The first televised football game

The first televised football game was played on September 30, 1939 between Waynesburg College and Fordham University. Five months later, in February, 1940, Fordham University and The University of Pittsburgh played in the first televised basketball game at Madison Square Garden. The estimated number of TV sets in the fifty-mile broadcast radius was about 1,000.
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Alfred E. Wiggam

"A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time." -- Alfred E. Wiggam.
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Around-the-world airplane trip

The first around-the-world airplane trip was recorded in September 1924. Three Douglas World Cruiser biplanes made the trip covering 27,553 miles with a total flying time of 371 hours. Eighty-one years later, in March 2005, Steve Fossett became the first person to fly an airplane around the world solo without stops. Fossett's journey covered 25,000 miles in 67 hours.
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The Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance was first published as "The Pledge to the Flag" in September 1892 in a Boston magazine for kids to use during planned activities to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America. That first Pledge of Allegiance read: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."
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First televised presidential debate

On September 26, 1960, 70 million U.S. viewers tuned in to watch Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts and Vice President Richard Nixon in the first-ever televised presidential debate. Radio listeners of the debate gave the edge to Vice President Nixon, while TV viewers gave the edge to Senator Kennedy. Kennedy won a very close presidential election in November 1960.
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The First Century

Famous events from the First Century: Roman Emperor Augustus dies in 9 AD; John the Baptist is executed by Herod Antipas in 28 AD; the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in 34 AD; Caligula is assassinated by the Praetorian Guard in 41 AD; Mt. Vesuvius erupts burying the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD.
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McDonalds

Milkshake mixer salesman Ray Kroc opened the first McDonalds franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955. The first day's revenues were $366. The Des Plaines McDonalds site is now a museum containing McDonald's memorabilia and artifacts, including the original milkshake mixer sold by Kroc.
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The Jeep

Built by the American Bantam Car Company, the first Jeep was delivered to Camp Holabird, Maryland on September 23, 1940. The Jeep was the answer to the Army's need for a light reconnaissance vehicle in Europe and the Pacific during World War II. The military vehicle was first designated as a general purpose vehicle (GP), which was translated to the word jeep.
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Sandra Day O'Connor

Sandra Day O'Connor served as the first female Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court. She replaced the retiring Potter Stewart on the Supreme Court in September 1981 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the Senate 99–0. Justice O'Conner served for over twenty-four years and retired in January 2006.
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Monday Night Football

The first NFL Monday Night Football game took place in Cleveland, Ohio on September 21, 1970. Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith called the game on ABC TV as the Cleveland Browns defeated the New York Jets 31-21 in front of 85,703 fans at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. Monday Night Football was an instant success and became an American television icon.
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Best Picture

The 1927 silent movie "Wings" was the first film to win the Academy Awards Best Picture. It was also the only silent movie to win Best Picture. The film tells the story of two men from the same town who join the air force to fight in World War I. The other nominated movies for Best Picture in 1928 were "The Racket" and "Seventh Heaven."
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Trans-Atlantic swim

In 1998, French swimmer Benoit Lecomte became the first man to swim across the Atlantic Ocean. Benoit swam 3,736 nautical miles from Hyannis, Massachusetts to Quiberon, France in 72 days. The 31-year old swimmer spent about eight hours in the water each day while taking rest and eating breaks on a nearby boat.
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First American law school

In 1779, Governor Thomas Jefferson guided the creation of the first law school in the U.S. at William and Mary College. Jefferson felt that legal education would best be accomplished in a university setting where students would study law amid the liberal arts. Students at William and Mary attended lectures twice a week on common law, American constitutional law, and the work of political theorists or classical authors.
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Silicon Valley

Stanford Industrial Park in Palo Alto, California was created in 1950 to establish a center of high technology close to Stanford University. The industrial park was the genesis of Silicon Valley, the world famous technology area that radiates outward from Stanford University and lies between the Santa Cruz Mountains on the west and the Coast Range to the southeast.
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Chocolate

After eight years of experimentation, candle maker Daniel Peter and baby food manufacturer Henri Nestlé devised a way of adding milk to chocolate and introduced the world to milk chocolate. Peter converted his candle making manufacturing facility and soon became a successful manufacturer of chocolate. The Peter Chocolate Company’s best seller was the milk chocolate "Gala" bar.
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Clones

In 1952, Robert Briggs and Thomas J. King produced the first successful clone experiment. The two research biologists successfully cloned frogs using a method of cell-nucleus transfer. This remarkable event set off two decades of scientific research in cloning that led to the cloning of sheep, cows, mice and other mammals.
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St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first American citizen to be become a canonized saint. Elizabeth Bayley Seton was canonized by Pope Paul VI on September 14, 1975. A converted Roman Catholic, Elizabeth Seton established the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children, the Daughters of Charity of Saint Joseph, and helped create hospitals, orphanages and parochial schools.
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National mail service

The U.S. Post Office began the first free national mail service in 1902. To deal with the challenging array of homemade and semi-functional mailboxes, the Post Office specified and approved mailboxes bearing the "Approved by the Postmaster General" mark. Patrons were asked to keep their mailboxes "buggy high" and within easy reach of the carriers.
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First policewoman

Alice Stebbins Wells, a graduate theology student and a social worker, joined the Los Angeles Police Department as the nation's first policewoman on September 12, 1910. She was allowed to design her own uniform and was active in promoting the need for policewomen in other forces. As a result of her efforts, seventeen departments in American were employing policewomen by 1916.
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The First Bank of the U.S.

Alexander Hamilton conceived The First Bank of the United States in the late 1780s. This was done to address the government's massive Revolutionary War debt and to create a standard form of currency in all the states. The bank was very controversial in the fledgling constitutional republic. Despite the debate the bank was built in the U.S. capital of Philadelphia.
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ESPN

Entertainment Sports Programming Network (ESPN) went on the air on September 7, 1979. The first show on the 24 hour all sports network was a slow-pitch softball game between the Kentucky Bourbons and the Milwaukee Schlitzes. ESPN was founded by Bill and Scott Rasmussen. The network also received investment money from the Getty Oil Corporation.
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Oprah

The Oprah Winfrey Show is the longest-running daytime television talk show in the United States. The nationally syndicated show produced by Oprah Winfrey is the highest-rated talk show in American television history. The Chicago-based show's first national broadcast occurred on September 8, 1986.
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