AUGUST 13 – 1864 Deep Bottom Campaign; 1972 Happy birthday Kevin Plank, founder of Under-Armour; 1860 Happy Birthday Annie Oakley
AUGUST 13
1864 – Second Deep Bottom Run Campaign begins.
…It had several other names, New Market Road, Bailey’s Creek, Charles ity Road, and White’s Tavern.
The southerners called it Fussell’s Mill. Union Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock v Robert E. Lee and Charles W. Field. The result: Confederate Victory. Union General Ulysses Grant had erroneously believed that this section between Richmond and Petersburg was lightly defended, and concentrated his troops in that area. On the night of August 14, Hancock and his men crossed James River at Deep Bottom to invade Richmond, organizing a movement against the Weldon Railroad at Petersburg.
Between August 14 and the 20th, the Union army attempted to find a weak point, and initially had some success breaking through the Confederate Line and Fussell’s Mill. However Confederate counterattacks drove the Yankees out of a line of captured works. The battle raged on throughout the rest of the day. By the 20th, the Yankees returned to the south side of James and the Confederates accomplished their mission of driving back the Union forces. The Federals lost around 3,000 men, the Rebels around 1,500, including Confederate general John Chambliss during cavalry fighting on Charles City Road.
After continual skirmishing, the Federals returned to the Southside of the James on the 20th, maintaining their bridgehead at Deep Bottom.
1972 – Happy birthday Kevin Plank, maker of Under Armour.
From Kensington Maryland , right on the outskirts of DC, Kevin was a self-made hustler from a young age. A true entrepreneur, he didn’t start out as one, he just wanted to solve a problem, and the problem was a gross one. During high school football practice or a game, a player can add up to three pounds of sweat in his cotton T-shirt. I wasn’t a football player in high school, I was a swimmer, so if I sweated it was no big deal. Kevin wanted to find something that would stretch, absorb, and dry quickly.
He spent his own money driving up to New York City visiting fabric stores until he found the kind he needed to do the trick. He would attend the University of Maryland and graduate in 1996, where he developed and sold Cupid’s Valentine, selling roses for a total sum $17k. He would use that capital to fund Under Armour, and keep this new type of T-Shirt in his grandma’s basement.
He approached attorney Howie Bush, a.k.a. Dude Robe to help him set up his business, but he regrettably turned it down. At the time, Kevin was trying to pitch his product at NFL Europe, but Howie just didn’t trust a guy who was selling inventory out of Granny’s basement. That rejection would cost Busch around $250M, he would later confess.
That’s right!
Under Armour turned into a $7B company, all because Kevin wouldn’t give up. Look, taking three pounds of sweat, or any liquid for that matter, will just make you a more efficient player on the football field
. In my case, I had to lose three pounds of hair off my legs, and I wasn’t willing to do that. Which probably explains why I always came in second? But getting back to Kevin. These days, aside from the fact that UnderArmour actually took a hit for the first time in 2017, along with Macy’s, Sears, Twitter, Ford Motor Company and a couple dozen others, Kevin’s still competing with giants such as Nike and Adidas for sports apparel.
Kevin’s used to taking a hit, and that’s never slowed him down before. When he started out, he didn’t know how to operate a sewing machine, but he figured it out. Kevin tells young entrepreneurs, be ready to adapt, change and grow your product. There’s too many entrepreneur wannabes who feel the public would benefit from their product at face value. But a lot of times it doesn’t work out like that. “You’ve got to make it right, you’ve got to get it ready. Push yourself to where you need to be.” And just like the game of football itself, you got to stay on the offensive and get that first down just to stay on the field.
Then work on your next first down, and keep going down the field until you score. Kevin Plank everyone, like a boss!
1887 – Happy birthday Julius Freed. He had an orange juice stand in LA in the 1920s. It did pretty well, raking in over $20 per day, or well over $250 by today’s currency. His real estate broker, Bill Hamlin, came up with a sweet version to drink it so the acid wouldn’t bother his stomach so much. Julius threw in some powdered egg whites and cream to make it frothier and sweeter, and people started lining up the streets at his stand, yelling, Give me an orange, Julius! His contribution to American us still in huge demand at every mall in America and beyond to this day.
1860 – Happy birthday Annie Oakley. She was an amazing sharpshooter from the Old West who toured with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. She was born Phoebe Ann Moses on August 13, 1860 in Drake County, OH. She recalled her best shot came when she was eight years old. She used a rifle to shoot a squirrel in the head to preserve the meat for that night’s squirrel stew supper.
Later on in life, she beat a professional shooter named Frank Butler by one clay pigeon. The two had a mutual respect for each other, and married in June 1876. Annie and Frank were a team on exhibition shows and she was called the peerless wing and rifle shot. Sitting Bull was particularly fond of her, calling her Little Sure Shot.
They joined Balliol Bills Wild West tour, where she would either shoot a cigar out of her husband’s mouth or a quarter from his fingertips. She could also hit playing cards from 30 paces and even shoot distant targets from behind while looking in a mirror. In the 1900s during WWI she raised money for the Red Cross, taught women how to shoot. She was in a nearly debilitating car crash in the early 1920s, but she did manage to perform a bit in 1924. She died upon retirement in Greenville, OH, at age 66. Her husband, Frank, died 18 days later. She was immortalized in 1946 in the Irving Berlin Annie Get Your Gun, and countless other film, book and TV adaptation. Reba McIntyre played the role of Annie in the Broadway musical.