Today In History

At only 5’9”, Calvin Murphy is the shortest player ever to be elected to the NBA Hall of Fame. After a stellar collegiate career at Niagara University where he averaged 33.1 points per game and was a 3-time All-American, Murphy was selected in the 2nd round of the NBA draft by the San Diego Rockets. Murphy played 13 seasons in the NBA, all with the San Diego/Houston Rockets and averaged 17.9 points per game for his career. However, Calvin Murphy is best known for being one of the league’s best ever free throw shooters. A career 89% free throw shooter, Murphy set league records for most consecutive free throws made (78), and highest free throw percentage for a full season (95.8%). Though both of these records have since been broken, Murphy’s legacy as one of the all-time great free throw shooters lives on today. Murphy was elected to the NBA Hall of Fame in 1993 and his uniform # 23 is retired by the Rockets.

Yellowstone National Park - A vast wilderness of natural beauty On March 1, 1872 President Ulysses Grant signed into existence the world's first national park, Yellowstone National Park. The 2.2 million acres of wilderness was "set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." Yellowstone's name is historically credited to the Native Americans. The name is derived from the Yellowstone River, which has high yellow rock cliffs along its banks. In 1872 the vast wilderness of the west was viewed by most Americans as something to be tamed, to be explored, settled, mined, logged, ranched and farmed. The west was not valued for its wilderness. It is remarkable that during such an age Yellowstone was set aside as the world's first national park, clearly an illustrative indicator of how unique and magnificent Yellowstone was perceived to be, even then. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt visited Yellowstone and was awed at the beauty and wildness of the Park. The railroads were catering to Yellowstone tourists, taking visitors by the carloads to the Park. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed into existence a new government agency, the National Park Service, forever changing the administration of our national parks. In 1917, only two years after the first automobile entered the Park, some 5000 people entered Yellowstone during the summer season.