Today in Chicago History: Hale Irwin makes putt for birdie in sudden death to win US Open at Medinah

Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 18, according to the Tribune’s archives.

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Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

High temperature: 98 degrees (1954)
Low temperature: 45 degrees (1999)
Precipitation: 1.8 inches (1892)
Snowfall: Trace (1998)

William Howard Taft, from Ohio, was nominated for president on June 18, 1908, at the Republican National Convention held at the Chicago Coliseum. (Chicago Tribune)

1908: Then U.S. Secretary of War William Howard Taft was nominated for president on the first ballot — receiving 702 out of a possible 980 votes — at the Republican convention in Chicago.

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Taft defeated William Jennings Bryan on Nov. 3, 1908, to become president.

Hale Irwin’s 10-foot putt for birdie on the No. 1 hole in sudden death during the U.S. Open at Medinah on June 18, 1990, was the stuff of dreams — his own. “I can say now that I had a dream two weeks ago I won the Open. I told my wife about it,” the three-time Open champion said. (Chicago Tribune)

1990: Hale Irwin, at 45, became the oldest man to win the U.S. Open when he beat Mike Donald in a 19-hole playoff at Medinah’s famed No. 3 championship course. Irwin, who won Opens in 1974 and 1979, and Donald tied with 280 scores after 72 holes. Both pros shot 74s in the 18-hole playoff. Then they went to the No. 1 tee to begin a sudden-death showdown. Irwin birdied the first hole with a 3. Donald parred the hole.

5 things you might not know about Chicago native Ted Kaczynski — the ‘Unabomber’

1996: “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski — the Chicago-area native who became a mathematics professor then a recluse — was indicted in four attacks, including mail bombs that killed two men. These were the first charges connecting him with the 18-year-long chain of mail bombings that led to three deaths, 23 injuries and a brief shutdown of air traffic and mail service on the West Coast.

Kaczynski pleaded guilty in 1998 — almost 20 years after his first pipe bomb exploded — choosing to spend life in prison rather than be portrayed at trial as mentally ill.

Players warm up behind the newly extended safety netting before the Chicago White Sox take on the Miami Marlins on July 22, 2019, at Rate Field in Chicago. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

2019: The Chicago White Sox announced plans to extend protective netting to the foul poles at Rate Field, the first major league team to do so, after two incidents involving foul balls hitting fans — on May 30 in Houston, and at Rate Field on June 10.

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