Today is Friday, Sept. 25, the 269th day of 2020. There are 97 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Sept. 25, 1957, nine Black students who’d been forced to withdraw from Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, because of unruly white crowds were escorted to class by members of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division.

On this date:

In 1956, the first trans-Atlantic telephone cable officially went into service with a three-way ceremonial call between New York, Ottawa and London.

In 1962, Sonny Liston knocked out Floyd Patterson in round one to win the world heavyweight title at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

In 1974, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tommy John underwent an experimental graft reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow of his throwing arm to repair a career-ending injury; the procedure, which proved successful, is now referred to as “Tommy John surgery.”

In 1978, 144 people were killed when a Pacific Southwest Airlines Boeing 727 and a private plane collided over San Diego.

In 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor was sworn in as the first female justice on the Supreme Court.

In 2016, golf legend Arnold Palmer, 87, died in Pittsburgh. Jose Fernandez, 24, ace right-hander for the Miami Marlins, was killed in a boating accident with two friends off Miami Beach.

In 2018, Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison for drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home.

Today’s Birthdays: Broadcast journalist Barbara Walters is 91. Folk singer Ian Tyson is 87. Actor-producer Michael Douglas is 76. Model Cheryl Tiegs is 73. Actor Mimi Kennedy is 72. Actor-director Anson Williams is 71. Actor Mark Hamill is 69. Actor Michael Madsen is 62. Actor Heather Locklear is 59. TV personality Keely Shaye Smith is 57. Basketball Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen is 55. Actor Jason Flemyng is 54. Actor Will Smith is 52. Actor Hal Sparks is 51. Actor Catherine Zeta-Jones is 51.