The day that John Hinkley shot President Ronald Reagan was a day that I remember very clearly. I was at a meeting to learn more about insurance in Oak Lawn, when the instructor informed us that the President had been shot. The class was dismissed. On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C., as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton. Hinckley believed the attack would impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had developed an erotic-manic obsession after viewing her in the 1976 film Taxi Driver. Reagan was seriously wounded by a revolver bullet that ricocheted off the side of the presidential limousine and hit him in the left underarm, breaking a rib, puncturing a lung, and causing serious internal bleeding. Initially, he believed that he had not been shot. He was close to death upon arrival at George Washington University Hospital, but was stabilized in the emergency room. He then underwent emergency exploratory surgery. He recovered and was released from the hospital on April 11, 1981. Secretary of State Alexander Haig initially stated that he was “in control here” at the White House until Vice President George H. W. Bush returned to Washington from Fort Worth, Texas. Haig was wrong since he was fourth in the line of succession after Bush, Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, and president pro tempore of the Senate Strom Thurmond. White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, who was from Orland Park, Il, near Matteson, and D.C. police officer Thomas Delahanty were also wounded. All three survived, but Brady had brain damage and was permanently disabled. His death in 2014 was considered a homicide because it was ultimately caused by his injury. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of attempting to assassinate the president. He remained confined to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, a D.C. psychiatric facility, until he was released on September 10, 2016. Hinckley had seen the film Taxi Driver at least 15 times, apparently identifying strongly with protagonist Travis Bickle, portrayed by actor Robert De Niro. He was convinced that he would be Foster’s equal if he became a national figure. He decided to emulate Bickle and began stalking President Jimmy Carter. He was arrested in October 1980 at Nashville International Airport and fined for illegal possession of a firearm. Hinckley noticed Reagan’s schedule was published in The Washington Star. At 2:27 PM, Reagan exited the hotel through “President’s Walk” on Florida Avenue, where reporters waited. Hinckley waited within the crowd of admirers. The Secret Service had extensively screened those attending the president’s speech, but allowed an unscreened group to stand within 15 feet of the President, behind a rope line. Hinckley assumed a crouch position and rapidly fired a steel revolver six times in 1.7 seconds, missing the president with all six shots. The first shot hit White House press secretary James Brady in the head above his left eye, passing through underneath his brain and shattering his brain cavity. District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty was struck in the back of his neck by the second shot. Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy placed himself in the line of fire so that he was struck in the lower abdomen by the fourth shot, the bullet traversing his right lung, diaphragm, and right lobe of the liver. The sixth and final bullet ricocheted off the armored side of the limousine, passed between the space of the open rear door and vehicle frame and hit the president in the left underarm. This shot grazed a rib and lodged in his lung, causing it to partially collapse before stopping less than an inch from his heart. They immediately captured Hinckley and brought the President to nearby George Washington Hospital, where they operated on President Reagan. He recovered. Do you remember the day they shot Reagan?
Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) retires as the CBS Evening News anchor
Walter Cronkite was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years, from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as “the most trusted man in America.” Cronkite received numerous honors including the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter. Cronkite reported many events from 1937 to 1981, including the bombings in World War II, the Nuremberg trials, combat in the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King Jr., and Beatles musician John Lennon. He was also known for his extensive coverage of the USA space program, from Project Mercury to the Moon landings and the Space Shuttle. Cronkite was known for his departing catchphrase every night, “And that’s the way it is.” He retired on March 6, 1981. Although sometimes compared to a father figure or an uncle figure, in an interview about his retirement he described himself as being more like a “comfortable old shoe” to his audience. His last day in the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News was on March 6, 1981. CBS had a mandatory retirement at age 65. On the eve of Cronkite’s retirement, he appeared on “The Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson.” The following night, Carson did a comic spoof of his on-air farewell address. Here is Cronkite’s farewell statement: “This is my last broadcast as the anchorman of The CBS Evening News. For me, it’s a moment for which I long have planned, but which, nevertheless, comes with some sadness. For almost two decades, after all, we’ve been meeting like this in the evenings, and I’ll miss that. But those who have made anything of this departure, I’m afraid have made too much. This is but a transition, a passing of the baton. A great broadcaster and gentleman, Doug Edwards, preceded me in this job, and another, Dan Rather, will follow. And anyway, the person who sits here is but the most conspicuous member of a superb team of journalists, writers, reporters, editors, producers, and none of that will change. Furthermore, I’m not even going away! I’ll be back from time to time with special news reports and documentaries, and, beginning in June, every week, with our science program, Universe. Old anchormen, you see, don’t fade away. They just keep coming back for more. And that’s the way it is: Friday, March 6, 1981. I’ll be away on assignment, and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. Good night.” For many Americans, this was the end of so-called objective news. Cronkite was the last of the so-called godly anchors who could do no wrong. Cronkite had left the University of Texas as a junior to be a newspaper man at UPI (United Press International) in 1937. Cronkite became one of the top American reporters in World War II, covering battles in North Africa and Europe. After the war, he covered the Nuremberg trials and served as the United Press main reporter in Moscow from 1946 to 1948. In 1950, Cronkite joined CBS News in its young and growing television division, recruited by Edward R. Murrow. Cronkite anchored the network’s coverage of the 1952 presidential election as well as later conventions. From 1953 to 1957, Cronkite hosted the CBS program “You Are There,” which reenacted historical events, using the format of a news report. I remember those shows. His famous last line for these programs was: “What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times… and you were there.” He became famous for his reporting on the death of President Kennedy. He left a legacy of credibility and trustworthiness. Do you remember Walter Cronkite?
The release of the Iran hostages on Inauguration Day
Meanwhile, the first inauguration of Ronald Reagan was on Tuesday, January 20, 1981. At 69 years of age on Inauguration Day, Reagan was the oldest person to assume the presidency until that record was surpassed by Donald Trump in 2017, and again, by Joe Biden in 2021. While the inauguration was taking place, the 53 Americans being held hostage in Iran were released. The completion of the negotiations was the signing of the Algiers Accords on January 19, 1981. However, the American hostages were released on the following day, January 20, 1981. Minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president, while he was giving his inaugural address, the 53 American hostages were released to USA personnel. I remember the split screen on TV with Reagan speaking and a picture of an airplane. There have been many conspiracy theories regarding why Iran postponed the release until that moment. The timing of the release of the hostages gave rise to allegations that representatives of Reagan’s presidential campaign had conspired with Iran to delay the release until after the 1980 United States presidential election to thwart Carter from pulling off an “October surprise.” After twelve years of varying media attention, both houses of the US Congress held separate inquiries and concluded that credible evidence supporting the allegation was absent or insufficient. The American hostages were flown on an Air Algeria commercial airliner from Tehran, Iran, to Algiers, Algeria, where they were formally transferred to Warren M. Christopher, the representative of the United States, as a symbolic gesture of appreciation for the Algerian government’s help in resolving the crisis. The flight continued to Rhein-Main Air Base in West Germany to an Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden, where former President Carter, acting as emissary, received them. After medical check-ups and debriefings, the hostages made a second flight to a refueling stop in Shannon, Ireland, where they were greeted by a large crowd. The released hostages were then flown to Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York. From Newburgh, they traveled by bus to the United States Military Academy at West Point. They stayed at the Thayer Hotel for three days, receiving a heroes’ welcome all along the route. Ten days after their release, they were given a ticker tape parade in New York City. These Tehran hostages received $3.50 for each day in captivity after their release. The deal that freed them, reached between the United States and Iran, and brokered by Algeria in January 1981, prevented the hostages from claiming any restitution from Iran due to foreign sovereign immunity and an executive agreement known as the Algiers Accords, which barred such lawsuits. In 2015, the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act afforded the hostages compensation from a fund to be financed from fines imposed on companies found guilty of breaking American sanctions against Iran. This bill authorized a payment of $10,000 for each day in captivity, as well as a lump sum of $600,000 in compensation for each of the spouses and children of the Iran hostages. This meant that each hostage could be paid up to 4.4 million, which was a lot more than the original compensation 35 years earlier. Iran went from being a friend of the USA to an enemy. Shortly thereafter, the Iraq-Iran broke out. Besides the beginning of “Nightline” on ABC, over 80 songs about the Iran hostage crisis have been released. The 2012 Hollywood movie Argo, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, was based on the Canadian Caper rescue. In 2022, HBO released a 4-part documentary series titled “Hostages.” What do you remember about the inauguration of Ronald Reagan?
