeld (12/9/08) 1,900 238 ... that attorney Rachel Hirschfeld works in the field of pet rights, including the creation of pet trusts allowing pets to inherit property?
50. Pico Boulevard (3/30/08)   1,900 239 ...that the 1947 song "Pico and Sepulveda" by Felix Figueroa & His Orchestra about an intersection along LA's Pico Boulevard (pictured) was frequently featured on Dr. Demento's syndicated radio show? (4,700 DYK photo views)
51. Hugo Bettauer] (11/18/08) 1,400 233 ... that Hugo Bettauer, author of a satire depicting Vienna after expulsion of its Jews, was shot and killed in 1925 after Nazis branded him a "Red poet" and "corruptor of youth"?
52. Beryl Benacerraf (11/18/22)   5,538 231 ... that Beryl Benacerraf, pioneer of the nuchal scan, wrote that dyslexia caused her to live in a world of images where "anomalies jump out at me like a neon sign"?
53. Robert Searcy (9/24/09) 1,800 225 ... that Robert Searcy, who served with the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, was employed after the war by United Airlines cleaning aircraft?
54. Donald Goerke (1/29/10) 1,301 217 ... that Donald Goerke invented SpaghettiOs, choosing the "O" over pasta shaped like baseballs, cowboys, and spacemen, and later ran the company's dog food division?
55. Bill Paparian (12/15/08) 1,300 217 ... that Bill Paparian, who visited Cuba while mayor of Pasadena, California, was reported to admire both Che Guevara and the U.S. Marine Corps?
56. Alice McGrath (12/4/09) 1,300 217 ... that Luis Valdez called American activist Alice McGrath, who inspired his play Zoot Suit, "one of the heroines of the 20th century"?
57. Louis Robertshaw (2/26/10) 1,258 210 ... that Louis Robertshaw flew combat missions in World War II and Korea and flew an F-4D Phantom fighter in Vietnam as commanding general of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing?
58. Jesse Fortune (9/15/09) 1,300 206 ... that blues singer Jesse Fortune, better known as the "Fortune Tellin' Man," passed on performing in Europe because he did not want to disappoint customers at his Chicago barbershop?
59. Willie Louis (8/4/13) 1,600 200 ... that Willie Louis has been called a hero of the Civil Rights Movement for testifying in 1955 against two white men accused of murdering 14-year-old Emmett Till?


My favorite DYKs

edit

Oh, the irony

 
Groucho Marx
  1. ...that Groucho Marx joined Hillcrest Country Club even though it was willing to have him as a member? (April 3, 2008)
  2. ... that John T. Elson, who famously asked, "Is God Dead?" in 1966, is dead at age 78? (Septmember 27, 2009)

April Fool's

  1. ... that James Bond played briefly in the National Football League after completing his military service? (April 1, 2013)
  2. ... that William Shakespeare was nicknamed "The Merchant of Menace"? (April 1, 2010)
  3. ... that the quarterback for the first College Football All-America Team in 1889 was Edgar Allan Poe? (April 29, 2009)

Coconuts, garden gnomes, guinea pigs

 
Beware Falling Coconuts
  1. ... that according to an urban legend, coconuts kill more people than sharks each year? (July 28, 2013)
  2. ... that the leader of the French Garden Gnome Liberation Front was given a suspended sentence after the group "liberated" over 150 garden gnomes in 1997? (December 17, 2008)
  3. ... that after testing the biological Brucella cluster bomb on 11,000 guinea pigs, a U.S. general remarked "Now we know what to do if we ever go to war against guinea pigs"? (November 19, 2008)

Baseball

 
Dummy Taylor
 
Deaon McGuire's hand
 
Ned Hanlon
  1. ... that Dummy Taylor, once the highest salaried deaf person in the United States, was ejected from a baseball game for cursing out the umpire in sign language? (September 2, 2011)
  2. ... that an 1888 letter written by Weldy Walker, the second African American in Major League Baseball, was called "perhaps the most passionate cry for justice ever voiced by a Negro athlete"? (June 7, 2012)
  3. ... that the baseball career of Charlie Bennett (pictured), who reportedly invented the chest protector, ended when both legs were run over by a train? (July 15, 2014)
  4. ... that an x-ray of catcher Deacon McGuire's gnarled left hand (pictured) showed "36 breaks, twists or bumps all due to baseball accidents"? (July 24, 2014)
  5. ... that "Foxy Ned" Hanlon (pictured), inventor of the "Baltimore chop", was "The Father of Modern Baseball"? (July 28, 2014)
  6. ... that pitcher and "smokeball artist" Lil Stoner (pictured) also enjoyed baking and growing flowers? (March 3, 2021)
  7. ... that Fred Dunlap, who was once the highest paid player in professional baseball, died penniless at the age of 43? (September 2, 2011)
  8. ... that Mysterious Walker, who played for or coached more than 30 baseball, basketball and football teams, earned his nickname pitching for the San Francisco Seals under a pseudonym and wearing a mask?
  9. ... that baseball humorist Charles Dryden dubbed the 1906 White Sox the "Hitless Wonders" and said of the 1909 Senators: "Washington – first in war, first in peace and last in the American League"?
  10. ... that Boston Beaneater Bobby "Link" Lowe (pictured) was the first Major League player to hit four home runs in a game and was selected in 1911 as the best utility player in baseball history?
  11. ... that Pete Conway won 30 games as a pitcher for the Detroit Wolverines in 1888, "snapped a cord in his arm" in 1889, later worked as a mule skinner, and was dead by age 36?
  12. ... that pitcher Johnny Gee, sometimes known as the "$75,000 Lemon", was the tallest person ever to play Major League Baseball until Randy Johnson debuted in 1988?
  13. ... that Duncan Curry, sometimes called the "Father of Baseball", was the president of the first organized baseball team and helped draft the first written rules of the game in 1845?
  14. ... that Oakland Athletics manager Steve Boros was criticized for his pioneering use of an Apple II computer to guide his managerial decisions in 1983?
  15. ... that Charlie Getzein (pictured), known for his "pretzel curve" pitch, won 59 games in 1886 and 1887, including four games in the 1887 World Series?
  16. ... that after suffering a heart attack at the age of 27, relief pitcher John Hiller (pictured) made a comeback and broke Major League Baseball's record for saves in a season?

Michigan football

 
Tom Hammond
 
W.W. Talcott
 
Curtis Redden
 
George Jewett
 
Horace Prettyman
  1. ... that American football player Tom Hammond (pictured) always played without protective padding, saying "I want them to feel my bones"? (March 30, 2010)
  2. ... that ice cream manufacturer William Wilson Talcott (pictured) killed himself by jumping from an excursion steamer into Lake Michigan with rocks in his pockets after he was unable to extricate his wife from a "love cult" in 1922? (December 4, 2010)
  3. ...that the Michigan Wolverines' practice of parading their live mascot Biff before matches was stopped as the animal grew larger and more ferocious? (April 2, 2008)
  4. ... that Irving Pond (pictured) designed three National Historic Landmarks, performed a backflip on his 80th birthday, and scored the first ever touchdown for the Michigan Wolverines? (March 16, 2010)
  5. ... that Michigan football coach William Ward later became a physician who experimented with the surgical creation of artificial vaginas? {May 20, 2011)
  6. ... that William Dennison Clark, whose "wretched blunder" in 1905 ended Michigan's 56-game unbeaten streak in football, killed himself 27 years later, reportedly expressing the hope to atone for his error? (November 17, 2010)
  7. ... that Michigan end Curtis Redden (pictured) died in World War I after he had described the night sky over the battlefield as "weird, hideous, fascinating, sublime"? (August 8, 2009)
  8. ... that Neil Snow (pictured), ranked by Grantland Rice as one of the three greatest all-around athletes ever turned out in college sports, died of heart failure at age 34 after a game of squash? (February 10, 2009)
  9. ...that Gerald Ford's two greatest regrets in life were losing the starting center job in college to All-American Chuck Bernard and losing a presidential election? (December 6, 2007)
  10. ...that halfback Chuck Ortmann punted 24 times in the famed 1950 Snow Bowl, having decided the best strategy was to keep the slick ball on the other side of the field in the opponents' hands?
  11. ...that Gerald Ford threatened to quit the Michigan football team when African-American player Willis Ward was kept out of a 1932 game in response to Georgia Tech's refusal to play an integrated team?
  12. ...that George Jewett was the first African-American to earn a varsity letter in football at both the University of Michigan and at Northwestern University?
  13. ...that, after eluding capture for three months when his B-25 bomber was shot down behind enemy lines in World War II, Bob Chappuis was the MVP of the Rose Bowl 60 years ago?
  14. ... that Russian-born Joe Magidsohn was the first Jew to win a varsity "M" at the University of Michigan and the first athlete known to have refused to compete on the High Holy Days?
  15. ... that Horace Prettyman (pictured) played eight years of "college" football for the University of Michigan from 1882 to 1890, some when he was in his 30s and no longer a student?
  16. ... that Willie Heston (pictured), rated by Knute Rockne as the greatest back of all time, helped Michigan outscore its opponents 2,326 to 40 in his four years with the team?
  17. ... that team MVP Gerald Ford (pictured) recalled that Michigan's 1934 "Punt, Pass and Prayer" offense lost punter John Regeczi and passer "Hard Luck Bill" Renner and "all we had left was the prayer"?
  18. ... that ophthalmologist John Chase (pictured) commanded the Colorado National Guard in the Colorado Labor Wars, the arrest of Mother Jones, and the Ludlow Massacre?
  19. ... that Charles S. Mitchell (pictured), "goal-keeper" on the first Michigan football team, became the editor-in-chief of the Washington Herald?
  20. ... that the 1879 Michigan football team defeated Racine College, 1–0, in the first intercollegiate football game in the school's history?
  21. ... that the 1885 Michigan Wolverines football team played a game on roller skates against the Princess football team?
  22. ... that during an 1888 visit to Ann Arbor, Michigan, Theodore Roosevelt quipped that it was "not healthy to get in the way of the U. of M. rugby team"?
  23. ... that the 1925 Michigan football team allowed only thee points all year and featured one of the sport's greatest passing combinations in "The Benny-to-Bennie Show"?
  24. ... that Greg Morton, college football's defensive player of the year for 1976, collected exotic flora, including a purple passion plant he named Claudine?
  25. ... that Michigan quarterback Jim Betts persuaded Bo Schembechler in 1969 to relax his clean-shave policy by claiming that facial hair was part of the African-American players' "heritage"?
  26. ... that Bo Schembechler praised Pete Newell for traveling to Iowa with the 1969 Michigan football team rather than to a large antiwar rally "with the damn hippies where he really wanted to be"?
  27. ... that when the 1959 Michigan football team (pictured) defeated Ohio State, opposing coach Woody Hayes whirled and hurled pieces of clothing, drawing a comparison to a "hot stripper"?

