TV in 1983

The following new cable channels came on board in 1983: the Disney Channel; the Country Music Television (CMT); (BET) Black Entertainment Network; and the Nashville Network (TNN), now known as Paramount Network.  Besides the final episode of the TV series “M*A*S*H,” there were other popular shows on TV.  140 million viewers watched parts of ABC’s “The Winds of War,” based on the novel by Herman Wouk, making it the most watched miniseries at that time.  Also interesting was the mini-series “The Thorn Birds,” that I watched.  An estimated 100 million people watched the controversial made-for-TV movie “The Day After on ABC,” depicting the start of a nuclear war, that I did not watch.  Marvin Gaye performed a soulful rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the NBA All-Star Game at The Forum in Los Angeles.  VH1 would later use it as the very first video when they premiered on January 1, 1985.  ABC aired a made-for-television biographical film about the life of Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, starring Cheryl Ladd.  PBS broadcast “The Operation,” a live telecast of an actual open-heart surgery, which I did not see.  The first televised USFL football game (Los Angeles Express vs. New Jersey Generals) was broadcast by ABC.  “The Morning Show,” hosted by Regis Philbin and Cyndy Garvey, premiered locally on WABC in New York City, that would eventually make its move to national syndication in 1988 with Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford as his co-host.  MLB agreed to terms with ABC and NBC on a six-year television package, worth $1.2 billion.  Vin Scully made his debut as NBC’s new lead play-by-play announcer for their MLB telecasts.  Whitney Houston made her national television debut when she performed on “The Merv Griffin Show.”  PBS’s series “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report” became “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,” the first to expand from a half-hour to one hour in length.  Tom Brokaw became the sole main anchor of the NBC “Nightly News,” while Peter Jennings became the sole anchorman of ABC’s newscast “World News Tonight.”  NBC had the least successful new autumn show roster for any network in history.  Vanessa Williams, the first African American Miss America, was crowned in a nationally televised event on NBC.  The nighttime syndicated edition of the NBC daytime game show “Wheel of Fortune” premiered.  Several networks simultaneously aired the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol.  There were many new shows in 1983, including “Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock,” the “A-Team,” “Press Your Luck,” “Reading Rainbow,” “Peanuts,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” and “Love Connection.”  Besides “M*A*S*H,” other popular shows ended in 1983, “Little House on the Prairie” (1974-1983), “Laverne & Shirley” (1976-1983), “CHIPs” (1977-1983), “Taxi” (1978-1983), and Quincy, M.E. (1976-1983).  What do you remember about TV in 1983?

Music in 1983

1983 was a great year for Michael Jackson with his album Thriller, with “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” “Human Nature,” and “The Girl Is Mine.”  However, there were some great hits for Irene Cara with “Flashdance…What a Feeling,” The Police with “Every Breath You Take,” and Bonnie Tyler with “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”  Men at Work had two hits with “Down Under” and “It’s a Mistake.”  Daryl Hall & John Oates had three hits, “Maneater,” “One on One,” and “Family Man,” as did Laura Branigan with “Gloria,” “Solitaire,” and “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You.”  Billy Joel had a couple of hits with “Allentown” and “Tell Her About It.”  Prince had two hits with “Little Red Corvette” and “1999.”  There were some great duets like the movie song from An Officer and a Gentleman, “Up Where We Belong” with Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes.  Then there were the duets of Eddie Rabbitt and Crystal Gayle, with “You and I,” as well as Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton with “We’ve Got Tonight” and Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack with “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love.”  Then there were the songs that still resonate like “Affair of the Heart” by Rick Springfield, “Maniac” by Michael Sembello, “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This” by the Eurythmics, “She Works Hard for the Money” by Donna Summer, “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie, “Always Something There to Remind Me” by Naked Eyes, and “Straight from the Heart” by Bryan Adams.  There were a lot of other songs that I remember, like “Never Gonna Let You Go” by Sérgio Mendes, “I Know There’s Something Going On” by Frida, “Back on the Chain Gang” by The Pretenders, “Puttin’ on the Ritz” by Taco, “Sexual Healing” by Marvin Gaye, “You Can’t Hurry Love” by Phil Collins, “Stand Back” by Stevie Nicks, “Dirty Laundry” by Don Henley, “Is There Something I Should Know?” by Duran Duran, “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” by Air Supply, “I Won’t Hold You Back” by Toto, “All Right” by Christopher Cross, “Heart to Heart” by Kenny Loggins, “My Love” by             Lionel Richie, ”I’m Still Standing” by Elton John, “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya” by Culture Club, “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy” by Sammy Hagar, “Heartbreaker” by Dionne Warwick, “I’ve Got a Rock ‘n’ Roll Heart” by Eric Clapton,  “You Got Lucky” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and “Fall in Love with Me” by Earth, Wind & Fire.  What is your favorite song of 1983?

