February 17, 1959
Olympic Gold Medalist Rowdy Gaines is born in Winter Haven.
The freestyle swimmer brought home three gold medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Gaines dedicated a great deal of his time and talent to the local community and was honored for his work.
February 18, 1987
Orange County High School students get the freedom to smoke.
Students were already permitted to smoke in designated areas, but the new rules expanded the areas outside.
At first, supporters thought the plan would get smokers out of the bathroom.
But today, tobacco use of any kind is banned on school grounds.
February 19, 1990
Drug testing begins for teachers in the Embry-Riddle flight program.
The plan was designed to improve safety at the Daytona Beach school.
The testing applied to all workers, including student employees.
The random tests were some of the first ever to be FAA approved for a college or university.
February 20, 1962
Astronaut John Glenn makes history by becoming the first American to orbit the Earth.
Glenn blasted off in the Friendship 7 spacecraft from Cape Canaveral.
His mission only lasted five hours, but meant a great leap in America's space race with the Soviet Union.
Glenn made history again 36 years later at age 72 when he went into orbit on the shuttle Discovery.
February 21, 1949
Mary McLeod Bethune receives an honorary degree from Rollins College.
She was the first African-American to receive such an honor from a traditionally white southern school.
Bethune also made history in 1904 when she took $1.50 of her own money to start a private college.
The school later evolved into Bethune-Cookman College, which is still thriving today.
February 22, 1959
The racing capital of the world, Daytona Beach, held the first Daytona 500.
The race was won by Lee Petty, who drove an Oldsmobile across the finish line.
However, Petty did not find out that he won for three days. It took judges that long to figure out the victory, following a photo finish.
February 23, 1987
A milestone for Orlando's premier tourist attraction.
Walt Disney World announced that 1986 was their most successful year since opening in 1971.
They said 23.9 million people visited the resort. The gain was an 11% increase from the previous year.
Since then as the resort has grown, the attendance record has been broken time and time again.