2009 in Michigan


This article reviews key circumstances during 2009 in Michigan, including the state's office holders, performance of sports teams, cultural events, a chronology of the state's top news and sports stories, and Michigan-related deaths.

Top stories

The top news stories in Michigan included:
Top sports stories included:
Other notable Michigan-related deaths i 2009 included Robert McNamara, John Hugnes, and Soupy Sales.

Office holders

State office holders

Baseball

January

February

March

April

May

  • May 5 - The 2009 Detroit mayoral special election was scheduled when Kwame Kilpatrick resigned after being indicted for obstruction of justice. Dave Bing won with 51.7% of the votes, defeating Kenneth Cockrel Jr. with 47.2%.

    June

July

August

September

October

November

  • November 3 - In the 2009 Detroit mayoral election, Dave Bing received 56.2% of the votes to defeat Tom Barrow with 40.7%.
  • November 16 - Murder of Jamar Pinkney Jr.: Jamar Pinkney Sr. murdered his 15-year-old son, Jamar Pinkney Jr. in an execution-style shooting in Detroit. Pinkney Sr. said that Pinkney Jr. had admitted to sexually assaulting his thre-year old half-sister before he assaulted him, forced him to take off his clothes, marched him down the street while naked to a vacant lot, forced him to kneel and shot him in the head.

    December

  • December 25 - Al-Qaeda member Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to down Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as it approached to Detroit from. He sought to detonated chemical explosives sewn into his underwear. While a small explosion and fire occurred, the exposive device failed to detonate properly. He was arraigned on January 8.

    Deaths

  • January 6 - Ron Asheton, formed the Stooges with Iggy Pop, at age 60
  • February 17 - Brad Van Pelt, Michigan State linebacker, Maxwell Award, at age 57
  • March 6 - Colleen Howe, sports agent and wife of Gordie Howe, at age 76
  • March 6 - Ed McMahon, The Tonight Show and Detroit native, at age 86
  • March 13 Bill Davidson, CEO of Guardian Industries, owner of Detrioit Pistons, at age 86
  • March 23 - George Kell, Baseball Hall of Fame third baseman, Tigers broadcaster, at age 86
  • March 31 - Sidney Fine, historian, at age 88
  • April 13 - Mark Fidrych, pitcher known as "The Bird", at age 53
  • May 9 - Chuck Daly, Detroit Pistons coach, at age 78
  • May 28 - Terry Barr, UM and Detroit Lions halfback, at age 76
  • July 5 - Lou Creekmur, Detroit Lions tackle, Hall of Fame, at age 82
  • July 6 - Robert McNamara, President of Ford, Secretary of Defense, at age 93
  • August 6 - John Hughes, filmmaker born in Lansing, raised in Grosse Pointe, at age 59
  • September 16 - Monte Clark, Detroit Lions coach, at age 72
  • October 16 - Bob Davis, Congressman, at age 77
  • October 22 - Soupy Sales, comedian and TV host, local Detroit show, at age 83
  • October 28 - Dave Barclay, 1947 NCAA golf champion while at U-M, at age 89
  • October 30 - Forest Evashevski, UM football player, Iowa head coach, at age 91
  • November 4 - Lyman Parks, mayor of Grand Rapids, at age 92
  • December 6 - Al Dorow, quarterback and coach, at age 80
  • December 19 - Carl Pursell, US Congress, at age 76
  • December 28 - J. David Singer, political scientist, at age 84
  • December 29 - Dave Diles, sports broadcaster, journalist and author, at age 78