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There are only a handful major events in televised American history that many can remember exactly what they were doing at the time of viewing. On January 28, 1986, just after 10:30 a.m. in the midwest, the infamous Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart just 73 seconds into flight in front of millions of viewers across the country. Seven people lost their lives in the disaster, most notably Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire educator and the first member of the Teacher in Space Project.

Just over eight hours earlier, the Messar family had it's own earth-shattering event of sorts--at 1:52 in the morning, a 10-pound 6-ounce bouncing baby boy was born to Marty and my poor mother Sue.

As if a NASA disaster weren't already enough to have hanging over my head, the day of my birth fell on a Tuesday, which in the wintertime, meant there was a basketball game around town. My dad, who was in the thick of his 10th season as the head girls basketball coach at Luck, was busy preparing for a showdown with Grantsburg that evening, which the Cards came up short 30-42. (For you USCVC fans, Deb Allaman [Johnson] led the Pirates, eventual sectional finalists that season, with 12 points with Janna McBroom adding eight. Luck got 10 points apiece from Paula Babcock and Kelly Shuttleworth.) Needless to say, sports and basketball in particular was something I was obviously born into.

Though yet another Grantsburg defeat over Luck in the mid-eighties (there were several, believe me) wasn't the only big event that occurred in the sports world. Here's some more interesting blasts from the past that occurred on the best day of the year, January 28.

1904 - The University of Chicago awarded blankets with the letter "C" to all seniors that played football during the 1903 season. This event supposedly marked the beginning of sports letter tradition.

1922 - The National Football League franchise in Decatur, IL, transferred to Chicago. That team then took the name the Chicago Bears, losers of the latest NFC Championship game to the awesome Green Bay Packers.

1948 - For all you hockey fans, Max Bentley scored four goals and his brother Doug assisted all of them for the Chicago Blackhawks. Though I don't personally remember it, Doug apparently also added a goal himself.

1958 - Roy Campanella of the Brooklyn Dodgers was seriously injured in an auto accident in New York. He would sadly never play baseball again.

1990 - Joe Montana earned his third Super Bowl MVP award at Super Bowl XXIV in a San Fransisco 49ers rout of the Denver Broncos, 55-10.

1996 - The Dallas Cowboys knocked off the Steel Curtain of Pittsburgh 27-17 to win Super Bowl XXX. Cowboy Larry Brown's two interceptions earned him the Pete Rozelle MVP trophy.

2001 - The Baltimore Ravens became just the third Wild Card qualifier to win a Super Bowl in a 34-7 victory over the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV.

2003 - The WNBA announced that Connecticut had been awarded a franchise for the 2003 season. The Connecticut Sun was the first WNBA team to be owned by a non-NBA franchise.

2003 - Junior forward Jay Messar scored two points in about three minutes of play in Luck's 54-34 West Lakeland boys basketball victory over Siren. It was the only high school game he ever played on his birthday.


Next Week: TBD

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Update from last week:

Since the "Streaks" article was posted last week, seven teams have successfully vacated that list. St. Francis, Cudahy and Oconto Falls boys basketball each earned their first wins of the season (and then some), with the Racine Park, Spring Valley and Hustisford girls each also notching one for the win column. The Merrill boys hockey program also picked up a victory, as hopefully that list continues to dwindle.