What Happened in February 1984

Historical Events

  • Feb 1 American lawyer and businessman David Stern becomes NBA Commissioner, succeeding Larry O'Brien; stays in position until 2014

Medicare

Feb 1 Bob Hawke's Australian Labor government re-instates universal healthcare as Medicare [1]

  • Feb 1 China & Netherlands regain diplomatic relations
  • Feb 1 Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre kidnapped and murdered by Kashmiri terrorists in Birmingham, England
  • Feb 2 1st Soap Opera Digest Awards - "Days of Our Lives" wins
  • Feb 2 Lebanese army fights in Beirut
  • Feb 3 10th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (41B): Challenger 4 launches
  • Feb 4 "9" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 739 performances
  • Feb 4 "Backstage Magic" opens at CommuniCore
  • Feb 4 Frank Aquilera sets world frisbee distance record (168m) Las Vegas
  • Feb 5 NZ beat England (82 & 93) by an innings in 3 days
  • Feb 6 Muslim militiamen take over West Beirut from Lebanese army
  • Feb 7 American astronaut Bruce McCandless makes 1st untethered space walk
  • Feb 7 David (born without immunity system) touches his mother for 1st time at age 12

Jackson's Enormous Platinum Disc

Feb 7 Michael Jackson awarded a 4-ft-high platinum disc by CBS

  • Feb 8 A's take Yankees pitcher Tim Belcher as Type A free agent compensation
  • Feb 8 For the 1st time eight people are in space
  • Feb 8 Soyuz T-10 launches with crew of 3 to Salyut 7
  • Feb 8 XIV Winter Olympic Games open in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
  • Feb 9 East German ski jumper Jens Weißflog wins first of 3 career Olympic gold medals in the Normal Hill individual event at the Sarajevo Winter Games
  • Feb 9 East German speed skater Karin Enke wins the 1,500m in world record 2:03.42 at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins 1,000m gold
  • Feb 9 Finnish cross-country skier Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen wins the 10k gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; first of 3 individual medal sweep, also winning 5k and 20k events

The Rink

Feb 9 John Kander and Fred Ebb's musical "The Rink", based on Terrence McNally's novel, and starring Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera, opens at Martin Beck Theater, NYC; runs for 204 performances, winning a Tony Award

Zimyatov's Fourth Gold

Feb 10 Soviet cross-country skier Nikolay Zimyatov wins a career 4th Olympic gold medal when he takes out the 30k event in Sarajevo; 3 gold in Lake Placid 1980

  • Feb 11 10th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (41B): Challenger 4 returns to Earth

Sports History

Feb 11 Wayne Gretzky sets NHL short handed season scoring record at 11

  • Feb 12 12 years after winning the doubles in Sapporo (1972), Italian Paul Hildgarten wins the men's luge singles at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics

Daytona 500

Feb 12 Cale Yarborough, becomes 1st Daytona 500 qualifier, above 200 MPH

  • Feb 12 East German luger Steffi Martin wins the first of 2 consecutive women's singles gold medals at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins in Calgary (1988)
  • Feb 12 Finnish cross-country skier Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen wins the 5k gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; 2nd of 3 individual medal sweep, also winning 10k and 20k events
  • Feb 12 West Indies beat Australia 2-1 to win cricket's World Series Cup after going undefeated in the qualifying rounds
  • Feb 12 William Grant Still's Symphony No. 3 ("The Sunday Symphony"), composed in 1958, receives premiere performance, by the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Carlton Woodsi
  • Feb 13 6-year-old Texan Stormie Jones gets 1st heart and liver transplant
  • Feb 13 Karin Enke of East Germany wins her 2nd gold medal of the Sarajevo Winter Games, winning the women's 1,000m in Olympic record 1:21.61; also wins 1,500m gold
  • Feb 13 Swedish cross country skier Gunde Svan wins 15k event, the first of 2 gold medals at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins 4 x 10k relay gold

Torvill and Dean's Perfect Score

Feb 14 Britain's Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean famously dominate the ice dancing at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; perform to Maurice Ravel's "Bolero" in free dance routine; record 9-of-9 perfect scores for artistic impression [1]

  • Feb 14 Canadian speed skater Gaétan Boucher takes out the 1,000m gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins 1,500m; narrowly beats Soviet skater Sergey Khlebnikov in both events
  • Feb 15 500,000 Iranian soldiers move into Iraq
  • Feb 15 An East German sweep of the medals in the women's 3,000m speed skating at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; Andrea Schöne takes gold ahead of teammates Karin Enke and Gabi Zange