Historic sites

 
Sunset Tower
 
St. Andrew's, Pasadena
 
Villa Rivera, Long Beach
  1. ... that Frank Lloyd Wright said of the Millard House (pictured) that he "would rather have built this little house than St. Peter's in Rome"?
  2. ... that Marilyn Monroe posed naked in 1948 to raise US$50 to pay the rent for her room at the Hollywood Studio Club (pictured)?
  3. ... that the El Greco Apartments (pictured), once home to Casablanca director Michael Curtiz, were saved from demolition with fund-raising help from Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy?
  4. ... that the Sunset Tower (pictured) in West Hollywood, California was home to Howard Hughes, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, and gangster Bugsy Siegel, who was asked to leave after being charged with running a bookmaking operation there?
  5. ... that South Park Lofts in Los Angeles, originally an eight-story parking garage, was converted to lofts, whereupon residents complained about a lack of parking?
  6. ... that a tower of 2,000 wooden Schlitz beer pallets described as "a rotting vestige of one man's egotism" that festers "like a sore on the community's body" is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument? (September 30, 2008)
  7. ... that SS Catalina, after reportedly carrying more passengers than any other ship anywhere, has been stuck half-submerged in Ensenada, Mexico for more than ten years?
  8. ... that units in LA's Avenel Cooperative Housing Project, reportedly built as "a cooperative living experiment for a group of communists", were selling for US$300,000 in 2002?
  9. ... that the Alvarado Terrace Historic District includes a church built in 1912 that was the LA home of Jim Jones' Peoples Temple before the group's 1977 mass suicide in Jonestown?
  10. ... that young Judy Garland was discovered, and Amelia Earhart made her last public appearance, at Ebell of Los Angeles (pictured)?
  11. ... that the Art Deco Montecito Apartments (pictured) had been the home of Ronald Reagan, James Cagney, Montgomery Clift, and George C. Scott before becoming a senior citizens' housing project?
  12. ...that when St. Andrew's Church in Pasadena was built in the 1920s, it was compared to "a jeweled crown on the head of a Byzantine queen"?
  13. ...that the pastor of Burbank's St. Bellarmine Church was a World War I chaplain who modeled the campus on Monticello and Independence Hall?
  14. ...that Robert Kennedy stayed at the Sportsmen's Lodge (sign pictured), formerly the "Hollywood Trout Farms", in Studio City, California the night before his assassination?
  15. ... that the luxurious Villa Riviera was the second tallest building in Southern California from the time of its completion in 1929 through the mid-1950s?
  16. ... that the Palm Court, called "the most beautiful room in Los Angeles," has been the site of speeches by Presidents Taft and Wilson and balls where Rudolph Valentino danced with starlets?
  17. ... that the Kappe Residence, described as "a virtual tree house poised over a steep hillside", was named one of the top ten houses in Los Angeles by an expert panel selected by the Los Angeles Times?
  18. ... that the 1916 Early Modern Dodge House in West Hollywood, California, called one of the fifteen most significant houses in the United States, was demolished in 1970 to make way for apartments?
  19. ... that Second Baptist Church, once the largest African American–owned meeting space in the western U.S., hosted speeches by W. E. B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X?
  20. ... that the Lincoln Theater in Los Angeles was known as the "West Coast Apollo" and featured performances by jazz legends before being converted into a church?
  21. ... that Louden Machinery Co. designed more than 25,000 barns (catalog pictured) as well as monorail devices used in manufacturing the first atomic bomb and at a B-29 bomber plant?

Music

 
Dinah Washington
 
Celso Duarte
  1. ... that a ranking of the greatest double-entendre songs of all time included "Big Long Slidin' Thing" by Dinah Washington (pictured), "Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl" by Bessie Smith, "It Ain't the Meat (It's the Motion)" by the Swallows, "Keep On Churnin' (Till the Butter Comes)" by Wynonie Harris, and "Big Ten Inch Record" by Aerosmith?
  2. ... that The New York Times called Leonard Skinner, the namesake of Lynyrd Skynyrd, "arguably the most influential high school gym teacher in American popular culture"?
  3. .. that bongo player Chaino, whose albums included Jungle Mating Rhythms, claimed to be an orphan from a lost tribe in central Africa but was actually born in Philadelphia and raised in Chicago?
  4. ... that "Fujiyama Mama", an American rockabilly song that compared a woman's energy to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was a number-one hit in Japan in 1958?
  5. ... that Paraguayan and jarocho harpist Celso Duarte began touring at age 10 and has performed with his band at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center and the Getty Center?
  6. ... that Manzanar internee Tak Shindo went on to become a "Giant of Jazz" for exotica albums like Mganga! and Brass and Bamboo?
  7. ... that the exotica album Orienta by "Star Trek" composer Gerald Fried was said to resemble the dreams of a person who has fallen asleep during a Fu Manchu movie on television?
  8. ... that "Filipino Baby", a song about a sailor's love for a Filipino girl, described as "my treasure and my pet", was a top-five hit for three different artists in 1946?
  9. ... that music critic Greg Kot described "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" as "despicable misogyny", but listed it among his guilty pleasures because the "rawwwk doesn't get much rawer"?
  10. ... that an album of poetry read by John Wayne reached the number-13 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Albums chart?
  11. ... that "Macorina", the first erotic song dedicated to one woman by another, became a "lesbian hymn"?

Movies and TV

 
Civilization poster
  1. ... that the epic anti-war film Civilization (poster pictured), depicting Jesus walking through the carnage of war, was credited with helping re-elect U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in 1916?
  2. ... that Frank Coghlan said "damn" in Gone with the Wind, but is best known known for saying "Shazam" in Captain Marvel, the first big screen depiction of a comic book superhero?
  3. ... that Claude Rains's reference to the Nazis' "gas ovens" was cut from the audio during the broadcast of Judgment at Nuremberg due to an objection by a gas-company sponsor?
  4. ... that Ernest Hemingway watched the television adaptation of For Whom the Bell Tolls from a flea-bitten motel as the screenwriter held the "rabbit ears" for him?
  5. ... that sponsors refused to back the lynching story A Town Has Turned to Dust until writer Rod Serling moved the setting out of the South and changed the victim from black to Mexican?
  6. ... that a scandal arose when African-American actor Lorenzo Tucker, known as the "Black Valentino", playing a pimp in a play, kissed Mae West, playing a prostitute?
  7. ... that Luke Matheny, whose hair was described as "a vast black bouffant that makes him look like an untidy microphone", began his Academy Award acceptance speech by joking, "I should've gotten a haircut"?
  8. ... that The Green Pastures (1957) (advertisement pictured) was critiqued in the white Southern press for having "bowed to the inverted prejudice which insists that Negroes shall never be portrayed as Negroes"?
  9. ... that Laurence Olivier won an Emmy for his role as a London stockbroker, Parisian artist, and Tahitian leper in The Moon and Sixpence?
  10. ... that Rod Serling's Forbidden Area (actor pictured), a nuclear-war thriller, launched the four-year run of a series voted in 1970 as "the greatest television series of all time"?
  11. ... that P.O.W. was based on interviews with repatriated prisoners about communist "brainwashing treatment" during the Korean War?
  12. ... that Bang the Drum Slowly, in which Paul Newman stepped in and out of character to double as a Greek chorus, was called "daring television of rare quality"?
  13. ... that The New York Times review of the 1955 television play No Time for Sergeants questioned whether Andy Griffith was "versatile enough to qualify for other important roles"?
  14. ... that a 1953 television special broadcast simultaneously on NBC and CBS attracted 60 million viewers and was called "a milestone in the cultural life of the '50s"?
  15. ... that the Soviet Union called The Plot to Kill Stalin "filthy slander" and retaliated by closing the CBS news bureau in Moscow?
  16. ... that A Night to Remember, a live broadcast about Titanic's final night, featured 107 actors and 31 sets, and proved that "TV occasionally can rise to great heights"?
  17. ... that Lillian Brown, makeup artist to nine U.S. presidents, stopped Richard Nixon's sobbing before he went on television to resign the presidency?
  18. ... that Steve McQueen and William Shatner starred in The Defender, the first live television drama divided for broadcast on separate nights, "leaving audiences dangling on the cliff"?
  19. ... that the producers of The Jet Propelled Couch hired "Miss Color TV", Vampira (pictured in black and white), and several Miss Americas to portray attractive creatures inhabiting an imaginary planet?
  20. ... that the Rod Serling–hosted television production The Great Gatsby (1958) was described as being "neither 'Great' nor 'Gatsby'"?
  21. ... that Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward starred in The 80 Yard Run as a couple in a troubled marriage, and were married in real life 13 days later?
  22. ... that Jack Lemmon starred in The Mystery of Thirteen as a real-life physician who Charles Dickens called "the greatest villain that ever stood in the Old Bailey"?
  23. ... that "The Strike" (1954), about an American officer's turmoil in ordering an air strike on his own men, was rated as Rod Serling's best script he had written to date?
  24. ... that the 1920 film Sex, opening with its star performing a seductive "spider dance" clad in "a translucent cloak of webs", had its title censored in Pennsylvania?

Heroic efforts

  1. ... that Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman has been credited with having "saved American Democracy" on January 6, 2021?
  2. ... that Paul Bunker died in a Japanese POW camp in 1943 but kept hidden a remnant of the U.S. flag from Corregidor now displayed at the West Point Museum?
  3. ... that Heinz Stahlschmidt was credited with saving 3,500 French lives when he refused to blow up the port of Bordeaux and instead blew up the munitions bunker, killing approximately 50 Germans?
  4. ... that George R. Christmas (pictured), then known as Captain Christmas, received the Navy Cross for "extraordinary heroism" in the Vietnam War?
  5. ... that United States Secret Service agent Vincent Mroz shot an attempted presidential assassin in the "biggest gunfight in Secret Service history"?
  6. ... that businessman Berthold Beitz saved hundreds of Jews, including tailors, hairdressers and Talmudic scholars, by designating them as essential to Nazi Germany's war effort?
  7. ... that Willie Louis has been called a hero of the Civil Rights Movement for testifying in 1955 against two white men accused of murdering 14-year-old Emmett Till?
  8. ... that chemist Lester Shubin has been credited with saving the lives of thousands of police officers?

University of Michigan

 
Thomas Trueblood
 
Eddie Tolan
  1. ...that University of Michigan elocution professor Thomas Trueblood received nationwide attention when the Chicago Tribune reported in 1903 that he was offering a new "course in love making"?
  2. ... that Eddie Tolan, the first African-American to be the "world's fastest human" after winning double gold at the 1932 Olympics, returned home jobless and appeared in vaudeville with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson?
  3. ...that Charlie Fonville broke a 14-year-old shot put world record by almost 12 inches (30 cm) at the 1948 Kansas Relays but was not allowed to stay with the other athletes because he was African-American?
  4. ...that William Revelli, director of the University of Michigan Marching Band for 36 years, was the first to synchronize music and movement, in place of traditional rigid military-style formations?
  5. ... that Mel Wakabayashi, born in a wartime Japanese-Canadian internment camp, was called "perhaps the most unlikely star in the long history of Michigan sports, and surely one of the most inspirational"?
  6. ... that Carol Hutchins, coach of the first eastern team to win the Women's College World Series, is the winningest coach in the history of the University of Michigan in any sport?
  7. ... that the U.S. Olympic Committee awarded medals to Sam Stoller and Marty Glickman 62 years after the only two Jews on the U.S. track team were pulled from the 400-meter relay team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics?
  8. ... that Mike Murphy (pictured) trained heavyweight boxing champion John L. Sullivan, was the first Michigan Wolverines football coach, and has been called the "the father of American track athletics"?
  9. ... that Steve Farrell, called "the greatest professional foot-racer" in America, raced against horses for several years in the 1890s and reportedly only lost a half dozen times?
  10. ... that twin brothers Robert and Ross Hume became known as the "Dead Heat Kids" after finishing nine straight mile races, including the Big Ten and NCAA championships, holding hands in dead heat victories?
  11. ... that Time magazine predicted "Big Bill" Watson, the first African-American to win the U.S. decathlon championship, would be America's No. 1 hero at the 1940 Olympics, later cancelled due to World War II?
  12. ... that Greek professor Albert Pattengill played on Michigan's 1867 baseball team, nominated "azure-blue and maize" as the university's colors, and was one of the founders of the Big Ten Conference?
  13. ... that Charles Dvorak (pictured) missed the pole vault finals at the 1900 Olympics after being told the event was postponed, but returned to win the gold medal at the 1904 Olympics?
  14. ... that Fred Bonine set the world's record in the 110-yard dash in 1886, and later saw over a million patients in his medical office?
  15. ... that the 1947–48 Michigan Wolverines hockey team (pictured) won the first "Frozen Four" NCAA hockey championship in March 1948?
  16. ... that the 1943–44 Michigan basketball team included three athletes, "Crazy Legs" Hirsh, Don Lund, and Bob Wiese, who later played in the National Football League or Major League Baseball?
  17. ... that 1951–52 Michigan Wolverines basketball team was integrated months after the Inter-Racial Association alleged "a deliberate and conscious policy of discrimination against Negro athletes"?
  18. ... that Leonard Brumm organized an inmate hockey team at a maximum security prison, coached the first professional female hockey player, and co-founded the Kuwait National Hockey League?

Other football

 
Athur Matsu
 
William H. Lewis
 
"Ma" Newell
  1. ... that Arthur Matsu was the first Asian American student at The College of William & Mary, the first Asian American quarterback in the NFL and the first Japanese coach in American football?
  2. ... that William H. Lewis (pictured) became the first African-American college football player in 1888 and the first African-American to serve as U.S. Assistant Attorney General in 1911?
  3. ... that "Ma" Newell (pictured), one of the few four-year All-Americans in college football history, was run over by a railroad engine on Christmas Eve 1897?
  4. ... that Buffalo's "Ockie" Anderson scored more points in the 1920 NFL season (the league's first) than four entire teams?
  5. ... that Georgia Tech halfback and College Football Hall of Fame inductee "Stroop" Strupper used lip-reading to overcome deafness?
  6. ... that Yale All-American Ted Coy (pictured), who played football with "his long blonde hair held back by a white sweatband," was the basis for a character in a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald?
  7. ... that two-time All-American fullback "Blondy" Graydon performed a tumbling routine with the Barnum & Bailey Circus while dressed "in resplendent pink tights"?
  8. ... that Louis Merrilat played football with Dwight Eisenhower at West Point, trained Iran's Persian Guard, and served as a soldier of fortune in China and with the French Foreign Legion?
  9. ... that Detroit sportswriter E.A. Batchelor popularized a nickname for the Notre Dame football team by opening a 1909 game account, "Eleven fighting Irishmen wrecked the Yost machine this afternoon"?
  10. ... that despite winning seven national championships from 1899 to 1912, the Yale football team had 14 head coaches in those 14 years, including a lingerie manufacturer, "the phantom line cleaver", a manufacturer of machine guns, a victim of typhoid fever, a Harvard law student, the senior partner of Smith Barney & Co., the grandfather of a noted documentary filmmaker, the nephew of the U.S. Secretary of State, and the president of a historically black university?
  11. ... that in April 1947, halfback Mel Groomes (pictured) became the first African-American player signed by the Detroit Lions?
  12. .. that Cherokee Indian Mayes McLain held college football's single-season scoring record for more than 60 years and engaged in professional wrestling as the "Masked Manager"?
  13. ... that in 1898, Frank Hudson, a five-foot, three-inch quarterback from the Laguna Pueblo tribe, became the first Native American to be selected as an All-American football player?
  14. ... that the undefeated 1955 Hillsdale Dales football team declined a Tangerine Bowl bid because the bowl insisted that four black players—including national scoring leader Nate Clark—stay home?
  15. ... that Pat Studstill led the National Football League in punt return yards in 1962, receiving yards in 1966, and punting yards in 1969?
  16. ... that College Football Hall of Fame quarterback Charlie Green led Wittenberg to three consecutive undefeated seasons, including a national championship for the 1964 Wittenberg Tigers football team?
  17. ... that a future president of the United States played halfback for the 1912 Army Cadets football team?
  18. ... that Steve Hamas played in the National Football League and later beat two former boxing champions in the ring?
  19. ... that Francis Bacon played in the first National Football League game and became the first NFL player to return a punt for a touchdown?
  20. ... that former NFL halfback Art Pharmer pursued, tackled, and captured a shoplifter who ran from the sporting goods store where Pharmer worked?
  21. ... that Mally Nydahl, "one of the greatest backs ever to come out of the Middle West", used his football earnings to pay for medical school and became a professor of orthopedic surgery?
  22. ... that Nebraska's "Itch" Oehlrich was lured by the "scratch" of $100 per game to play in the National Football League?
  23. ... that Wisconsin's Jug Girard, dubbed "Mr. Versatility", was a quarterback, end, halfback, punter, and kickoff returner in 10 years in the NFL?
  24. ... that the one-armed football player Eugene Neeley became a consensus first-team All-American?

Miscellaneous

 
Clarence "Major Mite" Howerton
 
Ventura Pier
  1. ... that the Battle of San Buenaventura was described by the Los Angeles Times as a "quirky skirmish ... that emptied the mission of wine and left its adobe walls pockmarked by cannon fire"?
  2. ... that Clarence Chesterfield Howerton, aka Major Mite (pictured), was billed as the world's smallest man?
  3. ... that the 1971 Hazelwood massacre was the largest mass murder in the history of "Murder City"?
  4. ... that the Ventura Pier was the longest wooden pier in California until a storm sheared off approximately 420 feet (130 m) in 1995?
  5. ... that Los Angeles Times sports writer Mike Penner told readers he was a transsexual in a 2007 essay entitled "Old Mike, new Christine"?
  6. ... that 19th-century California bandit Procopio, also known as Red-Handed Dick, was said to "love the feel and the color of warm blood," and his name was used by mothers to frighten their children?
  7. ... that Michael van der Veen, who represented Donald Trump at his second impeachment trial, also represented a man claiming to have been served a fried rat at a KFC?
  8. ... that attorney David Schoen held up a copy of Mao's Little Red Book while defending Donald Trump at his second impeachment trial?
  9. ... that Iolani Luahine, considered the high priestess of the ancient hula, was said to be able to "call up the wind and the rain" and to "make animals do her bidding"?
  10. ... that Australian Murray Sayle, known for his "rat-like cunning", was a war correspondent in Vietnam, tracked Che Guevara through the Bolivian jungle, climbed Mt. Everest and sailed solo across the Atlantic?
  11. ... that Dickshooter was named for Dick Shooter?
  12. ... that when women's champion Dotty Fothergill sued in 1970 for being denied the right to compete in men's tournaments, the Professional Bowlers Association countersued for "disastrous ridicule"?
  13. ... that Gauthier Mvumbi has been called the "Shaq of handball", the "Congo Colossus", and "the most popular handball player on the Earth"?
  14. ... that Verna Grahek Mize was given the title "First Lady of Lake Superior" for her campaign to stop a mining company from dumping 67,000 tons of "gray gunk" into the lake each day?
  15. ... that six-time American national archery champion Russ Hoogerhyde performed trick shots including shooting a cigarette from the lips of a spectator?


Michigan Wolverines football (362)

edit
  • ... that in his NFL debut season, Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Len Ford (pictured) was injured so severely in a game he required plastic surgery to "virtually rebuild" his face? October 3, 2014
  • ... that Derrick Green, rated the No. 1 running back in the college football recruiting Class of 2013, has been described as follows: "Look at him from the back and the side, he's a huge human being"? September 3, 2013 (3,800 DYK views) (344)
 
  • ... that Bo Schembechler knew his 1969 team was no longer afraid of Ohio State when a fight the day before the game ended with Cecil Pryor yelling, "And we're gonna kick your ass tomorrow, too!"? December 18, 2012 (332)
  • ... that Greg Morton, college football's defensive player of the year for 1976, collected exotic flora, including a purple passion plant he named Claudine? December 17, 2012 (331)
  • ... that Guy Murdock, the MVP of football's Chicago Fire, joined with the Winds after the Fire was extinguished? December 16, 2012 (330)
  • ... that Dennis Franks, an American football offensive lineman, participated in figure skating to develop his agility and leg strength? December 12, 2012 (327)
 
  • ... that the 1925 Michigan football team allowed only thee points all year and featured one of the sport's greatest passing combinations in "The Benny-to-Bennie Show"? April 22, 2012 (319)
 
  • ... that Fielding H. Yost opined that Germany Schulz (pictured) gave "the greatest one-man exhibition of courage I ever saw on a football field" for the 1908 Michigan football team? April 7, 2012 (1,500 DYK views for the team article, 4,200 for Germany Schulz, 700 for Yost, and 750 for the photo) (315)
 
  • ... that the 1880 Michigan football team played its only game in a foreign country and at a lacrosse club? March 30, 2012 (1,900 DYK views) (313)
 
  • ... that the 1884 Michigan football team's (pictured) first game was part of a "field day" that included heavyweight boxing, "catch-as-catch-can wrestling" and "chasing greased pig"? March 20, 2012 (3,600 DYK views) (310)
 
  • ... that former American football player Tony Dauksza in 1971 became the first person to traverse the Northwest Passage in anything other than a ship, completing the journey by himself in a canoe? February 15, 2012 (3,200 DYK views) (305)
 
  • ... that the 1948 Michigan Wolverines football team won the national championship while holding opponents to 4.8 points per game and extending the team's winning streak to 23 games? January 28, 2012 (301)
  • ... that Detroit sportswriter E.A. Batchelor popularized a nickname for the Notre Dame football team by opening a 1909 game account, "Eleven fighting Irishmen wrecked the Yost machine this afternoon"? August 25, 2011 (259)
 
  • ... that NFL halfback Bruce McLenna was killed in 1968 while riding in the rear of a military truck that crashed? August 1, 2011 (255)
  • ... that Jim Brieske, who set multiple placekicking records, had his kicking foot amputated in 1967? July 29, 2011 (2,600 DYK views) (254)
  • ... that "Dad" Moulton, a participant in Sherman's March to the Sea, was the U.S. sprint champion in the 1870s, and trained the "world's fastest human" in the 1880s? July 20, 2011 (3,500 DYK views) (251)
 
 
  • ... that Michigan football coach William Ward (pictured) later became a physician who experimented with the surgical creation of artificial vaginas? May 20, 2011 (9,300 DYK views; 1,400 image views; 18,800 views for artificial vagina) (243)
  • ... that the Michigan football coach complained his "defense was in the law library" after law student Oscar Lambert was declared ineligible? March 18, 2011 (2,100 DYK views) (240)
 
  • ... that Michigan's 1915 quarterback Lawrence Roehm was called the "thinking type", "160 pounds of undaunted courage", and a "peppery" player who imbued his team with "do-or-die spirit"? February 19, 2011 (236)
  • ... that it had been said that the new Michigan Wolverines football coach Brady Hoke would "crawl on hot, broken glass to work inside Schembechler Hall as the head coach"? January 20, 2011 (3,400 DYK views) (234)
  • ... that Michigan football player and author Lewis Reimann wrote in 1916 that post-game celebrations by students "filled with 'spirit'" were damaging the university's reputation? January 13, 2011 (232)
  • ... that Louis Gilbert, who scored all 21 points in Michigan Stadium's dedication game, was described as "the campus sheik" who "wears bear grease on his hair and dances a mean black bottom"? (January 7, 2010) (229)
  • ... that Michigan football captain James Van Inwagen (pictured) operated the Tiffany Enameled Brick Co. and the company that made Tiffany Never-Wind Clocks? December 25, 2010 (228)
  • ... that Michigan football player "Octy" Graham (pictured) at age 16 was called a "young Hercules" after "gripping machines did not register high enough to show his strength"? December 17, 2010 (11,800 DYK hits) (225)
 
 
  • ... that ice cream manufacturer William Wilson Talcott (pictured) killed himself by jumping from an excursion steamer into Lake Michigan with rocks in his pockets after he was unable to extricate his wife from a "love cult" in 1922? December 4, 2010 (13,700 DYK views) (213)
  • ... that the Michigan Federation of Labor in 1906 wrote that perhaps no individual had done more to "promote the interests of wage-earners than William W. Hannan, the real estate hustler"? December 3, 2010 (212)
 
 
  • ... that Mort Senter (pictured), Michigan's 1896 football captain, became involved in a diplomatic incident after Colombian soldiers seized property from his home in 1902? November 29, 2010 (6,300 DYK views) + (1,100 DYK photo views]) (209)
 
  • ... that William Dennison Clark, whose "wretched blunder" in 1905 ended Michigan's 56-game unbeaten streak in football, killed himself 27 years later, reportedly expressing the hope to atone for his error? November 17, 2010 (5,200 DYK views) (206)
 
  • ... that Craig "Death" Roh adopted a diet of six meals and more than 4,000 calories a day because he considered himself "tiny" at 230 pounds (104 kg)? September 25, 2010 (5,300 DYK views) (192)
  • ... that Bob Topp helped the New York Giants defeat the Cleveland Browns in 1956 by intercepting radio signals used to relay plays onto the field from the Browns' bench? Sept. 8, 2010 (2,900 DYK views) (182)
  • ... that 1974 Michigan football MVP Steve Strinko suffered a degenerative knee injury and later formed an organization to provide medical assistance to others injured in college athletics? August 12, 2010 (157)
  • ... that George Veenker has the highest winning percentage of any basketball coach in Michigan history and served on the NCAA Football Rules Committee from 1938 to 1945? August 4, 2010 (154)
  • ... that Eastern Michigan football coach Fred Trosko suffered a 29-game winless streak after the school refused to follow a conference policy allowing athletic scholarships? July 29, 2010 (149)
 
  • ... that Willie Heston (pictured), rated by Knute Rockne as the greatest back of all time, helped Michigan outscore its opponents 2,326 to 40 in his four years with the team? July 11, 2010 (3,400 DYK views) (143)
 
George Dygert
Flatiron Building
 
Tom Hammond
  • ... that American football player Tom Hammond (pictured) always played without protective padding, saying "I want them to feel my bones"? March 30, 2010 (12,500 DYK views) (128)
 
1901 Michigan Wolverines football team
 
Irving Pond
  • ... that medical student Bob Kolesar was one of Michigan's renowned "Seven Oak Posts" in 1942? March 10, 2010 (1,500 DYK views) (124)
 
Paul Magoffin
 
Clayton Teetzel
 
1896 Michigan football team
  • ... that the 1894 Michigan football team played Chicago in a sleet storm as the grandstand was "packed with yelling collegians" and the carriage rooms "filled with society people"? Jan. 2, 2010 (106)
 
1895 player Forrest Hall
 
1899 coach Gustave Ferbert
 
 
 
Joe Maddock
  • ... that Joe Maddock (pictured) was one of the biggest ground gainers, and played four positions, for Michigan's 1903 "Point-a-Minute" football team? Aug. 12, 2009 (2,500 DYK views) (97)
 
 
  • ... that federal judge Paul Jones sentenced a pregnant mother of ten to jail for selling a quart of liquor, lectured her on birth control, and asked, "Doesn't this woman know how to stop it?" Aug. 11, 2009 (3,900 DYK views) (95)
 
 
Irwin Uteritz
 
Curtis Redden
  • ... that Michigan end Curtis Redden (pictured) died in World War I after he had described the night sky over the battlefield as "weird, hideous, fascinating, sublime"? Aug. 9, 2009 (7,500 DYK views) (91)
 
  • ... that All-Pro linebacker Milan "Sheriff" Lazetich, a rodeo rider before joining the NFL, reported that no end or back ever threw a block like a wild pony "when he feels the first touch of a saddle"? Aug. 4, 2009 (1,400 DYK views) (87)
 
 
 
  • ... that the 1906 firing of John McLean (pictured) for paying an athlete to play college football was called "the biggest scandal in the history of Missouri athletics"? June 26, 2009 (4,600 DYK views) (79)
 
Archie Weston
  • ... that Michigan's All-American quarterback Archie Weston (pictured) was once tackled during a game by an irate female fan? April 17, 2009 (5,600 DYK views) (77)
  • ... that the 1886 Michigan football team had a "goalkeeper" and played games measured in "innings"? Feb. 28, 2009 (2,400 DYK views) (75)
 
Horace Prettyman (1890)
 
 
 
  • ... that sources indicate that Cedric "Pat" Smith, who later worked at Ford's Rouge plant, was either the second or third leading scorer in the NFL during its first season in 1920? Feb. 12, 2009 (67)
 
  • ... that American football player "Aqua" Allmendinger (pictured), once described as "a young giant in perfect physical condition," acquired his nickname after working as a waterboy for railroad building crews? Feb. 10, 2009 (14,200 DYK views) (64)
 
 
  • ... that Mike Murphy (pictured) trained heavyweight boxing champion John L. Sullivan, was the first Michigan Wolverines football coach, and has been called the "the father of American track athletics"? Jan. 27, 2009 (2,200 DYK views) (61)
 
 
  • ... that Michigan's first athletic director Charles Baird (pictured) built the largest college athletic ground in the United States and negotiated the school's appearance in the first Rose Bowl game? Jan. 18, 2009 (59)
  • ... that Dave Porter won the NCAA heavyweight collegiate wrestling championship twice and was subsequently drafted by the Cleveland Browns to play in the NFL? Jan. 12, 2009 (1,900 DYK views) (58)
  • ... that Bruce Hilkene was captain of the 1947 Wolverines who were selected as the greatest Michigan football team of all time? Dec. 21, 2008 (53)
  • ...that the Michigan Wolverines' practice of parading their live mascot Biff before matches was stopped as the animal grew larger and more ferocious? April 2, 2008 (7,900 DYK views) (51)
  • ...that halfback Chuck Ortmann punted 24 times in the famed 1950 Snow Bowl, deciding the best strategy was to keep the slick ball on the other side of the field in the opponents' hands? February 15, 2008 (1,500 DYK views) (4,100 DYK views for Snow Bowl) (50)
  • ...that Wally Weber, football player, coach and broadcaster at Michigan for 45 years, was renowned for his "polysyllabic fluency" and sounding like an "an educated foghorn"? February 13, 2008 (3,200 DYK views) (47)
 
  • ...that, after eluding capture for three months when his B-25 bomber was shot down behind enemy lines in World War II, Bob Chappuis was the MVP of the Rose Bowl 60 years ago? January 3, 2008 (5,000 DYK views) (36)
 
William Cunningham
 
 
  • ...that the All-American football player John Maulbetsch was known as the "Featherweight Fullback" because he weighed only 155 pounds and ate two pies a day for dinner during his playing career? December 28, 2007 (32)
 
  • ...that college football coach Bo Schembechler died the day after attending the funeral of his 1971 quarterback Tom Slade and urging the football team to be "as good a Michigan man as Slade"? December 7, 2007 (20)
  • ...that Gerald Ford's two greatest regrets in life were losing the starting center job in college to All-American Chuck Bernard and losing a presidential election? December 6, 2007 (19)
 
  • ... that Cliff Sparks, hailed in 1916 as "eel-like," a "whirlwind" and "the greatest quarterback Michigan ever has had," punted by forcefully throwing the ball at his uprising foot? Nov. 17, 2007 (1)

Non-UM football (254)

edit
  • ... that Wisconsin's Jug Girard, dubbed "Mr. Versatility", was a quarterback, end, halfback, punter, and kickoff returner in 10 years in the NFL? July 19, 2015 (1,207 DYK views)
  • ... that the American football players inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as "Gator Greats" include "All-American Waterboy" Tootie Perry, attorney Goldy Goldstein, and halfbacks Red Bethea and Larry Dupree? November 24, 2014
  • ... that after College Football Hall of Fame inductee Buck Flowers returned two punts for touchdowns, a writer suggested that the opposition Auburn Tigers made a dying request: "Please omit Flowers"? October 11, 2014
  • ... that College Football Hall of Fame inductee Vince Banonis (pictured) was an All-American center for the University of Detroit and All-NFL for the Chicago Cardinals? September 19, 2014
  • ... that the one-armed football player Eugene Neeley became a consensus first-team All-American? August 31, 2014 (1,750 DYK views) (239)
  • ... that Michigan State halfback Neno DaPrato was called "the greatest scoring machine of the year" after scoring 130 points, in just six games, during the 1915 season? August 26, 2014 (1,700 DYK views) (236)
  • ... that Catholic University's Bill Adamaitis was hailed as the "hero of the Orange Bowl" after both catching and throwing touchdown passes in the 1936 game? August 13, 2014 (1,337 DYK views) (231)
  • ... that Cherokee Indian Mayes McLain held college football's single-season scoring record for more than 60 years and engaged in professional wrestling as the "Masked Manager"? January 28, 2013 (212)
  • ... that Albert Berg, the first Purdue football coach, was a deaf-mute whose coaching reportedly "consisted of excited sign language and some rather bizarre sounds from his throat"? November 24, 2012 (197)
  • ... that sports editor Alan J. Gould invented college football's AP Poll in 1936 as an "exercise in hoopla," to fill space between games, and "to keep the pot boiling"? August 23, 2011 (524 DYK views for Gould, 1,600 for AP Poll) (194)
 
