Category Archives: Sports

November 19, 1960: Gene Autry a Contender in American League Expansion Team

Posted on November 19, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 19, 1960: Gene Autry is a potential bidder for an American League baseball team hoping to start in Los Angeles in 1961. Continue reading →

Posted in Dodgers, Downtown, Sports | Comments Off

November 17, 1968: The ‘Heidi Game’ remembered

Posted on November 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 17, 1968: NBC preempts the last moments of a game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets to air “Heidi,” and the infamous “Heidi Game” was born. Continue reading →

Posted in 1968, Blues, broadcasting, Sports, Television | Comments Off

November 15, 1981: Still Unsolved — Aspiring Screenwriter Killed in Hit-Run Staged to Look Like Rape

Posted on November 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 15, 1981: The mysterious death of Sue Latham, a cyclist who was hit by a car while unjamming the gears on her bike, but dragged to a construction site and partially undressed to make it look like she was raped. Continue reading →

Posted in 1981, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Sports, Transportation | Tagged 1981, bicycling, Cold Cases, Pat Hines, sports, Sue Latham | Comments Off

November 8, 1938: Polish Jew shoots Nazi envoy

Posted on November 8, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 8, 1938: In Paris, Herschel Grynszpan, identified as a 17-year-old Polish Jew, shoots the third secretary of the German Embassy, Ernst von Rath. And Nora Ford is at the Follies Burlesque. Continue reading →

Posted in City Hall, Current Affairs, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Sports | Comments Off

November 3, 1958: Officials turn away football crowds at Coliseum

Posted on November 3, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 3, 1958: More than 100,000 people watch the Rams vs. the Bears at the Coliseum, with 10,000 more people turned away, Keith Thursby writes. Continue reading →

Posted in @news, Film, Freeways, Front Pages, Sports, Transportation | Comments Off

November 1, 1947: UCLA Ruffians Kidnap USC’s George Tirebiter!

Posted on November 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 1, 1947: Ruffians from UCLA kidnap USC mascot George Tirebiter and shave “UCLA” into his coat. Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Animals, Sports | Tagged #USC, 1947, Animals, George Tirebiter, sports, UCLA | Comments Off

October 27, 1968: Wilt Chamberlain and Richard Nixon

Posted on October 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 27, 1968: “I’ve never gotten involved in politics before. But you have to get off the fence and declare yourself sometime and this is the time for me. I’ve known Nixon and been impressed by him for 10 years and I decided to join him. It’s intriguing to know that I might have some hand in shaping the future of this country,” Wilt Chamberlain says. Continue reading →

Posted in Front Pages, Politics, Sports | Comments Off

October 25, 1907: L.A. Bids Adieu to the Boys of Summer as Pacific Coast League Ends Season

Posted on October 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 25, 1907: A farewell to baseball season, “deservedly the most popular pastime of the American public.” Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Baseball, Dodgers, Sports | Tagged 1907, Baseball, Dodger Parking, inflation, Pacific Coast League | Comments Off

October 17, 1907: All-White USC Football Team Starts Race Riot Over Tackle by Black Player From Whittier

Posted on October 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 17, 1907: A Black player from Whittier State tackles a player for USC’s all-white team, setting off a fight between the teams. Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, African Americans, Sports, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged #USC, 1907, African Americans, racism, sports, Whittier | Comments Off

October 7, 1938: Star pitcher Dizzy Dean walks his last mile

Posted on October 7, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 7, 1938: Dizzy Dean and the Cubs lost to the Yankees, 6-3, in the second game of the 1938 World Series. But it was more than a loss–it might have been the last chapter of a great career. Continue reading →

Posted in Front Pages, Sports | Comments Off

September 25, 1907: The Melancholy Prizefighter

Posted on September 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 25, 1907: Meet Joe Gans, a boxer whose name once echoed among fans of the ring now buried in the dusts of sporting history. Gans may well have been one of the finest fighters whoever lived. Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, 1910, African Americans, Sports | Tagged 1907, 1910, African Americans, Harry Carr, sports | Comments Off

September 24, 1957: Matt Weinstock

Posted on September 24, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 24, 1957: Matt Weinstock profiles Red Rowe, host of Panoramic Pacific on KNXT, Channel 2 Continue reading →

Posted in broadcasting, Columnists, Dodgers, Downtown, Matt Weinstock, Sports, Television | Tagged #TV, 1957, Dodgers, lapd, Matt Weinstock, Pickup Alley, Red Rowe | Comments Off

September 13, 1958: Dodgers disciplined for playing golf

Posted on September 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 13, 1958: The Dodgers discipline Duke Snider and Clem Labine for playing… golf! Continue reading →

Posted in Dodgers, Front Pages, Sports | Comments Off

September 2, 1947: Miss Muscle Beach of 1947

Posted on September 2, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 2, 1947: Vivian Crockett is chosen as Miss Muscle Beach of 1947 in the annual Labor Day contest in Santa Monica. Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Sports | Tagged 1947, bodybuilding, Muscle Beach, sports | Comments Off

August 31, 1958: Woman kills husband as children sleep, Giants win over Dodgers

Posted on August 31, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 31, 1958: Lillian Kella admits stabbing her husband, Ed, to death after a swimming party. Both had been drinking heavily. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, @news, Columnists, Dodgers, Front Pages, Homicide, Sports | Comments Off

August 28, 1958: Intruder kills former actress

Posted on August 28, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 28, 1958: Helene Jerome, described as a retired actress, is found strangled in her apartment at the Las Palmas Hotel. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, @news, Cemeteries, Dodgers, Film, Forest Lawn, Front Pages, Hollywood, Hollywood Division, Homicide, LAPD, Sports | 1 Comment

August 27,1958: Woman kills husband over singing, Reds win against Dodgers

Posted on August 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 27, 1958: Was the late Benjamin Beynon, stabbed to death by his wife, an abusive husband or just a bad singer? Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, @news, Dodgers, Front Pages, Homicide, LAPD, Sports | Comments Off

August 26, 1938: LAPD officer accused in bizarre plot to kill neighbors

Posted on August 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 26, 1938: A suspended LAPD officer hires a couple of men to tunnel to his neighbors’ house, to plant bugging equipment … or explosives. A judge finds The Times guilty of contempt for editorials on pending court cases. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Front Pages, LAPD, Sports | 4 Comments

August 24, 1958: Los Angeles Coliseum is dangerous, Rams coach says

Posted on August 24, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 24, 1958: The Rams’ Ron Waller suffers a separated shoulder from a tackle on the “concrete hard” baseball infield at the Coliseum, where the Dodgers were playing after their move from Brooklyn; from 2008 by Keith Thursby. Continue reading →