Have You Heard, today (10/15) marks 61 years since Hurricane “Hazel” hit our part of the Carolinas.
Many people around here still gauge all hurricanes against “Hazel” and not “Hugo,” which hit almost 35 years later.
No hurricane stronger than “Hazel” has ever, in recorded history, hit the U.S. Mainland farther north.
She packed winds of 140 miles per hour when she came ashore at the North Carolina-South Carolina state line.
“Hazel,” however, wasn’t just a Carolina event. A “Hazel” wind gust of 118 mph remains the highest-ever recorded in New York City.
She remained above Cat-1 strength when she hit Toronto. No natural disaster in Canadian history has ever killed more than the 81 people “Hazel” killed.
And “Hazel” didn’t lose her strength until she crossed the Arctic Circle.
Three years before “Hazel” hit, “I Love Lucy” premiered on CBS (10/15/1951).
The Carolina Panthers won their first-ever “home” game 20 years ago today, when they beat the New York Jets, 26-15.
“Home” is in quotations because the team played its 1995 home schedule at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium. The Panthers’ stadium in Charlotte didn’t open until the 1996 season.
Willie O’Ree turns 80 years old today.
O’Ree was the first black player in National Hockey League history, making his debut with the Boston Bruins in 1958.
O’Ree was a winger but scored only four goals in his NHL career.
However, he scored 404 in his junior and minor league career, winning two Western Hockey League scoring titles.
Jim Palmer is 70 today.
When he was only 20, Palmer became (and remains) the youngest pitcher to pitch a shutout in a World Series game, when his Baltimore Orioles beat the Dodgers in Los Angeles in 1966.
155 years ago today (10/15/1860) a young girl by the name of Grace Bedell wrote Republican presidential nominee Abraham Lincoln that he would look better with a beard. Lincoln took the letter to heart and grew his chin whiskers.
Today is “Global Handwashing Day”!
You can see “Have You Heard” each weeknight after weather on News13 at 11:00.