Movies in 1983

One of my favorite movies of all time was Peter Billingsley, Melinda Dillon, and Darren McGavin in A Christmas Story about a boy who wanted a BB gun. He had a lot of misadventures with his mom and dad.  Another of my favorites was Cher, Kurt Russell, and Meryl Streep in Silkwood, about whether there was a contamination in a plant or not.  Then there was the gangster movie with Al Pacino as Scarface, a determined criminal-minded Cuban immigrant who became the biggest drug smuggler in Miami, but was undone by his own drug addiction.  The feel-good movie of the year was The Right Stuff, with Ed Harris, Lance Henriksen, Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn, Sam Shepard, Charles Frank, Scott Paulin, and Fred Ward, about the astronaut Mercury 7 crew.  I did not like War Games with Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy.  I was a little disappointed in The King of Comedy with Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis.  I expected it to be better.  The comedy that I really loved was Vacation, with Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, and Christie Brinkley.  I saw a little of myself in Chevy Chase, as the Chicago Griswold family traveled across the country to the Walley World theme park.  On the other hand, I kind of liked The Outsiders with Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, and Ralph Macchio, about a small Oklahoma town in 1964, with the rivalry between two gangs.  I liked Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger in Terms of Endearment, about a mother and daughter trying to get along with Jack Nicholson as the older love interest.  I also like Trading Places with Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, and Ralph Bellamy because it was about the futures market in Chicago.  I really liked Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay in Risky Business, because it was about a high school kid who had a party while his parents were on vacation.  I loved the scene of Cruise driving at night on Lake Shore Drive.  He wanted to get into an Ivy League school, but his backup college was the U of I at Champaign.  Another of my favorites was the The Big Chill, a reunion of former college friends who gather for a weekend reunion at a South Carolina vacation home after the funeral of another of their college friends with Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, and Jeff Goldblum.  I just liked the interaction of these so-called friends at a funeral.  I liked The Star Chamber with Michael Douglas and Hal Holbrook about judges and justice.  I also liked Mr. Mom with Michael Keaton and Teri Garr.  I did not see a lot of the popular movies of 1983.  I did not see Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, with the usual cast of characters, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and James Earl Jones.  I did not see the James Bond Octopussy with Roger Moore or the James Bond Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery.  I did not see Monty Python’s the Meaning of Life, because I knew that it would be a little ridiculous.  I did not see Uncommon Valor, nor The Year of Living Dangerously.  I did not see All the Right Moves with Tom Cruise and Craig T. Nelson, nor Cujo, about a dog gone mad.  I did not see Twilight Zone: The Movie, since I did not like the TV show.  I did not see Valley Girls nor Flashdance.  What was your favorite movie of 1983?