Palos Heights, Illinois
My Prudential Insurance Office in 1981 was in Palos Heights, a southwest suburb of Chicago, in Palos Township in south Cook County, with about a population of about 8,500 back in 1981. Today it has 12,068 people within a four-square mile area with a 90% white population. The median income for households in the city was $90,995. The top five ancestries reported in Palos Heights as of the 2000 census were Irish (27%), German (20%), Polish (14%), Italian (10%) and Dutch (9%). Palos Heights has many distinct neighborhoods, divided into three congressional districts and four school districts. Community High School District 218’s Alan B. Shepard High School serves Palos Heights and several neighboring communities, while Consolidated High School District 230’s Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, located in Palos Hills, serves Palos Heights students living west of Harlem Avenue. Palos Heights students can readily commute to Moraine Valley Community College in nearby Palos Hills. Trinity Christian College is also located in Palos Heights. Palos Heights was incorporated as a city in 1959. Shortly thereafter, Z. Erol Smith was elected its first mayor and was re-elected three times, serving until 1973. Nevertheless, this new city has quite a few notable people involved with professional sports, including Brian Bogusevic, Kendall Coyne Schofield, David Dombrowski, Jim Hughes, Arlene Kotil, Christine Magnuson, Ryan Murphy, Ed Olczyk, Tony Pashos, and Quentin Richardson. Palos Heights has a station stop on the Metra downtown service. Palos Township is one of 29 townships in Cook County, Illinois. Most of the township’s population resides in its eastern half with the Palos Forest Preserves, a section of the Cook County Forest Preserves on the western side. In 1850, the small town of Trenton, Illinois, changed its name to Palos because M.S. Powell, the local postmaster, whose ancestor supposedly sailed with Christopher Columbus was from Palos de la Frontera, Spain. When it incorporated as a village in 1914, Palos officially became Palos Park with a current population of 4,847. Nearby communities incorporated later, Hickory Hills in 1951, with a current population of 14,505, and Palos Hills in 1958, with a current population of 17,484. All these municipalities lie completely or substantially within Palos Township. However, Palos Heights is partially in Worth Township, also. It was a short commute for me up Harlem Avenue in Matteson to Palos Heights. Have you ever heard about Palos Heights?
I was a Prudential Insurance Agent in 1981
I was a Prudential Insurance agent as 1981 began. I represented a company, a piece of the Rock, Prudential. I had to learn all about the various life insurance plans, especially the difference between term life insurance and whole life insurance. Term life insurance was cheaper and much like other kinds of insurance. You were insured for a certain amount of time and then it expired. On the other hand, whole life insurance had a savings component since it had a cash value. Thus, you could turn it into cash and drop your insurance. This was a savings plan, like the old-fashioned Christmas Club savings plans that my mother had. It forced people to save money, but without a great deal of financial gain. The commissions were higher on these whole life plans. I sold a couple of whole life plans. However, there were new kinds of insurance plans that acted like a mutual fund with variable rates, since it invested in stocks and bonds. I got more interested in those whole life plans as a way for people to save money while also having a minor investment plan. I followed up on orphan Prudential customers, where other Prudential agents had sold them insurance, but these agents had left the company. I called most of them, but I did not like calling people. During my time at Montgomery Ward, the only time that people called me, it was always about a problem. No one ever called me to say how good of a job I was doing. I soon began to realize that the only people who really needed life insurance were the people with big salaries, since usually their family depended on their income. Most people did not have an income high enough to need protection. A family earner was the one who needed the most insurance. Thus, I never sold a lot of high value whole life insurance plans. I remember that I found a construction worker who was divorced and worried about his kids. I think that I sold him a $100,000 whole life insurance policy that had a savings part that he was interested in. A lot of other Prudential agents were trying to sell new policies to older customers to generate new commissions. I did not like that idea. Anyway, I loved learning about new kinds of insurance products. I found out that one agent at our office sold life insurance policies to teachers in his school district. He made a deal with a local school board to use the money that was allocated for health insurance for life insurance, since many of the teachers had health insurance from their spouses. Thus, this whole life insurance was an option for them. He was always busy in August and September, lining up these new life insurance policies for new teachers in this school district. There were a lot of ways to sell insurance. Other people got names from lists of new births. Another agent used the obituaries. People who have someone die in their family realize the value of life insurance. There was one lady, who was selling life insurance until she would be accepted to the Chicago Police Department. Another lady was selling insurance so that she could buy a sports car. All in all, it was a diverse group of Prudential insurance agents that we had in Palos Heights office. Somehow, it had an Oak Lawn southside feel that had spread to the south suburbs. Have you ever worked in an office?
