- Feb 1 American lawyer and businessman David Stern becomes NBA Commissioner, succeeding Larry O'Brien; stays in position until 2014
- Feb 1 China & Netherlands regain diplomatic relations
- Feb 1 Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre kidnapped and murdered by Kashmiri terrorists in Birmingham, England
- Feb 2 1st Soap Opera Digest Awards - "Days of Our Lives" wins
- Feb 2 Lebanese army fights in Beirut
- Feb 3 10th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (41B): Challenger 4 launches
- Feb 4 "9" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 739 performances
- Feb 4 "Backstage Magic" opens at CommuniCore
- Feb 4 Frank Aquilera sets world frisbee distance record (168m) Las Vegas
- Feb 5 NZ beat England (82 & 93) by an innings in 3 days
- Feb 6 Muslim militiamen take over West Beirut from Lebanese army
- Feb 7 American astronaut Bruce McCandless makes 1st untethered space walk
- Feb 7 David (born without immunity system) touches his mother for 1st time at age 12
Jackson's Enormous Platinum Disc
Feb 7 Michael Jackson awarded a 4-ft-high platinum disc by CBS
- Feb 8 A's take Yankees pitcher Tim Belcher as Type A free agent compensation
- Feb 8 For the 1st time eight people are in space
- Feb 8 Soyuz T-10 launches with crew of 3 to Salyut 7
- Feb 8 XIV Winter Olympic Games open in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
- Feb 9 East German ski jumper Jens Weißflog wins first of 3 career Olympic gold medals in the Normal Hill individual event at the Sarajevo Winter Games
- Feb 9 East German speed skater Karin Enke wins the 1,500m in world record 2:03.42 at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins 1,000m gold
- Feb 9 Finnish cross-country skier Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen wins the 10k gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; first of 3 individual medal sweep, also winning 5k and 20k events
The Rink
Feb 9 John Kander and Fred Ebb's musical "The Rink", based on Terrence McNally's novel, and starring Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera, opens at Martin Beck Theater, NYC; runs for 204 performances, winning a Tony Award
Zimyatov's Fourth Gold
Feb 10 Soviet cross-country skier Nikolay Zimyatov wins a career 4th Olympic gold medal when he takes out the 30k event in Sarajevo; 3 gold in Lake Placid 1980
- Feb 11 10th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (41B): Challenger 4 returns to Earth
Sports History
Feb 11 Wayne Gretzky sets NHL short handed season scoring record at 11
- Feb 12 12 years after winning the doubles in Sapporo (1972), Italian Paul Hildgarten wins the men's luge singles at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics
Daytona 500
Feb 12 Cale Yarborough, becomes 1st Daytona 500 qualifier, above 200 MPH
- Feb 12 East German luger Steffi Martin wins the first of 2 consecutive women's singles gold medals at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins in Calgary (1988)
- Feb 12 Finnish cross-country skier Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen wins the 5k gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; 2nd of 3 individual medal sweep, also winning 10k and 20k events
- Feb 12 West Indies beat Australia 2-1 to win cricket's World Series Cup after going undefeated in the qualifying rounds
- Feb 12 William Grant Still's Symphony No. 3 ("The Sunday Symphony"), composed in 1958, receives premiere performance, by the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Carlton Woodsi
- Feb 13 6-year-old Texan Stormie Jones gets 1st heart and liver transplant
- Feb 13 Karin Enke of East Germany wins her 2nd gold medal of the Sarajevo Winter Games, winning the women's 1,000m in Olympic record 1:21.61; also wins 1,500m gold
Event of Interest
Feb 13 Konstantin Chernenko succeeds Yuri Andropov as leader of the Soviet Union
- Feb 13 Swedish cross country skier Gunde Svan wins 15k event, the first of 2 gold medals at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins 4 x 10k relay gold
Torvill and Dean's Perfect Score
Feb 14 Britain's Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean famously dominate the ice dancing at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; perform to Maurice Ravel's "Bolero" in free dance routine; record 9-of-9 perfect scores for artistic impression [1]
