Feast Day of the Chair of Peter

A liturgical expression of the belief in the episcopacy and hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

First Grammy Award for Rap

February 22, 1989

D.J. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (Jeff Townes and Will Smith) win for Parents Just Don't Understand.

Dioxin Pollution

February 22, 1983

The U.S. announces that it will buy out property owners in dioxin-tainted Times Beach, Missouri.

Woolworth's

February 22, 1878

F. W. Woolworth opens his first Woolworth's store. Located in Utica, New York, he named it "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store". It failed three months later, so he reused the sign to open another store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was a success and led to what became the largest department store chain in the world. (If at first you don't succeed…)

First National Meeting of the Republican Party

February 22, 1856

The first national meeting of the Republican Party is held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Florida Purchase Treaty

February 22, 1819

The Florida Purchase Treaty is signed. The U.S. acquired Florida from Spain.

Ted Kennedy (Edward Moore Kennedy)

Born February 22, 1932 d. 2009

American politician, U.S. Senator (D. Massachusetts 1962-2009). He was a proponent of modern American liberalism. In 1969, he drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, resulting in the death of passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.

Drew Barrymore

Born February 22, 1975

American actress. Film: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982, Gertie).

Steve Irwin (Stephen Robert Irwin)

Born February 22, 1962 d. 2006

Australian naturalist, wildlife expert. TV: The Crocodile Hunter (1996-2006, title role). Film: The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (2002). He died after being fatally pierced in the heart by a stingray barb off Queensland's Great Barrier Reef. He was filming a shallow-water segment for the documentary Ocean's Deadliest.

Julius Erving

Born February 22, 1950

American Basketball Hall of Famer.

Giulietta Masina (Guilia Anna Masina)

Born February 22, 1921 d. 1994

Italian actress, wife of Federico Fellini. Film: La Strada (1954, Gelsomina), and Nights of Cabiria (1956, Cannes Best Actress, as the prostitute).

Alfred J. Gross

Born February 22, 1918 d. 2000

Canadian-born inventor. He invented the walkie-talkie (1939) and the pager (1949) and laid the groundwork for cordless and cellular phones. While visiting Gross' workshop, Chester Gould was inspired to give his Dick Tracy character a 2-way TV wristwatch.

Creator of Pace Picante Sauce

David Pace

Born February 22, 1914 d. 1993

American businessman. Creator of Pace Picante Sauce (1947). He played in the first Sugar Bowl (1937), while on a football scholarship to Tulane University.

Robert Young

Born February 22, 1907 d. 1998

American actor. TV: Father Knows Best (Jim Anderson) and Marcus Welby, M.D. (title role).

Clarence Elmer Mitchell

Born February 22, 1891 d. 1963

American baseball player. He is the only person to have hit into a unassisted triple play in a World Series game (1920).

Francis Pharcellus Church

Born February 22, 1839 d. 1906

American editor. Author of Is There a Santa Claus? (1897) article in response to 8-year-old Virginia O' Hanlon's question.

Frederic Francois Chopin

Born February 22, 1810 d. 1849

Polish composer, pianist.

Chuck Jones (Charles M. Jones)

Died February 22, 2002 b. 1912

American Oscar-winning cartoonist, animator. Chuck Jones helped create Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Speedy Gonzalez, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Pepé Le Pew, Porky Pig, and Tweetie Pie. Cartoons: One Froggy Evening (1955, with the reluctant singing frog), What's Opera Doc? (1957, voted #1 greatest cartoon of all time), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966).

Vietnam's Deadliest Sniper

Carlos Hathcock

Died February 22, 1999 b. 1942

American soldier. Regarded as the deadliest sniper of the Vietnam War. He has 93 confirmed kills and an estimated 300-400 total kills. For one of his most famous kills, he was sent to kill the enemy sniper known as the "Cobra", who had already killed several U.S. marines and was believed to have been sent to kill Hathcock. Hathcock saw the Cobra's scope reflecting in the sun and fired a shot that went through the scope striking him in the eye, killing him instantly. On another mission, he was sent to kill an enemy general. For the mission, he had to crawl camouflaged, inch-by-inch over 1,500 yards of field for four days and three nights without sleep until he was able to make his shot, killing the general with a single shot to the chest.
The Vietnamese placed a record bounty of $30,000 on Hathcock, and it is believed he killed every Vietnamese marksman who tried to collect it.
Hathcock became a marine sniper after joining the United States Marine Corps and winning numerous shooting competitions, including the Wimbledon Cup, the most prestigious prize for long-range shooting, at Camp Perry in 1965.
Known as "White Feather" for the white feather he wore on his bush hat, the Springfield Armory M25 White Feather rifle was named after him.

