On June 9, A.D. 68, Roman Emperor Nero committed suicide.
In 1903 the White Sox were incorporated under Illinois law with $5,000 in capital.
In 1930 Jake Lingle, a Chicago Tribune police reporter who had been a middleman for those seeking favors from Al Capone and the city’s police commissioner, was killed.
In 1939 college basketball analyst Dick Vitale was born in East Rutherford, N.J.
In 1941 singer Jackie Wilson was born in Detroit.
In 1954 Army counsel Joseph Welch confronted Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Senate-Army Hearings over McCarthy’s attack on a member of Welch’s law firm, Frederick Fisher. Said Welch: “Have you no sense of decency, sir?”
In 1973 Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by 31 1/2 lengths to become horse racing’s first Triple Crown winner in 25 years.
In 1980 comedian Richard Pryor suffered nearly fatal burns at his Southern California home when a mixture of “free-base” cocaine exploded.
In 1986 the Rogers Commission released its report on the Challenger disaster, criticizing NASA and rocket builder Morton Thiokol for management problems leading to the explosion that claimed the lives of seven astronauts.
