This Day in History

On Sept. 25, 1957, nine Black students who had been forced to withdraw from Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, because of unruly white crowds were escorted to class by members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division and the National Guard.

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In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and sighted the Pacific Ocean.

In 1789, the first United States Congress adopted 12 amendments to the Constitution and sent them to the states for ratification. (Ten of the amendments became the Bill of Rights.)

In 1956, the first trans-Atlantic telephone cable officially went into service with a three-way ceremonial call between New York, Ottawa and London.

In 1978, 144 people were killed when a Pacific Southwest Airlines Boeing 727 and a private plane collided over San Diego.

In 2005, in the presence of disarmament observers, the Irish Republican Army decommissioned its arsenal of weapons, officially ending a 36-year armed campaign for a unified Irish state.

In 2012, President Barack Obama, speaking to the U.N. General Assembly, pledged U.S. support for Syrians trying to oust President Bashar Assad, calling him "a dictator who massacres his own people."

In 2013, skipper Jimmy Spithill and Oracle Team USA won the America's Cup with one of the greatest comebacks in sports history, speeding past Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand in the winner-take-all Race 19 on San Francisco Bay.

In 2018, Bill Cosby was sentenced to three-to-10 years in prison for drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home. (After serving nearly three years, Cosby went free in June 2021 after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction.)

Today's Birthdays: Basketball Hall of Famer Hubie Brown is 92. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is 82. Actor-producer Michael Douglas is 81. Model Cheryl Tiegs is 78. Actor Mimi Kennedy is 77. Film director Pedro Almodovar is 76. Actor-director Anson Williams is 76. Actor Mark Hamill is 74. Basketball Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo is 74. Actor Heather Locklear is 64. Actor Aida Turturro is 63. Actor Tate Donovan is 62. Actor Maria Doyle Kennedy is 61. Basketball Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen is 60. Actor Will Smith is 57. Actor Catherine Zeta-Jones is 56. Football Hall of Famer John Lynch is 54. Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups is 49. Actor Clea DuVall is 48. Rapper T.I. is 45. Actor-rapper Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) is 42. Actor Zach Woods is 41. Actor Jordan Gavaris is 36. Actor Leah Jeffries is 16.