 
  • ... that Don Doll, the only player in NFL history to register 10 or more interceptions in 3 separate seasons, changed his surname to "Doll" after being discharged from the Marines? October 9, 2010 (2,400 DYK views) (167)
  • ... that Keith Piper successfully perpetuated the single-wing, "the formation-of-choice during football's leather-helmet era," for decades after it had been discarded by other teams? July 3, 2010 (157)
  • ... that Donald Russell from 1964 to 1970 accumulated the highest winning percentage (.661) of any Wesleyan football coach with more than two years as head coach? June 21, 2010 (143)
  • ... that football coach Jake High has both the highest winning percentage (.778) in the history of Wesleyan football and the lowest percentage (.000) in the history of NYU football? June 20, 2010 (142)
  • ... that Texas A&M football coach Harry Stiteler resigned in 1951 after admitting he had misrepresented the facts about being beaten by a stranger near a Houston hotel? May 14, 2010 (1,500 DYK views) (131)

that Hootie Ingram tied the SEC record for interceptions, coached football at Clemson, and was the athletic director at Florida State and Alabama? May 10, 2010 (1,500 DYK views) (130)

  • ... that Ernie Zampese coached the leading pass offense in the NFL six times in seven years and has been credited with putting the "air" in Air Coryell? May 10, 2010 (1,600 DYK views) (129)
  • ... that Dayton Flyers coach Mike Kelly has the fourth best winning percentage (81.9%) of all time among college football coaches with at least 25 years of experience? May 1, 2010 (1,500 DYK views) (120)
  • ... that William Shakespeare was nicknamed "The Merchant of Menace"? April 1, 2010 (3,200 DYK views) (112)
 
Vernon Prichard
 
Tack Hardwick
  • ... that Football Hall of Famer Huntington "Tack" Hardwick was called "a big, fine-looking aristocrat from blue-blood stock" who "loved combat – body contact at crushing force – a fight to the finish"? March 14, 2010 (1,700 DYK views) (107)
  • ... that Nebraska's first All-American Vic Halligan was called "The premier punter of the West, A master of the forward pass, A tackler equal to the best"? March 14, 2010 (105)
  • ... that Vanderbilt's 130-pound quarterback Irby "Rabbit" Curry, an elusive runner who "only needed the suspicion of an opening to wriggle through," was killed in aerial combat in 1918? Nov. 24, 2009 (2,300 DYK views) (88)
  • ... that Bob Storer, captain of Harvard's undefeated, untied 1913 football team, was cited for bravery for saving a French officer during World War I? Nov. 11, 2009 (1,600 DYK views) (81)
  • ... that halfback Andy Hastings led the 1916 Pitt football team to a national championship and was also elected president of Pitt's University Glee Club? Sept. 12, 2009 (66)
 
 
  • ... that SMU All-American Truman "Big Dog" Spain, known for his "rumba king" good looks, was described as "hard as ship's steel and as torrid as a foundry furnace"? July 23, 2009 (47)
 
  • ... that Paul Bunker died in a Japanese POW camp in 1943 but kept hidden a remnant of the U.S. flag from Corregidor now displayed at the West Point Museum? July 15, 2009 (45)
  • ... that Harvard All-American Bert Waters was accused of jabbing a finger into a Yale player's eye in the 1893 football game that became known as "The Bloodbath in Hampden Park"? July 12, 2009 (41)
 
Franklin Morse
  • ... that American football halfback Franklin Morse (pictured) was the model for a drawing, prints of which reportedly "hung in most college rooms throughout the country" during the 1890s? July 11, 2009 (38)
 

 

  • ... that Dick King, who played in the early days of the NFL, was called "one of the greatest backs who ever wore moleskins"? June 23, 2009 (25)
  • ... that "The Great Gilroy", the leading scorer in college football in 1916, was charged in 1940 with stealing 35 shoe stitching machines from a Massachusetts factory? June 23, 2009 (24)
 
Ted Coy
  • ... that Yale All-American Ted Coy (pictured), who played football with "his long blonde hair held back by a white sweatband," was the basis for a character in a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald? June 21, 2009 (22)

 

  • ... that All-American Beaton Squires wrote an editorial in 1905 against turning football into a "parlor game" after Harvard's president criticized its violent nature? May 25, 2009 (17)

 

  • ... that two-time All-American fullback "Blondy" Graydon performed a tumbling routine with the Barnum & Bailey Circus while dressed "in resplendent pink tights"? May 24, 2009 (10)

 

  • ... that Duane Purvis's right arm made him a world-class javelin thrower and "without peer" as a long passer in football? May 16, 2009 (7)
 
William H. Lewis

Historic places (124)

edit
  • ... that the Ventura Pier was the longest wooden pier in California until a storm sheared off approximately 420 feet (130 m) in 1995? (1,993 DYK views)
  • ... that the Serra Cross (pictured) in Ventura, California, was sold in response to a threatened lawsuit challenging the use of public funds to maintain a religious symbol on public land? July 18, 2018 (7,823 DYK views)
  • ... that the Lincoln Theater in Los Angeles was known as the "West Coast Apollo" and featured performances by jazz legends before being converted into a church? June 24, 2011 (116)
 
 
  • ... that the Sky Room atop the Breakers Hotel (pictured) was the local Airwatch headquarters in World War II? Sept. 29, 2009 (11,500 DYK views) (114)
 
 
 
  • ... that the namesake of the Victorian Bembridge House was strangled to death in 1999 at the house where she had lived for 81 years? Sept. 25, 2009 (1,400 DYK views) (111)
 
  • ... that when Cooper Arms opened in Long Beach, California, it boasted the latest amenities, including "disappearing beds" and "dustless roller screens"? Sept. 25, 2009 (3,300 DYK views) (110)
 
 
 
  • ... that Palms Depot (pictured) was known as the "Grasshopper Stop" because "grasshoppers were present in veritable clouds" when it opened? Sept. 22, 2009 (2,500 DYK views) (107)
 
  • ... that the luxurious Villa Riviera was the second tallest building in Southern California from the time of its completion in 1929 through the mid-1950s? Sept. 20, 2009 (2,000 DYK views) (106)
 
 
  • ... that the Kappe Residence, described as "a virtual tree house poised over a steep hillside", was named one of the top ten houses in Los Angeles by an expert panel selected by the Los Angeles Times? Jan. 9, 2009 (5,000 DYK views) (100)
  • ... that the 1916 Early Modern Dodge House in West Hollywood, California, called one of the fifteen most significant houses in the United States, was demolished in 1970 to make way for apartments? Jan. 8, 2009 (6,600 DYK views) (99)
 
  • ... that Hacienda Arms on the Sunset Strip was the "most famous brothel in California" in the 1930s and now houses a celebrity-owned restaurant described by Newsweek as "so hip it hurts"? Nov. 24, 2008 (6,100 DYK views) (98)
 
 
  • ... that Los Angeles police were sent to guard the remains of the 1000-year-old Encino Oak Tree, a victim of "slime flux", after it was felled by an El Niño storm in 1998? October 6, 2008 (11,400 DYK views) (95)
 
 
 
Camarillo Ranch House
 
  • ... that the seven-mile-long Ventura Mission Aqueduct, built between 1780 and 1815, has been called "an engineering marvel"? September 16, 2008 (6,600 DYK views) (900 photo views) (86)
 
JPL Control Room
 
 
Dog bath in Adamson House
  • ... that Adamson House, called the "Taj Mahal of Tile", uses local handmade Malibu tiles throughout and has an elaborately tiled dog bath (pictured)? September 7, 2008 (5,300 DYK views) (3,400 DYK photo views) (83)
 
  • ... that that a parade honoring Jack Benny was held at the Azusa Civic Center, commemorating his running gag in which a conductor called out, "Train leaving now for Anaheim, Azusa and Cucamonga"? September 7, 2008 (82)
 
  • ... that the Pomona City Stables, which housed 22 horses upon its completion in 1909, is reported to be one of the oldest municipal buildings still extant in California? September 6, 2008 (81)
 
  • ... that the Phillips Mansion, described as having been built in the "Classic Haunted Mansion" style, was the home of the richest man in Los Angeles County from 1875 to 1900? September 5, 2008 (6,400 DYK views) for Phillips Mansion; (1,400 DYK views) for Louis Phillips (79-80)
 
  • ... that the 33-room San Dimas Hotel (pictured) built in 1887 never had a paying guest due to a land boom that never occurred? September 4, 2008 (9,600 DYK views) (4,300 DYK photo views) (78)
  • ... that Harold Lloyd's Estate, called "the most impressive movie star's estate ever created," included a golf course and a 900-foot canoe stream? September 1, 2008 (4,200 DYK views) (73)
 
 
  • ... that the 1864 Banning House (pictured) reportedly hosted "the first yachting party on the West Coast" and has been called "one of the best examples of Greek Revival architecture in the west"? August 30, 2008 (1,200 DYK views) (2,500 DYK photo views) (70)
 
  • ... that the namesake of the Minnie Hill Palmer House was born there in 1886 and remained in the 1970s, still tending her garden, then located adjacent to a golf course, with an antique hand plow? August 27, 2008 (3,100 DYK views) (67)
 
  • ... that the widow-owner of the Durfee Mansion died in 1976 at age 99, leaving an untouched wine cellar stocked with vintage wines and whisky dating to the 1890s? August 12, 2008 (8,000 DYK views) (64)
 
  • ... that the Terminal Annex Post Office was LA's central mail processing facility for 50 years and became a filming location when it closed? August 11, 2008 (3,100 DYK views) (63)
 
 


  • ... that the Neutra Office Building, once the office of Modernist architect Richard Neutra, is said to be the only commercial structure that is still intact with Neutra's original design? August 4, 2008 (2,500 DYK views) (55)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  • ... that Watts Station was the only structure to remain intact along "Charcoal Alley" during the Watts Riots? July 15, 2008 (43)
  • ... that SS Catalina, after reportedly carrying more passengers than any other ship anywhere, has been stuck half-submerged in Ensenada, Mexico for more than ten years? July 14, 2008 (42)
 
  • ... that the 1880s Victorian Hale House (pictured), with its exuberant ornamentation and color scheme, has been called "the most photographed house" in Los Angeles? July 12, 2008 (5,000 DYK views) (7,800 DYK photo views) (40)
 
  • ... that El Cabrillo courtyard apartments, built in 1928 by Cecil B. DeMille and later home to transvestite actor Divine, are said to be "steeped in old Hollywood lore"? July 6, 2008 (2,300 views) (36)
 
 
 
 
 
 
  • ... that the builder of Centinela Adobe traded his 2,200-acre (880 ha) ranch encompassing the modern city of Inglewood for a keg of whisky and a small home in Los Angeles? June 9, 2008 (3,200 DYK views) (20)
 
