October 1977

October 1, 1977 (Saturday)

• Pelé, the Brazilian professional footballer who would be named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee at the end of the 20th century, played his final game after popularizing soccer football in the United States, a friendly exhibition televised throughout the world. Pelé played the first half of the game for the New York Cosmos, the U.S. team where he had completed his professional career, and the second half for the team where he had started, Santos FC.
• The United States and the Soviet Union jointly released a communiqué announcing their agreement regarding the Middle East and the requirements for peace between the Arab nations and Israel. The approved statement said in part that "The United States and the Soviet Union believe that… all specific questions of the settlement should be resolved, including such key issues as withdrawal of Israeli Armed Forces from territories occupied in the 1967 conflict; the resolution of the Palestinian question, including insuring the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people; termination of the state of war and establishment of normal peaceful relations on the basis of mutual recognition of the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence."
• Pakistan's leader Zia ul-Haq announced that he was indefinitely postponing parliamentary elections that had been scheduled for October 18, and decreed a halt to all further political activity. After taking power in a July 5 coup d'etat, General Zia had promised that elections for a new civilian government would be held as soon as possible. Elections would not be held again until 1985.
• The United States Department of Energy began operations, with former U.S. Defense Secretary James Schlesinger serving as the first U.S. Secretary of Energy, began operations at the James V. Forrestal Building in Washington, D.C., after having been authorized on August 4, 1977. The new cabinet-level department consolidated the Federal Energy Administration, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Federal Power Commission, and programs of various other agencies.
• Born: Claudia Palacios, Colombian journalist and TV news anchor; in Cali

  October 2, 1977 (Sunday)

• According to a reporter for ESPN, the "high five" celebration in sports was originated, or at least was given its widest attention up to then, by Glenn Burke, an outfielder for baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers and Dusty Baker. The two were celebrating Baker's game-winning home run that gave the Dodgers the National League West title on the last day of the regular season. As Jon Mooallem would describe it, "Burke, waiting on deck, thrust his hand enthusiastically over his head to greet his friend at the plate. Baker, not knowing what to do, smacked it." Baker told historians later, "His hand was up in the air, and he was arching way back... So I reached up and hit his hand. It seemed like the thing to do."
• A mutiny of members of the Bangladesh Air Force and the Signal Corps of the Bangladesh Army was started by a signal from Signal Corps officer Sheikh Abdul Latif, followed by the takeover by 700 soldiers and airmen of the Central Ordnance Depot in Dhaka at 2:40 in the morning. By 5:00 a.m., the depot was looted of its weapons and the government radio station was taken over. By 8:00 a.m., however, the mutiny was suppressed, and a roundup of participants began. Before the end of the year, over 1,000 troops and airmen would be executed.
• Tomás Ó Fiaich was consecrated as the Archbishop of Armagh, the spiritual leader of Roman Catholics in the Irish Republic and in Northern Ireland.
• Born: Didier Défago, Swiss alpine ski racer, 2010 Olympic gold medalist in the downhill race; in Morgins, Canton of Valais
• Died: Odd Frantzen, 64, Norwegian footballer with 20 games for the Norway national team, was kicked to death during a home invasion by two robbers.

  October 3, 1977 (Monday)

• Indira Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India, was arrested at her home in Delhi after Charan Singh, the Minister of Home Affairs, secured a criminal indictment against her for misuse of government-owned property. At her arraignment, magistrate Ripu Dayal dismissed the charges unconditionally, citing insufficient evidence, and released her.
• Died: Tay Garnett, 83, American film director known for The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mrs. Parkington and ''The Valley of Decision''

  October 4, 1977 (Tuesday)

• The military government of Peru, led by General Francisco Morales Bermudez, announced that the first national elections since 1966 would take place in the South American nation on June 18, with voting for the 100-member Constituent Assembly.
• The Soviet Union announced its Interkosmos program that would allow people from other nations to join Soviet cosmonauts in being launched into space, with a news bulletin in the Communist Polish Workers Party newspaper Trybuna Ludu. On March 2, 1978, Vladimir Remek of Czechoslovakia would become the first space traveler from a place other than the U.S. or the USSR.
• Born:
• *Muhammad Ali Mirza, Pakistani Islamic scholar; in Jhelum, Punjab province
• *Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Moroccan-born French politician, French Minister of National Education, 2014 to 2017; in Bni Chiker, Morocco
• *Matthias Fekl, German-born French Minister of the Interior who served for two months in 2017; in Frankfurt, West Germany
• *Bowie Jane, Australian DJ, singer, producer, lawyer and contestant on Big Brother Season 25
• Died: Seelawathie Gopallawa, First Lady of Sri Lanka since 1972 as wife of President William Gopallawa

  October 5, 1977 (Wednesday)

• In Spain, an autonomous regional government was established in the area of Catalonia, comprising the provinces of Barcelona, Gerona, Tarragona and Lérida.

