February 2, 1895 – Papa Bear George Halas is born in Chicago. He was a standout athlete at the University of Illinois. Enlisting in the Navy, he was named MVP in the 1919 Rose Bowl game playing for the winning team. He went on to join the Decatur Staleys football team (renamed the Bears when they moved to Chicago) as player-coach. He retired from coaching in 1968 with 318 wins and six NFL titles.
February 3, 1894 – Prolific American artist and illustrator Norman Rockwell is born in New York.
February 4, 1902 – American aviator Charles Lindbergh, the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, is born in Detroit, Michigan. His 1927 flight in “The Spirit of Saint Louis” is credited with ushering in a new era of global transportation. Later, the 1932 kidnapping and death of the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh created a media frenzy. It spurred Congress to pass the so-called “Lindbergh” law making it a federal crime to transport a kidnap victim across state lines.
February 5, 1900 – Illinois Governor, two-time Democratic presidential candidate (1952 and 1956), and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson II, is born in Los Angeles, California.