Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area Oct. 15, according to the Tribune’s archives.
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Flashback: Oct. 15, 1971
1971: The world’s first coin-operated video arcade game — Computer Space — was exhibited at the Music Operators of America convention inside the Sherman House Hotel. The pre-Asteroids shooting game frustrated players but sold 1,500 units, according to the National Museum of Play.
“It was a great game. All my friends loved it,” Computer Space creator Nolan Bushnell told the Tribune in 1981. “But all my friends were engineers … I decided what was needed was a simpler game.”
Bushnell and Ted Dabney then founded Atari
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, which introduced Pong in 1972. After he sold Atari, Bushnell bought a group of pizza and arcade restaurants. Today, we know them as Chuck E. Cheese.Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 88 degrees (1947)
- Low temperature: 28 degrees (1876)
- Precipitation: 1.66 inches (1967)
- Snowfall: None
1917: The Chicago White Sox won the World Series in Game 6 when the New York Giants left home plate uncovered and Eddie Collins dashed home with third baseman Heinie Zimmerman chasing him. It was the team’s second championship. Its third arrived 88 years later.
1921: The Tribune, sued for libel by the city of Chicago, won the case, which set precedent protecting the media’s right to criticize government.
1966: The Chicago Bulls won their first-ever game 104-97 against the Hawks at St. Louis. Three days later Jerry Sloan scored 26 points as they won their home opener 119-116 over the San Francisco Warriors at the International Amphitheatre. Starting lineup: Bob Boozer and Don Kojis at forwards, Len Chappell at center, Guy Rodgers and Sloan at guards. Coach: John “Red” Kerr.
2018: Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
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The last man standing while such storied Chicago competitors as Wieboldt’s, Montgomery Ward and Carson Pirie Scott fell by the wayside, Sears survived the Great Depression, adapted as its shoppers traded catalogs for downtown department stores and followed customers to suburban shopping malls. But it faltered as discounters, specialty chains and online merchants wooed consumers away in recent decades, and it never seemed to find the niche that would bring them back.
Sears closed its last Illinois store at Woodfield in 2021.
2019: Exelon Utilities CEO Anne Pramaggiore abruptly retired amid a wide-ranging federal investigation that included lobbying activities in Illinois. On Oct. 30, she stepped down as chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Pramaggiore was among the “ComEd Four” — which also included former ComEd contract lobbyist Michael McClain; ex-ComEd executive John Hooker; and Jay Doherty, who worked as a lobbyist for ComEd for 30 years and was president of the City Club of Chicago civic forum — who were part of an elaborate scheme to funnel more than $1.3 million and other perks to associates of House Speaker Michael Madigan in exchange for help with the utility’s ambitious legislative agenda.
The four were found guilty on all counts in May 2023. Pramaggiore was sentenced in July 2025 to two years in federal prison and assessed a $750,000 fine.
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