Top 10 March 4 Birthdays

Somewhat Honorable Mention: March 4, 1953: Christopher H. Smith. When he was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, he was just 27 years old, the youngest member. He and Hal Rogers of Kentucky are the last remaining members of that Republican Class of 1980, known as the Reagan Robots for their lock-step approval of President Ronald Reagan's agenda.

In 1981 and 1982, he was my Congressman. Redistricting meant that, from then until her death in 2006, he was my grandmother's Congressman. She detested that he never met a weapons system he didn't like, and that he was anti-choice. But she liked that he was pro-child care and pro-education, which, to her, made his identification as "pro-life" sincere. He is now the dean of the New Jersey delegation, and, for a brief time in 2019, he was the only Republican left in it.

Dishonorable Mention: March 4, 1926: Richard DeVos. Not because he founded Amway, and not because he founded and still owns the NBA's Orlando Magic. But because he is a heavy donor to right-wing groups like the American Enterprise Institute and Focus on the Family; and is the father of Dick DeVos and the father-in-law of Betsy DeVos. These people are sickening bigots.

10. March 4, 1958: Tina Smith. In 2018, the Democrat won the special election to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of Senator Al Franken of Minnesota. She was elected to a full term in 2020. She is not related to Chris Smith, not by blood, and certainly not by politics.

9. March 4, 1942: Lynn Sherr. Since 1977, she has reported for ABC. Since 1986, she has been a correspondent for its magazine show 20/20.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1931: Wally Bruner. Also a journalist for ABC, from 1968 to 1972 he hosted the syndicated version of the game show What's My Line?

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1948: James Ellroy. He wrote the novels The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential, both of which were made into major films.

8. March 4, 1394: Prince Henry the Navigator. The son of King John I of Portugal, he was the great patron of sea exploration in the 15th Century.

7. March 4, 1847: Carl Josef Bayer. Seeing his surname, finding out that he was a chemist, and knowing the fact that it was invented during his lifetime, you might guess that he was the scientist who first synthesized aspirin. He wasn't, nor was he related to the family that founded the company that did.

What he did do was invent the Bayer process of extracting alumina from bauxite, which made it possible to produce the element aluminium, and make possible the cheap production of aluminum.

6. March 4, 1913: John Garfield. A predecessor to such "method actors" as Marlon Brando, James Dean and Robert De Niro, he was one of the finest American actors of the 1940s. But his refusal to name names before the House Un-American Activities Committee took a toll on his health, and he died of a heart attack at age 39.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1889: Pearl White. She was the first movie heroine, starring in the 1914 serial the Perils of Pauline. Unfortunately, she did her own stunts, which led to painful injuries, which led to self-medication, which led to her death from liver failure at age 49.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1900: Herbert Biberman. He was one of "The Hollywood Ten," screenwriters and directors who refused to testify about Communist affiliations in Hollywood, and were blacklisted for life. In his case, it was worse than with Garfield: He was never taken off the blacklist, and only directed 2 more movies, without receiving title credit for them.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1958: Patricia Heaton. She's starred in the sitcoms Room for Two, Someone Like Me, Women of the House, Back to You, The Middle and Carol's Second Act. But she's best remembered for playing Debra Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1973: Len Wiseman. He's directed all 5 Underworld films, starring his ex-wife Kate Beckinsale.

5. March 4, 1982: Landon Donovan. Perhaps the greatest soccer player in American history so far, he won the MLS Cup with the San Jose Earthquakes in 2001 and 2003; and with the LA Galaxy in 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2014. He remains beloved on both sides of this, Major League Soccer's nastiest rivalry.

He starred in Europe for German team Bayer Leverkusen and English team Everton. He led the U.S. national team to the CONCACAF Gold Cup (the continental trophy) in 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2013. Having already played in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, his goal in stoppage time against Algeria in 2010 advanced the U.S. to the knockout round.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1891: Dazzy Vance. The pitcher didn't get his 1st major league win until he was 31 years old. Then he made up for lost time, going 50-15 in 1924 and '25. He led the National League in strikeouts 7 straight years, 1922-28. He won his last game at 44: If that 13-year span of age had been 25 to 38, nobody would blink. He finished 197-140, mostly for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and lived long enough to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1897: Lefty O'Doul. Like Charles Arthur Vance, Francis Joseph O'Doul got off to a rough start as a pitcher, winning his 1st game at 26 -- and never winning another. The San Francisco native went back to the Pacific Coast League, switched to the outfield, and learned how to hit.

He was a good learner: He returned to the majors at 31, and batted .319; .398 at 32, .383 at 33, .336 at 34, and .368 at 35. His 254 hits with the 1929 Philadelphia Phillies remains a National League record. In 1933, he played in the 1st All-Star Game, and helped the New York Giants win the World Series. He played 1 more season in the majors, then went back home, and managed the PCL's San Francisco Seals.

