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October 1, 1961

Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.

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Headlines from October 1, 1961

Maris Fails to Hit No. 61, Gets Last Chance Today; Yankees Win, 3 to 1, but Right-Field Fans Are Sad MARIS IS HALTED, GETS LAST CHANCE

By John Drebinger

For a crowd of 29,182, which included 19,061 paying customers, guests of the Yankee management and some 9,000 roaming youngsters, it was a pleasant enough afternoon at the Stadium yesterday. It was a barren day, however, for the more serious-minded fans who had clustered in the right wing of the triple-decked grandstand and the right-field bleachers in the hope of catching Roger Maris' sixty-first home run.

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Notable Births

Gary Ablett Sr.

1961Gary Ablett Sr., Australian footballer[†]

Gary Robert Ablett Sr. is a former professional Australian rules footballer who represented Hawthorn and Geelong in the Australian Football League (AFL). Nicknamed "God", Ablett is widely regarded as one of Australian football's greatest players, and was especially renowned for his high-flying spectacular marks and his prolific goalkicking.

Rico Constantino

1961Rico Constantino, American wrestler and manager[†]

Americo Sebastiano Costantino is an American professional wrestler. He performed under the ring names Rico Costantino and Rico in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 1998 to 2004.

1961Corrie van Zyl, South African cricketer and coach[†]

Cornelius Johannes Petrus Gerthardus van Zyl is a former South African cricketer who played two One Day Internationals in 1992. As of 2018 he was employed by Cricket South Africa as general manager of cricket.

Notable Deaths

Ludwig Bemelmans

1961Ludwig Bemelmans, Italian-American author and illustrator (born 1898)[†]

Ludwig Bemelmans was an Austrian and American writer and illustrator of children's books and adult novels. He is known best for the Madeline picture books. Six were published, the first in 1939.

Historical Events

Defense Intelligence Agency

1961The United States Defense Intelligence Agency is formed, becoming the country's first centralized military intelligence organization.[†]

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) specializing in military intelligence.

Cameroon

1961East and West Cameroon merge to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon.[†]

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Its coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea, and the Atlantic Ocean. Due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West Africa and Central Africa, it has been categorized as being in both camps. Cameroon's population of nearly 31 million people speak 250 native languages, in addition to the national tongues of English and French, or both. Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad and the Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest. Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões, which became Cameroon in English. Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate in the north in the 19th century, and various ethnic groups of the west and northwest established powerful chiefdoms and fondoms.

1961The CTV Television Network, Canada's first private television network, is launched.[†]

The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned television network and is now a division of the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE. It is Canada's largest privately or commercially owned network consisting of 22 owned-and-operated stations nationwide and two privately owned affiliates, and has consistently been placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival Global Television Network in key markets.

Historical Context for October 1, 1961

In 1961, the world population was approximately 3,064,869,675 people[†]