Historical Events
- Oct 1 Carolina Hurricanes lose franchise's debut NHL game, 4-2 to Tampa Bay Lightning at the Ice Palace, Tampa, Florida
- Oct 1 Minnesota Timberwolves NBA forward Kevin Garnett, just 2 years out of high school, signs a record 6-year, $123 million contract extension
- Oct 1 Spice Hot premieres on cable
- Oct 1 Zimbabwe and New Zealand tie their One Day International cricket match in Bulawayo; Black Cap tail-ender Gavin Larson is run out on last ball at 9/233 amidst crowd surging onto field; 13th ODI tie
- Oct 2 The Bruins beat the LA Kings, 6-5 in Boston to extend their NHL opening game unbeaten streak to 11-straight years (9-0-2)
- Oct 3 1st NHL game outside of North America: Vancouver Canucks beat Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-2 in Tokyo, Japan
Historic Publication
Oct 3 American writer Don DeLillo publishes "Underworld", his classic novel of twentieth-century America
- Oct 3 Gordie Howie (69) takes a shift with IHL'S Detroit Vipers, marking his 6th decade playing professional hockey
- Oct 3 Japan's maglev train breaks world speed record for a manned train at 280.3 mph/451.1 kph
- Oct 3 NHL Carolina Hurricanes lose in their 1st home game, 4-3 vs Pittsburgh Penguins at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina
- Oct 4 Farm Aid 10 concert in Texas cancelled due to weak ticket sales and moved to Illinois
Farm Aid Concert
Oct 4 Farm Aid 10 held in Tinley Park, Illinois; performers include Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Fogerty, Beck, Dave Matthews Band, Steve Earle, and The Allman Brothers [1]
- Oct 4 Second largest cash robbery in U.S. history occurs at the Charlotte, North Carolina office of Loomis, Fargo and Company with $17.3 million in cash taken
- Oct 5 Federation Cup Women's Tennis, Den Bosch, Netherlands: Sandrine Testud wins both her singles to lead France to 4-1 win over the Netherlands; France's first title
- Oct 5 STS 86 (Atlantis 20) lands
- Oct 9 ABL players allowed to own stock in the league
- Oct 9 Hurricane kills 123 in Acapulco Mexico
- Oct 9 Nobel prize for literature awarded to Italian playwright Dario Fo
- Oct 9 North Carolina's record winning college basketball coach Dean Smith retires
- Oct 9 NY Rangers are 1st NHL team to open with 4 straight ties
- Oct 10 Austral Airlines DC-9-32 crashes and explodes near Nuevo Berlin, Uruguay, killing 74
Sports History
Oct 11 Dennis Rodman returns from second longest NBA suspension (11 games)
- Oct 12 Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria; 43 killed at a fake roadblock
- Oct 13 Andy Green's Jet-powered car reaches record 749.69 MPH
- Oct 14 MLB National League Championship: Florida Marlins beat Atlanta Braves, 4 games to 2
- Oct 15 Britain's Andy Green sets jet-powered car record (763.035 mph)
- Oct 15 Former US Representative Dan Rostenkowski released from custody for mail fraud
- Oct 15 MLB American League Championship: Cleveland Indians beat Baltimore Orioles, 4 games to 2
- Oct 15 Nobel Prize for Chemistry awarded to Jens Christain Skou, Paul D. Boyer and John E. Walker for their work on enzymes in the body
Sports History
Oct 15 NY jury awards boxer Mitch Green $45,000 in civil lawsuit against Mike Tyson, for street brawl in 1988
- Oct 15 US launches nuclear powered Cassini to Saturn
- Oct 16 "Side Show," opens at Richard Rodgers Theater NYC for 91 performances
Event of Interest
Oct 18 The groundbreaking Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Gehry, is inaugurated by King Juan Carlos I in Bilbao, Spain
- Oct 19 "Annie" closes at Martin Beck Theater NYC
- Oct 19 700th World Series home run (Sandy Alomar, Cleveland Indians)
- Oct 20 Richard Gnida, Limo driver in Detroit Red Wings crash, pleads guilty
- Oct 20 US accuses Microsoft of violating pact forcing IE browser on computers
- Oct 21 Cleveland outfielder Marquis Grissom records a hit in his 15th straight World Series game; second longest 9 inning WS game (4:12) as Florida Marlins beat Indians, 14-11
Album Release
Oct 21 Marc Anthony releases his third studio album "Contra la Corriente" (1st salsa album to top Latin album chart, Grammy Best Tropical Latin Performance))
- Oct 22 Cleveland outfielder Marquis Grissom's World Series hitting streak ends after 15 games as Indians rout Florida 10-3 in coldest ever WS game (38°F)
- Oct 22 Compaq testifies Microsoft threaten to break Windows 95 agreement if they showcased a Netscape icon
Event of Interest
Oct 22 Larry Flynt sells Hustler to an under-age buyer in a non-zoned area of Cincinnati, Ohio
Sports History
Oct 22 NHL superstar Wayne Gretzky's wife Janet is knocked unconscious and gets 2 stitches after plexiglass falls on her watching a game
- Oct 22 Yahoo completes purchase of Four11
- Oct 23 "Triumph of Love" opens at Royale Theater NYC
- Oct 23 At 6:11 AM San Francisco experiences a power blackout due to sabotage
- Oct 23 Dow Jones drops 186.88 pts
- Oct 23 Les Alexander, owner of Houston Rockets buys NHL's Edmonton Oilers
- Oct 24 Marv Albert sentenced in assault case
- Oct 25 9th College Football Holy War: Notre Dame beats Boston College 52-20 in South Bend
- Oct 25 After a brief civil war which has driven President Pascal Lissouba out of Brazzaville, Denis Sassou-Nguesso proclaims himself the President of the Republic of the Congo.
