September 1972

September 1, 1972 (Friday)

• In the 21st game of chess for the World Chess Championship 1972, Bobby Fischer of the United States won the title, as defending champ Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union resigned. Under a system of one point for a win and for a draw, the first to get points would win the matches played at Reykjavík, Iceland. Fischer's prize money was $154,677.50.
• Raúl Sendic, leader of the Uruguayan guerilla group the Tupamaros, was captured after a shootout.
• The United States formally dropped all claims to the Swan Islands and recognized the sovereignty of Honduras over the disputed territory.
• A fire at the Blue Bird Café in Montreal killed 37 people. The blaze was set by three men who had been kicked out of the Wagon Wheel Bar earlier in the evening.
• Bye, Bye, Blackboard, the last Woody Woodpecker cartoon and last cartoon produced by Walter Lantz Productions, was released.

  September 2, 1972 (Saturday)

• Milt Pappas of the Chicago Cubs had retired 26 batters and was one player away from a perfect game. Larry Stahl of the San Diego Padres reached the plate and was one strike away, then one pitch away. The final pitch was close, but umpire Bruce Froemming called it "ball four" instead of "strike three", turning the 8–0 Cubs win into a mere no-hitter.
• The Soviet hockey team defeated Team Canada, 7-3, at the Montreal Forum, in the first game of the Summit Series between the two nations. Fans of the Canadian team, composed of National Hockey League stars who had confidently predicted that they would win all eight of the games scheduled against the Soviets, were stunned at the loss. The Canadian team had Ken Dryden and Tony Esposito as goaltenders, and included Phil Esposito and Bobby Clarke as forwards."
• The Confederation of Arab Republics was created between Egypt, Libya and Syria.
• Died: Reggie Harding, 30, former Detroit Pistons star, died the day after being shot in the head.

  September 3, 1972 (Sunday)

• The elections for the Khmer Republic's 126-member National Assembly took place. Because of a presidential decree designed to give President Lon Nol's Social Republican Party an advantage, the other parties withdrew from participating. The Socio-Republicans won all 126 seats on what was claimed to be a 78% turnout.
• Born: Patty Cake, popular resident of New York City's Central Park Zoo as the gorilla born in captivity in the city; in Manhattan, New York City

  September 4, 1972 (Monday)

• Mark Spitz became the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games, swimming as part of the American team in the 400 meter relay.
• Bob Barker began a 35-year run as host of one of America's most popular game shows, as The New Price Is Right was shown for the first time on CBS. Barker would host the show until June 15, 2007.
• Armed robbers stole 18 paintings, including a Rembrandt, along with 38 pieces of jewelry and figurines from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, in the largest theft of private property in Canadian history. Except for one painting returned during abortive efforts to negotiate a ransom, none of the pieces of art work have ever been recovered, nor has anyone been charged.

  September 5, 1972 (Tuesday)

• What would end as the Munich massacre began as the 1972 Summer Olympics were in progress, eight members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September broke into the Olympic Village in Munich, killed two members of Israel's Olympic team, and took nine others hostage. A rescue attempt the next day would end in disaster.
• Died:
• *Yossef Romano, 32, Israeli weightlifter
• *Moshe Weinberg, 33, Israeli wrestling coach

  September 6, 1972 (Wednesday)

• The Munich massacre took place following a bungled attempt by West Germany police to rescue kidnapped members of the Israeli Olympic team, held at Fürstenfeldbruck airport, Palestinian gunmen murdered all nine of their hostages. Five of the terrorists and one policeman died. The Olympic Games resumed after a brief interruption.
• In the U.S. Virgin Islands, eight employees and tourists were killed in a mass shooting at the Fountain Valley Golf Club course on the island of St. Croix. Five men would later be convicted of the crime.
• Born:
• *China Miéville, British fantasy novelist; in Norwich, Norfolk
• *Anika Noni Rose, American actress, 2004 Tony Award winner; in Bloomfield, Connecticut
• Died:
• *David Mark Berger, 28, Israeli weightlifter
• *Ze'ev Friedman, 28, Israeli weightlifter
• *Yossef Gutfreund, 30, Israeli wrestling referee
• *Eliezer Halfin, 24, Israeli wrestler
• *Amitzur Shapira, 30, Israeli athletics coach
• *Kehat Shorr, 53, Israeli shooting coach
• *Mark Slavin, 18, Israeli wrestler
• *Andre Spitzer, 27, Israeli fencing coach
• *Yakov Springer, 51, Israeli weightlifting judge
• *Luttif Afif, Palestinian terrorist who kidnapped Israeli athletes, along with four accomplices

  September 7, 1972 (Thursday)

• Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre the go-ahead to manufacture India's first nuclear bomb. India became the world's fifth nuclear power with the successful explosion of the bomb on May 18, 1974.
• The Soviet Union's Council of Ministers issued a directive to amend Section 74 of the Soviet Regulations on Communications, providing that "The use of telephonic communications ... for aims contrary to the interest of the State and to public order is forbidden." Under the regulation, telephone service was disconnected for dissidents without formally charging them with a crime.