TV in 1980
In 1980, a few new cable channels began that had a lasting impact on television viewing. The first 24-hour news channel, Cable News Network (CNN), was launched in Atlanta, Georgia, by Ted Turner. Black Entertainment Television (BET) launched as a block of programming on the USA Network by Robert L. Johnson, but became a full-fledged channel in 1983. Also, the 24/7 cable movie network Cinemax launched, that later became attached to HBO. The Madison Square Garden Sports Network was officially rechristened as the USA Network, also. Other new cable channels were ACSN, The Learning Channel, and Bravo. The first regularly scheduled use of closed captioning on American network television occurred on ABC. The NFL draft was televised for the first time on ESPN. After 29 years on the air, the soap opera “Love of Life” aired its 7,316th and last episode on CBS. “Hawaii Five-O” aired its series finale on CBS after 12 years. Suzanne Somers made her final appearance in an episode of the ABC sitcom “Three’s Company.” There was a six-hour retrospective of more than 30 years of Bob Hope’s Overseas Christmas Tours entertaining at military bases. “Hollywood Squares” presented its 3,536th and final network telecast, ending a 14-year daytime run. Two other NBC game shows, “High Rollers” and “Chain Reaction,” ended their runs as well. The Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA launched a three-month strike against television and movie studios. The David Letterman Show debuted on NBC. Joan Lunden made her debut as co-host of ABC’s Good Morning America alongside David Hartman. The PBS documentary “Cosmos,” hosted by legendary astronomer Carl Sagan, premiered. Bob Costas made his debut calling Major League Baseball games for NBC. Eddie Murphy made his first Saturday Night Live appearance. Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter participated in their sole presidential debate, as the most watched presidential debate until 2016. The five–part historical drama miniseries Shōgun was broadcast on NBC. “Magnum, P.I.” began its first year while other shows went off the air, like “The Rockford Files” (1974-1980), “Pyramid,” (1973-1980), “Barnaby Jones,” (1973-1980), and “Dinah!” (1974-1980). The top-rated shows of the 1979-1980 TV season were, “60 Minutes,” “Three’s Company,” “That’s Incredible!” “Alice,” “M*A*S*H,” “Dallas,” “Flo,” “The Jeffersons,” “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “One Day at a Time,” “Archie Bunker’s Place,” “Eight Is Enough,” “Taxi,” “House Calls,” “Real People,” “Little House on the Prairie,” “Happy Days,” “CHIPs,” “Trapper John, M.D,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Barney Miller,” “WKRP in Cincinnati,” “Benson,” “The Love Boat,” “Soap,” “Diff’rent Strokes,” “Mork & Mindy,” “Fantasy Island,” “Tenspeed and Brown Shoe,” and “Knots Landing.” I think I saw most of these shows in one episode or another. Most of the shows did not depend on watching it one show after another. There were a lot of comedies. What TV show do you remember from 1980?
