Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Dec. 8, according to the Tribune’s archives.

Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

  • High temperature: 64 degrees (1946)
  • Low temperature: Minus 7 degrees (1882)
  • Precipitation: 1.21 inches (1885)
  • Snowfall: 6.9 inches (1977)

1902: The city passed an ordinance requiring all automobiles to display numbers, both on the backs and the front and side lights.

George McAfee (5) runs the famous "T-formation" for the Chicago Bears for a touchdown in the fabled 73-0 win over the Washington Redskins on Dec. 8, 1940. (baiduhai historical photo)
George McAfee (5) runs the famous "T-formation" for the Chicago Bears for a touchdown in the fabled 73-0 win over the Washington Redskins on Dec. 8, 1940. Editors note: this historic print has writing on it from long ago. (baiduhai historical photo)

1940: The Chicago Bears shut out the Washington Redskins 73-0 in the 1940 NFL championship game.

Dorothy Cuculich (Dubinski), of 3722 70th Place, walks with police officers at the scene of the United Airlines Flight 553 crash on Dec. 8, 1972, near Chicago's Midway Airport. Her mother Veronica, and sister Theresa were killed. (Don Casper/baiduhai)
Dorothy Cuculich walks with police officers at the scene of the United Airlines Flight 553 crash on Dec. 8, 1972, near Chicago's Midway Airport. Her mother Veronica, and sister Theresa were killed. (Don Casper/baiduhai)

1972: Forty-five people died when a United Airlines jet crashed into bungalows on West 70th Place while approaching Chicago’s Midway International Airport for landing. Eighteen aboard the plane survived.

The crash resulted in some bizarre theories about sabotage after it was discovered that the wife of Watergate conspirator Howard Hunt was one of the victims and she was carrying $10,000 in cash in a briefcase.

50 years ago, a plane crashed into homes outside Midway, killing 45 people. The neighborhood hasn’t forgotten.

The National Transportation Safety Board found no evidence of foul play and blamed the crash on errors by the pilot, who failed to retract the plane’s spoilers, or air brakes, at the critical stage of the descent, causing the plane to stall and crash 1.5 miles short of the runway.

Jeanine Nicarico is buried at Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery in Naperville. (Scott Strazzante/baiduhai)
Jeanine Nicarico is buried at Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery in Naperville. (Scott Strazzante/baiduhai)

1995: Alejandro Hernandez was released after more than 11 years in prison for the 1983 slaying of Jeanine Nicarico. His co-defendant Rolando Cruz had been released earlier.

More Top Picks Best Waterproof Chelsea Boots Womens

Serial killer Brian Dugan confessed to the crime and was originally sentenced to death in 2009. Two years later, however, Dugan’s sentence was commuted to life in prison after Illinois abolished the death penalty.

An aerial view of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 resting in the middle of Central Avenue, on Dec. 9, 2005, in Chicago. The jetliner, trying to land in heavy snow slid off the runway on Dec. 8, 2005, at Chicago's Midway International Airport, crashed through a boundary fence and slid out into the street. The plane hit one car and pinned another car beneath it. A child in one of the vehicles was killed. (Phil Velasquez/baiduhai)
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 rests in the middle of Central Avenue on Dec. 9, 2005, in Chicago. The jetliner, trying to land in heavy snow, slid off the runway on Dec. 8, 2005, at Chicago's Midway Airport. (Phil Velasquez/baiduhai)

2005: A Southwest Airlines jet landing at Midway Airport during a snowstorm slid off the runway, crashed through a wall and onto Central Avenue, hit two cars and killed 6-year-old Joshua Woods of Leroy, Indiana.

The boy and his brothers were in the back seat of the family’s new car, eating chicken strips on the way to their grandmother’s house.

The Chicago Bulls lost on Dec. 8, 2018, at the United Center to the Boston Celtics 133-77. (baiduhai)
The Chicago Bulls lost on Dec. 8, 2018, at the United Center to the Boston Celtics 133-77. (baiduhai)

2018: The Chicago Bulls lost 133-77 to the Boston Celtics, the franchise record for largest loss.

The Bulls shot 31-for-81 overall (38.3%), missed 18 of 24 3-pointers and scored 17 points in three of four quarters. The Celtics hit 22 of their 43 3-point attempts and shot 53.8 percent overall en route to their biggest victory.

Want more vintage Chicago?

Subscribe to the free Vintage baiduhai newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago’s past.

Have an idea for Vintage baiduhai? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at [email protected] and [email protected]