Top 10 February 20 Birthdays

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1901: René Dubos. The biologist's 1968 book So Human an Animal won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. He coined the saying, "Think globally, act locally."

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1902: Ansel Adams. The U.S. Department of the Interior hired him to take photographs of the National Parks. They made him the best-known American photographer of the 20th Century, and also led him to become one of the fathers of the environmental movement.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1924: Gloria Vanderbilt. She began her public life in a tug of war between the Vanderbilt, Whitney and Morgan families. She ended it as the mother of TV journalist Anderson Cooper. In between, despite already having more money than most people know what to do with, she became a major fashion designer.

10. February 20, 1984: Trevor Noah. His memoir was titled Born a Crime, because he was the son of a mixed-race marriage in apartheid-era South Africa. Since 2015, he has hosted The Daily Show on Comedy Central.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1959: David Corn. Formerly Washington editor for The Nation, he is now the D.C. bureau chief for another leftward magazine, Mother Jones.

9. February 20, 1914: John Charles Daly. Like Noah, he was born in South Africa, but made his professional name in America. A reporter for CBS radio, he was the first person to report on the attack on Pearl Harbor and the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. From the show's beginning in 1950 until the end of its CBS run in 1967, he was the moderator of What's My Line?

8. February 20, 1951: Gordon Brown. Prime Minister of Britain from 2007 to 2010, and Chancellor of the Exchequer (their version of Secretary of the Treasury) for the 10 years before that.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1887: Vincent Massey. In 1952, he became the 1st Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1928: Jean Kennedy Smith. The last survivor of President John F. Kennedy's siblings, she served as U.S. Ambassador to Ireland.

Somewhat Honorable Mention: February 20, 1954: Patty Hearst. We may never know for sure just how much of what she did with the Symbionese Liberation Army after being kidnapped in 1974 was over her own volition. Since her release from prison, she has been involved in many charities.

Dishonorable Mention: February 20, 1927: Roy Cohn. This guy helped Senator Joseph McCarthy hunt Communists, never found a single one, and then became the most despicable lawyer in New York City. How despicable was he? He found a client even worse than McCarthy: Donald Trump.

Dishonorable Mention: February 20, 1942: Mitch McConnell. The Kentuckian was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984, and became the Republicans' floor leader there in 2007. He tried to kill health care reform, and failed. He tried to steal a Supreme Court seat, and succeeded.

He had it both ways with Donald Trump: He gave him a firewall of Republicans who protected him from removal from office through the impeachment process, and still denounced him on the Senate floor, thus showing America who the real leader of the Republican Party is: A corrupt, unprincipled bigot from Louisville. His wife, Elaine Chao, served in the Cabinets of both George W. Bush and Trump, and is pretty corrupt in her own right.

7. February 20, 1940: Jimmy Greaves. The forward scored 357 goals in English soccer's 1st division, still an all-time record. He starred for Tottenham Hotspur of North London in the 1960s (although he wasn't there yet for their 1961 League and FA Cup "Double"), and was a member of England's 1966 World Cup winners.

In the 1980s, he and Ian St. John, the Scottish star for Liverpool, hosted Saint and Greavsie, a pregame show for the day's English matches on the ITV network.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1879: Hod Stuart. William Hodgson Stuart played both football and rugby for the Ottawa Rough Riders, but was best known as a defenseman in hockey, for the Ottawa Silver Seven, the team that became the original Ottawa Senators. Lorne Campbell, a teammate on one of the 1st American pro hockey teams, the Pittsburgh Bankers, called him "the speediest that ever drew on a pair of skates to play hockey."