Music in 1980
In 1980, electronic dance music and new wave, also known as modern rock began to emerge. As disco fell out of fashion, genres such as post-disco, Italo disco, Euro disco, and dance-pop became more popular. Rock music continued to enjoy a wide audience. Soft rock, thrash metal, shred guitar characterized by heavy distortion, pinch harmonics, and whammy bar abuse became very popular. However, adult contemporary, quiet storm, and smooth jazz gained popularity. I think that I fell into the category of adult contemporary. The 1980s are commonly remembered for a great increase in the use of digital recording, associated with the usage of synthesizers, with other electronic genres featuring non-traditional instruments increasing in popularity. The Tbilisi Rock Festival was the first state-sanctioned rock music festival in the Soviet Union. Iron Maiden released their self-titled debut album. John Bonham (1948-1980), the British rock drummer of Led Zeppelin died and the band disbanded. Bon Scott (1946-1980), lead singer of AC/DC, died in London. Ian Curtis (1956-1980), vocalist of the pioneering post-punk group Joy Division, hung himself, one day before they were scheduled to begin their first U.S. tour. Darby Crash (1958-1980), leader of LA punk band the Germs, died of a heroin overdose in a suicide pact. Donna Summer continued to have the top spot on the Billboard Albums charts. Rush released Permanent Waves, its fifth platinum album. Paul McCartney was arrested in Tokyo for possession of a half-pound of marijuana and later released. Pink Floyd’s The Wall Tour opened at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. The 22nd Annual Grammy Awards were in Los Angeles, hosted by Kenny Rogers. Billy Joel’s 52nd Street won Album of the Year, while the Doobie Brothers’ “What a Fool Believes” won both Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Rickie Lee Jones won Best New Artist. The musical Grease closed its run of 3,388 performances, the longest running show on Broadway up until that time. A New Jersey State assembly man introduced a resolution to make Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” the official state song. Johnny Logan won the 25th Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland, with the song “What’s Another Year.” R.E.M. performed their first performance under the name R.E.M. The single “Groovy Ghost Show” by Casper was one of the first recorded hip hop songs from Chicago. America’s Top 10, the television version of radio’s American Top 40, hosted by Casey Kasem, debuted. Fans at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto staged a riot after Alice Cooper canceled because of illness. Karen Carpenter married Thomas Burris. Elton John played a free concert for 400,000 people in New York’s Central Park. A riot broke out at a Black Sabbath concert in Milwaukee after bassist Geezer Butler was hit in the head by a bottle and the band quit the stage. The ninth annual New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special aired on ABC, with appearances by The Charlie Daniels Band, Billy Preston, Syreeta, Chuck Berry, and Barry Manilow. The Roland Corporation released the Roland TR-808 drum machine, which became a cornerstone of the emerging electronic, dance, and hip-hop genres. The big hits of the year were by Queen, Blondie, Kenny Rogers, Air Supply, and Michael Jackson. I liked Kenny Rogers, “Lady,” Captain and Tennille, “Do That to Me One More Time,” Air Supply, “Lost in Love” and “All Out of Love,” Linda Ronstadt, “Hurt So Bad,” Bette Midler, “The Rose,” Christopher Cross, “Sailing,” and Pat Benatar, “Hit Me with Your Best Shot.” What is your favorite song from 1980?
Movies in 1980
The big hit of 1980 was the Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back, which I did not see. I also did not see Stir Crazy and Any Which Way You Can. However, I did see the delightful comedy 9 to 5, with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Dabney Coleman, with the great song by Dolly Parton. I think I also saw Airplane! the comedy about an air flight with Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the pilot. I saw Private Benjamin, with Goldie Hawn as an army recruit. I also saw Coal Miner’s Daughter, the life story of Loretta Lynn played by Sissy Spacek. Then I saw the sequel of Smokey and the Bandit II with Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, and Jackie Gleason. Another sequel that I saw was Oh, God! Book II, with George Burns as God again. I also saw the love story of The Blue Lagoon with Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins that made Shields a major star. Finally, there were the movies that I really loved. The Blues Brothers starred Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, as the Blues Brothers who were recently released from Joliet prison with everything taking place in the Chicago area and the ending with the smashing of a mall near us in Matteson. That was a great movie. Another movie that I really liked was Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford with Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, and Timothy Hutton, about a North Shore Chicago family that lost a child. I also liked Caddyshack with Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, and Bill Murray, that made him a star. Another favorite of mine was Urban Cowboy with John Travolta and Debra Winger, about a mechanical horse in a bar. Another great movie of 1980 was Raging Bull, directed by Martin Scorsese with Robert De Niro, as the boxer Jake LaMotta (1927-2017), whom I remembered as a kid. Joe Pesci was in the movie also so that he and De Niro became good friends. I liked The Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond, as an update of the old Al Jolson 1927 first talkie. The Gambler with Kenny Rogers was pretty good also. I also liked Seems Like Old Times, a Neil Simon play with Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, and Charles Grodin. The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Jack Nicholson, and Shelley Duvall was an odd picture that I liked. Another odd movie that I liked was The Elephant Man, directed by David Lynch, starring Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, and Anne Bancroft. The Gong Show Movie was another strange movie with the director and the leading man Chuck Barris. Heaven’s Gate was a western in Wyoming with a great cast of Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, Jeff Bridges, Joseph Cotten, Mickey Rourke, and Willem Dafoe. I also saw a number of children’s films with my daughter, such as Herbie Goes Bananas. What is your favorite movie of 1980?
