Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 4, according to the Tribune’s archives.
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Flashback: Aug. 4, 1978
1978: ChicagoFest debuted at Navy Pier with Muddy Waters, Eddie Money and more performing on the main stage on the first night of the 10-day rock showcase. An estimated 40,000 people showed up to watch musicians and aerial performers, climb aboard carnival rides, visit the children’s area and watch live broadcasts of radio shows.
“They came to hear more than a score of top entertainment acts presented on rock, blues, jazz and country stages,” the Tribune reported. “Highlight of the succession of groups on the main stage, where 18,000 persons could hear, was the Jimmy Dorsey orchestra with Lee Castle.”
The festival was held at Navy Pier for five years, then moved to Soldier Field for its final run in 1983.
Vintage baiduhai: Navy Pier, the city’s magnificent gem on Lake Michigan
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 100 degrees (1947)
- Low temperature: 53 degrees (1992)
- Precipitation: 3.47 inches (1989)
- Snowfall: Trace (2008)
1984: Blond-haired Morton Grove native Bart Conner produced a flawless performance in the parallel bars to earn his first gold medal, which was quite a feat considering he had surgery the previous December to repair a torn bicep muscle
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. Then, he helped the U.S. men’s team secure its first team all-around Olympic gymnastics gold medal in 80 years.Conner married three-time gold-medal winner Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci — who dazzled the world at just 14 with perfect 10s at the 1976 Montreal Olympics — in 1996. Together they run a gymnastics academy in Norman, Oklahoma.
Conner and Comaneci were part of the Chicago delegation that traveled to Copenhagen in 2009, to make an appeal before the International Olympic Committee to be the host city for the 2016 Summer Games.
1987: The United Airlines terminal opened at O’Hare International Airport. The $540 million, Helmut Jahn-designed glass and aluminum complex included two buildings connected by an underground walkway featuring a 744-foot flashing neon sculpture, galactic synthesizer music and moving sidewalks.
The 85-acre facility — which would include 42 gates upon completion in December 1988 — also featured a $38 million, computerized baggage-handling system that could process 480 bags a minute.
1993: White Sox third baseman Robin Ventura, then 26, sprinted at 46-year-old Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan, who had just plunked Ventura in the right elbow with a fastball in the third inning.
Ventura was incensed. He took Ryan’s actions to be retaliation, plain and simple, for a series of incidents.
Yes, Robin Ventura remembers that one-sided fight with Nolan Ryan. And he can laugh about it.
“If you know the game, it’s no secret what he was doing,” said Ventura, his elbow encased in an elastic brace. “If you don’t think he did it on purpose, you don’t know the game.”
Ryan put the 26-year-old Ventura in a headlock and started pummeling him.
Chicago’s history with hosting Democratic and Republican conventions dates back to 1860
1994: Chicago beat out San Antonio to host the 1996 Democratic National Convention. Democratic Chairman David Wilhelm announced during a news conference at Navy Pier that the world would once again be watching Chicago.
2008: A violent squall line with hurricane-strength winds — as high as 94 mph recorded at the Harrison-Dever Crib just off the lakefront in downtown Chicago — swept the area, according to WGN-TV’s former chief meteorologist Tom Skilling. Ten thousand strokes of lightning were recorded in just one house as the storm, fueled by hot and humid air, left a trail of downed trees.
‘It almost sounded like a hurricane’: Derecho weather events in the Chicago area since 1965
Two confirmed tornadoes — each identified as EF1 twisters with winds between 86-110 mph — hit Bloomingdale and Bolingbrook. The storm interrupted the Cubs game against the Astros
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— ’70s Night — at Wrigley Field several times. Tornado sirens blared and the stands were cleared as the crowd of more than 40,000 people was evacuated to the lower concourse. After one particularly jarring explosion of thunder and lightning, Houston’s Lance Berkman threw off his metal chain and then sprinted off the field. The game finally concluded at 11:51 p.m. in an Astros victory.2018: Former Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher was formally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
From Halas to Hester: The 32 Chicago Bears inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
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