• U.S. President Jimmy Carter visited the South Bronx in New York City and, after observing the decay on Charlotte Street, declared the area to be "the worst neighborhood in the United States."
• Yasuhiko Okudera became the first Japanese footballer to play in a European major league, making his debut for the West German Bundesliga team 1. FC Köln.
• Born: Man Maneewan, Thai folk singer known for his hits singing Luk thung music; in Phibun Mangsahan district
• Died:
• *Seamus Costello, Irish activist and leader of the paramilitary Irish Republican Socialist Party, was shot to death while sitting in his parked car in Dublin.
• *Jan Garber, 82, American musician and big band leader, as well as a radio personality, known for the NBC Radio Network program, The Jan Garber Orchestra.

  October 6, 1977 (Thursday)

• The Mikoyan MiG-29, a Soviet jet fighter, made its first flight, after being designed as a match for the U.S. F-15 and F-16 aircraft.
• Died: Danny Greene, 43, Irish-American mobster, was killed by a car bomb after going to a dental appointment in Lyndhurst, Ohio. A bomb had been placed in the car next to Greene's automobile and was remotely detonated.

  October 7, 1977 (Friday)

• The Soviet Union adopted its third Constitution. In the same session, both houses of the Supreme Soviet, the USSR's official parliament, approved Vasily Kuznetsov as First Vice President of the Presidium, serving as assistant to Communist Party Secretary Leonid Brezhnev in Brezhnev's capacity as President of the Presidium. Kuznetsov had lived in the United States in the 1930s as a student at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, and later as an employee of the Ford Motor Company in Detroit.
• The People's Republic of China announced that China and the Soviet Union reached an agreement in the city of Heiho on navigation of two rivers that separated the two Communist nations, the Amur and the Ussuri.
• Marvin Mandel, Governor of the U.S. state of Maryland, became the first U.S. governor since 1924 to be sentenced to prison for a federal crime, and was sentenced to four years in a federal prison. Mandel, found guilty on August 23 of mail fraud and racketeering, was suspended from office immediately after sentencing, and acting governor Blair Lee took over full duty.

  October 8, 1977 (Saturday)

• Three terrorists of the Basque separatist group ETA assassinated the government-appointed Mayor of Guernica, Augusto Unceta Barrenechea, as well as his two bodyguards, after Unceta arrived to play at a jai alai court.
• In the first State of Origin game to be played in Australian rules football. Although the Victorian Football League had more of the best Australian players than the West Australian Football League, the agreement between the VFL and WAFL provided for interstate games to be waged based on where a player had grown up rather than where the player lived at the time of the game. Under the format, the Western Australian team had VFL and WAFL players who had started their careers in Western Australia, while the Victoria team roster was limited to players whose state of origin was Victoria. In the first State of Origin game, Western Australia defeated Victoria 151 to 57. An earlier game between WAFL stars against VFL stars had seen Victoria defeat Western Australia, 154 to 91.
• Born: Anne-Caroline Chausson, French BMX rider, 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the Women's BMX; in Dijon, Côte-d'Or département
• Died: Joe Greenstein, 84, Polish-born American strongman and entertainer

  October 9, 1977 (Sunday)

• In Bangladesh, a mass execution was carried on military personnel accused in an October 2 mutiny. Starting at midnight, death sentences were carried out at the Dhaka Central Jail against prisoners accused of treason, with execution by hanging or by firing squad. Over the next two months, a total of 1,143 Army and Air Force personnel were put to death.
• The Soyuz 25 space mission was launched from the Soviet Union with Cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalyonok and Valery Ryumin, with the goal of being the first spacecraft to dock with the Salyut 6 space station. After five attempts to engage the Salyut's docking latches, Kovalyonok and Ryumin ended the mission on October 11.
• Herb Lusk, a running back for the Philadelphia Eagles, scored a touchdown in an NFL game against the New York Giants, then knelt in the end zone and gave a prayer of thanks, becoming the first NFL player to give a prayer after scoring and setting a habit picked up by other players since then.
• The first championship game of Australia's National Soccer League, was played at Brisbane in Queensland for the NSL Cup. Brisbane City FC and the Marconi Stallions from the Sydney suburb of Fairfield, New South Wales, played to a 1—1 draw, after Brisbane scored the tying goal in the 60th minute.
• Died: Ruth Elder, 74, pioneering female aviator who flew across the Atlantic Ocean on October 11, 1927, in an attempt to match the feat of Charles Lindbergh, died almost exactly 50 years after the accomplishment.