Sports in 1980
The 1980 Winter Olympics opened in Lake Placid, New York, February 13-24. GDR won the most medals and the USSR won the most gold medals. The 1980 Summer Olympics were held in Moscow, the Soviet Union, from July 19–August 3. However, 82 countries, including the USA, boycotted the Games. The USSR won the most medals (195), and the most gold medals (80). Nadiya Olizarenko (USSR) bettered her own world record in the women’s 800 meters at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, clocking 1:53.43. Jesse Owens (1913-1980), the great black American Olympic athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, died. In the Major League World Series, the NL Philadelphia Phillies, managed by Dallas Green, defeated the AL Kansas City Royals, managed by Jim Frey, in six games. The Philadelphia Phillies ended 97 years of frustration with their first-ever World Series Championship. Mike Schmidt was the MVP of the series and Steve Carlton was the pitching hero against KC George Brett. Rollie Fingers broke Hoyt Wilhelm’s major league record of 250 saves. Japan’s Sadaharu Oh retired from the Yomiuri Giants as the all-time professional baseball home run king. In Super Bowl XIV, the Pittsburgh Steelers won 31–19 over the Los Angeles Rams at the Rose Bowl in LA. QB Terry Bradshaw was the MVP for Pittsburgh, since they had 14 Hall of Fame players on their team while the Rams only had two. Over 103,000 watched in person with 76 million watching on TV. The New Orleans Saints became the NFL’s first ever team to go 1-15. In College Football, the Alabama Crimson Tide won 24–9 over the Arkansas Razorbacks to claim the college football national championship with a 12-0 1979 season. In the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers won 4-2 games over the Philadelphia 76ers with Magic Johnson playing the best game of his career with 42 points in game six, so that he was the MVP. Each team had 5 Hall of Fame players on their team. In March, 22 members of the United States Olympic boxing team died in a plane crash near Warsaw, Poland. Roberto Duran defeated Sugar Ray Leonard by a 15-round decision to win boxing’s WBC world Welterweight title, but later in the year, Sugar Ray Leonard recovered the title with an eight-round technical knockout of Roberto Duran. Thomas Hearns defeated José “Pipino” Cuevas by a knockout to win the WBA world Welterweight title. Larry Holmes defeated Muhammad Ali by a knockout in round eleven to retain the WBC world Heavyweight title, in what would be Ali’s last world title bout. In golf, the Senior PGA Tour, now called the Champions Tour, was founded. Jack Nicklaus won the US Open and the PGA, but Seve Ballesteros won the Masters and Tom Watson the British Open. Thus, Tom Watson was the money leader with $530,808, while the senior money leader was Don January with $44,100. The LPGA Tour money leader was Beth Daniel with $231,000. Three different horses spilt the triple crown races. In tennis, Arthur Ashe retired from professional tennis. Björn Borg won the French Open and Wimbledon, while Brian Teacher won the Australian Open and John McEnroe the US Open. Chris Evert won two of the four grand slams. The New York Islanders won the Stanley Cup on Bobby Nystrom’s overtime goal in Game 6 of the Finals over the Philadelphia Flyers. The AP Male Athlete of the Year was the U.S. Olympic hockey team, while Chris Evert was the AP Female Athlete of the Year. Connie Mack Berry (1915-1980), an American who played professional football, baseball, and basketball, died. Conn Smythe (1895-1980), original owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, whose name goes to the MVP of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, died. Elston Howard (1929-1980), Yankee player of my youth died, as well as Emmett Ashford (1914-1980), the first African-American MLB umpire. What is your favorite sporting event of 1980?
