Front page flashback:<\/strong> Feb. 9, 2000<\/p>\n 2000:<\/strong> WGN-AM 720 morning host\u00a0Bob Collins<\/a>\u00a0was among three people killed in a midair collision of two small planes in Zion, about 45 miles north of\u00a0Chicago. Investigators concluded a chain of miscalculations that began with an inaccurate position estimated by Collins.<\/p>\n Weather records <\/strong>(from the National Weather Service, Chicago<\/a>)<\/p>\n 1896:<\/strong> The Big Ten Conference<\/a> was organized at the Palmer House. One faculty member from each of seven schools \u2014 Purdue University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and University of Wisconsin \u2014 established the fundamentals of the conference, which was officially incorporated as the \u201cIntercollegiate Conference Athletic Association\u201d in 1905.<\/p>\n 1921:<\/strong> Medill School of Journalism<\/a> opened at Northwestern University.<\/p>\n 1936:<\/strong> Jay Berwanger, University of Chicago<\/a> running back and Tribune Silver Football winner<\/a>, became the first pick<\/a> by the Philadelphia Eagles in the very first NFL draft at Philadelphia\u2019s Ritz-Carlton.<\/p>\n Vintage Chicago Tribune: Meet Jay Berwanger, the University of Chicago football player who won the 1st Heisman<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Two months earlier, New York\u2019s Downtown Athletic Club<\/a> named Berwanger, nicknamed \u201cGenius of the Gridiron,\u201d<\/a> the \u201cmost valuable football player east of the Mississippi River.\u201d The trophy was named for club athletic director John W. Heisman<\/a> the following year after Heisman died.<\/p>\n Chicago Tribune Silver Football: What to know about the Big Ten\u2019s highest honor<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cIt was to be my first airplane ride, and that was a bigger thrill than getting the trophy! They treated us royally in New York,\u201d Berwanger recalled<\/a> in 1992.<\/p>\n The trophy sat in the home of Berwanger\u2019s Aunt Gussie<\/a> for years, and she used it as a doorstop. Berwanger later donated it to his high school in Dubuque, Iowa. The Heisman committee later created a duplicate, which he donated to the University of Chicago, where it resides in the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center.<\/p>\n Berwanger never played<\/a> in the NFL. He died<\/a> in 2002.<\/p>\n 1974:<\/strong> \u201cGood Times,\u201d<\/a> a weekly comedy about a fictional Chicago family that lived in Cabrini-Green<\/a> (though the development was never mentioned during the show), premiered on CBS. Esther Rolle starred as Florida Evans, the family matriarch, who returned to Chicago after previously working as the housekeeper on \u201cMaude.\u201d The show aired for six seasons.<\/p>\n The painting shown during the show\u2019s closing credits<\/a> was \u201cThe Sugar Shack\u201d by Ernie Barnes<\/a>. It sold at auction in 2022 for $15.3 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chicago weather: A look back at our coldest recorded temperatures<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n 1977:<\/strong> Chicago emerged from a 43-day streak<\/a> of temperatures below freezing \u2014 the longest in city history.<\/p>\n 2019:<\/strong> Chicago\u2019s Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St. was renamed in honor of James M. Nederlander<\/a>, the former chairman of the theater-owning Nederlander Organization and a famous Broadway character, who died in 2016 at the age of 94.<\/p>\n Want more vintage Chicago?<\/p>\n Subscribe to the free\u00a0Vintage Chicago Tribune<\/a>\u00a0newsletter, join our\u00a0Chicagoland history Facebook group,<\/a> stay current with Today in Chicago History<\/a> and follow us on Instagram<\/a>\u00a0for more from Chicago\u2019s past.<\/p>\n Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0mmather@chicagotribune.com<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/CTC-L-WGN-HOST-BOB-COLLINS-PLANE-CRASH-2000-01-e1769744816941.jpg\")
The National Transportation Safety Board said a plane piloted by WGN radio host Bob Collins and an aircraft flown by a student pilot were in the same crowded airspace approaching the same runway at Waukegan Regional Airport around 3 p.m. on Feb. 8, 2000. All three people aboard the two aircraft were killed when they collided. (Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n\n
![\"University](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ctc-229058979.jpg\")
University of Chicago football player Jay Berwanger in 1936. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)<\/p>\n\n
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![\"Jay](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ctc-190663271.jpg\")
Jay Berwanger, shown here on Nov. 12, 1996, is the winner of the first Heisman Trophy and played football for the University of Chicago. (Ovie Carter\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n\n
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The marquee on the Oriental Theatre is partially changed to the new name, the Nederlander Theater, on Feb. 3, 2019. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n