1984 Ad

Jet, March 6, 2000

February 28, 1984--

Michael Jackson, entertainer, won eight Grammy Awards on this day.

* Album of the year: Thriller

* Record of the year: Beat It

* Best Rock Vocal Performance Male: Beat It

* Best R&B Vocal Performance Male: Billie Jean

* Best Pop Vocal Performance Male: Thriller

* Best New R&B song: Billie Jean

* Best Recording for Children: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

* Producer of the year (non-classical) with Quincy Jones.

Jackson was the first artist ever to win eight Grammys in one night, and he still holds that record.

March 1, 1994--

Leonard S. Coleman Jr. became the highest-ranking Black official in professional team sports when he was unanimously elected president of baseball's National League on this day. He was serving as Major League Baseball director of market development and had been recruited to baseball from investment banking in December 1991 by Faye Vincent, then baseball commissioner. Coleman was a former semi-pro outfielder. After he graduated from Princeton in 1971, he earned two graduate degrees from Harvard. Coleman served as a missionary in Africa for the Episcopal Church from 1976 through 1980. He then became president of the Greater Newark Urban Coalition. He served in state government from 1982-1988 as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Energy and commissioner of the Dept. of Community Affairs. He later worked for Kidder, Peabody and Company as vice president of municipal finance before he entered baseball.