Today is the 162nd day of 2014 and the 84th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1770, Captain James Cook discovered the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia by accidentally running aground on a shoal.

In 1963, Alabama Gov. George Wallace, confronted by National Guard troops, allowed the University of Alabama to be desegregated.

In 1963, Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire at a busy intersection in Saigon, South Vietnam, in protest of the government's religious persecution.

In 2001, Timothy McVeigh, convicted in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that resulted in the deaths of at least 168 people, was executed by lethal injection.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Richard Strauss (1864-1949), composer/conductor; Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997), explorer/inventor/writer; Vince Lombardi (1913-1970), football coach; William Styron (1925-2006), author; Gene Wilder (1933- ), actor; Joe Montana (1956- ), football player; Hugh Laurie (1959- ), actor; Peter Dinklage (1969- ), actor; Joshua Jackson (1978- ), actor; Diana Taurasi (1982- ), basketball player; Shia LaBeouf (1986- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Captain James Cook named the Glass House Mountains in Queensland, Australia, after glass furnaces familiar in his native Yorkshire, England.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1919, Sir Barton won the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win horse racing's Triple Crown.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence." -- Vince Lombardi

TODAY'S NUMBER: 12 -- percentage of the student population enrolled for the fall 2013 semester at the University of Alabama that was African-American.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (June 5) and full moon (June 12).

Today is the 161st day of 2014 and the 83rd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1935, Dr. Robert Smith and Bill Wilson founded Alcoholics Anonymous in Akron, Ohio.

In 1967, Israel and Syria agreed to a cease-fire, ending the Six-Day War.

In 2003, NASA launched the Mars exploration rover Spirit from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

In 2007, HBO aired the final episode of the critically acclaimed series "The Sopranos."

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Hattie McDaniel (1895-1952), actress; Prince Philip (1921- ), husband of Queen Elizabeth II; Judy Garland (1922-1969), actress/singer; Nat Hentoff (1925- ), historian/author; Maurice Sendak (1928-2012), author/illustrator; Jeanne Tripplehorn (1963- ), actress; Elizabeth Hurley (1965- ), model/actress; Bill Burr (1968- ), actor/comedian; Tara Lipinski (1982- ), figure skater; Andy Schleck (1985- ), cyclist; Kate Upton (1992- ), model/actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Texas (152,000) and California (134,000) have the largest prisoner populations in the United States, but the highest incarceration rates per population of 100,000 belong to Louisiana (867) and Mississippi (686).

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1978, Affirmed won the Belmont Stakes, becoming the 11th horse to win horse racing's Triple Crown.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Children do live in fantasy and reality: they move back and forth very easily in a way that we no longer remember how to do." -- Maurice Sendak

TODAY'S NUMBER: 15 -- age of Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds when he pitched two-thirds of an inning against the St. Louis Cardinals on this day in 1944, becoming the youngest player to ever take the field in a major league baseball game.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (June 5) and full moon (June 12).

Today is the 160th day of 2014 and the 82nd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1790, John Barry's "The Philadelphia Spelling Book" became the first copyrighted work in the United States.

In 1856, nearly 500 Mormon "handcart pioneers" began a pilgrimage on foot from Iowa City, Iowa, to Salt Lake City, Utah.

In 1954, Army counsel Joseph Welch confronted Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy hearings.

In 1999, Yugoslavia signed a peace treaty pledging that Serbian forces would withdraw from Kosovo in 11 days.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Cole Porter (1891-1964), composer; Robert Cummings (1910-1990), actor; Les Paul (1915-2009), musician/inventor; Robert McNamara (1916-2009), World Bank head/U.S. secretary of defense; Jackie Wilson (1934-1984), singer-songwriter; Dick Vitale (1939- ), sportscaster; Gregory Maguire (1954- ), author; Michael J. Fox (1961- ), actor; Aaron Sorkin (1961- ), screenwriter/producer; Johnny Depp (1963- ), actor; Natalie Portman (1981- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Legendary guitarist Les Paul is the only person to be inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

TODAY'S SPORTS: Secretariat, who claimed horse racing's Triple Crown on this day in 1973, was one of three non-human athletes included in ESPN's list of the 100 greatest 20th-century athletes.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above. Don't fence me in." -- Cole Porter

TODAY'S NUMBER: 5 -- weeks that Robert McNamara served as the president of Ford Motor Co. before he was appointed the secretary of defense in 1960. McNamara was the first Ford president to not be related to founder Henry Ford.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (June 5) and full moon (June 12).