What was going on when I was born?

Qantel is the computer system of winners - and losers. Qantel Inc. manufactures computer equipment and programs that are used by 12 of the 28 teams in the National Football League - including the teams that played in the last four Superbowls - as well as others in professional and college baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer. While some 10,000 of Qantel's systems have been installed worldwide, its sports applications are its best known. The company, in fact, is the brightest glimmer in an otherwise gloomy picture at the Mohawk Data Sciences Corporation, the troubled Parsippany, N.J., electronic data-processing company that lost $52.9 million in the last fiscal year and whose chief executive resigned on Monday. The Qantel subsidiary, which Mohawk acquired in early 1981 and which operates with considerable autonomy in Hayward, Calif., may be attractive enough to spark interest in Mohawk as a takeover candidate, analysts say.

The ailing Financial Corporation of America will cut its staff by 20 percent and sell such items as company jets and apartments in an attempt to become a smaller but more efficient organization, William J. Popejoy, chairman, said today. The streamlining will trim 1,500 employees from Financial's staff of 7,500. It also involves the sale of five of the company's nine aircraft, 41 apartments maintained for employee use and 475 company automobiles. A planned new headquarters has been scrapped, saving $45 million.

An article in Business Day Oct. 3 about the indictment of two California importers charged with violating copyrights held by Apple Computer Inc. incorrectly characterized the legal action. It appears to mark the first time Federal criminal charges for copyright infringement have been brought in a case involving computer piracy.

Companies Six major banking companies reported better earnings than had been expected. Manufacturers Hanover, J. P. Morgan, Chemical, Security Pacific, Marine Midland and Irving all reported increases in aggregate net income; First Chicago's announcement last week that it would post a loss had prompted speculation that Federal regulators were becoming stricter and that other banks would report losses as well. Most of those reporting yesterday did substantially increase their reserves for loan losses. (Page D1.) I.B.M.'s net income rose 21.7 percent in the third quarter, to $1.59 billion, continuing the company's strong growth of the last few years. But analysts had hoped for more, and I.B.M.'s stock fell $1.625, to $120.25. Motorola's earnings increased 87.9 percent, to $124 million, and Intel's income more than doubled, to $70 million. But the slowdown in the growth of the semiconductor business set off a decline in the stocks of several companies. (D1.)

The Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to Jaroslav Seifert, a Czechoslovak poet, the Swedish Academy announced today. The award to Mr. Seifert, who is 83 years old and considered his country's national poet, cited work which, ''endowed with freshness, sensuality and rich inventiveness, provides a liberating image of the indomitable spirit and versatility of man.'' Mr. Seifert, the first Czech to win the award for literature, is greatly loved and respected in his own country, the academy noted, and has begun to achieve international recognition as well, in spite of the disadvantage of writing in a language that is little known outside his country. His work is translated and he is regarded as a poet of current interest. Nearly 30 volumes of his collected poems have been published.

A decade ago this city's two major banks felt that they couldn't get any respect. Frustrated with being merely large regional banks, the First National Bank of Chicago and the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company decided they wanted to become heavyweights on the international money center scene. And now, many banking analysts say, the two Middle West banking giants - which have long been rivals to be the region's No. 1 bank - are paying the price for trying to get too big too fast. Talking about the two banks, Stuart I. Greenbaum, professor of financial institutions at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management, said, ''Whenever you see a bank or any company trying to focus on sheer size, it's a signal that people should run up the caution flag,'' Bad Loans And in recent weeks those flags have been run up so high that they can be seen by depositors and investors around the world. Continental Illinois, which piled up more than $2 billion in bad loans, has been saved from failure by a $4.5 billion Federal rescue plan. And after its board meeting Friday morning, the First Chicago Corporation, the bank holding company, is expected to announce its first quarterly loss ever - one that was caused by a charge-off for $279 million in bad loans.

RUDYARD KIPLING, who lived for four years in Vermont and is being reincarnated on Broadway just now by Alec McCowen, calls the spectacle of fall foliage in New England ''the insurrection of the tree people against the waning year.'' That revolt is happening a week later than usual this year because of a warm September. The colorful tide of fall foliage is sweeping south from the Canadian border and will be at its peak for viewing north of the metropolitan New York area this weekend and next. Last weekend, the color was at or just past its peak in the Adirondack region, at Lake Placid, Long Lake, Saranac Lake and White Face Mountain, and in the Helderberg Hills south of Albany. By this weekend, foliage should be at its peak at Belleayre Mountain in the Catskills, in the Hudson Valley and in higher elevations north of New York City. It may take another week for peak color to emerge farther south, in lower Connecticut, Westchester and northern New Jersey.

The Assembly today passed a bill mandating the use of seat belts by drivers and front-seat passengers and sent it to the Senate, where quick passage was expected. The vote was 60 to 12. Governor Kean has said he will sign the bill, which would make New Jersey the second state, after New York, to require motorists to buckle up. The bill differs from the law that will take effect in New York in December in that drivers may not be stopped simply for failing to wear their seat belts. They would be liable for a $25 fine for failing to wear the belts only if they are first stopped for some other traffic violation.

Thirteen thousand subway riders were removed from smoky trains and thousands more were delayed for long periods yesterday as six fires erupted under trains in Manhattan and Brooklyn and in tunnels under the East River, officials said. At least 22 people, including 6 transit officers aiding passengers, were overcome by smoke and taken to hospitals, according to the authorities. Quick work by firefighters, transit employees and police officers were credited with averting more serious injuries. The rash of fires - the latest that have plagued the aging subway system in recent weeks - was triple the normal number of daily fires on the 230-mile system. The authorities said most of the fires were caused by trash burning in track beds and under crowded trains, but at least two were ascribed to faulty or aged electrical equipment. None was described as suspicious.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1984 International Benigno S. Aquino Jr. was shot to death by one of his Philippine Government escorts in a wide-ranging military conspiracy, according to a key document being considered in the inquiry into the assassination of the opposition leader. The document is a 497-page memorandum compiled by four lawyers who assisted the citizens' panel that has been investigating the slaying. (Page A1, Column 3.) Margaret Thatcher escaped unhurt when a powerful explosion damaged the English seaside hotel where the Prime Minister and other ministers were staying for the annual Conservative Party conference, her office in London said. (A1:2-3.)

Frustrated and exhausted, the nation's lawmakers early this morning abandoned until later in the day efforts to increase the Federal debt limit. They were thus forced once again to postpone adjournment of the 98th Congress. The legislative snarl on the debt limit ended a day that began with jubilation over the passage of a $470 billion spending bill, causing expectations of a speedy adjournment. Both the House and Senate had in fact passed adjournment resolutions, and by early Thursday morning many lawmakers had already left town, some to campaign full- time for re-election.

The International Business Machines Corporation, continuing its strong earnings growth of the last few years, reported that net income for the third quarter rose 22.3 percent from the period a year earlier. But revenues, which grew only 13.3 percent, were not as robust as some analysts had expected, partly because of the strong dollar. Two leading semiconductor companies, Motorola Inc. and the Intel Corporation, also reported sizable gains in earnings for the quarter, although the results fell short of analysts' expectations. The earnings reports, which reflected the slowdown of growth in the semiconductor business, set off a decline in stocks of several semiconductor companies.