Olympic Gold

Feb 16 3-time men's figure skating world champion Scott Hamilton of the US wins the gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics from Brian Orser of Canada and Jozef Sabovčík of Czechoslovakia

  • Feb 16 Bill Johnson becomes first American to win an Olympic downhill skiing gold at the Sarajevo Games; beats Swiss Peter Müller by 0.27s
  • Feb 16 Canadian speed skater Gaétan Boucher takes out the 1,500m at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics, his second gold medal of the Games; also wins the 1,000m
  • Feb 16 NJ Devils 1st OT goal, Jan Ludvig beats Hartford Whalers 6-5
  • Feb 16 Swedish cross country skier Gunde Svan takes his 2nd gold medal of the Sarajevo Winter Olympics in the 4 x 10k relay; also wins 15k gold
  • Feb 16 Swedish cross country skier Thomas Wassberg wins 2nd career gold medal in 4 x 10k relay at Sarajevo Winter Olympics; 2nd of 4 career gold; 15k Lake Placid (1980), 50k Sarajevo, relay Calgary (1988)
  • Feb 17 34th Berlin International Film Festival: "Love Streams" wins the Golden Bear
  • Feb 17 Biathletes Eirik Kvalfoss of Norway and West German Peter Angerer finish 2nd & 3rd respectively in the relay at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; both have complete sets of medals from biathlon events at the Games
  • Feb 18 East German figure skater Katarina Witt wins first of 2 consecutive women's singles gold medals at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins gold in Calgary (1988)
  • Feb 18 Finnish cross-country skier Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen wins the 20k gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; sweeps all 3 individual events, also winning 5k and 10k events

Olympic Gold

Feb 18 Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen wins first of 4 career Olympic gold medals in the Large Hill individual event at the Sarajevo Winter Games

  • Feb 18 Revised concordat between Italy & Vatican signed
  • Feb 19 "Doonesbury" closes at Biltmore Theater, NYC, after 104 performances
  • Feb 19 1st brother combo to win Gold & Silver in same event at Olympics (Phil & Steve Mahre-Slalom)
  • Feb 19 26th Daytona 500: Cale Yarborough wins for 2nd consecutive year and 4th time in career; last-lap pass to beat Darrell Waltrip
  • Feb 19 Soviet Union wins its 6th Olympic ice hockey gold medal with a 2-0 win over silver medallists Czechoslovakia at the Sarajevo Winter Games
  • Feb 19 Swedish cross country skier Thomas Wassberg wins 50k event at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; his second gold of the Games (4 x 10k relay) and 3rd of his career (15k Lake Placid 1980)
  • Feb 19 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
  • Feb 19 XIV Winter Olympic Games close in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
  • Feb 24 Iraq resumes air attack on Iran
  • Feb 25 Oil fire in Cubatao Brazil kills 500
  • Feb 26 Last US marines in multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon left Beirut
  • Feb 26 Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Penn Warren is named the 1st US poet laureate
  • Feb 26 Reverend Jesse Jackson acknowledges that he called NYC "Hymietown"

World Record

Feb 27 Carl Lewis jumps world record indoor (8.675 m)

  • Feb 27 Worker's union leader Billy Nair freed in South Africa
  • Feb 27 WRC-AM in Washington, D.C. changes call letters to WWRC
  • Feb 28 26th Grammy Awards: Michael Jackson wins 8 Grammys
  • Feb 28 British satirical puppet show "Spitting Image" premieres on ITV

Event of Interest

Feb 29 Pierre Trudeau announces he is stepping down after 15 years as Canadian Prime Minister

  • Feb 29 Swedish center Patrik Sundström scores a goal and adds 6 assists as Vancouver Canucks beat the Penguins 9-5 in Pittsburgh; just the 3rd player in NHL history to record 6 assists in a road game
1984 History

Famous Birthdays

  • Feb 1 Darren Fletcher, Scottish soccer midfielder (80 caps; Manchester United, WBA, Stoke City), born in Dalkeith, Scotland
  • Feb 1 Lee Thompson Young, American actor, born in Columbia, South Carolina (d. 2013)

Elizabeth Holmes (40 years old)

Feb 3 American entrepreneur and convicted fraudster (former CEO of Theranos and once the youngest self-made female billionaire - Forbes 2014), born in Washington, D.C.

