Those delicious golden sponge cakes filled with gooey white cream were invented by James Dewar, who worked in the Hostess baking plant in Chicago.

Dewar wanted to find a use for shortcake pans that sat idle outside of strawberry season. In 1930, he came up with the idea of using those pans to make cream-filled sponge cakes. He reportedly named them Twinkies after a billboard he saw for Twinkle-Toe Shoes.

Twinkies were originally made with banana filling, but Hostess switched to vanilla during a banana shortage during World War II. Despite a 2012 scare when Hostess faced financial difficulties, Twinkies remain one of America’s most beloved snack foods.

Learn more:
Snack Food Rewind: A History of our Favorite Treats – Delish.com
The official Hostess website
How Twinkies Work

Doug Buffone was born to a working-class family in Yatesboro, Pennsylvania on June 27, 1944. In college, he played football for the University of Louisville, making a name for himself as one of only four Louisville players leading in the number of tackles for three seasons.

Buffone was drafted to the Chicago Bears in 1966 and would go on to play 14 seasons with the team, the second-most in franchise history. A linebacker, Buffone would accumulate nearly 1,300 tackles and over 20 interceptions.

After retiring from the Bears, Buffone stayed involved in football, joining Ed O’Bradovich in hosting a Bears postgame radio show on WSCR-AM 670.

Learn more:
Friends remember ex-Bear Doug Buffone: ‘Hell of a football player, hell of a guy’ - Chicago Tribune
Doug Buffone’s passion, sense of humor will be missed - Chicago Tribune 

Bill Krueger was born on April 24, 1958, in Waukegan. He attended the University of Portland on a basketball scholarship before switching to baseball and pitching for the Portland Pilots’ baseball team his junior year.

While Krueger was signed by the Oakland Athletics in 1980 as a free agent, it wasn’t until 1983 that he made his major league debut and astounded the crowd by inducing a 4-6-3 double play and striking out Angels all-star Fred Lynn in the first inning. Krueger played for Oakland until he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers midway through the 1987 season.

Throughout his 13-year baseball career, Krueger would end up playing for the Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins, Montreal Expos, Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres. Even with the eight teams he played for, he would eventually come full circle, playing and winning his last game as a major leaguer where he started his career at Oakland Coliseum.  

Learn more:
Bill Krueger Statistics
Bill Krueger – MLB.com

Forty-five years ago today, the United States celebrated Earth Day for the first time. While the country was already seeing increased concern about pollution and general environmental degradation, the rallies taking place on April 22, 1970, helped start the modern environmental protection movement.

Student activists, led by Denis Hayes, helped organize the rallies and events that would take place across the country. Their work most definitely paid off. More than 20 million Americans participated in Earth Day activities in large cities and small towns alike.

The awareness and concern for the environment brought on by public rallies and events helped pass major environmental protection measures in the 1970s, which included the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.

While the environmental issues have evolved since the 1970s, concerns about climate change and other environmental issues makes public awareness and informational campaigns just as important today as they were then.

Looking for ways you can make an impact in protecting the environment? Visit this list of '50 Ways to Help the Planet.'

Learn more:
Meet the Organizers of the Very First Earth Day – Time Magazine
Earth Day Network
Earth Day and garden event calendar – Illinois Times

Bernard Alfred “Jack” Nitzsche was born in Chicago on April 22, 1937. Eventually moving to Los Angeles, Nitzsche began orchestrating and collaborating with legendary producer Phil Spector. Through that association, Nitzsche worked with the Rolling Stones, culminating with his choir arrangement on the massive hit “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

Shortly after working with the Rolling Stones, Nitzsche joined forces with Neil Young, a collaboration that began years earlier when Young was with Buffalo Springfield. After a few years in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s without much success, Nitzsche scored a hit with Buffy Saint-Marie with “Up Where We Belong” from the movie “An Officer and A Gentleman,” for which he won an Oscar.

Learn more:
All Music: Jack Nitzsche
Jack Nitzsche – IMDB