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News 2 You: Remembering when Guardian Angels descended on Buffalo, and the Reginald Denny Trial

Our weekly walk back through time when these stories, and more, were all News 2 You.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — 10 years ago this week in 2013:

Ground was broken to construct the new University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine at Main and Allen Streets. Built at a cost of nearly $400 million the project would take three years to complete. 

NY State Education Commissioner John King embarked on a series of town hall meetings to extol what he thought were the virtues of the common core curriculum. However, at the first such session, King received such an earful from angry parents that he left the stage and canceled the rest of the scheduled forums. Today King serves as Chancellor of the SUNY System.

The Buffalo Jills still existed, and when tickets went on sale for the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament to be held in Buffalo the following spring, it marked the first time that tickets could only be purchased online, as many fans found out when they sought to buy them in person at the box office at what was then called First Niagara Center this week in 2013.

20 years ago this week in 2003

Darryl Talley saw his name become the latest to be placed on the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame out at the stadium.

It was announced that John Simpson would be coming in as the new President of the University at Buffalo, and Henry Mansell, the 12th bishop of the Buffalo Catholic Diocese, announced he would be leaving after 8 years after being appointed by Pope John Paul II to become the new Archbishop of Hartford, Connecticut.

Kirk Jones became only the second person to go over Niagara Falls without a barrel and survive the plunge, although he was the first person to do it on purpose.

Some of his friends said he did it for fame, however, Jones later said he was trying to kill himself.

Jones would return to the Falls 14 years later, taking another plunge, inside an inflatable ball. He would not survive that trip and perished.

30 years ago this week in 1993:

Four black men were acquitted of the most serious charges against them in the racially motivated attack on truck driver Reginald Denny. Denny, who was white, was dragged from his rig, beaten, and head his head smashed with a brick.

The attack on Denny was televised live during the riots that erupted in 1992 when Los Angeles police officers were acquitted of criminal charges in the Rodney King beating.

During a moment in the courtroom, Denny hugged the mother of the defendant who fractured his skull, Damian Williams, who served a few years for a charge of mayhem before being released from prison early. 

A few years later, Williams was convicted of murdering another man and is still serving time for that today.

Credit: File

40 years ago this week in 1983:

The first members of the Buffalo chapter of the Guardian Angels completed their training and were beginning to hit the streets.

Members of the citizen safety patrol were distinguishable by their trademark red berets and red and white tee shirts.

Their leader, who had visited Buffalo several times, is also the subject of this week's News 2 You Pop Quiz: Who was the founder of Guardian Angels, which eventually grew to have chapters in 130 cities in 13 countries worldwide?

This was back when making a long-distance call still might require the assistance of an operator at New York Telephone which operated its main switchboard at its building on Church Street downtown, and when the New Jersey Nets and Philadelphia 76ers played a pre-season contest at the Aud.

That same week, no less than seven Hall Of Famers took the field for that year's World Series between Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Believe it or not, the Orioles, who won in five games, have yet to return to the World Series in the 40 years since they have crowned the champions of Major League Baseball this week in 1983, when it was all News 2 You.

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