Sports in 1983

In Super Bowl XVII, the Washington Redskins won 27–17 over the Miami Dolphins with the Redskins RB John Riggins, the MVP, setting a Super Bowl record for rushing.  Tony Dorsett set the NFL record for longest run from scrimmage by rushing for a 99-yard touchdown.  Paul “Bear” Bryant, noted Alabama football coach, died at the age of 70.  The Penn State Nittany Lions won 27-23 over the Georgia Bulldogs to win the college football national championship in the Sugar Bowl.  The Michigan Panthers won the new United States Football League Championship, 24-22, over the Philadelphia Stars.  The International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored medals to the family of Jim Thorpe.  Ireland’s Eamonn Coghlan set a new World Indoor Record for the mile, clocking 3:49.78 at East Rutherford, NJ.  Brooks Robinson and Juan Marichal were elected to the MLB Hall of Fame.  The Baltimore Orioles won the World Series 4 games to 1 over the Philadelphia Phillies, as Orioles catcher Rik Dempsey was named MVP.  North Carolina State, coached by Jim Valvano, beat Houston, coached by Guy Lewis, 54-52, ending with a buzzer-beating dunk by Lorenzo Charles off a desperation shot from 30 feet out by Dereck Whittenburg.  I remember Jim Valvano running all over the court after this win.  In the NBA Finals, Billy Cunningham’s Philadelphia 76ers won 4 games to 0 over Pat Riley’s Los Angeles Lakers.  The 76’s Hall of Fame four players, Maurice Cheeks, Julius Erving, Bobby Jones, and Moses Malone, the MVP, beat the Laker’s five HOF’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper, Magic Johnson, Bob McAdoo, and Jamaal Wilkes.  For the first time ever, two world Heavyweight champions defended their titles the same night, at the same place.  Larry Holmes retained the WBC title defeating future two-time world champion Tim Witherspoon, and Michael Dokes retained his WBA title with a 15-round draw (tie) against former world champion Mike Weaver.  Roberto Durán won his third world title, while Marvin Hagler retained his unified world Middleweight title with a 15-round unanimous decision over Roberto Durán. In World Figure Skating Championships, USA’s Scott Hamilton and Rosalynn Sumners won, as did Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean of Great Britain in the Ice dancing championships.  The grand slam of golf was split four ways with Seve Ballesteros, Larry Nelson, Tom Watson, and Hal Sutton, with Sutton the PGA Tour money leader with $426,668.  The Senior PGA Tour money leader was Don January with $237,571, while JoAnne Carner was the woman’s leaders with $291,404.  There was no triple crown winner in horse racing as three different horses all won one leg.  Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers was the NHL’s leading scorer and MVP, but lost the Stanley Cup to the New York Islanders, 4-0.  There was no grand slam in tennis because four players each picked up a leg, Mats Wilander, Yannick Noah, John McEnroe, and Jimmy Connors.  Among the women, Martina Navratilova won three legs, but Chris Evert won the French Open.  Australia II, of the Royal Perth Yacht Club, won America’s Cup over Liberty, from the New York Yacht Club, 4 races to 3, breaking a 132-year winning streak by the NYYC, the longest-running unbeaten streak in all of sports.  British entrepreneur Richard Noble set a new land speed record of 633.468 mph, driving Thrust2 at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.  The overall season skiing champions were Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney, of the USA.  What do you remember about sports in 1983?

