Historical Events in 1977

Events 1 - 200 of 688

• Jan 1 1st woman formally ordained an Episcopal priest (Jacqueline Means)
• Jan 1 Belgium reapportions 2,359 communities into 596

• Jan 1 Czech intellects begin Human Rights Group Chapter 77
• Jan 1 63rd Rose Bowl: #3 Southern California beats #2 Michigan, 14-6
• Jan 1 43rd Sugar Bowl: #1 Pittsburgh beats #4 Georgia, 27-3; Tony Dorsett runs for record 202 yards
• Jan 1 43rd Orange Bowl: #11 Ohio State beats #12 Colorado, 27-10

• Jan 3 Former Home Secretary Roy Jenkins announces his intention to be Britain's first President of the European Commission
• Jan 3 "The Police Tapes" premiere on New York City TV station WNET, based somewhat on 1960s NYPD officers who worked in its South Bronx
• Jan 4 Mary Shane hired by Chicago White Sox as 1st woman TV play-by-play

• Jan 6 Charter 77, a document criticising the Czech government's human rights abuses, is published in Prague
• Jan 8 Australian Open Women's Tennis: In an all-Australian final Kerry Melville Reid wins her first and only Grand Slam singles title; beats Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat 7-5, 6-2
• Jan 9 George Gershwin's "Porgy & Bess" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 122 performances

• Jan 10 20th hat trick in Islander history - Bobby Nystrom
• Jan 11 Bollingen Prize awarded to David Ignatow
• Jan 11 Cubs trade outfielder Rick Monday to Dodgers for Bill Buckner
• Jan 11 France releases Abu Daoud, a Palestinian suspected of involvement in massacre of Israeli athletes at 1972 Munich Olympics
• Jan 12 "Ipi Tombi" opens at Harkness Theater NYC for 39 performances
• Jan 12 Anti-French demonstrations takes place in Israel after Paris released Abu Daoud, responsible 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli athletes
• Jan 14 "Fantasy Island" starring Ricardo Montalban premieres on ABC TV

• Jan 15 Festac '77, the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, begins in Lagos, Nigeria
• Jan 16 Cap's H Monahan scored on 2nd penalty shot against Islanders
• Jan 17 KC releases Tommy Davis, ends an 18-year career with 10 teams
• Jan 17 NFL Pro Bowl, Seattle Kingdome: AFC beats NFC, 24-14; MVP: Mel Blount, Pittsburgh Steelers, CB
• Jan 17 Zaire president Mobutu visits Belgium
• Jan 17 Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in the Utah state prison, convicted of murder

• Jan 18 Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease.
• Jan 18 Australia's worst rail disaster occurs in Sydney, killing 83 people

• Jan 19 US President Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (Tokyo Rose)


• Jan 19 World's largest crowd gathering - the Hindu Kumbh Mela in India attracts a then record 15 million people
• Jan 19 Snow falls in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that snowfall has occurred. It also fell in the Bahamas.
• Jan 20 George H. W. Bush ends term as 11th director of CIA
• Jan 20 Mr Knoche, serves as acting director of CIA

• Jan 23 $1.5-million Serge Lepage dress exhibited, Paris
• Jan 23 Mini-series "Roots" premieres on ABC
• Jan 24 Massacre of Atocha in Madrid: Five labor lawyers murdered by fascists in Madrid during the Spanish transition to democracy
• Jan 25 30th NHL All-Star Game, Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC: Wales beats Campbell, 4-3; MVP: Rick Martin, Buffalo Sabres, LW
• Jan 26 Soviet figure skaters Sergei Shakrai & Marine Tcherkasova are 1st to perform a quadruple twist lift in Helsinki

• Jan 30 8th (final) part of "Roots" is most-watched US entertainment show ever (100 million)

• Jan 30 Edward W Stack replaces Paul Kerr president of Hall of Fame
• Jan 31 Frenchman Francois Claustre freed, after 33 months as hostage in Chad
• Jan 31 Joe Sewell, Amos Rusie and Al López elected to baseball Hall of Fame

• Feb 1 Blizzard in upstate New York and Southern Ontario claims 23 lives
• Feb 2 Burn up of Salyut 4 Space Station (USSR)
• Feb 2 Toronto's Ian Turnbull scores 5 goals, NHL REcord for a defenseman
• Feb 3 Martin Dihigo John Lloyd elected to Hall of Fame
• Feb 4 Elevated train jumps track, crashes onto Chicago st (11 die, 200 hurt)
• Feb 4 "Rumours" 11th studio album by Fleetwood Mac is released (Grammy Album of the Year)
• Feb 4 Wings release their single "Maybe I'm Amazed"
• Feb 5 "CB Savage" by Rod Hart peaks at #67
• Feb 5 "Dis-Gorilla (part 1)" by Rick Dees peaks at #56
• Feb 5 "In The Mood" by Henhouse 5 Plus Too (Ray Stevens) peaks at #40
• Feb 5 "Turn Loose On My Leg" by Jim Stafford peaks at #98
• Feb 5 "Up Your Nose" by Gabriel Kaplan peaks at #91
• Feb 5 General Mills Adventure Theater premieres on CBS radio

• Feb 5 US female Figure Skating championship won by Linda Fratianne
• Feb 5 US male Figure Skating championship won by Charles Tickner
• Feb 5 Future 5-division world boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard makes his professional debut with a 6-round unanimous decision over Luis Vega at Baltimore’s Civic Center
• Feb 6 4th time Rangers shut-out Islanders 4-0
• Feb 6 Alain Prieur jumps his motorcycle 65 m over 16 buses, near Paris
• Feb 6 Harley Race beats Terry Funk in Toronto, to become NWA wrestling champ
• Feb 7 Soyuz 24 launches with 2 cosmonauts
• Feb 8 Earthquake in San Francisco, at 5.0, strongest since 1966

• Feb 10 "Party with Comden & Green" opens at Morosco Theater NYC for 92 performances
• Feb 10 Bomb explosion in Moscow metro
• Feb 10 Jonathan Netanyahu Lane in the Bronx, New York, named in honor of the Bronx-born Israeli soldier who died freeing hostages in Entebbe Raid in Uganda in 1976
• Feb 11 20.2-kg lobster caught off Nova Scotia (heaviest known crustacean)
• Feb 12 Toronto Maple Leafs shutout Washington Capitals 10-0
• Feb 12 Festac '77, the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, finishes in Lagos, Nigeria
• Feb 13 "Guys & Dolls" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 239 performances
• Feb 13 "Ipi Tombi" closes at Harkness Theater NYC after 39 performances
• Feb 13 "Robber Bridegroom" closes at Biltmore Theater NYC after 145 performances
• Feb 13 Eric Heiden is 1st American to win world speed skating championship

• Feb 15 Social-democrats win Danish parliamentary election
• Feb 16 USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan
• Feb 17 Kalakuta Republic, commune of Nigerian musician and activist Fela Kuti, burnt to the ground by soldiers in Lagos

• Feb 18 Space Shuttle above a Boeing 747 goes on its maiden flight
• Feb 18 West Indies cricket fast bowlers Joel Garner (4/130) and (Colin Croft 3/85) debut in drawn 1st Test v Pakistan at Bridgetown, Barbados
• Feb 18 Kiss play their first concert in their hometown venue of Madison Square Garden in New York City
• Feb 19 19th Grammy Awards: This Masquerade, Starland Vocal Band
• Feb 19 A's sell pitcher Paul Lindblad to the Rangers for $400,000
• Feb 19 Doug Walters scores 250 v NZ, 217 stand for 7th wicket with Gilmour
• Feb 19 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
• Feb 19 Space shuttle Enterprise makes 1st Test flight atop a 747 jetliner
• Feb 19 Right wing Rod Gilbert scores a goal and adds an assist in a 5-2 defeat at the NY Islanders to become first player in NY Rangers history (11th in NHL) to score 1,000 career points
• Feb 20 "My Fair Lady" closes at St James Theater NYC after 384 performances
• Feb 20 19th Daytona 500: Cale Yarborough wins his 2nd Great American Race; Janet Guthrie first female NASCAR Cup Series driver; finishes 12th
• Feb 21 74 Unification Church couples wed in NYC
• Feb 24 US President Jimmy Carter announces US foreign aid will consider human rights
• Feb 24 12th Academy of Country Music Awards: Mickey Gilley and Crystal Gayle win

• Feb 25 Oil tanker explosion west of Honolulu spills 31 million gallons
• Feb 25 Soyuz 24 returns to Earth
• Feb 26 1st flight of Space Shuttle (atop a Boeing 747)

• Feb 28 1st killer whale born in captivity (Marineland, Los Angeles California)
• Feb 28 Dock strike in Rotterdam/Amsterdam ends
• Mar 1 Bank of America adopts the name VISA for its credit cards
• Mar 1 US extends territorial waters to 200 miles
• Mar 1 PGA of America announces a sudden-death playoff format for the PGA Championship to be implemented; previously an 18-hole playoff applied after tie in regulation 72 holes

• Mar 2 Libya amends constitution
• Mar 3 Ice Pairs Champs at Tokyo won by Irina Rodnina/Alexandr Zaitsev (URS)
• Mar 3 Islanders allow Red Wings only 11 shots on goal
• Mar 3 Libyan Socialist Arabs People's Republic forms


• Mar 3 Men's Figure Skating Champions in Tokyo won by Vladimir Kovalev (USSR)
• Mar 3 World Ladies' Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo won by Linda Fratianne (USA)
• Mar 4 1st CRAY 1 supercomputer shipped, to Los Alamos Laboratories, NM
• Mar 4 West Indian cricket fast bowler Colin Croft takes 8-29 against Pakistan in 2nd Test win at Port-of-Spain; best Test figures by a pace bowler from the West Indies
• Mar 4 Earthquake in Romania kills 1,541

• Mar 5 24th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: North Carolina beats Virginia, 75-69
• Mar 7 Ali Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party wins elections

• Mar 8 Henry L Marsh III elected mayor of Richmond, Virginia
• Mar 8 Princess Anne announces she's expecting her 1st child (Peter)
• Mar 9 Hanafi Muslims invade 3 buildings in Washington, D.C., siege ended Mar 11th
• Mar 9 Adm Stansfield Turner, USN (Ret), becomes 12th director of CIA replacing acting director Knoche
• Mar 10 Rings of Uranus discovered during occulation of SAO
• Mar 10 CBS' premiere of "A Circle of Children", starring Jane Alexander and based on the life and book about this by Mary Mac Cracken
• Mar 11 Hanafi Muslims hold 130 hostages in Washington, D.C.