 
 
 
 
  • ... that Bolton Hall, the community center for a Utopian community formed in 1913 in the foothills north of Los Angeles, was later used as a jail? May 21, 2008 (1,700 DYK views) (12)
  • ... that the historic Golden Gate Theater was saved by a stop-work order after demolition crews had begun to dismantle the walls? May 14, 2008 (5,500 DYK views) (9)
 
 
  • ... that McCarty Church (pictured) in Los Angeles gained attention for its pastor's decision to racially integrate his white Protestant church in the mid-1950s? May 7, 2008 (4,300 DYK views) (4,200 DYK photo views) (7)
 
  • ... that the spirits of a wealthy rancher and his Indian wife have been seen and heard since the 1920s at Leonis Adobe, according to TV show Most Haunted? May 4, 2008 (1,700 DYK views) (6)
 
 
 

General biography and other (54)

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  • ... that swimmer June Krauser set 154 American records and 73 world records? August 16, 2014 (1,700 DYK views) (54)
 
  • ... that businessman Berthold Beitz saved hundreds of Jews, including tailors, hairdressers and Talmudic scholars, by designating them as essential to Nazi Germany's war effort? August 5, 2013 (4,300 DYK views) (52)
  • ... that the Cleveland Rosenblums, owned by department store owner Max Rosenblum, won the first championship of the newly formed American Basketball League in 1926? October 10, 2011 (1,200 DYK views) (48)
  • ... that radar detector millionaire Dodge Morgan at age 54 sailed solo around the globe without stops in 150 days, shattering the prior record of 292 days? October 1, 2010 (2,400 DYK views) (41)
  • ... that Bob Emery at age 46 already ranks among the 20 all-time winningest college men's ice hockey coaches, with 465 wins? July 31, 2010 (39)
  • ... that Claude Bracey, know as "the Texas Flyer," won the 100- and 220-yard sprints at the 1928 NCAA Track Championships and tied the world record in the 100-meter race in 1932? July 18, 2010 (700 DYK views) (38)
  • ... that Sharron Backus played on seven national and two international championship softball teams and coached UCLA to nine national championships? July 6, 2010 (820 DYK views) (36)
  • ... that Legend of Hockey Don Roberts was assigned to coach hockey despite having never played the sport and coached his team in boots due to his unsteadiness on skates? July 4, 2010 (1,000 DYK views) (35)
  • ... that Ed Saugestad began coaching the Augsburg College hockey team while he was still a student and led the school to three NAIA national championships in 37 years as the coach? July 2 and 4, 2010 (1,000 DYK views) (34)
  • ... that Tim Coghlin advanced to the Frozen Four in six of the past eight years and has the second highest career winning percentage among the 100 all-time winningest college men's hockey coaches? July 1, 2010 (550 DYK views) (31)
  • ... that Heinz Stahlschmidt was credited with saving 3,500 French lives when he refused to blow up the port of Bordeaux and instead blew up the munitions bunker, killing approximately 50 Germans? March 19, 2010 (26)
  • ... that Donald Goerke invented SpaghettiOs, choosing the "O" over pasta shaped like baseballs, cowboys, and spacemen, and later ran the company's dog food division? Jan. 28, 2010 1,600 DYK views (25)
  • ... that pin-up girl Gloria Nord attracted more than a million people to her rolling skating exhibitions in 1942 and 1943 and later gave a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II? Jan. 13, 2010 (6,900 DYK views) (23)
  • ... that cellist Felix Wurman founded the Church of Beethoven, described by NPR as "a church for people who don't go to church," in an abandoned gas station off Route 66 in New Mexico? Jan. 12, 2010 (1,100 DYK views) (22)
  • ... that Jan Leighton played over 1,200 famous persons in television and print advertisements, and 1,800 more on radio? Dec. 5, 2009 (1,800 DYK views) (17)
  • ... that Luis Valdez called American activist Alice McGrath, who inspired his play Zoot Suit, "one of the heroines of the 20th century"? Dec. 4, 2009 (1,300 DYK views) (16)
  • ... that chemist Lester Shubin has been credited with saving the lives of thousands of police officers? Dec. 3, 2009 (6,800 DYK views) (15)
  • ... that Waldo Hunt, "King of the Pop-Ups," could "make dinosaurs rear up, ships set sail and bats quiver in belfries"? Dec. 3, 2009 (3,000 DYK hits) (14)
  • ... that NCAA tennis coach Dick Gould was named "Coach of the Decade" for both the 1980s and 1990s and coached 50 All-Americans, including John McEnroe and the Bryan Brothers? Nov. 25, 2009 (330 DYK views) (13)
  • ... that Big Ten champion Chet Murphy defeated America's top-ranked woman tennis player Alice Marble in a 1939 exhibition match played in front of a "throng" of spectators? Nov. 25, 2009 (800 DYK views) (12)
  • ... that John Hyson published articles on the history of the toothbrush, George Washington's dentures, and one entitled "Did You Know A Dentist Embalmed President Lincoln?"? Oct. 13, 2009 (9)
  • ... that Lee Robins "pioneered the field of psychiatric epidemiology" and "played a key role in determining the prevalence of mental problems in the United States and the world"? Oct. 12, 2009 (8)
  • ... that Maria Gulovich sheltered Jews, worked for the anti-fascist underground, and was awarded the Bronze Star for saving the lives of OSS agents during World War II? Oct. 11, 2009 (1,700 DYK views) (7)
  • ... that during a blowout, fans often chant to request that players who only play in garbage time be put in the game? Jan. 16, 2009 (2,400 DYK views) (5)
  • ... that Iolani Luahine, considered the high priestess of the ancient hula, was said to be able to "call up the wind and the rain" and to "make animals do her bidding"? Jan. 1, 2009 (2,300 DYK views) (4)
  • ... that 19th-century California bandit Procopio, also known as Red-Handed Dick, was said to "love the feel and the color of warm blood," and his name was used by mothers to frighten their children? Dec. 26, 2008 (2,200 DYK views) (3)
  • ... that attorney Rachel Hirschfeld works in the field of pet rights, including the creation of pet trusts allowing pets to inherit property? Dec. 9, 2008 (1,900 DYK views) (2)

University of Michigan Athletics (151)

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  • ... that Ed Gagnier, the first gymnast to represent Canada at the Olympic games, later coached three NCAA national championship teams at Iowa State? October 3, 2013 (150)
  • ... that Connie Hill (pictured), captain of the first hockey team to win the Frozen Four, received a Ph.D. for his dissertation, "Mood, self-derogation and anomia as factors in response unreliability"? September 13, 2013 (3,400 DYK views) (144)
  • ... that Leonard Brumm organized an inmate hockey team at a maximum security prison, coached the first professional female hockey player, and co-founded the Kuwait National Hockey League? September 12, 2013 (143)
  • ... that American Wesley Coe set world records in the 8-pound, 12-pound, and 16-pound shot put events? August 18, 2013 (137)
  • ... that Wilford Ketz won an NCAA championship for throwing a hammer nearly 164 feet and later served as president of the IC4A? August 14, 2013 (135)
  • ... that Oakland Athletics manager Steve Boros was criticized for his pioneering use of an Apple II computer to guide his managerial decisions in 1983? July 21, 2012 (107)
  • ... that baseball pitcher Pete Appleton changed his surname from Jablonowski to embark on a musical career, which he never did? July 8, 2012 (103)
  • ... that former Albany, Georgia, mayor Bill McAfee (pictured) participated in a 13-game baseball tour of Japan in 1929 before embarking on a five-year career in Major League Baseball? July 6, 2012 (101)
  • ... that professional baseball player Bud Morse was honored for his heroism in disarming a gunman during a hospital shooting spree? July 2, 2012 (98)
  • ... that Hal Elliott led the National League in games played by a pitcher in 1930, appearing in 48 games for the last place Philadelphia Phillies? June 30, 2012 (96)
  • ... that Major League Baseball pitcher Bob Glenn later became a pioneer in highway and traffic engineering from the 1920s through the 1950s? June 23, 2012 (94)
  • ... that Jack Enzenroth (pictured) in 1910 was the captain of the first baseball team to be coached by Branch Rickey? June 20, 2012 (93)
  • ... that Fritz Blanding retired from baseball due to "excessive weight" and because he could have "a heap more fun" on his farm? June 18, 2012 (92)
  • ... that Fred Bonine set the world's record in the 110-yard dash in 1886, and later saw over a million patients in his medical office? June 8, 2012 (1557 DYK views) (89)
 
  • ... that an 1888 letter written by Weldy Walker (pictured), the second African American in Major League Baseball, was called "perhaps the most passionate cry for justice ever voiced by a Negro athlete"? June 7, 2012 (10,348 DYK views; 1076 image views) (87)
  • ... that West Virginia native Frank Harrigan led Michigan to two Big Ten basketball championships and played for the Cook Painter Boys' 1929 national championship team? April 21, 2012 (85)
  • ... that the 1917–18 team was the University of Michigan's first basketball team after an eight-year hiatus and the only winless conference season in the school's history? April 12, 2012 (83)
  • ... that Henry Hallowell Farquhar, the leading scorer on the first Michigan Wolverines basketball team in 1909, became a professor at Harvard Business School? April 11, 2012 (82)
  • ... that the development of basketball as "almost a major sport" led the University of Michigan to form its first basketball team in 1909? April 8, 2012 (81)
 
  • ... that Cubs pitcher Carl Lundgren (pictured) had "speed to burn green hickory and an assortment of curves that would keep a cryptograph specialist figuring all night but he was wild as a March hare in a cyclone"? April 6, 2011 (7,500 DYK views) (79)
 
  • ... that Michigan baseball coach Frank Sexton was confronted with a knife, a cane and an arrest warrant after declaring a forfeit when Indiana refused to continue play due to darkness? April 3, 2011 (1,438 DYK views) (77)
  • ... that during an eleven-year professional baseball career, German-born Rudolph "Skel" Roach played for teams known as the Prohibitionists, Omahogs, Orphans and Siwashes? March 30, 2011 (1,347 DYK views) (76)
  • ... that John Giordano, named 1981 collegiate Coach of the Year by The Hockey News, was fired three years later when all 22 of his players signed a petition listing their grievances against him? March 29, 2011 (2,200 DYK views) (74)
 
 
 
 
  • ... that after a winless 0–11 record in 1996, the Michigan Wolverines men's gymnastics team won the NCAA championship in 1999 and finished in the "Super Six" in 10 of the past 11 seasons? Dec. 27, 2009 (58)
  • ... that Michigan's Don McEwen, two-time NCAA champion in the two-mile run, also won consecutive Big Ten cross country championships even though his school had no varsity cross country team? Dec. 19, 2009 (1,400 DYK views) (54)
  • ... that attorney Bill MacFarland had a dislocated knee and six broken teeth after playing 11 seasons of professional ice hockey? Feb. 19, 2009 (1,100 DYK views) (41)
 
