| Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area from July 20-26, according to the Tribune’s archives. Are we missing an important event? Email me. — Kori Rumore Johnny Weissmuller at the finish of the 400-meter freestyle swimming event at the Paris Olympic Games on July 18, 1924. (Archives CNOSF/Getty-AFP) July 20, 1924: Johnny Weissmuller — the Austrian born, Chicago raised future “Tarzan” actor — won gold at the Paris Olympics in swimming. He won five gold medals in the 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games. Walter Polovchak lets his T-shirt express his feelings on Dec. 31, 1981, during a legal setback.
“I’m happy to be in America,” it says. (Walter Kale/Chicago Tribune) July 21, 1980: Twelve-year-old Walter Polovchak, who said he did not want to go back home to Ukraine when his family returned to the then-Soviet Union, was granted political asylum in Chicago. Polovchak was dubbed the “the littlest defector” by the media during a yearslong court battle between his parents and the U.S. government that raised complex questions about personal freedoms, parental rights and government overreach. Twenty-eight-year-old Marla Collins, ballgirl at Wrigley Field for the Chicago Cubs since 1982, was fired on July 22, 1986, after revealing photos of her were released in an edition
of Playboy magazine. “After learning that she had been fired, Collins headed for a bar,” the Tribune reported. (Chicago Tribune) July 22, 1986: The Chicago Cubs fired ballgirl Marla Collins after she posed for a Playboy pictorial. "Sportswriters pored over the photo evidence for hours Tuesday afternoon in the Wrigley Field pressbox, trying desperately to determine just how offensive the exposé was,
" Tribune reporter Fred Mitchell wrote. "Meanwhile, the Cubs won a game. The score was 6-4. We think." July 23, 1903: E. Pfennig, a Chicago physician, bought Ford's first Model A for $850. His check, deposited July 15, helped the new company, whose finances were $223.65 at the time. It was a hot summer in 1934 and the Biograph Theater on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago advertised it was “cooled by refrigeration” just two
days before the hottest temperature was recorded of 105 degrees. (Chicago Tribune historical photo) July 24, 1934: Chicago recorded its hottest temperature — 105 degrees. Sea lions arrived at Lincoln Park Zoo by train in July 1889. Nineteen of the 21
animals shipped to Chicago from Santa Barbara, Calif. survived. (Chicago Tribune) July 25, 1889: Nineteen sea lions arrived at Lincoln Park Zoo from Santa Barbara, Calif. They were captured by Capt. Cyrus Alvah Eastman, who hand-fed the sea lions fish throughout their weeklong train journey to Chicago. "They get used to a man quickly,
" he told a Tribune reporter. "I've no doubt they will eat from the keeper's hand in a short time." Months later, zoo neighbors complained to commissioners about the noise created by these animals: " … during the long watches of the night most of them, having no place to rest, swim back and forth in the pond and bark incessantly to express their disapproval of their cramped quarters,” the Tribune reported on Oct. 22, 1889. Members of the Jesse White Tumblers help get festivities started at the “World’s Largest Block Party on July 25, 1986, outside Old St. Patrick’s Church at Adams and Desplaines streets
in Chicago. The neighborhood get-together was held to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the church. (David Butow/Chicago Tribune) July 26, 1985: Old St. Patrick's Church held its first "World's Largest Block Party." Tickets were $15 and entertainment included Stanley Paul & His Orchestra and the Jesse White Tumblers. The church discontinued the annual event in 2020. Want more vintage Chicago? Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, follow Today in Chicago History, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore at krumore@chicagotribune.com. | 