- Feb 14 Canadian speed skater Gaétan Boucher takes out the 1,000m gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins 1,500m; narrowly beats Soviet skater Sergey Khlebnikov in both events
- Feb 15 500,000 Iranian soldiers move into Iraq
- Feb 15 An East German sweep of the medals in the women's 3,000m speed skating at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; Andrea Schöne takes gold ahead of teammates Karin Enke and Gabi Zange
Olympic Gold
Feb 16 3-time men's figure skating world champion Scott Hamilton of the US wins the gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics from Brian Orser of Canada and Jozef Sabovčík of Czechoslovakia
- Feb 16 Bill Johnson becomes first American to win an Olympic downhill skiing gold at the Sarajevo Games; beats Swiss Peter Müller by 0.27s
- Feb 16 Canadian speed skater Gaétan Boucher takes out the 1,500m at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics, his second gold medal of the Games; also wins the 1,000m
- Feb 16 NJ Devils 1st OT goal, Jan Ludvig beats Hartford Whalers 6-5
- Feb 16 Swedish cross country skier Gunde Svan takes his 2nd gold medal of the Sarajevo Winter Olympics in the 4 x 10k relay; also wins 15k gold
- Feb 16 Swedish cross country skier Thomas Wassberg wins 2nd career gold medal in 4 x 10k relay at Sarajevo Winter Olympics; 2nd of 4 career gold; 15k Lake Placid (1980), 50k Sarajevo, relay Calgary (1988)
- Feb 17 34th Berlin International Film Festival: "Love Streams" wins the Golden Bear
- Feb 17 Biathletes Eirik Kvalfoss of Norway and West German Peter Angerer finish 2nd & 3rd respectively in the relay at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; both have complete sets of medals from biathlon events at the Games
- Feb 18 East German figure skater Katarina Witt wins first of 2 consecutive women's singles gold medals at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins gold in Calgary (1988)
- Feb 18 Finnish cross-country skier Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen wins the 20k gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; sweeps all 3 individual events, also winning 5k and 10k events
Olympic Gold
Feb 18 Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen wins first of 4 career Olympic gold medals in the Large Hill individual event at the Sarajevo Winter Games
- Feb 18 Revised concordat between Italy & Vatican signed
- Feb 19 "Doonesbury" closes at Biltmore Theater, NYC, after 104 performances
- Feb 19 1st brother combo to win Gold & Silver in same event at Olympics (Phil & Steve Mahre-Slalom)
- Feb 19 26th Daytona 500: Cale Yarborough wins for 2nd consecutive year and 4th time in career; last-lap pass to beat Darrell Waltrip
- Feb 19 Soviet Union wins its 6th Olympic ice hockey gold medal with a 2-0 win over silver medallists Czechoslovakia at the Sarajevo Winter Games
- Feb 19 Swedish cross country skier Thomas Wassberg wins 50k event at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; his second gold of the Games (4 x 10k relay) and 3rd of his career (15k Lake Placid 1980)
- Feb 19 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- Feb 19 XIV Winter Olympic Games close in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
- Feb 24 Iraq resumes air attack on Iran
- Feb 25 Oil fire in Cubatao Brazil kills 500
- Feb 26 Last US marines in multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon left Beirut
- Feb 26 Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Penn Warren is named the 1st US poet laureate
- Feb 26 Reverend Jesse Jackson acknowledges that he called NYC "Hymietown"
World Record
Feb 27 Carl Lewis jumps world record indoor (8.675 m)
- Feb 27 Worker's union leader Billy Nair freed in South Africa
- Feb 27 WRC-AM in Washington, D.C. changes call letters to WWRC
- Feb 28 26th Grammy Awards: Michael Jackson wins 8 Grammys
- Feb 28 British satirical puppet show "Spitting Image" premieres on ITV
Event of Interest
Feb 29 Pierre Trudeau announces he is stepping down after 15 years as Canadian Prime Minister
- Feb 29 Swedish center Patrik Sundström scores a goal and adds 6 assists as Vancouver Canucks beat the Penguins 9-5 in Pittsburgh; just the 3rd player in NHL history to record 6 assists in a road game
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists