222 years ago – In 1801, Thomas Jefferson was elected the third president of the United States, defeating Aaron Burr thanks to the support of that guy from “Hamilton”.  It was the first peaceful transfer of power between political parties.

114 years ago – In 1909, 79-year-old Indian chief Geronimo had a little too much “fire water” in Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  He got wasted, fell off his horse, caught pneumonia from lying outside all night . . . and died.

90 years ago – In 1933, “Newsweek” was first published.

63 years ago – In 1960, Elvis Presley received his First Gold Record, for “Elvis”.

55 years ago – In 1968, the Basketball Hall of Fame opened its doors to the public for the first time.

51 years ago – In 1972, a crowd at London’s Rainbow Theater heard Pink Floyd play “Dark Side of the Moon” for the first time.  The album was released a year later and stayed on the charts for 303 weeks . . . making it the longest-charting rock LP in “Billboard’s” history.

48 years ago – In 1975, AC/DC released their debut album, “High Voltage”.  That’s the one with “Baby, Please Don’t Go“.

34 years ago – In 1989, Whitesnake’s David Coverdale married actress Tawny Kitaen.  He escaped her clutches in 1991 . . . and she began beating the crap out of baseball pitcher Chuck Finley six years later.

27 years ago – In 1996, world chess champion Garry Kasparov claimed victory in his six-game match against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue.  He’d won 4 games, and tied one, but he’d lost their first game a week earlier. 

11 years ago – In 2012, “The Help” won big at the NAACP Image Awards.  The movie won Best Picture, Viola Davis won Best Actress, and Octavia Spencer won Best Supporting Actress.

10 years ago – In 2013, country singer Mindy McCready took her own life.  She shot herself on the porch where her ex-boyfriend shot himself a month earlier.

Nine years ago – In 2014, Jimmy Fallon took over as the new host of “The Tonight Show”.