61 years ago today, the Blue Ribbon Sports company was founded in Oregon. Remaining so named for the next 7 years, it would eventually change to a new moniker: Nike. The world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, with revenue in excess of US$46 billion, Nike took its name from the Greek goddess of victory. 

103 years ago today, Lehman Caves National Monument was enshrined by presidential decree, protecting the longest-known cave in Nevada which had been used as a refuge by Native Americans. 68 years later, Lehman Caves suddenly found itself lying at the center of 77,000 acres of the newly made Great Basin National Park and was included among many natural treasures, including some of the oldest single trees ever discovered by science.

193 years ago today, the father of impressionism, Edouard Manet, was born in Paris. He grew up rejecting the legal career imagined for him to become the painter that would lead the transition from the realist to the impressionist styles.

57 years ago today, the Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks were awarded franchise licenses by the National Basketball Association, creating teams for the two cities and their millions of fans. The Suns are the NBA’s ultimate nearly men, having the second-highest franchise win percentage of any team never to win the championship, while the Bucks also had a contest among fans to choose a name; the Bucks were chosen over the much more popular ‘Robins’.

90 years ago today, The Wilderness Society was formed by an “organization of spirited people who will fight for the freedom and preservation of the wilderness.” Fast forward to modern times and the society has successfully aided in the establishment of 111 million acres of wilderness in 44 states.

184 years ago today, the British Empire first occupied Hong Kong Island. The positioning and power of the British Empire in the region was coupled with the famously deep water port to create a trading post like no other. The influence of the British and Chinese working together turned this tribal backwater into one of the world’s most generative economies and unique destinations.

An international team of scientists in the Antarctic has successfully extracted what is believed to be the world’s oldest ice—a historic milestone for climate science.

Happy Birthday to actor, director, producer, and musician Kevin Costner, who turns 70 today. His love of baseball has enriched us all, through stellar films like Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, and For Love of the Game. He rose to prominence in Hollywood with his 1987 portrayal of Eliot Ness in The Untouchables, which was followed by a string of movie successes, like No Way Out, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, JFK, and The Bodyguard.