Jerome Davis put North Carolina on the bull riding and rodeo map, becoming a competitive bull rider at age 11 and going on to win his first event as a freshman in high school. After many championships, Davis was paralyzed from the chest down after being thrown from a bull.
Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History
On August 9, 1949, the first locally-established arts council in the United States was formed in Winston-Salem.
On August 9, 2003, a flood washed away the Pisgah Covered Bridge. Since rebuilt, the Pisgah Covered Bridge is the only surviving covered bridge in Randolph County, which once had more covered bridges than any other county in North Carolina.
On August 8, 1740, politician and zealous advocate for the Patriot cause Abner Nash was born.
On August 7, 1972, Negro League ballplayer and Rocky Mount native Walter Fenner “Buck” Leonard was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Kiffin Rockwell became one of the first Americans to join the Lafayette Escadrille, an American volunteer aerial combat squadron. In May 1916, Rockwell became the first American to shoot down an enemy plane. He was one of only four North Carolinians who flew for France in World War I.
On August 7, 1945, country singer and WBT radio personality Fred Kirby of Charlotte wrote the hit song “Atomic Power.” Kirby was so moved by the news of the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima the previous day that he was inspired to write the song