On August 20, a pro football league was born in Canton, stars were photographed at Yerkes, and wildfires consumed Yellowstone, while history’s weight fell on monuments and empires alike.
August 20 in History
Pro Football League Born in Canton
Football magnates form the American Professional Football Association in a Canton auto showroom on Aug. 20, with Jim Thorpe expected to lead as president.
CANTON, Ohio, Aug. 20 — Jim Thorpe, the Carlisle Indian and Olympic champion, loomed over the gathering of football magnates here today as the American Professional Football Association was founded in the Jordan and Hupmobile auto showroom.
Representatives from the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians, and Dayton Triangles convened to organize a circuit of fourteen teams, including the Buffalo All-Americans, Chicago Tigers, Columbus Panhandles, and Detroit Heralds. The new association, a predecessor of the National Football League, will govern the professional game across the Midwest.
Thorpe is expected to be elected the league's first president at a second meeting next month. The Akron Pros, who finished the season unbeaten with a record of eight wins and three ties, have been awarded the championship. Only two of the original clubs, the Decatur Staleys and the Chicago Cardinals, remain in the league today.
Faint World Photographed at Yerkes
Yerkes Observatory photographed Pluto twenty years before Tombaugh's official discovery
WILLIAMS BAY, Wis., Aug. 20 — Twenty-one years before Clyde Tombaugh officially discovered Pluto, the Yerkes Observatory photographed the distant world for the first time. The earliest known precovery observation was made here today, capturing a faint image of the planet. The image was taken at Lowell’s and Pickering’s suggested coordinates.
Celtic Park Opens in Glasgow
Celtic Park opens in Glasgow with a match against Renton, built on a former brickyard 200 yards from the old site.
GLASGOW, Aug. 20 — Celtic Park, the largest football stadium in Scotland and home of Celtic F.C., was opened today with a match against Renton. The new ground, built in a disused brickyard at Janefield Street, 200 yards from the old site, initially offers terracing with a capacity of approximately 40,000.
Silent Sam Pulled Down at UNC Chapel Hill
Confederate statue toppled by protesters on eve of fall classes — university secures site; campus split over action
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The bronze figure of a Confederate soldier lay toppled in the dirt on the University of North Carolina's campus, its pedestal empty in the early morning dark. Protesters had pulled Silent Sam from its base the night before fall classes were to begin, ending a year of escalating tension over the monument that had stood since 1913.
University authorities removed the statue to a secure location the same night.
Yellowstone Fires Rage Across 150,000 Acres
Worst day of conflagration — hundreds of thousands of acres ablaze — 9,000 firefighters at peak
WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont., Aug. 20 — The worst day yet of the great Yellowstone fire season has transformed the nation's first national park into a cauldron of flame, with more than 150,000 acres burned in a single day's onslaught. The fires, which have raged for weeks, now threaten the park's very character. At the peak of the effort, more than 9,000 firefighters have been assigned to the park's blazes, a force larger than many small armies. The cost of the campaign has reached $120 million. No firefighters have perished in the park, though two fire-related deaths have occurred outside its boundaries.
Tsar Simeon's Bulgarians Rout Byzantines at Achelous
Tsar Simeon’s forces crush Leo Phokas near Anchialos, securing victory at Achelous.
CONSTANTINOPLE, Aug. 20 — In the long struggle between the Bulgarian tsar and the Roman emperor, the sword has fallen decisively on the side of Simeon. On this day, near the river Acheloos, not far from the port of Anchialos, the Bulgarian host, led by Tsar Simeon, utterly routed the Byzantine army under Leo Phokas, son of Nikephoros Phokas.
TAEGU, Aug. 20 — United Nations forces hurled back a furious North Korean attempt to seize this key city, holding the vital line of the Pusan perimeter. The enemy, which invaded South Korea on June 25 in Operation Pokpung, has since late July been confined to the southeast tip of the peninsula. Now, with 70,000 troops hurled against the perimeter, the Communist offensive has failed to break through. The UN Command, with 140,000 men, stands firm. The fight is far from over, but the perimeter holds. A major amphibious landing at Inchon is expected by mid-September.
US Missiles Destroy Sudan Pharmaceutical Plant
American cruise missiles destroy Khartoum's largest pharmaceutical plant, killing one employee and wounding eleven, after August 7 embassy bombings.
KHARTOUM, Aug. 20 — The largest pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum lies in smoking ruins tonight, destroyed by American cruise missiles. The Al-Shifa plant in Khartoum North, employing more than 300 workers, was struck in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. One employee was killed and eleven wounded. Washington says the factory processed VX nerve agent and had ties to al-Qaeda, though officials concede the evidence is not solid. The attack, part of Operation Infinite Reach, also hit al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.
Devil's Broom Fire Rages Across Northwest, Largest in U.S. History
Hurricane winds drive blaze across 4,700 square miles — 87 dead, towns destroyed — Lost Crew perishes
WALLACE, Idaho, Aug. 20 — Hurricane-force winds that began this day and continued through the night have combined hundreds of small fires into a single monstrous conflagration, the Devil's Broom fire, now burning across approximately 4,700 square miles in Washington and Idaho, making it the largest fire in recorded United States history. The blaze has consumed three million acres, sweeping through Northern Idaho, Western Montana, Eastern Washington, and Southeast British Columbia. At least 87 people have perished, mostly firefighters, and numerous towns including Wallace, Burke, Kellogg, Murray, and Osburn in Idaho have been destroyed. The entire 28-man 'Lost Crew' perished on Setzer Creek outside of Avery, Idaho, the second deadliest firefighting incident in the nation's history. Smoke from the blaze was reported visible as far east as Watertown, New York, and as far south as Denver. Ships 500 miles out in the Pacific could not navigate by stars, so thick was the haze. Ranger Ed Pulaski saved about 39 of 44 men in an abandoned mine tunnel outside Wallace.