He became known for running the restaurant that bore his name, one of the earliest "sports bars." But he has never been elected to the Hall of Fame.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1918: Margaret Osborne duPont. She won the French Open in 1946, Wimbledon in 1947, the U.S. Open in 1948, the French and the U.S. in 1949, and the U.S. in 1950. In those days, most American tennis players did not play in the Australian Open, so she never tried to win the Grand Slam.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1931: Bob Johnson. "Badger Bob" coached the University of Wisconsin hockey team to National Championships in 1973, 1977 and 1981. He coached the Calgary Flames into the 1986 Stanley Cup Finals, and won the Cup with the 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins. Sadly, he then died of cancer. His son, Mark Johnson, was a member of his 1977 title team, and was the leading scorer for the U.S. Olympic team that won the 1980 Gold Medal.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1945: Gary Williams. He won 668 games as a college basketball coach, 461 of them at the University of Maryland, including the 2002 National Championship.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1961: Ray Mancini. The WBA Lightweight Champion from 1982 to 1984, "Boom-Boom" will, sadly, be best remembered for accidentally killing an opponent in the ring.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1966: Kevin Johnson. A 3-time NBA All-Star with the Phoenix Suns, the guard went back home to Sacramento, and was elected Mayor in 2008 and 2012.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1990: Draymond Green. A 4-time All-Star, and the 2017 Defensive Player of the Year, the center has played on the Golden State Warriors' 2015, 2017 and 2018 NBA Champions.

4. March 4, 1888: Knute Rockne. It's easy to forget that he was a player, and the 1st true pass receiver in college football, with Notre Dame in 1913. He then coached them from 1918 to 1930, winning National Championships in 1924, 1929 and 1930, before being killed in a plane crash in 1931.

3. March 4, 1951: Kenny Dalglish. Most Americans have never heard of him. The forward grew up in Glasgow, Scotland as a fan of soccer team Rangers FC. They weren't interested in him, but their arch-rivals, Celtic FC, were. He helped them win league titles in 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1977.

Then Liverpool FC made them an offer they couldn't refuse. He led them to win the Football League in 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1984; and the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) in 1978, 1981 and 1984.

In 1985, while still a player, "King Kenny" was named manager. In 1986, they won both the League and the FA Cup, still the only "Double" in the Mersey Reds' long, proud history. It also made him the last player-coach to win each trophy. They won the League again in 1988.

The 1988-89 season elevated him to all-time hero status. At the start of the FA Cup Semifinal in Sheffield, a mistake by stadium stewards led to 700 injuries, including 97 deaths, in what became known as the Hillsborough Disaster. Dalglish went to many of the funerals, wearing himself out physically and emotionally. When the Cup was resumed, he guided Liverpool to victory, but lost the League title in dramatic fashion on the last day of the season. After one more League title in 1990, he resigned.

But he wasn't done. He led Lancashire team Blackburn Rovers to the 1995 Premier League title, and Newcastle United to back-to-back FA Cup Finals in 1998 and '99, although losing both. He went back to Celtic and managed them to a League Cup in 2000. He returned to Liverpool and won the 2012 League Cup.

All told, as a player and a manager, in Scotland and England, he won 13 league titles, 7 national cups, 7 league cups, and 3 European Cups. For his charity work, especially after Hillsborough, as much as for his playing, he has been knighted.

2. March 4, 1678: Antonio Vivaldi. One of the founding fathers of classical composition, this Venetian Catholic priest premiered his composition The Four Seasons in 1725.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1925: Paul Mauriat. The French conductor is remembered in America for only one thing: His instrumental version of "Love Is Blue," which became the only France-produced record to date to hit Number 1 on America's popular music charts.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1952: Umberto Tozzi. He co-wrote and sang the 1st hit version of the song we now know as Laura Brangian's "Gloria." But his original version, recorded in Italian in 1979, is lyrically very different: The narrator is singing to a woman he has only imagined, never actually seen, but is sure he will one day meet and live with happily.

Jonathan King, of "Everyone's Gone to the Moon" fame, wrote English lyrics that fit Tozzi's story, and Tozzi recorded them for Anglophone markets. They were re-written by Trevor Veitch for Brangian's 1982 version, one woman's taunting of another for her romantic fantasies.

Honorable Mention: March 4, 1953: Emilio Estefan. Husband, bandleader and recording producer for Gloria Estefan. (Not the Gloria that either Tozzi or Brangian sang about -- or the one that Van Morrison sang about in 1966, or the one The Cadillacs sang about in 1954.)

1. March 4, 1745: Casimir Pulaski. The Polish count was invited by Benjamin Franklin to help the American Revolution. One of several European officers to help the cause, he became known as "the Father of the American Cavalry." He was killed in action at the Battle of Savannah in 1779.

An examination of his remains suggested that Pulaski was intersex, making him, as far as is currently known, the highest-ranking American military figure on the LGBT spectrum. Major bridges in New York City and New Jersey are named for him. Or should that be "for them"?

Still alive as of this writing: Congressman Smith, DeVos, Senator Smith, Sherr, Ellroy, Heaton, Wiseman, Donovan, Williams, Mancini, Johnson, Green, Daglish, Tozzi, Estefan.