William Wurtenburg (1863–1957) was an American college football player
and coach. Born to German parents and raised in western New York,
Wurtenburg played for Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University. The
1887 Yale squad outscored their opponents 515–12, and the 1888 squad,
which he quarterbacked, held all opponents scoreless; both teams were
later recognized as national champions. Wurtenburg received his medical
degree from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School in 1893. He coached
football for a year at the United States Naval Academy and then for five
years at Dartmouth College. In his first four years at Dartmouth, the
teams had perfect records against both of their Triangular Football
League opponents. Wurtenburg spent several years refereeing for Yale's
football team, then had a practice as an ear, nose and throat specialist
in New Haven, Connecticut, from 1904 until at least 1920. He is
particularly remembered for a 35-yard run in a close game in 1887
against rival Harvard, a game that was described as "undoubtedly the
finest ever played in America".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wurtenburg>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1294:
Boniface VIII began his papacy, replacing St. Celestine V, who
had declared that it was permissible for a Pope to resign, and then
promptly did so.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Boniface_VIII>
1865:
Six Confederate veterans of the American Civil War founded the
Ku Klux Klan, which would later become a white supremacist group.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan>
1914:
British and German soldiers interrupted the First World War to
celebrate Christmas, beginning the Christmas truce.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce>
1955:
The NORAD Tracks Santa program began when children began
calling the Continental Air Defense Command Center to inquire about
Santa Claus' whereabouts due to a misprinted phone number.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NORAD_Tracks_Santa>
2008:
The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, began
attacks on several villages in Haut-Uele District, Democratic Republic
of the Congo, resulting in at least 400 deaths and numerous atrocities.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Christmas_massacres>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
wreath:
1. Something twisted, intertwined, or curled.
2. An ornamental circular band made, for example, of plaited flowers and
leaves, and used as decoration; a garland or chaplet, especially one
given to a victor.
3. (heraldry) An appendage to the shield, placed above it, and supporting
the crest. It generally represents a twist of two cords of silk, one
tinctured like the principal metal, the other like the principal color
in the coat of arms.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wreath>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Give us, O God, the vision which can see Your love in the world in
spite of human failure. Give us the faith to trust Your goodness in
spite of our ignorance and weakness. Give us the knowledge that we may
continue to pray with understanding hearts. And show us what each one of
us can do to set forward the coming of the day of universal peace.
--Frank Borman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Borman>