Andy Warhol

Died February 22, 1987 b. 1928

American pop artist, filmmaker. Famous for his silk-screen images of Campbell's soup cans and celebrities and for movies such as Andy Warhol's Frankenstein (1975). Warhol opened a large warehouse called "The Factory" in 1964 which became a gathering place for the counterculture, artists, celebrities, and musicians. He was shot in 1968 by Valerie Solanas who believed Warhol was trying to steal her work.

Bubble Boy (David Vetter)

Died February 22, 1984 b. 1971

He spent most of his life inside a protective bubble due to a severe immune deficiency. The film The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976, starring John Travolta) was inspired by the lives of him and Ted DeVita, who lived most of his life in a sterile hospital room. The only treatment at the time was a bone marrow transplant or complete isolation from germs. At 12 years old Vetter was finally able to receive a bone marrow transplant from his sister. The transplant worked and he was able to leave his bubble and kiss his mother for the first time in his life. However, shortly thereafter, he became ill with infectious mononucleosis and died from lymphoma. The autopsy revealed that his sister's bone marrow contained traces of a dormant virus, Epstein-Barr, which had been undetectable in the pre-transplant screening.

America's Most Famous Clown - You Never Heard Of

Dan Rice (Daniel McLaren)

Died February 22, 1900 b. 1823

American Hall of Fame circus clown. He became America's first famous circus clown. He worked for P.T. Barnum and later started his own circus which became even more popular than Barnum's show. He combined animals, acrobats, and clowns, changing the circus into what it is today. His show featured an elephant that could walk a tightrope and the first trained rhinoceros in the U.S.
Rice ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. president and some claim he was one of the models for the early Uncle Sam posters.
Many now popular phrases originated around him and his shows:
• His was the first show described as "The Greatest Show on Earth."
• "Hey, Rube!", which is a circus call for come help in the fight, originated when a member of Rice's troupe was attacked by a mob and he yelled for help from his friend Reuben.
• While Rice was campaigning for Zachary Taylor for president, he invited Taylor to campaign on his circus bandwagon. Other local politicians then jumped on the bandwagon hoping Taylor's and Rice's popularity would help their campaign, thus creating the expression "to jump on the bandwagon".
• Early in his career, he had only one horse for his horse routine at a time when horse shows with multiple horses were the core of a circus. His competitors mocked him, saying it was a "one horse show."

For Whom America is Named

Amerigo Vespucci

Died February 22, 1512 b. 1451

Italian explorer. For whom America is named, and one of the first to recognize North and South America as new continents.

Nanette Fabray (Ruby Bernadette Nanette Theresa Fabares)

Died February 22, 2018 b. 1920

American Tony-Emmy-winning actress. Film: The Little Rascals (Baby Nan starting at age 7). TV: Caesar's Hour (1954-56, 3 Emmy Awards), One Day At a Time (1979-84, Grandma Romano).

Ed Flanders

Died February 22, 1995 b. 1934

American Emmy-winning actor. TV: St. Elsewhere (Dr. Westphall).

David Susskind

Died February 22, 1987 b. 1920

American Emmy-winning TV producer and talk show host, known for his controversial guests.

George Winthrop "Dixie" Fish

Died February 22, 1977 b. 1895

American urologist, Olympic Gold Medal Rugby player (1920). His anecdotes about his medical training were the inspiration for the Dr. Kildare books and 1960s TV series.

Inventor of the Clinical Thermometer

Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt

Died February 22, 1925 b. 1836

English physician. Inventor of the short clinical pocket thermometer (1866). Prior to his invention, clinical thermometers were about a foot long and patients had to hold them for about twenty minutes.

Charles Blondin (Jean Francois Gravelet)

Died February 22, 1897 b. 1824

French acrobat, aerialist. He was the first to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope (1859). A crowd of over 100,000 people watched. He also crossed it other times blindfolded, pushing a wheelbarrow, carrying a man on his back, and on stilts.

Charles Brockden Brown

Died February 22, 1810 b. 1771

American novelist, "The father of the American novel." Writings: Wieland (1798) and Ormond (1799).

David II

Died February 22, 1371 b. 1324

King of Scotland (1329-71).

Saint Peter Damian

Died February 22, 1072 b. 1007

Italian Roman Catholic cardinal, patron saint of doctors. Known as a reformer, he opposed the sale of Church sacraments and marriage of clergy.

Sabinian

Died February 22, 606 b. ????

religious leader, 65th Pope (604-606).