St. Louis

December 23, 1929, is the birthday of bowling legend Dick Weber. Weber moved to Florissant in 1955 when St. Louis was the epicenter of bowling competitions, and he joined the famous Budweiser bowling team. Along with Don Carter, Weber was a star in a city of sports stars in the late ’50s and early ’60s. He won Bowler of the Year honors in 1961, 1963, and 1965 while also racking up 26 Pro Bowling Association tournament titles, as bowling became a widely watched spectator sport in person and on television.

On December 22, 1945, the busiest day in the history of St. Louis Union Station. Train stations across the country were packed with soldiers returning home from World War II. On busy days, more than 100,000 travelers would make their way through Union Station, but this day was especially busy, as travelers reported lines of people at every door and hardly any floor space available for standing. 

December 18, 1921, is the Birthday of St. Louis’s most famous waiter, “Mickey” Garagiola. In the 1940s, he worked at Oldani’s (Now Mamma’s) on the Hill when a chef, Terry Lane, messed up a ravioli order.  Mickey tasted them anyway and declared that, with some seasoning, they would be a hit.  Toasted ravioli was born as a St. Louis tradition.

On December 15, 1965, the Gemini 6A blasted off from Cape Kennedy in Florida. Walter Schirra and Thomas Stafford were the astronauts on board the spacecraft, which had been manufactured in St. Louis at McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. McDonnell had won the contract to build the space vehicles, making St. Louis ground zero for America’s human spaceflight program.

December 13, 1913, is the birthday of St. Louis boxer Archie Moore. He scored 131 knockouts in 27 years and held the heavyweight title from 1952 to 1962.

On December 10, 1980, the first Braggin’ Rights basketball game is held in St. Louis between the Mizzou Tigers and the University of Illinois Fighting Illini. Although the teams have a rivalry dating back to 1932, things escalated a notch when the annual matchup between the two squads moved to a neutral site midway between the two campuses.

On December 9, 1878, Joseph Pulitzer buys the St. Louis Dispatch for $2,500. Pulitzer arrived in the city penniless as a teen, and he took jobs such as waiter and reporter. After becoming disillusioned with politics, all before the age of 30, Pulitzer bought the newspaper at a sheriff’s sale, then immediately merged it with the St. Louis Post, to create the Post-Dispatch.

On December 8, 2011 Albert Pujols left St. Louis Cardinals to play for the Angles and the Dodgers. He returned to the Cardinals in 2021, where he hit his 700th homerun and won Comeback Player of the Year for the National League. 

On December 7, 1914, Barnes Hospital opened in St. Louis and admitted 26 patients.  Later that year Children’s Hospital and the Washington University Medical School moved nearby and thus began the present medical complex.  

On December 4, 2009, Up in the Air with George Clooney hits the big screen, with St. Louis as the backdrop. For several weeks, the only thing that people in St. Louis were talking about was where George Clooney was spotted that day.