  September 8, 1972 (Friday)

• In retaliation for the killing of nine Israeli Olympic athletes in the Munich massacre, Israel's air force bombed Palestinian strongholds in Syria and Lebanon.
• The British situation comedy Are You Being Served?, about employees of a department store, was first telecast, running until 1985.
• Born:
• *Os du Randt, South African rugby union forward; in Elliot, Eastern Cape
• *Patrick McGlynn, Scottish guitarist for the Bay City Rollers; in Edinburgh

  September 9, 1972 (Saturday)

• A link between Kentucky's Mammoth Cave and the adjacent Flint Ridge Cave System was discovered by explorers from the Cave Research Foundation, creating the longest cave passageway in the world, from one end to the other.
• At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the American men's basketball team, which had 64 victories and no defeats since the sport was added in 1936, lost to the Soviet Union, 51–50, on a shot at the buzzer by Alexander Belov. The U.S. team had been ahead, 50–49, when time first ran out, but Olympic officials added three seconds to the clock. The Soviets won the gold medal, and the Americans voted unanimously to refuse the silver medal.
• The three American television networks introduced their new cartoon schedules on the same morning. Among the new series being shown for the first time was Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
• Charles B. DeBellevue became the last American flying ace, registering a fifth and sixth shootdown, the most during the Vietnam War.
• Born: Natasha Kaplinsky, British news anchor; in Brighton, East Sussex

  September 10, 1972 (Sunday)

• Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza and became, at age 25, the youngest Formula One world champion.
• Frank Shorter of the United States won the marathon at the Olympic Games in Munich, finishing with a time of 2:12:19.8.
• The United States used its United Nations Security Council veto power for only the second time since the formation of the UN in 1945, killing a General Assembly resolution that demanded a halt to Israel's reprisals against Palestinian guerillas in Syria and Lebanon.
• Born:
• *Ghada Shouaa, Syrian heptathlete and Olympic gold medalist in 1996; in Mhardeh
• *Katsuya "Rio" Tahara, Japanese snowboarder; in Nagano

  September 11, 1972 (Monday)

• Bay Area Rapid Transit began operation on a run between Oakland and Fremont, and would later expand to connect San Francisco and other points in the area.
• At the request of White House aide John Ehrlichman, John Dean met with IRS Commissioner Johnnie Walters and gave him a list of 490 individuals to investigate. Walters consulted with Treasury Secretary Schultz the next day, who directed him to do nothing.
• Died: Max Fleischer, 89, American animator and founder of ''Fleischer Studios''

  September 12, 1972 (Tuesday)

• Nearly four years after it was proposed by President Nixon, the federal revenue sharing plan, which would transfer of U.S. government revenues to state and local governments, was approved by the Senate, 64–20. The measure had passed the House, 275–122, on June 22.
• The attack on two British fishing trawlers, by the Icelandic gunboat ICGV Aegir, triggered the second Cod War between the UK and Iceland.
• The television show Maude premiered on CBS-TV at, opposite the premiere on ABC of Temperatures Rising.
• Born: Budi Putra, Indonesian journalist; in Payakumbuh, West Sumatra

  September 13, 1972 (Wednesday)

• Fifty-four North Korean members of its Red Cross delegation crossed the border at Panmunjom at and were welcomed by their South Korean counterparts, in the first visit by North Korean officials since the end of the Korean War.
• More than 30 people, mostly schoolchildren, drowned when a ferry across the Kerian River capsized. Some children were able to swim to safety, but most drowned in waters.
• Air Mauritius, the national airline of Mauritania, made its first flight, five years after the company's founding, with a six-seat Piper PA-31 Navajo airplane that flew every Wednesday from Port Louis to Rodrigues and back again. Twenty-five years later, the Air Mauritius fleet would have four Airbus A340-300s, three Boeing 767s, two Boeing 747s, two ATR 42 turboprop carriers, and two Bell 206 helicopters.
• Born: Kelly Chen, Hong Kong singer; in Hong Kong
• Died: Zoel Parenteau, American composer; in Englewood, New Jersey