In 1907, he won the Stanley Cup with the Montreal Wanderers. Just 3 months later, he was killed in a diving accident. On January 2, 1908, the 1st all-star game in hockey was played at the Montreal Arena, with the Wanderers playing defeating an all-star team, 10-7. Hod was a charter inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and his brother Bruce Stuart was also elected.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1913: Tommy Henrich. New York Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen called him "Old Reliable," and the right fielder certainly was. In 1941, seeing a game-ending strikeout turned into a wild pitch, he turned it into a "hit" that sparked a game-winning rally. In Game 1 of the 1949 World Series, he hit the 1st of what would eventually be called "walkoff" home runs in postseason history.

He was a 5-time All-Star, and he was the last surviving member of the Yankees' World Series-winning teams of 1937, 1938, 1939 and 1941, and also played on their 1947, 1949 and 1950 Series winners.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1926: Bob Richards. He remains the only man to win the Gold Medal in the pole vault in 2 Olympics: 1952 in Helsinki, and 1956 in Melbourne. He became an ordained minister.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1944: Willem van Hanegem. The midfielder led Feyenoord Rotterdam to 3 titles in the Eredivisie, the top division of Dutch soccer, and to the 1970 European Cup, the 1st such title for any Netherlands team. He starred for the Netherlands team at the 1974 World Cup, and managed Feyenoord to the 1993 Eredivisie title.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1947: Peter Osgood. The forward starred for West London soccer team Chelsea FC. His diving header was key to their win in the 1970 FA Cup Final Replay. He later played in America for the Philadelphia Fury. A statue of him stands outside Chelsea's stadium, Stamford Bridge.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1951: Phil Neal. He was the right back on the Liverpool FC teams that won 8 League titles from 1976 to 1986, and the European Cup in 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1984.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1963: Charles Barkley. "Sir Charles," a.k.a. "The Round Mound of Rebound," was one of the most physical presences in the NBA in the 1980s and '90s. But his only trip to the Finals was in 1993, with the Phoenix Suns, and they ran into Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. Both the Suns and the Philadelphia 76ers retired his Number 34, and he was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the NBA's 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1975: Liván Hernández. The younger brother of Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, he escaped from Cuba first, allowing him to pitch in Major League Baseball first. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1997 World Series, pitching the team then known as the Florida Marlins to victory. But he was just an average pitcher after that, going 178-177 for his career.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1983: Justin Verlander. An 8-time All-Star, the pitcher won American League Pennants with the Detroit Tigers in 2006 and '12, and with the Houston Astros in 2017 and '19.

In 2011, he was named the AL's Most Valuable Player, winning the Triple Crown of Pitching: Leading the League in wins, strikeouts and earned run average. He also won the AL Cy Young Award that season, and again in 2019. He was also the AL's Rookie of the Year in 2006. The only other pitchers to win all 3 awards (which has been possible since 1956) are Don Newcombe and Shohei Ohtani.

His career record is 226-192, including 3 no-hitters, and he is a member of the 3,000 Strikeouts Club. His only World Series win so far has been with the 2017 Astros. There is no evidence that he participated in any of their cheating, but he certainly benefited from it. It probably won't stop him from being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Dishonorable Mention: February 20, 1977: Stephon Marbury. Few athletes have messed up 2 New York Tri-State Area teams in 1 sport. Marbury is the only one to do it in basketball.

6. Honorable Mention: February 20, 1929: Amanda Blake. She played Miss Kitty Russell on Gunsmoke.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1946: Sandy Duncan. A Broadway legend of both song and dance, she starred on the 1980s CBS sitcom The Hogan Family.

5. February 20, 1926: Richard Matheson. He wrote 16 episodes of The Twilight Zone, more than anyone else except the show's creator, Rod Serling. These include the 2 episodes in which William Shatner appeared, "Nick of Time" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." He wrote for Shatner again, the Star Trek episode "The Enemy Within." He also wrote I Am Legend, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Somewhere In Time and What Dreams May Come.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1912: Pierre Boulle. He wrote The Bridge Over the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1925: Robert Altman. He directed the film version of M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, the 1973 version of The Long Goodbye, Nashville, and Gosford Park.