- Oct 26 Baseball World Series: Florida beats Cleveland Indians, 3-2 in Game 7 at Pro Player Stadium, Miami for Marlins first-ever title; MVP: Florida pitcher Liván Hernández
F1 World Champion
Oct 26 Jacques Villeneuve finishes 3rd in European Grand Prix at Jerez, Spain; first Canadian to win F1 World Drivers Championship; wins by 39 points from Michael Schumacher
- Oct 27 Dow Jones crashes record 554 pts to 7161
- Oct 27 Microsoft argues it should be "free from government interference"
- Oct 27 US releases a redesigned $50 bill
- Oct 28 NBA announces hiring of Dee Kantner & Violet Palmer as 1st women to officiate a major-league all-male sports league
- Oct 29 Iraq's Revolution Command Council announces that it will no longer allow US citizens and US aircraft to serve with UN arms inspection teams
Sports History
Oct 30 Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona announces his retirement from football on his 37th birthday
- Oct 30 Revival of Anton Chekov's stage drama "The Cherry Orchard" opens at Martin Beck Theater, NYC, for limited run of 12 performances
- Oct 30 Shirley Allen, 51, held Illinois police off for 39 days captured
- Oct 31 British au pair Louise Woodward, 19, sentenced to life for the death of Matthew Eappen 8½ months (judge changes to time served)
Famous Birthdays
Bella Thorne (26 years old)
Oct 8 American actress (CeCe Jones-Shake It Up), born in Pembroke Pines, Florida
Naomi Osaka (26 years old)
Oct 16 Japanese tennis player (US Open 2018, 20; Australian Open 2019, 21), born in Osaka, Japan
- Oct 20 Andrey Rublev, Russian tennis player (2020 Olympic Gold mixed doubles), born in Moscow, Russia
- Oct 23 Nick Bosa, American NFL player (San Francisco 49ers), born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Oct 24 Raye [Rachel Keen], English singer-songwriter (Escapism), born in London, England
- Oct 27 Jess Carter, English-American footballer (Chelsea), born in Warwick, England
Lonzo Ball (26 years old)
Oct 27 American basketball player (LA Lakers, Chicago Bulls), born in Anaheim, California
Marcus Rashford (26 years old)
Oct 31 English footballer (Manchester United) and advocate for school lunches, born in Wythenshawe, England
Famous Weddings
- Oct 4 Infanta Cristina of Spain (32) weds retired handball player turned entrepreneur Iñaki Urdangarin (29) in Barcelona, Spain
- Oct 4 MTV news anchor Tabitha Soren (30) weds "Liars Poker" author Michael Lewis (37) in Garrison, New York
Jaclyn Smith
Oct 11 "Charlie's Angels" actress Jaclyn Smith (52) weds Chicago heart surgeon Bradley Allen (43) at United Westwood Methodist Church
- Oct 12 American "Malcolm X" actress Angela Bassett (39) weds American Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor Courtney B. Vance (38) in Los AngeleCs, alifornia
Roger Goodell
Oct 25 NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (38) weds news anchor Jane Skinner (30) at First Presbyterian Church in Lake Forest, Illinois
Famous Deaths
- Oct 1 Gul Mohammed, world's shortest man (22.1"/56.16 cm), dies at 36
- Oct 1 Jerome H. Lemelson, American inventor, (held more than 600 patents), dies at 74
- Oct 3 A. L. Rowse, British author and historian, dies at 93
- Oct 5 Andrew Keir, Scottish character actor (Rob Roy, Absolution, Blood Hunt, Catholics), dies at 71
- Oct 5 Arthur Tracy [Avrom Tracovutsky], Ukrainian-American radio personality, vocalist, and accordion player (The Street Singer), dies at 98
- Oct 5 Brian Pillman, American professional wrestler, dies at 35