• Mar 13 Dennis Lillee takes 6-26, England all out 95 in Centenary Test
• Mar 15 "Eight is Enough" premieres on ABC-TV
• Mar 15 US House of Representatives begins 90 day test of televising its sessions
• Mar 15 TV comedy "Three's Company" starring Jack Ritter, Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt premieres on ABC
• Mar 16 US President Jimmy Carter pleads for a Palestinian homeland
• Mar 17 Australia wins cricket Centenary Test by 45 runs, same result as 1877
• Mar 18 The Clash release their first recording "White Riot"
• Mar 18 US restricts citizens from visiting Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea & Cambodia
• Mar 18 Vietnam hands over MIA to US
• Mar 19 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
• Mar 19 Jevgeni Kulikov skates world record 1000m (1:15.33)
• Mar 19 France beats Ireland, 15-6 at Lansdowne Road, Dublin to clinch its 6th outright Five Nations Rugby Championship and 2nd Grand Slam


• Mar 20 Communists and socialists win French municipal elections

• Mar 20 PGA Tournament Players Championship, Sawgrass CC: Mark Hayes wins in windy conditions, 2 strokes ahead of runner-up Mike McCullough
• Mar 22 Indira Gandhi resigns as Prime Minister of India
• Mar 22 Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) government under Joop den Uyl falls
• Mar 26 Elvis Costello releases his 1st record "Less Than Zero"
• Mar 26 Focus on the Family is founded by Dr. James Dobson
• Mar 26 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, Delta State beat Louisiana State University 68-55 in Minneapolis

• Mar 28 39th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Marquette beats North Carolina, 67-59; Warriors' first title; coach Al McGuire retires
• Mar 28 49th Academy Awards: "Rocky", Peter Finch & Faye Dunaway win
• Mar 28 Morarji Desai forms a government in India
• Mar 31 Michael Cristofer's "Shadow Box" premieres in NYC
• Apr 1 Attempt for Muslim state in Chad fails
• Apr 2 Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" album goes #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks
• Apr 2 Montreal Canadiens rout the Washington Capitals, 11-0 at the Montreal Forum to set an NHL record of 34 straight home games without a loss
• Apr 2 131st Grand National: Tommy Stack wins aboard 9/1 Red Rum; record third GN victory (1973-74); Charlotte Brew first female to ride in the race
• Apr 3 Boston Bruin Jean Ratelle scores his 1,000th NHL point
• Apr 3 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's 1st meeting with US President Jimmy Carter
• Apr 3 Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg adopt summer time
• Apr 5 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Apr 6 Judge rules Beatles 1962 Hamburg album can be released
• Apr 6 Kingdome opens, Seattle Mariners 1st game, loses to Angels 7-0
• Apr 7 Consumer Product Safety Comn bans "TRIS" flame-retardant
• Apr 7 Toronto Blue Jays 1st game, they beat Chicago 9-5
• Apr 7 German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.
• Apr 8 Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin resigns
• Apr 9 Communist party in Spain allowed legally after 40 years

• Apr 10 Cleveland Indians set club record for longest, 9 inn game (3:17)
• Apr 11 Ireland sets fishing zone at 50 mile
• Apr 11 "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)" single released by Waylon Jennings (Billboard Song of the Year 1977)
• Apr 14 US Supreme Court says people may refuse to display state motto on license
• Apr 15 1st baseball game at Montreal's Olympic Stadium

• Apr 17 "I Love My Wife" opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 864 performances
• Apr 17 Christian-democrats win Belgium parliamentary election
• Apr 18 "Side by Side" by Stephen Sondheim opens at Music Box NYC for 390 performances
• Apr 18 81st Boston Marathon: Canadian Jerome Drayton wins men's race in 2:14:46; American Miki Gorman takes her 2nd women's event in 2:48:33
• Apr 18 Alex Haley author of "Roots" awarded Pulitzer Prize

• Apr 18 Pulitzer prize awarded to Michael Cristofer for "Shadow Box"
• Apr 20 Supreme Court rules "Live Free or Die" may be covered on NH licenses

• Apr 21 Billy Martin pulls Yankee line-up out of a hat, beats Blue Jays 8-6
• Apr 21 C Strouse & M Charnins musical "Annie" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 2377 performances
• Apr 21 Zia ur-Rahman appointed president of Bangladesh

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