Deaths in 1983

The following somewhat famous people died in 1983: Nikolai Podgorny, Soviet politician, Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR from 1965 to 1977 (1903-1983); Meyer Lansky, American gangster (1902-1983); Stuart H. Ingersoll, American admiral (1898-1983); Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada (1944-1983); Sid Daniels, British merchant marine worker, last surviving crewmember of the RMS Titanic (1895-1983); King Leopold III of Belgium (1901-1983); Buckminster Fuller, American architect (1895-1983); Suzanne La Follette, American libertarian feminist (1893-1983); Herman Kahn, American futurist (1922-1983); Ross Macdonald, American-Canadian writer (1915-1983); Heinz Warneke, American sculptor (1895-1983);  Felix Bloch, Swiss-American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (1905-1983); Jon Brower Minnich, heaviest man who ever lived at 1,400 pounds (1941-1983); Earl Tupper, American businessman who invented Tupperware (1907-1983); Jimmy Demaret, American golf champion (1910-1983); Ruben Rausing, Swedish entrepreneur, founder of Tetra Pak (1895-1983); John Robinson, Anglican bishop theologian (1919-1983); Joan Miró, Spanish painter (1893-1983); George Cukor, American film director (1899-1983); Karen Carpenter, American singer, and drummer of the Carpenters, one of my favorites (1950-1983); Eubie Blake, American musician, and songwriter (1887-1983); Tennessee Williams, American playwright (1911-1983); Sir William Walton, English composer (1902-1983); Faye Emerson, American actress who was always on game shows in the 1950s (1917-1983); Maurice Ronet, French film actor and director (1927-1983); Arthur Godfrey, American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer famous for his TV show in the 1950s (1903-1983); Gloria Swanson, glamorous American actress (1899-1983); Dolores del Río, another Mexican actress of my youth (1904-1983); Walter Slezak, Austrian-born American actor, another of my childhood actor favorites (1902-1983); Buster Crabbe, American actor, and athlete, the original Tarzan (1908-1983); George Balanchine, Russian-American dancer, and choreographer (1904-1983); Muddy Waters, American musician (1913-1983); Jack Dempsey, American heavyweight champion boxer (1895-1983); Harry James, American musician, and big band leader (1916-1983); Raymond Massey, Canadian actor (1896-1983); David Niven, British soldier, and actor (1910-1983); Lynn Fontanne, British actress (1887-1983); Judy Canova, American actress (1913-1983); Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (1896-1983); Jan Clayton, American actress and singer (1917-1983); LeRoy Prinz, American choreographer, director, and producer (1895-1983); Joan Hackett, American actress (1934-1983); Pat O’Brien, American actor, another of my childhood favorites (1899-1983); Michael Conrad, American actor (1925-1983); Robert Aldrich, American film director (1918-1983); Lucienne Boyer, French singer (1901-1983); Slim Pickens, American actor (1919-1983); William Demarest, American actor (1892-1983); Dennis Wilson, American singer, songwriter, and drummer (1944-1983); Doodles Weaver, American comedian (1911-1983); Earl “Fatha” Hines, American musician (1903-1983); and Chris Wood, British rock musician, lead singer and guitarist of the band Traffic (1944-1983).  Do you know anyone who died in 1983?

Disasters in 1983

The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claimed the lives of 75 people, in one of Australia’s worst bushfire disasters.  Heavy rain and mudslides in western Shimane Prefecture, Japan, killed 117.  Hurricane Alicia hit the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over $3.8 billion in damage.  Heavy rain triggered flooding at Bilbao, Spain, and the surrounding areas, killing 44 people, and causing millions in damages.  The Alcalá 20 nightclub fire in Madrid, Spain, injured 47 and killed 83 people.  Over 2,000 people, mostly Bangladeshi Muslims, were massacred in Assam, India, during the Assam agitation.  The Black July anti-Tamil riots began in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000 Sri Lankan and Hill-country Tamils.  A Sea of Japan earthquake shook northern Honshu with a maximum Mercalli intensity of 8 that generated a destructive tsunami that left about 100 people dead.  Off the coast of Norway, 5 divers were killed and 1 severely wounded in an explosive decompression accident at the Byford Dolphin rig diving bell accident.  A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet, on route to Conakry Airport in Guinea, crashed into the Fouta Djall Mountains of Guinea, killing all 23 people on board.  Two Spanish passenger planes collided on the foggy runway at a Madrid airport, killing 90 people.  Colombian Avianca Flight 011 crashed near Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, killing 181 of the 192 on board.  A helicopter crashed off the Isle of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.  Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by the Soviet Union Air Force near Moneron Island, as all 269 on board were killed, including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald.  The Soviet Union admitted shooting it down, but did not know it was a civilian aircraft, since it had violated Soviet airspace.  Gulf Air Flight 771 crashed in the United Arab Emirates after a bomb exploded in the baggage compartment, killing 117.  13 people were killed in an attempted robbery in the Chinatown area of Seattle, in the Wah Mee massacre.  A Provisional IRA car bomb killed 6 people and injured 90 outside Harrods department store in London.  The Orly Airport attack in Paris left 8 dead and 55 injured.  Two bombs exploded in France, one on a Paris train that killed 3 and injured 19, while the other at a Marseilles station killed 2 and injured 34.  13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers were killed during a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, thus beginning the Sri Lankan Civil War, which would continue until 2009.  5 people were killed and 18 others injured when a road train was deliberately driven into a motel at Ayers Rock in the Northern Territory of Australia.  The Rangoon bombing killed South Korea’s Foreign Minister, Lee Bum Suk, and 21 others. The perpetrators were believed to be North Koreans.  A car bombing in Pretoria, South Africa, killed 19 people.  An explosion at an unlicensed and illegal fireworks operation near Benton, Tennessee, killed 11 people.  Iranian teenager Mona Mahmudnizhad and nine other women were hanged because they were members of the Baha’i Faith.  Benigno Aquino Jr., Philippines opposition leader, was assassinated in Manila just as he returned from exile.  What disaster do you remember from 1983?

