BUFFALO, N.Y. — 10 years ago this week:
Buffalo was hit by a blizzard for the first time in nearly 20 years. It would be nearly nine more years before another blizzard, as defined by the National Weather Service, would strike the city after the one that hit this week in 2014.
20 years ago this week:
In his State of the State address, NY Gov. George Pataki breathlessly announced that Bass Pro "had formally indicated its desire to locate a multi million dollar flagship center in downtown Buffalo."
The concept of turning the former Memorial Auditorium into a giant sporting goods store never took hold, however, and six years later the project was abandoned. "Bass Pro" would also become a euphemism in Buffalo for big ticket development projects that couldn't be landed.
After three seasons of futility Gregg Williams was out as coach of the Buffalo Bills. The man named to replace him is the subject of this week's News 2 You Pop Quiz: Who succeeded Gregg Williams as coach of the Bills? (For the answer, watch the conclusion of the video attached to this story.)
Two rovers named Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars and began several years worth of sending heretofore undreamed of pictures and data from the red planet, at about the same time when President Bush was talking about building a space station base on the moon.
30 years ago this week:
The nation watched with interest as the investigation into an attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, who had been clubbed in the leg by an assailant as she wrapped up a practice session in Detroit, began to focus on Kerrigan's top rival for a spot on the US Olympic team; Tonya Harding.
Eventually Harding, her husband, her body guard, and a man hired to do the deed would all go down as having been part of a conspiracy and failed plot to keep Kerrigan out of the Olympics. The drama surrounding the story made it one of the top news stories of 1994, and pushed the public's interest in figure skating to unprecedented heights.
40 years ago this week:
The economy in Buffalo was so poor, and the jobless rate so high, that 9,000 people applied for work at the soon be opened Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown. That was 18 times as many applicants as the 500 jobs available starting at $3.35 per hour.
The Friends of the Canadiana held their inaugural meeting as part of their effort to save once fabled Chrystal Beach boat. While successful in getting the crumbling ship back to Buffalo, they could not complete their goal to restore it before it was cut up for scrap 20 years later.
And, a new law went into effect in the City of Buffalo requiring smoke detectors in all homes this week in 1984.
50 years ago this week:
The Niagara Falls Convention and Civic Center, the centerpiece to the city's urban renewal effort, opened with a basketball game between Canisius and Niagara before a crowd of 10,000.
The building, however, never lived up to its advanced billing and while hosting a variety of events over the next 28 years, it was often empty and continuously lost money before it closed in 2002 and was converted into the Seneca Niagara Casino.
