You know that shirt in your drawer with the alligator embroidered over the heart? It's not an alligator. When French tennis star Jean-Rene Lacoste, "The Crocodile," began his domination of tennis in the 1920s the players wore loose "blousy" dress shirts with collars. Lacoste took a pullover polo shirt and had a collar added to meet the dress code. It was tight fitting, the president of the French Tennis Association told him, "This shirt seems practical, but I'm not sure it is quite decent." But it did have a snapping crocodile on it.
James A. Garfield was the last of the log-cabin presidents. Alexander Graham Bell attempted to find the bullet with a metal detector he invented, but all he could find were the metal springs in the mattress - nobody thought to move the injured president. Doctors probing the wound with unwashed hands and instruments were probably the real cause of death, the autopsy conclusion said that Garfield would have lived if the sixteen doctors had stayed away. Garfield energetically attacked political corruption and might have undone the damage that Reconstruction had done to the office had antiseptic medical procedures been followed.
Amelia Earhart disappeared, high-altitude aliens may have appeared, the funding for state agricultural schools began, and a race that has been run almost every year for four centuries will take place in the public plaza at Siena - sounds like quite a party.
1819 - The second British Factory Act is passed forbidding employment of children under age nine. Like the first act of this name passed in 1802, which limited children's working hours to twelve, it has no effect because there is no inspection or enforcement.
1862 - US Congress passed the Morrill Land Grant Act, giving to each state not then in rebellion 30,000 acres of federal land for each senator or member of congress in that state - a minimum of 90,000 acres per state. Results varied, those selling the land quickly didn't get much, Kentucky got only fifty cents per acre, while New York was able to wait and sold the land allotted to Cornell University for over $5.50 per acre. A similar act in 1890 extended this to the 16 southern states.
1881 - A lawyer named Charles Guiteau, incensed that his application to be ambassador to France was denied, fires two pistol shots at President James A. Garfield. One shot nicked his arm, the second lodged in his abdomen, Garfield died on 19 September.
1937 - Twenty eight days and 22,000 miles from their original starting point at Miami, Florida, Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan take off from New Guinea in their Lockheed Elektra 10E. Their destination is Howland Island, 500 miles distant, but they never arrive. Nine ships and 66 aircraft search until 28 July. Was she a spy? Is the faded photo of a crashed plane on Nikumaroro Island Earhart's Elektra? And what about the fragments of a show found there? Research continues.
1947 - Unidentified flying disc crashes on Foster Ranch between Roswell and Corona, New Mexico, ranch foreman Mac Brazel contended that the craft was extraterrestrial. Army Air Force arrives and takes several carloads of debris away, announcing that it was a high-altitude balloon from a project to monitor Soviet nuclear tests. They took Mac Brazel away for a week, he later said he would never again report anything unusual.
Il Palio, Siena, Italy - Il Palio is a rich banner that is the prize awarded to one of the 17 Contrade (districts) of Siena following a mad 75-90 second horserace around the Piazza, also the name of the festival. Each Contrade has a victory feast the night before as a rehearsal in case they win, the jockeys have special whips to use on each other during the race, actual starting order is based on devious arrangements made between the jockeys - it can take a dozen or more attempts to get the horses lined up, the day begins with a mass celebrated by the Archbishop of Siena, which the horses attend. It is a day of parades, bells, cannon, and partying. The 2 July Palio dates at least to 1597, the 16 September Palio to 1802.
1905
- Jean-Rene Lacoste, French athlete - Born at Paris to a wealthy
car maker, allowed to play tennis on the condition that he become world
champion in five years or give it up. One of the "Four Musketeers" that
dominated world tennis 1924 - 1929 (the four took all Wimbledon singles
titles in that span) he won Wimbledon and the US Open twice each, the
French Open three times. Retired from play 1929 due to chronic bronchial
problems, became captain (coach) of France's Davis Cup team and won in
1931 and 1932 from the sidelines. Liked the crocodile image, became his
nickname because it fit his tenacious playing style, wore it on his blazer
in 1926. Designed the first ball-lobbing machine in 1925 and his own tennis
shirt in 1928, in 1964 created the steel-framed open-throat racket. In
1934 he started La Socit Chemise Lacoste to make the shirts for the public.
Married Simone Thion de la Chaum, the first French winner of golf's British
Open in 1927, had three sons and a daughter - Catherine repeated mom's
British Open victory in 1967, Bernard runs the shirt company. Awarded
Legion of Honor in 1950, died in his sleep at home on 14 October 1996.
Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an
atmosphere of total tranquillity.
- Billy Jean King
I find the three major problems on a campus are sex for the students,
athletics for the alumni, and parking for the faculty.
- Clark Kerr
Colleges are places where pebbles are polished and diamonds are dimmed.
- Robert Ingersoll
While it's important to win, it's imperative to compete.
- Dave Weinbaum
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