Great events in 1983

In 1983, Ronald Reagan became the first American president to address Japan’s national legislature, the National Diet.  The first USA cruise missiles arrived at RAF Greenham Common in the UK amid protests from peace campaigners.  Saint Kitts and Nevis became an independent state.  The Balearic Islands and Madrid became autonomous communities of Spain.  Lebanon, Israel, and the United States signed an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.  The ninth G7 summit began at Williamsburg, Virginia.  The Second Sudanese Civil War began in Sudan.  Britain’s Conservative government, led by Margaret Thatcher, was re-elected by a landslide majority.  Neil Kinnock was elected leader of the British Labor Party.  Argentina had its first democratic elections after seven years of military rule with Raúl Alfonsín’s first term as President of Argentina.  South Africa approved a new constitution granting limited political rights to Coloreds and Asians as part of a series of reforms to apartheid.  The government of Poland announced the end of martial law and amnesty for political prisoners, as the Noble Peace Prize went to Poland’s Lech Wałęsa.  General elections were celebrated in Venezuela, as voter turnout was 87%. The Turkish part of Cyprus declared independence.  The Zapatista Army of National Liberation was founded in Mexico.  There was a battle at Tripoli between Arafat loyalists and PLO dissidents.  The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP was officially completed, so that this was the beginning of the true Internet.  The 3D printer was invented by Chuck Hull.  The world’s first commercial mobile cellular telephone call was made in Chicago at Motorola, as the first worldwide mobile telephone, the Motorola DynaTAC, entered the market.  Nintendo’s Family Computer, also known as the Famicom, went on sale in Japan.  The GNU Project, a collaborative effort to create free software, was started by Richard Stallman.  Word processor software Multi-Tool-Word, soon to become Microsoft Word, was released in the USA.  Two separate research groups led by Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier independently declared that a novel retrovirus may have been infecting people with HIV/AIDS, and published their findings in the same issue of the journal Science.  The immunosuppressant cyclosporine was approved by the FDA, leading to a revolution in the field of transplantation.  The Space Shuttle Challenger was launched on its maiden voyage.  Pioneer 10 passed the orbit of Neptune, becoming the first human-made object to leave the vicinity of the major planets of the Solar System.  Sally Ride’s place in history was assured, when she rocketed into space on Challenger’s STS-7 mission with four male crewmates.  Stern magazine published “Hitler Diaries,” which were later found to be forgeries.  On July 21, 1983, the lowest temperature on earth was recorded in Vostok Station, Antarctica, with −89.2 °C or −128.6 °F.  Australian Dick Smith completed his solo circumnavigation of the world in a helicopter.  The mass burial of around 700,000 unsold Atari video game cartridges, consoles, and computers happened in Alamogordo, New Mexico.  There was a solar eclipse on December 4, 1983.  Pope John Paul II visited Rebibbia prison to forgive his would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Ağca.  What do you remember about 1983?