Deaths in 1980
The first Yugoslav President, Josip Tito (1892-1980) had the largest state funeral in history, since there were official state delegations from 128 different countries. All these people died in 1980: legendary actor Steve McQueen (1930-1980); George Meany (1894-1980), American AFL-CIO labor leader from 1955-1979; William O. Douglas (1898-1980), American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 to 1975; Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980), American writer and socialite; Isabel Briggs Myers (1897-1980), American psychological theorist and co-creator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), Canadian who coined the expression “the medium is the message;” Erich Fromm (1900-1980), German-American psychologist and philosopher; Henry Miller (1891-1980), American writer best known for Tropic of Cancer (1934) and Tropic of Capricorn (1939); Tom Barry (1897-1980), guerrilla leader in the IRA civil war with my father; Otto Frank (1889-1980), German father of Jewish diarist Anne Frank; Jimmy Durante (1893-1980), one of my favorite childhood comedians with a big nose; George Raft (1901-1980), another of my favorite movie actors; Dick Haymes (1918-1980), one of my favorite singers as a child; Mae West (1893-1980), flamboyant American actress; Dorothy Stratten (1960-1980), Playmate of the Year 1980 who was murdered; Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), a French philosopher, writer, and Nobel winner; Roland Barthes (1915-1980), French literary critic and writer; Hans Morgenthau (1904-1980), German-American jurist and political scientist; Bindo Maserati (1883-1980), manager of Maserati Brothers; Jean Piaget (1893-1980), Swiss psychologist famous for his work on child development; C. P. Snow (1905-1980), British physicist and novelist; Dorothy Day (1897-1980), Catholic social activist, founder of the Catholic Worker in 1933; Jay Silverheels (1912-1980), who played Tonto on the TV series the “Lone Ranger,” one of my favorite TV shows as a kid; David Janssen (1931-1980), the star of the TV series “the Fugitive;” Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980), the British film director of so many great movies of my youth; Gower Champion (1919-1980), American theatre director, choreographer and dancer; Lillian Roth (1910-1980), whose autobiography was made into a movie, I’ll Cry Tomorrow in 1955; Colonel Sanders (1890-1980), American fast-food entrepreneur founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1952; John Howard Griffin (1920-1980), who wrote Black Like Me in 1961; André Chéron (1895-1980), French endgame theorist; Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980, who wrote Ship of Fools in 1962; Jack Bailey (1907-1980), host of “Queen for a Day” game show; Willie Sutton (1901-1980), famous American bank robber; Harold F. Blum (1899-1980), physiologist who explored the interaction of light and chemicals on cells; Marshall Reed (1917-1980), appeared in over 200 films; Strother Martin (1919-1980), who uttered the line, “What we have here is a failure to communicate;” Bon Scott (1946-1980), Scottish-Australian rock singer of AC/DC; Charlie Fowlkes (1916-1980), member of the Count Basie Orchestra; Kay Medford (1919-1980), American actress and singer; Allen Hoskins (1920-1980), portrayed the character of Farina in 105 Our Gang films; Barbara O’Neil (1909-1980), American actress; Lillian Randolph (1898-1980), American actress; Shirley Booth (1898-1980), American actress; Sol Lesser (1890-1980), American film producer; Sam Levene (1905-1980), Russian-American Broadway, films, radio, and television actor; Barney Bigard (1906-1980), known for his 15-year tenure with Duke Ellington; Georgeanna Tillman (1944-1980), member of the “The Marvelettes;” Barbara Britton (1920-1980), American film and television actress; and Milburn Stone (1904-1980), American actor. Do you know someone who died in 1980?
Gene Finnegan Remembers Living Eighty Wonderful Years 