  • ... that Steve Farrell, called "the greatest professional foot-racer" in America, raced against horses for several years in the 1890s and reportedly only lost a half dozen times? Jan. 26, 2009 (5,400 DYK views) (33)
  • ... that twin brothers Robert and Ross Hume became known as the "Dead Heat Kids" after finishing nine straight mile races, including the Big Ten and NCAA championships, holding hands in dead heat victories? Jan. 15, 2009 (2,500 DYK views for Ross Hume) (1,200 DYK views for Robert Hume) (28-29)
  • ... that William Murphy won two Big Ten doubles tennis championships with his twin brother, and later coached Michigan tennis teams to 11 Big Ten and one NCAA team championships? Jan. 13, 2009 (27)
  • ... that after becoming the first basketball player to lead the Big Ten in both scoring and rebounds, Michigan's M.C. Burton turned down a contract to play in the NBA to attend medical school? Jan. 12, 2009 (1,100 DYK views) (25)
  • ...that before his 40th birthday Gus Stager swam for an NCAA championship team and coached three high school championship teams, four NCAA championship teams, and the 1960 U.S. Olympic team? February 23, 2008 (18)
  • ...that Francie Kraker Goodridge, who set a world indoor record in the 600-yard run, did not receive a varsity letter or sports scholarship and had to work as a waitress to put herself through college? February 21, 2008 (1,700 DYK views) (17)
  • ...that Charlie Fonville broke a 14-year-old shot put world record by almost twelve inches at the 1948 Kansas Relays but was not allowed to stay with the other athletes because he was African-American? February 8, 2008 (2,500 DYK views) (9)
  • ...that two-time Olympic diving gold medalist Bob Webster won his first collegiate diving title for a junior college with no pool, training off a board in his coach's back-yard sand pit? February 7, 2008 (1,800 DYK views) (8)
  • ...that law professor Ralph Aigler, once known as the "dominant figure in Michigan's athletics," negotiated the Big Ten's exclusive contracts with the Rose Bowl in 1946 and 1953? January 31, 2008 (4)
  • ...that Cliff Keen's tenure as Michigan’s wrestling coach (1925-1970) was the longest of any coach in any sport in NCAA history as of 1991? January 28, 2008 (1)

Film, television, music, and entertainer articles (33)

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  • ... that the Soviet Union called The Plot to Kill Stalin "filthy slander" and retaliated by closing the CBS news bureau in Moscow? October 5, 2020 (12,951 DYK views)
  • ... that the 1960 television play Sacco-Vanzetti Story was called "one of the most controversial ever seen on television"? October 1, 2020 (13,149 DYK views)
  • ... that Martin Manulis was the producer of Playhouse 90, voted the greatest television series of all time in a 1970 poll of television editors? September 26, 2014
  • ... that "If It Wasn't True" from countertenor Shamir's 2014 Northtown EP was called "Your Favorite Breakup Song" by Vogue and "semidissonant pulses tickled by antsy snares and hi-hats" by Dazed? September 1, 2014 (28-29)
 
  • ... that Luke Matheny, whose hair was described as "a vast black bouffant that makes him look like an untidy microphone", began his Academy Award acceptance speech by joking, "I should've gotten a haircut"? March 4, 2011 (10,600 DYK views) (26)
  • ... that the exotica album Orienta by "Star Trek" composer Gerald Fried was said to resemble the dreams of a person who has fallen asleep during a Fu Manchu movie on television? February 9, 2011 (1,600 DYK views for Orienta; 2,300 for Fu Manchu, 654 for Fried) (25)
  • ... that bongo player Chaino, whose albums included Jungle Mating Rhythms, claimed to be an orphan from a lost tribe in central Africa but was actually born in Philadelphia and raised in Chicago? January 27, 2011 (3,100 DYK views) (24)
  • ... that Manzanar internee Tak Shindo went on to become a "Giant of Jazz" for exotica albums like Mganga! and Brass and Bamboo? January 16, 2011 (586 DYK views) (23)
 
  • ... that Raymond B. West developed a new standard of double exposure photography while directing a 1917 film in which one actress played two sisters? Oct. 8, 2009 (560 DYK views) (20)
 
 
  • ... that silent film star Clara Williams (pictured), known for her "forty famous frocks", appeared in more than 100 films between 1910 and 1918?}} Oct. 6, 2009 (11,200 DYK views; 6,300 image views) (18)
  • ... that silent film comedian Shorty Hamilton died in 1925 when his automobile crashed into a steam shovel in Hollywood?}} Oct. 6, 2009 (3,800 DYK views) (17)
 
  • ... that the 1915 film The Italian tells the story of an immigrant played by George Beban (pictured) who goes to America in search of fortune but finds a "Darwininan jungle" on New York's Lower East Side? Oct. 5, 2009 (14,100 DYK views for The Italian; 6,000 DYK views for Beban; 4,600 image views) (3,800 DYK views for Lower East Side) (15-16)
 
  • ... that director Paul Weiland, whose credits include Mr. Bean, 66 and more than 500 television commercials, owns an 18th-century country estate in Wiltshire, England? Oct. 2, 2009 (1,800 DYK views) (13)

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  • ... that the 1920 film Sex, opening with its star performing a seductive "spider dance" clad in "a translucent cloak of webs", had its title censored in Pennsylvania? Sept. 28, 2009 (9,300 DYK views) (10)
  • ... that reviewers called The Wolf Woman the "greatest vampire picture of all" and its star, Louise Glaum, "the greatest vampire woman of all time"? Sept. 27, 2009 (5,100 DYK views) (9)
  • ... that blues singer Jesse Fortune, better known as the "Fortune Tellin' Man," passed on performing in Europe because he did not want to disappoint customers at his Chicago barbershop? Sept. 15, 2009 (1,300 DYK views) (6)
  • ... that former Motown Records president Skip Miller began his career as a stock clerk and has been credited with helping to develop the rap genre? Sept. 14, 2009 (800 DYK views) (5)
  • ... that David Avadon earned his livelihood for 30 years as "a daring pickpocket with dashing finesse"? Sept. 14, 2009 (4,200 DYK views) (4)
  • ...that 19th century magician and vaudeville star Anton Zamloch was accused, and then exonerated, of having "bewitched" a woman's wedding ring from her gloved hand? January 11, 2008 (2,900 DYK views) (1)

Los Angeles Archdiocese Churches (18)

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  • ... that the day after a UCLA art student set the St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church afire, the pastor of the church prayed for forgiveness for the arsonist? Dec. 6, 2009 (1,700 DYK views)
Proposed hook: ... that St. Martin of Tours Church (pictured) was the site of Dan Akroyd's eulogy to John Candy and a media frenzy when O. J. Simpson appeared at his slain wife's funeral?
 
Front view of the Precious Blood Church in Los Angeles
  • ... that the Los Angeles Times wrote that a motorist passing the playground at Precious Blood Church (pictured) might think "he'd been transported to a Catholic school in circa-1950s Chicago or Pittsburgh"? Dec. 2, 2009 (3,600 DYK views)
 
 
 
  • ... that the bronze of Mary atop Mary Star of the Sea, known as the "Fishermen's Church," is lit at night so she can be seen from the Port of Los Angeles harbor? April 28, 2008 (3,900 DYK views) (2,500 DYK views)
 
 
  • ... that Academy Award winner Going My Way was filmed at St. Monica's , and the irascible old Irish priest character was based on its pastor? April 22, 2008 (2,200 DYK views) (1,900 DYK photo views)
 
  • ...that police patrolled Incarnation Church during the 2000 funeral of a Hispanic youth killed with a tire iron by Armenian-Americans after a retaliatory shooting at a donut shop? April 20, 2008 (2,100 DYK views)
 
 

Southern California (10)

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  • ... that the Montecito Tea Fire, which destroyed more than 200 homes in California, was caused by smoldering embers from a bonfire party at an abandoned tea house? Nov. 20, 2008 (2,100 DYK views)
  • ... that the Sayre Fire resulted in the worst loss of homes due to fire in the history of Los Angeles, surpassing the loss of 484 residences in the 1961 Bel Air fire? Nov. 19, 2008 (2,200 DYK views)
 
 
  • ...that the 1947 song "Pico and Sepulveda" by Felix Figueroa & His Orchestra about an intersection along LA's Pico Boulevard (pictured) was frequently featured on Dr. Demento's syndicated radio show? March 30, 2008 (1,900 DYK views) (4,700 DYK photo views)

Politics (10)

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  • ... that the leader of the French Garden Gnome Liberation Front was given a suspended sentence after the group "liberated" over 150 garden gnomes (example pictured) in 1997? Dec. 17, 2008 (14,200 views)
  • ... that the Zoia Horn Intellectual Freedom Award is named for a librarian who was jailed for refusing to testify in the 1972 trial of the Harrisburg Seven anti-war activists? Dec. 9, 2008 (2,200 DYK views)

Baseball (67)

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  • ... that the baseball player Dick Burns's "up-shoot" was called "a beauty"? September 20, 2014
  • ... that Will White, the first Major League Baseball player to wear glasses, holds the records of 75 complete games and 680 innings pitched in one season? September 1, 2014 (1,786 DYK views) (63)
  • ... that stories involving Joe Quest are among the many theories about the origin of the term "Charley horse"? August 24, 2014 (2,300 DYK views) (61)
  • ... that Bill Watkins led Detroit to the 1887 World Series and by 1894 had won more pennants than any other manager? August 24, 2014 (545 DYK views) (60)
  • ... that baseball pitcher, dentist, and voice trainer Jumping Jack Jones (pictured) leapt into the air before throwing, making him "the twirling marvel of his time"? August 23, 2014 (3,900 DYK views) (59)
  • ... that baseball catcher Cal Broughton later became a police chief who captured a gang of train robbers after a gun fight in Wisconsin? August 15, 2014 (3,200 DYK views) (57)
  • ... that Tip O'Neill won the triple crown and set at least eight Major League Baseball batting records? August 7, 2014 (5,200 DYK views) (55)
  • ... that baseball players Jack Rowe (pictured) and Hardy Richardson were two of the "Big Four", a group "regarded for many years as the greatest quartette in the history of the national pastime"? August 3, 2014 (53-54)
  • ... that "Foxy Ned" Hanlon (pictured), inventor of the "Baltimore chop", was "The Father of Modern Baseball"? July 28, 2014 (52)
  • ... that an x-ray of catcher Deacon McGuire's gnarled left hand (pictured) showed "36 breaks, twists or bumps all due to baseball accidents"? July 24, 2014 (50)
  • ... that in 1896 The Sporting Life wrote of Baltimore Orioles third baseman Jim Donnelly that a "prettier or headier fielder it would be difficult to find"? July 22, 2014 (48)
  • ... that the baseball career of Charlie Bennett (pictured), who reportedly invented the chest protector, ended when both legs were run over by a train? July 15, 2014 (47)
  • ... that 19th century baseball player Mike McGeary was suspected of game-fixing and using a yellow umbrella to communicate with gamblers in the stands? July 13, 2014 (46)

