On This Day June 28

1997
Lend me your ears: Mike Tyson bites Evander Holyfield's ears in their heavyweight championship fight. Joke: How do you know when it's time to retire from boxing? Mike Tyson chips a tooth on your hearing aid.

1993
Joel Rifkin: New York police stop 34-year-old unemployed landscaper for a traffic violation and find a decomposed woman's body in his pickup truck. He had killed 18 women in the past two years.

1992
Royal Divorce: Britain's Prince Andrew and his wife Sarah announce that they have reached a formal separation agreement.

1992
First baboon-to-human liver transplant, to a 35-year-old man by Presbyterian Univ. Hospital, Pittsburgh. He lived for 10 weeks.

1978
Affirmative Action: U.S. Supreme Court rules that firm quota systems are unconstitutional and that a white man - who had been rejected twice over 16 lesser qualified minority students - must be admitted to the Univ. of California Medical School.

1977
Kiss comic book is released, the red ink supposedly contained blood from the Kiss members.

1951
Amos and Andy debuts on CBS TV, starring Alvin Childress as Amos, Spencer Williams as Andy, and Tim Moore as Kingfish.

1939
First regularly scheduled commercial transatlantic airline service: Pan American begins flights from New York to Europe.

1924
George Leigh-Mallory and the members of his expedition perish in an attempt to climb Mount Everest. If claims are true that they had reached the summit, then they beat Sir Edmund Hillary by 29 years.

1914
World War I: Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife are assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia by a Serbian nationalist. After Austria declared war on Serbia a month later, other countries joined the conflict and the great war was on.

1894
Labor Day is declared a federal holiday, to be the first Monday in September, signed into law by Pres. Grover Cleveland.

1778
American Revolution - Battle of Monmouth: Mary Hays, known as Molly Pitcher, distinguishes herself by carrying water to the troops and operating her husband's cannon after he was wounded. For this, Gen. Washington made her a noncommissioned officer.

1966
John Cusack, American actor. Film: Better Off Dead (1985) and The Grifters (1990).

1946 d. 1989
Gilda Radner, American Emmy-winning comedienne. TV: Saturday Night Live.

1937 d. 2006
Richard Bright, American actor. Film: The Godfather (1972, Al Neri)

1932 d. 2005
Pat Morita (Noriyuki Morita), American actor. Film: Karate Kid (1984, Sensei Kesuke Miyagi , for which hew was the first Asian-American nominated for an acting Oscar). TV: Happy Days (Arnold). He was billed as the Hip Nip for his stand-up performances.

1926
Mel Brooks (Melvin Kaminsky), American actor, screenwriter, director. Film: Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), and History of the World, Part I (1981). He and Carl Reiner recorded the comedy album, 2000 Year Old Man.

1917
Raggedy Ann, doll, created by author Johnny Gruelle for his dying daughter.

1902 d. 1979
Richard Rodgers, American Oscar-winning composer, teamed with Oscar Hammerstein II, hits include Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel (1956), and The Sound of Music (1965).

1491 d. 1547
Henry VIII, King of England (1509-47), found a way to avoid alimony.

1982 b. 1913
Harry Mills, American singer, with the Mills Brothers, the most popular vocal group of all time.

1981 b. 1958
Terry Fox, Canadian cancer victim. After losing a leg to cancer he ran halfway across Canada (1980) helping to raise $23,000,000 for cancer research. He died of lung cancer.

1975 b. 1924
Rod Serling (Rodman Edward Serling), American Emmy-winning writer. Film: Planet of the Apes (1968, writer). TV: The Twilight Zone (producer, creator, and host) and Night Gallery (host).

1974 b. 1890
Vannevar Bush, American electrical engineer, developed the first electronic analogue computer (1930s).

1963 b. 1905
Robert Porter Allen, American conservationist. He saved the whooping crane from extinction by discovering the last remaining flock near the Artic Circle (1955).

1946 b. 1888
Antoinette Perry, American actress, director, for whom "Tony Awards" are named. She served as director of the wartime board of the American Theater Wing.

1904 b. 1815
Daniel Decatur Emmett, American composer. He popularized Dixie (1859), which became the unofficial anthem of the Confederacy. He also formed the first black-face minstrel troupe (1843).

1889 b. 1818
Maria Mitchell, American astronomer. She was the first professional woman astronomer in the United States and the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was also elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in 1905.

1836 b. 1751
James Madison, 4th U.S. President (1809-17), author of the Bill of Rights, and at five foot four inches he is the shortest of the U.S. presidents. His portrait graces the U.S. $5,000 bill.

June 28

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