- Feb 1 Outfielder Monte Irvin is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues; fourth inductee through the committee
"The Midnight Special"
Feb 2 "The Midnight Special" late night rock music show debuts on NBC-TV; performers include Ike and Tina Turner, Curtis Mayfield, Don Mclean, the Byrds, and George Carlin
- Feb 2 Richard Helms, ends term as 8th director of CIA; succeeded by James R Schlesinger (until July)
Hadlee's Test Debut
Feb 2 Test debut of champion New Zealand cricket all-rounder Sir Richard Hadlee; drawn 1st Test v Pakistan, Wellington
- Feb 3 Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show's single "The Cover of the 'Rolling Stone'", written by Shel Silverstein, enters the top 40 and peaks at #6
- Feb 4 "No, No Nanette" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 861 performances
- Feb 4 An International inspection team is sent to Vietnam to observe progress on the Paris truce agreement
- Feb 4 British Army snipers shoot dead a Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer and three civilians at the junction in Belfast during the 'Troubles' in N Ireland
- Feb 4 Comic strip "Hagar The Horrible" by Dik Browne debuts
- Feb 4 Islanders & Sabres had a penalty free game
- Feb 4 Manfred Kokot runs world record 50m indoor (5.61 sec)
- Feb 4 Reshef, Israel's missile boat, unveiled
- Feb 5 Funeral held for US Army Lt. Col. William Nolde, last US soldier killed in Vietnam War
- Feb 5 Juan Corona sentenced to 25 consecutive life terms for 25 murders
- Feb 6 40,000 civil servants demonstrate at Binnenhof in The Hague, Netherlands, against higher pension contribution
- Feb 6 6th ABA All-Star Game: West 123 beats East 111 at Utah
Rich at Top of the Plaza
Feb 6 American jazz drummer Buddy Rich plays influential performance at the Top of the Plaza in Richmond, New York, later televised by PBS
- Feb 6 Bernice Fekete skips her curling rink to 2nd straight 8-ender, Edmonton, Alberta
- Feb 6 Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer's musical "Shelter" opens at John Golden Theater, NYC; runs for 31 performances
- Feb 7 1st time Rangers shut-out Islanders 6-0
Raw Power
Feb 7 Iggy Pop and The Stooges release their influential 3rd album "Raw Power"
- Feb 7 North Ireland's United Loyalist Council hold a one-day strike, loyalist paramilitaries forcibly try to stop people going to work
- Feb 7 US Senate creates Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities
- Feb 8 Jean Kerrs "Finishing Touches" premieres in NYC
- Feb 8 Mushtaq & Asif Iqbal make 350 stand for Pakistan's 4th wicket v NZ
- Feb 8 Senate names seven members to investigate Watergate scandal
Paul Williams on The Tonight Show
Feb 9 American singer-songwriter and actor Paul Williams sings the torch song "Here's That Rainy Day" in full Planet of the Apes make-up and costume on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show"
- Feb 9 Pragati Legislature Party elects Patnaik as leader of opposition in the state assembly in Orissa, India
- Feb 10 2nd time Rangers shut-out Islanders 6-0
- Feb 10 83m wide gas tank on Staten Island explodes, 40 die
- Feb 10 Pakistani cricketer Mushtaq Mohammad scores 201 runs in a match against New Zealand
- Feb 11 1st one-day international for Pakistan & NZ
Sports History
Feb 11 1st sub 17-min 1,500m female free style swim (Shane Gould 16m56.9s)
Ali vs. Bugner
Feb 14 Muhammad Ali beats British heavyweight boxing champion Joe Bugner by unanimous points decision in 12 rounds at Las Vegas Convention Centre
- Feb 15 Friendsville Academy (Tenn) ends 138-game basketball losing streak
- Feb 15 USSR launches Prognoz 3 to study sun (589/200,300 km)
Sports History
Feb 16 West Indies v Australia at Kingston, 1st time since 1955 without Garfield Sobers
- Feb 17 Rodney Redmond scores 107 on debut v Pakistan, his only Test Cricket
Meeting of Interest
Feb 17 US National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger meets Chinese leader Mao Zedong, where the latter jokingly offers to send 10 million Chinese women to the United States
Daytona 500
Feb 18 15th Daytona 500: Richard Petty wins his 4th Great American Race by more than 2 laps from Bobby Isaac
- Feb 18 54-kg octopus measuring 7m across captured in Hood Canal, Washington
- Feb 18 Belgian Emiel Puttemans runs 3,000m indoor record 7:39.2
- Feb 19 "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" single released by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando (Billboard Song of the Year 1973)
- Feb 20 10th time Islanders shut-out-4-0 vs Penguins
- Feb 21 Chicago Black Hawks, record 262nd NHL game without being shut-out
- Feb 21 Israeli fighters shoot Libyan aircraft down, killing 108
- Feb 22 "Turkish Delight" Holland's most successful film, directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Rutger Hauer is released
- Feb 22 US and China agree to establish liaison offices in Beijing and Washington, D.C.
- Feb 23 Gold goes up $10 overnight to record $95 an ounce in London
- Feb 25 Dutch speed skater Atje Keulen-Deelstra becomes Women's Allround World Champion at Strömsund, Sweden her second consecutive title and third in 4 years
- Feb 25 Mexican serial killer Juan Corona sentenced to 25 life sentences for 25 murders in California
A Little Night Music
Feb 25 Stephen Sondheim's musical "A Little Night Music" premieres at Shubert Theatre, later transferring to the Majestic, NYC; runs for 601 performances, winning 6 Tony Awards, ( Drama Desk Awards, and a Grammy
Academy of Country Music Awards
Feb 26 8th Academy of Country Music Awards: Merle Haggard and Donna Fargo win
Event of Interest
Feb 26 Triple Crown horse Secretariat bought for a record $5.7m
- Feb 27 American Indian Movement occupy Wounded Knee in South Dakota
- Feb 27 White Sox slugger Dick Allen signs 3 year $750,000 contract
- Feb 28 Iraq and Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) reach an agreement on compensation for nationalization
- Feb 28 Suriname government of Jules Sedney arrests 13 union leaders
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists