Today in History: November 23, Doug Flutie’s ‘Hail Mary’ beats Miami

Today is Monday, Nov. 23, the 327th day of 2026. There are 38 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Nov. 23, 1984, Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie completed one of the most famous passes in college football history, connecting with Gerald Phelan for a 48-yard touchdown with no time left on the clock as Boston College defeated the Miami Hurricanes 47-45.

Also on this date:

In 1863, thousands of Union soldiers under Gen. Ulysses S. Grant marched out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and battled Confederate forces through Nov. 25, forcing their retreat into Georgia in a significant blow to the South in the American Civil War.

In 1939, early in World War II, the British armed merchant cruiser HMS Rawalpindi was shelled and sunk in an engagement with two German warships southeast of Iceland, leaving more than 200 dead and only a few dozen survivors who were taken prisoner.

In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed Nov. 25 a day of national mourning following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

In 1971, the People’s Republic of China was seated in the United Nations Security Council.

In 1980, an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people were killed by a series of earthquakes that devastated southern Italy.

In 1996, a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 ran out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean near the Comoro Islands, killing 125 of the 175 people on board, including all three hijackers.

In 2005, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected president of Liberia, becoming Africa's first democratically elected female head of state. She guided her nation through recovery after its exit from a decade-long civil war.

In 2006, former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko (leet-vee-NYEN’-koh) died in London from radiation poisoning after making a deathbed statement blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In 2008, the U.S. government unveiled a bold plan to rescue Citigroup, injecting a fresh $20 billion into the troubled firm and guaranteeing hundreds of billions of dollars in risky assets.

In 2011, Yemen’s authoritarian President Ali Abdullah Saleh (AH’-lee ahb-DUH’-luh sah-LEH’) agreed to step down amid a fierce uprising to oust him after 33 years in power. (After formally ceding power in February 2012, he was killed in 2017 by Houthi rebels who were once his allies.)

In 2024, Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut killed at least 20 people and wounded dozens more, the latest strikes in renewed fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants. (A U.S.-brokered ceasefire would be reached on Nov. 27, with sporadic violations of that truce afterward.)

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Franco Nero (“Django”) is 85. Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas is 82. Singer Bruce Hornsby is 72. Actor Maxwell Caulfield is 67. Composer Nicolas Bacri is 65. Poet and author Jennifer Michael Hecht is 61. Olympic gold medal sprinter Asafa Powell is 44. Actor Lucas Grabeel is 42. Ice hockey player Nicklas Bäckström is 39. Singer-actor Miley Cyrus is 34. Actor Bradley Steven Perry is 28. Actor Chloe Coleman is 18.