- Oct 5 Dave Marr, American golfer (PGA Championship 1965), and broadcaster, dies of stomach cancer at 63
- Oct 6 Johnny Vander Meer, American baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 1938-39, 42-43; World Series 1940; Cincinnati Reds), dies of an abdominal aneurysm at 82
- Oct 7 Friedrich Zipp, German composer, dies at 83
- Oct 8 Bertrand Goldberg, American architect (b. 1913)
- Oct 8 Brown Meggs, CEO (Capitol Records), dies of a brain hemorrhage at 66
- Oct 8 Robin Lee, American figure skater, dies at 77
- Oct 10 George Malcolm, British keyboard player and conductor (Westminster Cathedral Master of the Music, 1947-59), dies at 80
John Denver (1943-1997)
Oct 12 American pop songwriter ("Leaving On A Jet Plane"), country-pop singer ("Sunshine On My Shoulders"; "Calypso"; "Thank God I'm A Country Boy"), and actor (Oh, God!), dies in a solo plane crash at 53
- Oct 13 Adil Carcani, prime minister of Albania (1982-91), dies
- Oct 13 Richard Mason, English author (The World of Suzie Wong), dies at 78
Harold Robbins (1916-1997)
Oct 14 American author (Moneychangers, Carpetbaggers, Betsy), dies at 81
- Oct 16 Adam Kennedy, American actor (The Californians) screenwriter (The Domino Principle), novelist (Just Like Humphrey Bogart), and painter, dies of a heart attack at 75
- Oct 16 Audra Lindley, American actress (Three's Company; The Ropers;, The Relic), dies of complications from leukemia at 79
- Oct 16 James A. Michener, American author (South Pacific; Sayonara), dies of kidney failure at 90
- Oct 17 Paul Edwin Zimmer, American sci-fi writer (Dark Border series), dies of a heart attack at 54
- Oct 18 Bill Rotsler, cartoonist/writer, dies of cancer at 62
- Oct 18 Nancy Dickerson, American pioneering journalist, 1st female news correspondent (CBS), dies at 70
- Oct 18 Roberto C Goizueta, CEO (Coca-Cola), dies of lung cancer at 65
- Oct 19 Glen Buxton, American guitarist (Alice Cooper) and composer, dies at 49
- Oct 19 Harold French, British director and actor (The Cavalier of the Streets, Trio, Quartet), dies at 97
- Oct 19 Pilar Miró, Spanish screenwriter and director (Wether, Beltenebros), dies at 57
- Oct 20 Henry Vestine, American guitarist (Canned Heat), dies of heart and respiratory failure at 52
- Oct 21 Dolph Camilli, Bkln Dodger/MVP (1941), dies at 90
- Oct 22 Harry Goodman, American jazz bassist, and sometimes tuba player, dies at 91
- Oct 22 Leonid Amalrik, Russian animator (b. 1905)
- Oct 23 Bert Haanstra, Dutch filmmaker and director (Fanfare; Glass), dies at 81
- Oct 23 Luther Simjian, Armenian-American Inventor (teleprompter and first self-posing portrait camera), dies at 92
- Oct 24 Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfeschlegelsteinhausen, longest personal name, dies at possibly 83 (birth date disputed)
- Oct 24 Don Messick, American cartoon voice actor (The Flintstones - "Bamm-Bamm"; The Jetsons - "Astro"; Scooby-Doo), dies of stroke complications at 71
- Oct 24 Janine Andrade, French classical violinist, dies at 78
- Oct 28 Paul Jarrico, American screenwriter (b. 1915)
- Oct 28 Toni Carabillo, writer (Feminist Chronicles), dies of lymphoma at 71
- Oct 29 Anton LaVey, American founder of the Church of Satan, dies at 67
- Oct 30 Samuel Fuller, American screenwriter and director (Shock Corridor, The Big Red One), dies from natural causes at 85
- Oct 31 Wilfrid Oulton, British Royal Air Force officer, dies at 86
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning