November 17, 1944

1944Jim Boeheim, American basketball player and coach^[†]

James Arthur Boeheim Jr. is an American former college basketball coach and current Special Assistant to the Athletic Director at Syracuse University. From 1976 until 2023, he was the head coach of the Syracuse Orange men's team of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Boeheim guided the Orange to ten Big East Conference regular season championships, five Big East tournament championships, and 34 NCAA tournament appearances, including five Final Four appearances and three appearances in the national title game. In those games, the Orangemen lost to Indiana in 1987, and to Kentucky in 1996, before defeating Kansas in 2003 with All-American Carmelo Anthony.

1944Malcolm Bruce, English-Scottish journalist, academic, and politician^[†]

Malcolm Gray Bruce, Baron Bruce of Bennachie, is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Gordon from 1983 to 2015 and was the chairman of the International Development Select Committee from 2005 to 2015. He was deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats from January 2014 to May 2015. He was nominated for a life peerage in the 2015 Dissolution Honours. He was also previously President of the Scottish Liberal Democrats until being succeeded by Councillor Eileen McCartin from 1 January 2016.

1944Gene Clark, American singer-songwriter and musician (died 1991)^[†]

Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter and founding member of the folk rock band the Byrds. He was the Byrds' principal songwriter between 1964 and early 1966, writing most of the band's best-known originals from this period, including "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better", "She Don't Care About Time", "Eight Miles High" and "Set You Free This Time".

1944Danny DeVito, American actor, director, and producer^[†]

Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series Taxi (1978–1983), which won him a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award. He plays Frank Reynolds on the FXX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2006–present).

1944Rem Koolhaas, Dutch architect and academic, designed the Seattle Central Library^[†]

Remment Lucas Koolhaas is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a representative of Deconstructivism and is the author of Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan.

1944Lorne Michaels, Canadian-American screenwriter and producer, created Saturday Night Live^[†]

Lorne Michaels is a Canadian and American television and film producer, comedian, screenwriter and director. He created and produced Saturday Night Live and produced the Late Night series, The Kids in the Hall, and The Tonight Show.

1944Tom Seaver, American baseball pitcher (died 2020)^[†]

George Thomas Seaver, nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "the Franchise", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, and Boston Red Sox from 1967 to 1986. Commonly described as the most iconic player in Mets history, Seaver played a significant role in their victory in the 1969 World Series over the Baltimore Orioles.

1944Sammy Younge Jr., American civil rights activist (died 1966)^[†]

Samuel Leamon Younge Jr. was a civil rights and voting rights activist who was murdered for trying to desegregate a "whites only" restroom. Younge was an enlisted service member in the United States Navy, where he served for two years before being medically discharged. Younge was an active member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and a leader of the Tuskegee Institute Advancement League.