4. February 20, 1966: Cindy Crawford. Possibly the most popular "supermodel" of all time.

3. February 20, 1988: Rihanna. Robyn Rihanna Fenty is the biggest female pop singer from 2005 onward. And, like many others, she's branched out into design. But, as big as she has become, the Barbados native is not the biggest, nor the most influential, West Indian with a February 20 birthday.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1937: Nancy Wilson. "Fancy Miss Nancy" was the finest jazz singer of her generation.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1941: Buffy Sainte-Marie. Because of her appearances on Sesame Street, I thought she was Hawaiian. She is actually a member of the Cree tribe, born in the Canadian Province of Saskatchewan, and grew up outside Boston.

She wrote "Universal Soldier," which was covered by Donovan and Glen Campbell; "Until It's Time for You to Go," recorded by Elvis Presley; and, with her former husband, music producer Jack Nitzsche, "Up Where We Belong," the theme song to An Officer and a Gentleman, sung by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes. When it won the Academy Award for Best Song, it made her the 1st Native North American to win an Oscar.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1946: John Warren Geils Jr. The lead guitarist and lead songwriter, but not the lead singer, of The J. Geils Band.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1950: Walter Becker. Founded Steely Dan with Donald Fagen. The only song of theirs I can stand to listen to is "Deacon Blues."

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1975: Brian Littrell. He was one of the Backstreet Boys. I think it was Backstreet Boys. (There's no "The" in the name.) Those boy "bands" were practically interchangeable. And, for me, unlistenable.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 1985: Yulia Volkova. She and Lena Katina were the Russian singing duo t.A.T.u., known for their faux lesbian schoolgirl act in the early 2000s.

Honorable Mention: February 20, 2003: Olivia Rodrigo. She's the next big thing in pop music.

Dishonorable Mention: February 20, 1967: Kurt Cobain. He was never going to be my generation's John Lennon, or even its Jim Morrison. He couldn't sing, and his lyrics weren't any good then, and they don't hold up now. Pearl Jam were always the better band. Face it: Nirvana's greatest contribution to music is that it led to Dave Grohl founding Foo Fighters.

2. February 20, 1942: Phil Esposito. He played in 10 NHL All-Star Games. In 1969, he set records (since broken) with 77 assists and 126 points in a season, winning him the Art Ross Trophy as leading scorer and the Hart Memorial Trophy as league Most Valuable Player. In 1971, he had 76 assists, and set new records (since broken) with 76 goals and 152 points, again winning the Ross Trophy. (He would win it again in 1972, ’73 and ’74, and the Hart again in ’74.)

In 1970 and 1972, he and Bobby Orr led the Boston Bruins to win the Stanley Cup. In 1972, with Team Canada getting clobbered by the Soviet Union in the “Summit Series,” and the home crowd booing them, Espo told an interviewer that they were trying, and deserved more respect. That rallied the country around the team, and they were able to turn to series around in Moscow, and win it.

In 1975, he was controversially traded to the New York Rangers, and led them to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1979. Then he undid all the good he ever did with that ridiculous Sasson jeans commercial. He finished his career 2nd all-time in both goals with 717 and points with 1,590. He was one of the founding owners of the 1992 expansion team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and a statue of him now stands outside their Amalie Arena.

The Bruins retired his Number 7. He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, and awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for contributions to hockey in America. In 1998, The Hockey News ranked him 18th on their list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. In 2017, the NHL named him to their 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players. His brother, Tony Esposito, was a Hall of Fame goaltender for the Chicago Blackhawks.

1. February 20, 1927: Sidney Poitier. They call him MISTER Tibbs, they call him Sir Sidney, and they call him the 1st black man to win an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Still alive as of this writing: Noah, Corn, Brown, Hearst, McConnell, Richards, van Hanegem, Neal, Barkley, Hernández, Verlander, Marbury, Duncan, Crawford, Rihanna, Sainte-Marie, Littrell, Volkova, Rodrigo, Esposito.