  • Feb 4 Mauricio Pinilla, Chilean footballer, born in San Bernardo, Chile
  • Feb 5 Carlos Tévez, Argentine footballer (Boca Juniors, Argentina), born in Fuerte Apache, Argentina
  • Feb 5 Nate Salley, American football player, born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • Feb 6 Brandon Hammond, American actor (Gregory Hines Show), born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
  • Feb 6 Darren Bent, English footballer, born in Tooting, England
  • Feb 6 Piret Järvis, Estonian pop-rock singer-songwriter, guitarist (Vanilla Ninja - "Tough Enough"), and television host, born in Tallinn, Estonia
  • Feb 8 Cecily Strong, American actress and comedian (Saturday Night Live), born in Stringfield, Illinois
  • Feb 8 Panagiotis Vasilopoulos, Greek basketball player
  • Feb 9 Dioner Navarro, Venezuelan baseball player
  • Feb 9 Han Kyung, Chinese singer (Super Junior), born in Mudanjiang, China
  • Feb 10 Alex Gordon, American baseball player, born in Lincoln, Nebraska
  • Feb 10 Kim Hyo-jin, South Korean actress, born in Seoul, South Korea
  • Feb 11 Aubrey O'Day, American singer, born in San Francisco, California
  • Feb 11 Matt Good, American musician, born in Valrico, Florida
  • Feb 12 Brad Keselowski, American auto racer (NASCAR Xfinity Series 2010; NASCAR Cup Series 2012), born in Rochester Hills, Michigan
  • Feb 12 Peter Vanderkaay, US mid-distance swimmer, born in Royal Oak, Michigan
  • Feb 14 Hamed Namouchi, French-Tunisian footballer, born in Cannes, France
  • Feb 14 Víkingur Ólafsson, Icelandic concert pianist, born in Reykjavík, Iceland
  • Feb 15 Doda [Dorota Rabczewska], Polish pop and rock singer-songwriter (Virgin; Diamond B*tch), born in Ciechanów, Poland
  • Feb 15 Gary Clark, Jr. American blues-rock-soul singer-songwriter and guitarist ("This Land"; The Story of Sonny Boy Slim), born in Austin, Texas
  • Feb 15 Meera Jasmine, Indian actress (Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam), born in Thiruvalla, Kerala, India
  • Feb 17 AB de Villiers, South African cricket batsman, captain (114 Tests, 8,765 runs @ 50.66, 22 x 100, HS 278no; 228 ODI, 25 x 100; Northerns CC, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Middlesex CCC), born in Warmbad, South Africa
  • Feb 17 Jimmy Jacobs, American professional wrestler (Ring of Honor), born in Grand Rapids, Michigan
  • Feb 17 Kenta Kamakari, Japanese actor and seiyuu, born in Osaka, Japan
  • Feb 18 Buddy Nielsen, American singer (Senses Fail), born in Ridgewood, New Jersey
  • Feb 19 Chris Richardson, American Idol finalist
  • Feb 20 Johannes "Jo" Alisch, German classical cellist, and jazz bassist, born in Mannheim, West Germany

Trevor Noah (40 years old)

Feb 20 South African comedian, actor and TV host (The Daily Show, 2015-22), born in Johannesburg, South Africa

  • Feb 21 Andrew Ellis, New Zealand rugby union player, born in Christchurch, New Zealand
  • Feb 21 David Odonkor, German footballer, born in Bünde, Germany
  • Feb 21 Karina, Japanese model and actress, born in Shōwa-ku, Japan
  • Feb 22 Venetian Princess [Jodie-Amy Rivera], YouTube Internet personality, born in Brockton, Massachusetts
  • Feb 23 Andre Ward, American professional boxer, unified light heavyweight champion and world’s top pound-for-pound boxer, born in San Francisco, California
  • Feb 24 Clivio Piccione, Monegasque racing driver
  • Feb 24 Sterling James Keenan, American professional wrestler
  • Feb 25 Logan Leistikow, American director and actor
  • Feb 25 Lovefoxxx [Luísa Matsushita], Brazilian rock singer (CSS), born in Campinas, Brazil
  • Feb 26 Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese footballer, born in Lomé, Togo
  • Feb 26 Natalia Lafourcade, Mexican singer, born in Mexico City, Mexico
  • Feb 27 Antti Tuisku, Finnish pop singer, born in Rovaniemi, Finland
  • Feb 27 David Noel, American basketball player, born in Durham, North Carolina
  • Feb 27 Lotta Schelin, Swedish female footballer, born in Trångsund, Sweden
  • Feb 28 Ben Fagan, American musician, songwriter, and reality show contestant, born in Boston, Massachusetts

