September 17, 1961

1961Jim Cornette, American wrestling manager and sportscaster^[†]

James Mark Cornette is an American author, sports historian, and podcaster who previously worked in the professional wrestling industry as an agent, booker, color commentator, manager, photographer, promoter, trainer, and occasional professional wrestler. Cornette is widely considered to be one of the greatest managers in wrestling history by fans and publications, as well as industry personnel. Cornette currently hosts two podcasts along with co-host and producer Brian Last—The Jim Cornette Experience and Jim Cornette's Drive-Thru— with the latter being the most-played wrestling podcast as of February 2024 and both being among the most popular wrestling podcasts of all time.

1961Giorgos Koumoutsakos, Greek politician^[†]

Giorgos Koumoutsakos is a Greek politician with the liberal New Democracy party, and a member of the European Parliament.

1961Ty Tabor, American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist^[†]

Ty Tabor is an American musician. He is the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-lead vocalist for the hard rock band King's X. Tabor has a wide-ranging guitar style, from big guitar riffs to middling melodic passages. His use of volume swells and ambient passages add an elemental texture to his compositions. He names his main influences as the Beatles, Allan Holdsworth, Johnny Winter, Ace Frehley, Mel Galley, Brian May, Joe Perry, Mick Box, Buck Dharma, Steve Marriott, Dave Davies, Pete Townshend, Mark Farner, John Fogerty, Alex Lifeson, Phil Keaggy, and the original Alice Cooper band. In 2008, Tabor was added to the guitar show "Chop Shop's" list of "Top 100 Most Complete Guitar Players of All Time" at number 84.

1961Adnan Menderes, Turkish lawyer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Turkey (born 1899)^[†]

Ali Adnan Ertekin Menderes was a Turkish politician who served as Prime Minister of Turkey between 1950 and 1960. He was one of the founders of the Democrat Party (DP) in 1946, the fourth legal opposition party of Turkey. He was tried and hanged under the military junta after the 1960 coup d'état, along with two other cabinet members, Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Hasan Polatkan. One of the accusations brought against him was of him ordering the Istanbul pogrom against citizens of Greek ethnicity. He was the last Turkish political leader to be executed after a military coup. He is also one of the four political leaders of the Turkish Republic who have been honored with a mausoleum, the others being Kemal Atatürk, Süleyman Demirel, and Turgut Özal.

1961The world's first retractable roof stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.^[†]

The Civic Arena, formerly the Civic Auditorium and later Mellon Arena, was an arena located in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Civic Arena primarily served as the home to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the city's National Hockey League (NHL) franchise, from 1967 to 2010.

1961Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 crashes during takeoff from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, killing all 37 people on board.^[†]

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 was a Lockheed L-188 Electra aircraft, registration N137US, which crashed on take-off from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport September 17, 1961. All 37 on board were killed in the accident.