FLASHBACKS: FROM MICHAEL JORDAN’S WEDDING, TUPAC SHOOTING TO KID ROCK-TOMMY LEE DUSTUP
September 2, 1989: Basketball star Michael Jordan marries Juanita Vanoy, who had threatened him with a paternity suit over their 10-month-old son, at 3:30 a.m. at the Little White Chapel. After years of rumors about marital problems and infidelity, they divorce in 2006.
September 3, 1973: The Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Labor Day Telethon, which began in 1966 in New York and later relocated to Los Angeles, moves to Las Vegas. The 21-hour show from the Sahara Hotel raises a record $12.4 million.
September 4, 1953: Las Vegas Park stages its first thoroughbred races. But the dream of bringing a big-time track to Las Vegas is doomed by corruption, glitches and poor support, and the ponies gallop away for good a year later.
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September 5, 1976: Frank Sinatra shocks Jerry Lewis at the MDA Telethon at the Sahara by bringing Dean Martin onstage for the legendary comedy duo’s first reunion in 20 years. After thunderous applause, they hug and smile and Jerry quips, “So, you working?”
September 6, 2005: Cyclist Lance Armstrong and singer Sheryl Crow, who met at Andre Agassi’s annual charity gala in Las Vegas in 2003, announce their engagement. They call it off five months later because she wants kids and he’s had enough.
September 7, 1996: Rapper Tupac Shakur is fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting on Flamingo Road near the Strip. He dies six days later at age 25. Despite widespread suspicion the murder is linked to a feud among rappers, no arrests are made.
September 8, 1991: The annual convention of the Tailhook Association, an organization of Navy aviators, begins at the Las Vegas Hilton. Reports of drunken debauchery and sexual assaults spark a scandal that damages senior officers’ careers and results in new safeguards for treatment of women in the military.
September 9, 2007: Kid Rock and Tommy Lee, both ex-husbands of Pamela Anderson, brawl at the MTV Video Music Awards ceremony at The Palms. On stage, Jamie Foxx jokingly urges America to “stop all this white-on-white crime,” adding, "Who won? I was in the bathroom.”
Research by Mike Precker