Top 10 February 16 Birthdays
10. February 16, 1974: Mahershala Ali. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2017, for Moonlight, making him the 1st Muslim to win an Oscar; and again in 2019, for Green Book. He now plays Blade, the half-vampire vampire hunter, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Somewhat Honorable Mention: February 16, 1903: Edgar Bergen. A ventriloquist... on radio? Well, he was still funny, with his dolls, the stuck-up Charlie McCarthy and the well-meaning moron Mortimer Snerd. Even during his lifetime, his fame was outstripped by that of his model-turned-actress daughter, Candice Bergen, who said that her father treated Charlie better than he treated her.
Honorable Mention: February 16, 1909: Hugh Beaumont. He played Ward Cleaver, the father on Leave It to Beaver.
Honorable Mention: February 16, 1951: William Katt. He played Ralph Hinkley, a teacher who finds a superhero's costume and its powers, but loses its instruction manual, on The Greatest American Hero.
Honorable Mention: February 16, 1964: Christopher Eccleston. The Ninth Doctor on Doctor Who.
Honorable Mention: February 16, 1989: Elizabeth Olsen. The younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley, she plays Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
9. February 16, 1866: Billy Hamilton. The Newark, New Jersey native is longer the most famous man named Billy Hamilton to play in Major League Baseball, but is still the most successful. "Sliding Billy" batted .344 lifetime, and stole 914 bases, a record until surpassed by Lou Brock in 1978, and still 3rd-most all-time.
He was the National League batting champion with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1891 and 1893, and won Pennants with the Boston Beaneaters (forerunners of the Braves) in 1897 and 1898. He was the 1st New Jersey native elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
7. February 16, 1812: Henry Wilson. An abolitionist politician before becoming one of the founders of the Republican Party, the former Senator from Massachusetts served as Ulysses S. Grant's 2nd Vice President, but died in office in 1875.
Dishonorable Mention: February 16, 1941: Kim Jong-il. Dictator of North Korea from 1994 until his death in 2011.
6. February 16, 1838: Henry Adams. A great-grandson of John Adams and grandson of John Quincy Adams, he is often regarded as America's greatest historian.
5. February 16, 1959: John McEnroe. The most polarizing figure in the history of tennis, he won the U.S. Open in his native Queens 4 times and Wimbledon 3 times, despite playing at the same time as Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors. (He only reached the French Open Final once, and never got to the Final of the Australian Open). If he didn't thrill, and anger, enough people as a player, he has continued to divide tennis fans' opinion as a broadcaster.
Honorable Mention: February 16, 1886: Andy Ducat. Unless you're from England, or are an Arsenal fan somewhere else in the world, you've probably never heard of him. He played for the North London team when they were still Southeast London team Woolwich Arsenal, from 1905 to 1912.
But in his homeland, he is better known for playing its Summer sport, cricket, starring for Surrey County Cricket Club, and is one of the few men to represent England in international matches in both cricket and soccer. In 1942, at age 56, he was playing in an old-timers' match to raise money for wartime relief at Lord's Cricket Ground, "the Home of Cricket," when he died of a heart attack. The sport has been played there since 1814, and he is the only man ever to have died in a match there.
Honorable Mention: February 16, 1953: Lanny McDonald. The right wing is the owner of hockey's most famous mustache, exactly 500 career regular-season goals, a Bill Masterton Trophy for courage perseverance, a King Clancy Trophy for leadership qualities and humanitarianism, and, in his last game, the 1989 Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames. He is in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Honorable Mention: February 16, 1959: Kelly Tripucka. That's pronounced "Trih-PYOO-kah." Yeah, I know. But he's from my original hometown, so I'm putting him up here. The son of star NFL quarterback Frank Tripucka, he was New Jersey All-State at Bloomfield High School in basketball, track and soccer, and still holds a few school records in track, including a high jump of over 7 feet.
The forward was a 2-time All-American at Notre Dame, and a 2-time NBA All-Star with the Detroit Pistons. He was also an original Charlotte Hornet in 1988, and later played in France's league. He has broadcast for the Pistons, the New Jersey Nets and the New York Knicks.
In 2000, New Jersey's largest newspaper, the Newark-based Star-Ledger, named him the "New Jersey Boys' Basketball Player of the Century" -- ahead of Roselle Park's Rick Barry, a Hall-of-Famer. (Shaquille O'Neal was born in Newark and played at the Boys & Girls Club there, but went to high school in San Antonio, so he didn't qualify for the Ledger's award.)
Honorable Mention: February 16, 1964: Bebeto. Born José Roberto Gama de Oliveira, the forward starred for Rio de Janeiro teams Flamengo and Vasco da Gama, and for Brazil in the 1994 World Cup, his goal knocking the U.S. out of it on native soil. He is a now a legislator in the State of Rio de Janeiro.
Honorable Mention: February 16, 1973: Cathy Freeman. The Australian sprinter won the Silver Medal in the 400 meters at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and the 1997 World Championships. So when the Olympics came to Sydney in 2000, since she was not only a returning medalist but an Aboriginal Australian, she was asked to light the Olympic cauldron, as a symbol of national reconciliation. Then she won the Gold Medal in the 400.
4. February 16, 1958: Ice-T. When you're a boy born Tracy Lauren Marrow, it helps to have a good nickname. But when you're one of the baddest rappers and actor of all time, capable of singing "Cop Killer" in Los Angeles, and playing a cop who takes down New York's sickest criminals, you can call yourself whatever you want.
3. February 16, 1931: Otis Blackwell. He wrote "Don't Be Cruel," "All Shook Up," "Return to Sender" and "One Broken Heart for Sale" for Elvis Presley; "Great Balls of Fire" and "Breathless" for Jerry Lee Lewis; "Hey Little Girl" for Dee Clark; "Handy Man" for Jimmy Jones; and a song that's been done by everyone from Little Willie John to Peggy Lee to Rita Moreno on The Muppet Show: "Fever."
Honorable Mention: February 16, 1952: James Ingram. One of the top R&B singers of the 1980s.
Somewhat Honorable Mention: February 15, 1990: The Weeknd. That's not a typo: It's not "Weekend." Born Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, he is not the most worst singer from Toronto who can't sing without mechanical assistance, but he's less annoying than Drake, and he treated Selena Gomez better than did Justin Bieber (who is from Ontario, but London, not Toronto).
2. February 16, 1935: Sonny Bono. Even before he married Cher, he was a percussionist as part of producer Phil Spector's "Wrecking Crew," and he wrote the hit song "Needles and Pins." He and Cher had a bunch of hits, and then became the 1st rock and roll act to have their own TV variety show. In fact, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour on CBS may well be the first TV show I can remember seeing.
After he and Cher split, he kept acting, and opened a restaurant in Palm Springs, California. He didn't like the regulations that were being put on local restaurants, so he ran for Mayor of Palm Springs, and won. He then combined politics and show business, and played the Mayor of Metropolis on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. He got elected to Congress, and annoyed his fellow Republicans by not going along with some of their crazier ideas.
He was a man of many talents. Unfortunately, these talents did not include marital fidelity, or giving Cher creative control over her solo career until their divorce. Even less fortunately, these talents did not include skiing, as he was killed when he hit a tree on the slopes.
1. February 16, 1957: LeVar Burton. Had he only played Kunta Kinte in Roots, or only hosted Reading Rainbow on PBS, or only played Geordi LaForge on Star Trek: The Next Generation, he would have ended up in the Top 10. Having done all 3, he is Number 1.
Still alive as of this writing: Ali, Bettis, McEnroe, McDonald, Tripucka, Bebeto, Freeman, Ice-T, Eccleston, Olsen, The Weeknd, Burton.
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