Michael Jackson and the Moonwalk

The moonwalk, or backslide, is a popping dance move in which the performer glides backwards but their body actions suggest forward motion. It became popular around the world when Michael Jackson performed this move on May 16, 1983, as he introduced his new song “Billie Jean.”  This extraordinary moment changed dance history.  The King of Pop was taking part in the TV program Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, filmed to celebrate the record label’s greatest artists.  A whopping 35% of all TV owners in the United States tuned in to see Michael and other stars perform.  Thus, nearly 47 million people were watching as Michael Jackson danced to his song about Billie Jean, as he performed his first moonwalk.  Michael Jackson invented this robot dance in 1983.  This show was produced and directed by Don Mischer, who has broadcast other historical moments including the opening ceremony for the 1996 Olympic Games and many Oscar ceremonies.  He vividly remembered the arguments about whether Michael Jackson would even be allowed to perform the song on this show.  This was a commemorative show.  No one was supposed to perform new music, but only the music standards of the last 25 years of Motown from 1958-1983.  Thus, Michael Jackson with his top hat and white socks was allowed to do his famous “moonwalk” dance that everyone wanted to imitate, that was taped on March 25, 1983, before a live audience.  The moonwalk was like being towed around on ice skates. The performer moves forward without appearing to move his feet at all, by manipulating his toes and heels rapidly.  You moved each foot alternately backwards like a horse pawing the ground.  This moonwalk goes back to Cab Calloway and Charlie Chaplin in the 1930s, but they called it “The Buzz.”  In 1943, Bill Bailey performed the first on-screen backslide in the movie The Cabin in the Sky.  In 1958, on the “Pat Boone Show,” Dick Van Dyke performed a similar variation of the moonwalk and camel walk in his comedy routine called “Mailing a Letter on a Windy Corner.”  The French mime artist Marcel Marceau used it throughout his career from the 1940s through the 1980s, “Walking Against the Wind.”  In the late 1970s, the long-running TV dance show “Soul Train” featured a dance troupe called “The Electric Boogaloos” which routinely performed popping and locking dance moves including the moonwalk.  James Brown had also used this move.  However, after 1983, it was Michael Jackson’s moonwalk.  Singer Bobby Brown of New Edition was the one of those who taught Jackson this moonwalk dance step.  Geron Casper Canidate claimed to have a copy of the check and original contract, since he spent one week privately instructing Jackson how to perform the moonwalk.  Dressed in his signature black trousers, silver socks, silver shirt, black-sequined jacket, and rhinestone glove, Jackson spun around, posed, and began moonwalking on stage in 1983.  Thus, Jackson encapsulated a long tradition of African-American dance movements in that one performance.  Moonwalking received widespread attention, and from then on, the moonwalk became Jackson’s signature move for his song “Billie Jean.”  I liked it because it looked simple and easy to do.  There was nothing complicated about the moonwalk of Michael Jackson.  He made it look so smooth.  Have you ever tried to do a moonwalk dance step?