... that catcher Sy Sutcliffe, who reportedly "threw like a catapult", died of Bright's disease four months after his final major league game? July 13, 2014 (45)

  • ... that professional baseball player "Mikado Milt" Scott gained his nickname amid a "Mikado" craze that invaded the sport in 1886?' July 12, 2014 (44)
  • ... that in 1888 baseball player Dasher Troy hit a game-winning home run after his manager fulfilled his request for a beer from the bar beneath the field's grandstand? July 11, 2014 (43)
  • ... that pitcher Ed Beatin, who had "the most astonishing slow ball that was ever offered up to a batter", was twice a 20-game winner? July 10, 2014 (42)
  • ... that professional baseball player Jerry Dorgan suffered from an "unconquerable appetite for liquor" and died after being discovered inebriated in a barn with an empty liquor bottle by his side? July 10, 2014 (4,800 DYK views) (41)
  • ... that baseball player Frank Ringo, who was "inordinately fond" of whiskey, married in January 1889 and killed himself in April of that same year? July 8, 2014 (6,400 DYK views) (40)
  • ... that 19th-century baseball player Count Campau could reportedly run the bases in 14 seconds, and once converted an infield popup into a home run? June 25, 2014 (3,389 DYK views) (36)
  • ... that baseball pitcher Bun Troy, who won a doubleheader while pitching all nine innings of both games, was killed in action during World War I? June 20, 2014 (2,302 DYK views) (32)
  • ... that Dupee Shaw's delivery may have been the first pitching wind-up, created "a genuine sensation" and led baseball writers of his day to call him "a monkey, a mountebank and other harsh names"? June 16, 2014 (4,520 DYK views) (31)
  • ... that professional baseball player "Prince" Oana was falsely advertised by his promoters as a full-blooded Hawaiian royal? June 13, 2014 (1,726 DYK views) (29)
  • ... that Sadie Houck was blacklisted by the National League for being "addicted to drink" despite being acknowledged as "one of the best short stops in the country and a thorough ball player"? June 9, 2014 (28)
  • ... that Frank Scheibeck played professional baseball in Detroit in three different decades and three different leagues between 1888 and 1906? January 16, 2014 (24)
  • ... that Charlie Getzein (pictured), known for his "pretzel curve" pitch, won 59 games in 1886 and 1887, including four games in the 1887 World Series? March 15, 2013 (5,250 DYK views) (21)
  • ... that Patty Gasso has led the Oklahoma Sooners softball team to seven appearances in the Women's College World Series, including a national championship in 2000 and a second-place finish in 2012? July 20, 2012 (1,000 DYK views) (20)
  • ... that the masthead of Sporting Life displayed the motto "Devoted To Base Ball, Trap Shooting and General Sports"? July 6, 2012 (18)
  • ... that Duncan Curry, sometimes called the "Father of Baseball", was the president of the first organized baseball team and helped draft the first written rules of the game in 1845? June 14, 2012 (2,450 DYK views) (16)
 
  • ... that Dummy Taylor (pictured), once the highest salaried deaf person in the United States, was ejected from a baseball game for cursing out the umpire in sign language? September 2, 2011 (14)
  • ... that Fred Dunlap, who was once the highest paid player in professional baseball, died penniless at the age of 43? September 2, 2011 (4,758 DYKK views) (13)
 
  • ... that Heinie Peitz was on the receiving end of the famed "Pretzel Battery" in the 1890s? August 28, 2011 (11)
  • ... that after debunking Abner Doubleday as the inventor of baseball, Frank Menke was placed in "the class that would belittle Washington, Lincoln and other men who have played their part in American history"? August 21, 2011 (2,200 DYK views) (9)
  • ... that baseball humorist Charles Dryden dubbed the 1906 White Sox the "Hitless Wonders" and said of the 1909 Senators: "Washington – first in war, first in peace and last in the American League"? August 17, 2011 (7)

Writers and artists (12)

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  • ... that Sam Greene, who covered Detroit sports from 1922 to 1963, was called "one of America's best known sports chroniclers," "a gentlemanly patriarch" and one of sport's "most beloved figures"? August 29, 2011 (629 DYK views)
  • ... that Max Kase wrote in support of jazz and flappers in 1922, helped found the NBA in 1946, and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1952 for exposing college basketball point-shaving scandals? August 20, 2011 (1,400 DYK views)
  • ... that Hall of Fame sportswriter Frank Graham, once described as "psychopathically polite," loved the "shadowy figures and rogues that dwelt on the fringes of his favorite sports"? August 20, 2011 (932 DYK views)
  • ... that Royce Howes won the Pulitzer Prize for an editorial on the shared responsibility of labor and management for an unauthorized strike that put 45,000 Chrysler workers out of work? Dec.29, 2008 (440 DYK views)
  • ... that Hugo Bettauer, author of a satire depicting Vienna after expulsion of its Jews, was shot and killed in 1925 after Nazis branded him a "Red poet" and "corruptor of youth"? Nov. 18, 2008 (1,400 DYK views)

Architects and builders (17)

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... that Greensboro, North Carolina, architect Orlo Epps was also a professor of mathematics and physics and a socialist?

  • ... that Champion Bridge Co. was charged with criminal antitrust violations in 1906 as part of the Ohio Attorney General's "war on the bridge trust"? October 13, 2012 (1,100 DYK views)
 
  • ... that Louden Machinery Co. designed more than 25,000 barns (catalog pictured) as well as monorail devices used in manufacturing the first atomic bomb and at a B-29 bomber plant? October 11, 2012 (5,600 DYK views, 2,900 image views)
  • ... that C. Ferris White designed more than 1,100 buildings in the U.S. state of Washington (example pictured) and over 300 more in the company town of Potlatch, Idaho? August 6, 2012 (2,300 DYK views)
 
 
alt * ... that architect and artist Elmer Grey designed the Beverly Hills Hotel and Huntington Art Gallery, and his watercolors are in the collection of the Chicago Art Institute?
alt2 * ... that Gustav Stickley's The Craftsman magazine called Elmer Grey a pioneer "in the development of the new American architecture" based upon the design of Cochran House (pictured)?
 
Hotel Green
  • ... that Frederick Roehrig’s Castle Green (pictured) in Pasadena, California was called "a fantastic folly created from the imagination of a Victorian architect with a penchant for Arabesque opulence"? September 19, 2008 (1,100 DYK views) (2,800 views for Castle Green) (4,200 DYK photo views)
 
  • ... that architect Albert C. Martin successfully defended his design of the 28-story Los Angeles City Hall (pictured) against those who argued the city government could fit into the first four floors? (2,700 DYK views) (7,800 views for LA City Hall) (5,200 DYK photo views)

Military history (4)

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Other

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  • ... that Dickshooter was named for Dick Shooter? April 23, 2011 (4,400 DYK views)

Nominations (66)

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  • ... that Jim McColl, the son of a butcher, reportedly became Scotland's richest man in 2008? Jan. 14, 2009 (7,200 DYK views)
 
  • ... that an exit bag, consisting of a large, clear plastic bag with a drawstring, is a commercially available device for committing suicide? Dec. 28, 2008 (6,100 DYK views)
  • ... that a technician at the Beijing Film Laboratory refused to print the film or return the negatives for sex scenes from Curiosity Kills the Cat, having being punished over a similar matter? Dec. 17, 2008 (4,800 DYK views)
  • ... that the Vanity Ballroom, an intact dance hall that hosted the popular big bands of the Swing Era, billed itself as "Detroit's most beautiful dance rendezvous"? Dec. 16, 2008 (2,200 DYK views)
  • ... that Humphrey Bate was the first to play old-time music on Nashville radio, and his "Possum Hunters" records are considered some of the most complex string band compositions in the genre? Dec. 15, 2008 (450 DYK views)
  • ... that the Aquarama, built in 1945 as a Liberty ship, was converted into the largest passenger ship ever to operate on the Great Lakes? Dec. 7, 2008 (3,300 DYK views)
 
 
  • ... that Irish journalist Willie Wilde was described by Max Beerbohm as a "dark, oily suspect" sharing the "coy, carnal smile & fatuous giggle" of his younger brother, Oscar Wilde? Nov. 27, 2008 (1,500 DYK views)
  • ... that the cave paintings at La Marche in France, which include detailed depictions of humans rather than stick figures, were met with skepticism when discovered in 1937? Nov. 27, 2008 (2,300 DYK views)
 
The Sea of Ice
  • ... that Caspar David Friedrich's 1824 painting The Sea of Ice (pictured) was seen as too radical in composition, and went unsold until after his death in 1840? Nov. 25, 2008 (11,700 DYK views) (23,000 DYK image views)
  • ... that Fr. Finn wrote the 1890 novel Tom Playfair, telling the adventures of a 10-year-old at an all-boys Jesuit boarding school, to illustrate his ideal of a genuine Catholic American boy? Nov. 25, 2008 (700 DYK views)
  • ... that Leo the Mathematician, called by some the cleverest man in 9th-century Byzantium, invented a system of beacons to warn of Arab raids and a fabled levitating throne for the emperor? Nov. 20, 2008 (4,700 DYK views)
  • ... that the white suckerfish responds to a touch on its belly by forcefully erecting its pelvic fins? Nov. 18, 2008 (2,300 DYK views)
  • ... that pre-operative transsexual Miki Mizuasa was nominated for the Best Actress award at the 2007 Adult Broadcasting Awards even though she was born a male? Nov. 18, 2008 (6,400 DYK views)
 
  • ... that the Royal Coachman (pictured), first made in 1878, may be the world's best-known fly? Nov. 14, 2008 (3,700 DYK views) (1,800 DYK image views)
  • ... that Norwegian researchers published Gay Kids in November 2008 to educate children about homosexual love? Nov. 11, 2008 (6,600 DYK views)
 

Hook Only

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  • ... that at least 343 persons on the SS Princess Sophia (pictured) died in 1918 when the ship was grounded near Juneau, Alaska, the captain decided not to evacuate, and the ship sank? (Dec. 14, 2008) (hook only) (5,800 views)
  • ... that Holy Land USA (pictured), a Connecticut theme park intended to replicate Bethlehem and Jerusalem of the biblical era, once attracted more than 40,000 visitors annually? Dec. 13, 2008 (hook only) (11,500 DYK views)
  • ... that the director of Afghan Muscles avoided the role of Afghan women in bodybuilding, noting "It's men looking at men," and "60% [of men] have their first sexual experience with another man"? Dec. 10, 2008 (hook only) (8,600 DYK views)
  • ... that the "Old Perpetual" geyser (pictured) at Hunter's Hot Springs in Lake County, Oregon, releases a plume of near-boiling water 50 to 60 feet (15–18 m) into the air every 90 seconds? Dec. 9, 2008 (hook only) (11,300 DYK views) (11,000 DYK image views)
  • ... that after testing the biological Brucella cluster bomb on 11,000 guinea pigs, a U.S. general remarked "Now we know what to do if we ever go to war against guinea pigs"? Nov. 19, 2008 (hook only) (8,700 DYK views) (hook only)