Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 17, according to the Tribune’s archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Flashback: Aug. 17, 1968
1968: Big Brother and the Holding Company played the Aragon Ballroom.
“If Janis Joplin didn’t do anything on stage except play a cowbell with a drumstick, she’d still be one of the great performers of our time,” Tribune critic Robb Baker wrote.
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Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 98 degrees (1988)
- Low temperature: 48 degrees (1976)
- Precipitation: 2.6 inches (1979)
- Snowfall: None
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1915: Lucy Derwent of Rockford won a $25 prize (about $825 in today’s dollars) from the Daughters of the American Revolution for her design of a state flag for Illinois — a field of blue on which a circle of white bears the state’s coat of arms. Derwent, who later lived in the Chicago area, presented her prize to the Rockford chapter of the D.A.R.
1970: “Soul Train” premiered in Chicago on WCIU-TV with a budget so tight it couldn’t afford color cameras or a dance floor bigger than a typical living room. But the show was an instant hit in Chicago, and it started consuming the after-school viewing time of a young, African American audience that other teen-oriented shows, including Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand,” largely ignored.
1984: One person died and 47 were injured when two Chicago Transit Authority rapid transit trains collided at Montrose Avenue station on the O’Hare Line.
2003: Ozzy Osbourne and wife Sharon Osbourne sang “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch at Wrigley Field.
Near the end of the broadcast, WGN-Ch. 9 showed a replay of legendary Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully giving the thumbs up after Osbourne’s rendition.
“If you get the seal of approval from Hall of Famer Vin Scully, you know you’re doing OK,” Cubs announcer Chip Caray said.
2010: After 14 days of deliberations, a six-man, six-woman jury convicted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich on just one of the 24 felony counts he faced — a charge that he had lied to FBI agents about his intense involvement in campaign fundraising.
At his second trial, in 2011, Blagojevich was found guilty on the more widespread allegations, including the Senate seat charges, trying to shake down a children’s hospital leader in exchange for sending money approved for pediatric services, and seeking a $100,000 contribution from a horse track owner in exchange for signing favorable legislation.
In 2020, President Donald Trump, a Republican later convicted of felonies himself, commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence to about eight years served.
How many presidential pardons or sentence commutations have been granted to people from Illinois?
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