I Bought a Commodore 64 computer in 1983

The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, was an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International.  It is the highest-selling single computer model of all time, selling between 12.5 and 17 million units.  The C64 dominated the low-end computer market for most of the of the 1980s.  For a substantial period (1983–1986), the C64 had between 30% and 40% share of the US market, annually selling two million units.  Part of the Commodore 64’s success was its sale in regular retail stores instead of only electronics or computer hobbyist specialty stores.  It has been compared to the Ford Model T automobile for its role in bringing a new technology to middle-class households via creative and affordable mass-production.  In December 1984, the C64 was the overwhelming winner in the category of home computers under $500.  At the C64’s price of less than $200, there was not another system with the same features.  The C64 faced a wide range of competing home computers, but with a lower price and more flexible hardware, it quickly outsold many of its competitors.  At one point, the company was selling as many C64s as all computers sold by the rest of the industry combined.  Aggressive pricing of the C64 was a major catalyst in the video game crash of 1983.  In June 1983, the company lowered the price to $300.  Some stores sold the computer for $199.   I think I bought one at Wards with my 10% discount.  I knew nothing about computers.  I tried to read the instructions but nothing was permanent.  I always had to start over again every time that I used it.  After about a year, I decided that I would stick to the computers at work with their printouts.  Thus, my foray into computers was a failure on my part.  I was going to stick to my typewriter.  At least, I had something permanent when I finished typing it.  This C64 was more like a typewriter that never produced anything that I could print.  Did you ever have a computer that you could not use correctly?

The death of the Bear’s George Halas (1895-1983)

Papa Bear George Halas died in 1983 at the age of 88.  George Halas was the founder and owner of the NFL Chicago Bears for 63 years, 40 of those years as their head coach.  He won 324 games as a coach, and 8 NFL titles.  He was also lesser-known as a baseball player for the New York Yankees, where he said that Babe Ruth took his place in the outfield in 1919.  The NFC Championship trophy is named after him.  Halas was one of the co-founders of the NFL in 1920.  After graduating from Crane High School in Chicago, he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, playing football for coach Bob Zuppke, as well as baseball and basketball.  He earned a degree in civil engineering, as he helped Illinois win the 1918 Big Ten Conference football title.  In 1920, Halas represented the A. E. Staley Company of Decatur, IL, in Canton, Ohio, at the meeting which formed the National Football League.  After the first game of the 1921 season, company founder and namesake Augustus E. Staley turned over control of the team to Halas so he could move the team to Chicago, where the team had attracted its biggest gates of the 1920 season.  The newly minted “Chicago Staleys” set up shop at Cubs Park, soon to be known as Wrigley Field.  Halas had a good relationship with Chicago Cubs owner William Wrigley Jr. and president Bill Veeck Sr, so that Halas renamed his team the “Chicago Bears.”  The baseball players were called baby Cubs.  Thus, his big football players must be Bears or Big Cubs.  Halas was not only the team’s coach but he also played both offensive and defensive end, as well as handled ticket sales, and the business of running the club.  His playing highlight occurred in a 1923 game when he stripped Jim Thorpe of the ball, recovered the fumble, and returned it 98 yards, a league record which would stand until 1972.  In 1925, Halas persuaded Illinois star player the “Galloping Ghost” Red Grange to join the Bears, establishing the league’s respectability and popularity.  He continued as a coach when he retired as a player.  In the late 1930s, Halas, with University of Chicago coach Clark Shaughnessy, perfected the T-formation system to create a revolutionary and overwhelming style of play which drove the Bears to an astonishing 73–0 victory over the Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL Championship Game, led by Quarterback Sid Luckman from 1939 to 1950. His six NFL Championships as a head coach is tied for the most all time with Green Bay’s Curly Lambeau and New England’s Bill Belichick.  A pioneer both on and off the field, Halas made the Bears the first team to hold daily practice sessions, analyze film of opponents, place assistant coaches in the press box during games, place tarp on the field, publish a club newspaper, and have the games broadcast by radio.  He also offered to share the team’s substantial TV income with teams in smaller cities, firmly believing that what was good for the league would ultimately benefit his own team.  A firm disciplinarian, Halas maintained complete control of his team and did not tolerate disobedience and insubordination by players.  He was a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.  He was recognized as one of the ten most influential people in sports in the 20th century.  The Pro Football Hall of Fame is located on George Halas Drive.  One of Halas’s final significant ownership acts was to hire Mike Ditka as head coach in 1982.  The Bears erected a statue and marker dedicated to Halas in 2019 near the south entrance to Soldier Field.  His eldest daughter, Virginia Halas McCaskey, succeeded him as majority owner in 1983, until her death in 2025.   What do you know about Papa Bear Halas?