Karolína Kurková (40 years old)

Feb 28 Czech supermodel, born in Děčín, Czechoslovakia

  • Feb 29 Cam Ward, Canadian ice hockey goalie (Stanley Cup 2006, Carolina Hurricanes; Conn Smythe Trophy 2006; NHL All Star 2011; World C'ship gold 2007), born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
  • Feb 29 Cullen Jones, American swimmer (Olympic gold 4x100m freestyle 2008; 4x100m medley relay 2012), born in New York City
Born in 1984

Famous Weddings

Elton John

Feb 14 British singer Elton John (36) marries Renate Blauel at Darling Point, New South Wales, Australia; divorce in 1988

Famous Deaths

  • Feb 3 Ravindra Mhatre, Indian diplomat, murdered at 48 by Kashmiri terrorists in Birmingham, England
  • Feb 5 Manès Sperber, Austrian-French writer (Like a Tear in the Ocean: A Trilogy), dies at 78
  • Feb 7 Brooks West, American actor (Richard-My Friend Irma), dies at 67
  • Feb 8 Karel Miljon, Dutch boxer (Olympic bronze 1928), dies at 80
  • Feb 9 (Tanjore) Balasaraswathi, Indian classical dancer, dies at 65

Yuri Andropov (1914-1984)

Feb 9 General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1982-84) and KGB Chief (1967-82), dies of total renal failure at 69

  • Feb 10 David Von Erich, American professional wrestler, dies at 25
  • Feb 12 Anna Anderson [possibly born Franziska Schanzkowska], best-known of several imposters claiming to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov, dies still maintaining her fraudulent claim at 87
  • Feb 12 Julio Cortázar, Argentine writer (Blow-Up, Underground Game), dies at 69
  • Feb 13 Andre Stander, South African police captain and bank robber (b. 1946)
  • Feb 14 Elmer Keith, American firearms enthusiast and author (Guns & Ammo), dies at 84
  • Feb 15 Avon Long, American actor (Roots: Next Generation;The Sting; Harry and Tonto), dies of cancer at 73

Ethel Merman (1908-1984)

Feb 15 American Tony and Grammy Award-winning stage and screen singer ("There's No Business Like Show Business"), and actress (It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World), dies of brain cancer at 76

  • Feb 15 Leamon Hunt, American Director General of Multinational Force and Observers (international peacekeepers) in Sinai, assassinated Red Brigade communists in Rome, at 56
  • Feb 16 Ken Williams, TV announcer (Video Village), dies at 69
  • Feb 17 Lucille Benson, American actress (Halloween II, 1941, Bosom Buddies), dies of liver cancer at 69
  • Feb 19 Claude Hopkins, American jazz stride pianist, arranger, bandleader, and musical director (Josephine Baker), dies at 80
  • Feb 19 Ina Ray Hutton [Odessa Cowan], American singer and big band bandleader (Ina Ray Hutton Show), dies of complications from diabetes at 67
  • Feb 20 Fikret Amirov, Azerbaijani-Soviet composer (Azerbaijan Capriccio, Shur), dies at 61
  • Feb 21 Mikhail Sholokhov, Soviet writer (And Quiet Flows the Don, Nobel 1965), dies at 78
  • Feb 22 David, boy who spent most of his life in a plastic bubble, dies at 12
  • Feb 22 Jessamyn West, American writer (b. 1902)

Max Newman (1897-1984)

Feb 22 British mathematician and codebreaker (Colossus), dies at 87

  • Feb 22 Uwe Johnson, German writer (Gruppe 47), dies of heart disease at 49
  • Feb 24 Helmut Schelsky, German sociologist (Sociology of Sex), dies at 71
  • Feb 24 Uwe Johnson, writer, dies at 59
  • Feb 28 Leslie Walcott, cricketer (Test for WI v England 1930), dies
  • Feb 29 Roland Culver, English actor (Thunderball), dies of heart problems at 83