Wednesday, April 18, 2012

TODAY IN HISTORY

APRIL 18

1966:Bill Russell signs a contract to become the first African-American head coach in the NBA. Russell will lead the Boston Celtics through the 1969 season.

1909: Pope Pius X beatifies the medieval French heroine Joan of Arc, who was burned at the stake in 1431 as a heretic after claiming that divine guidance helped her lead the French armies into battle during the Hundred Years’ War. She will be canonized as St. Joan in May 1920.

1923: Led by slugger Babe Ruth, the New York Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox, 4-1, in the first game played at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Seventy-four thousand spectators attend the opening of “the House that Ruth Built,” including New York Gov. Al Smith, who threw out the game’s first pitch.

1983:American author Alice Walker receives the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for "The Color Purple"

1980:The Republic of Zimbabwe comes into existence.
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