MOMENTS IN TIME • On May 14, 1796, Edward Jenner, an English country doctor from Gloucestershire, administers the world's first vaccination as a preventive treatment for smallpox by scratching the fluid from cowpox into the skin of an 8-year-old boy. The disease had killed millions of people over the centuries. • On May 17, 1885, for the second time in two years, the Apache chief Geronimo breaks out of an Arizona reservation. A famous medicine man and the leader of the Chiricahua Apache, Geronimo achieved national fame by being the last American Indian to surrender formally to the United States. • On May 15, 1942, Lt. Ronald Reagan, a cavalry officer, applies for reassignment to the Army Air Force, where he would eventually put his thespian background to use on World War II propaganda films. Reagan was given a job in the First Motion Picture Unit. • On May 13, 1958, during a goodwill trip through Latin America, Vice President Richard Nixon's car is attacked by an angry crowd in Ca-
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racas, Venezuela. The trip began with some controversy, as Nixon had engaged in loud and bitter debates with student groups during his travels through Peru and Uruguay. • On May 12, 1963, Bob Dylan walks out of what was to be his first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." He had previewed "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" for Sullivan, who'd approved it days before. But the CBS Standards and Practices department equated the John Birch Society's views with those of Adolf Hitler. • On May 16, 1975, Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. Located in the central Himalayas, Everest stands 29,035 feet above sea level. In 1988, Stacy Allison became the first American woman to successfully climb Everest. • On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens, a volcanic peak in southwestern Washington, erupts, killing 57 people and devastating some 210 square miles of wilderness. The lateral blast leveled nearly all vegetation for as far as 12 miles away.
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WAYNE GRETZKY (continued): • It was on to the St. Louis Blues in 1996, but after just one season, he moved to the New York Rangers. While with the Rangers, Gretzky was a member of the 1998 Canadian Olympic hockey team. After three years in New York, the Great One retired after 20 seasons of hockey. He held or shared 61 NHL records, including most goals in season play, with 894 in his 1,487 regular season games. • Post-retirement, Gretzky became a partner with the Phoenix Coyotes and later became head coach until 2009. He served as executive director of the Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake, leading the team to its first gold medal in 50 years. This father of five is active in the restaurant business in Toronto, as well as owner of his own wineries. • Players and commentators said Gretzky played like he had eyes in the back of his head, that he was constantly improvising. Gretzky says he actually sensed players more than saw them and would get a feeling about where a teammate was going to be. In his words, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great player plays where the puck is going to be.” He attributed much of his success not to instinct but to practice, crediting his father his perseverance. “I’ve put in almost as much time studying hockey as a medical student puts in studying medicine.” • No NHL player will ever wear a jersey with the number 99 again. Gretzky’s jersey has been retired league-wide, the only player to be honored as such. • “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
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