Famous Birthdays on July 19

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Russian Futurist movement. He co-signed the Futurist manifesto, A Slap in the Face of Public Taste (1913), and wrote such poems as A Cloud in Trousers (1915) and Backbone Flute (1916). Mayakovsky produced a large and diverse body of work during the course of his career: he wrote poems, wrote and directed plays, appeared in films, edited the art journal LEF, and produced agitprop posters in support of the Communist Party during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922.

Max Fleischer was an American animator and studio owner. Born in Kraków, in Austrian Poland, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became a pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon and served as the head of Fleischer Studios, which he co-founded with his younger brother Dave. He brought such comic characters as Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Popeye, and Superman to the movie screen, and was responsible for several technological innovations, including the Rotoscope, the "Follow the Bouncing Ball" technique pioneered in the Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes films, and the "Stereoptical Process". Film director Richard Fleischer was his son.

Gaston Glock was an Austrian engineer and businessman. He founded the company Glock in 1963. When he entered the 1980 competition for a new Austrian service pistol, he hired two engineers who had worked on the development of HK's first two polymer-frame pistols, the VP70 and P9 models. The first Glock pistol, chambered in 9x19mm and named the Glock 17 because of it being Gaston Glock's 17th patent, and not because it holds 17 rounds, entered Austrian military and police service in 1982. It became one of the most influential and popular handguns of the 20th century, leading to a succession of other models in a variety of sizes and chamberings as well as an industry-wide trend toward polymer-frame, striker-fired pistols.

Ilie Theodoriu Năstase is a Romanian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the inaugural world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 40 weeks. Năstase is one of ten players to have won over 100 total ATP-level titles, with 64 in singles and 45 in doubles, among which seven majors: two in singles, three in men's doubles and two in mixed doubles. He also won four Masters Grand Prix year-end championships. He was the first professional sports figure to sign an endorsement contract with Nike, doing so in 1972. Năstase also wrote several novels in French in the 1980s, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991.

Adam John Morrison is an American former professional basketball player. Morrison played for three years at Gonzaga University and was considered to be one of the top college basketball players in 2005–06. He was a finalist for the Naismith and the Wooden Award. He was named Co-Player of the Year with Duke's JJ Redick by the United States Basketball Writers Association and won the 2006 Chevrolet Player of the Year award. He played for the Charlotte Bobcats from 2006 to 2009, and for the L.A. Lakers from 2009 to 2010, where he won two NBA championships.

Roger Michael Humphrey Binny is a former Indian cricketer who was the 36th president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He was the president of Karnataka State Cricket Association from 2019 to 2022. Binny was part of the India Team that won the 1983 Cricket World Cup and the 1985 World Championship of Cricket, being India's highest wicket-taker in both tournaments. He was also the head coach of the Indian U-19 team that won the 2000 Under-19 Cricket World Cup and has served as a national selector. He has also worked as a developmental officer in the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). The Indian team won the T20 World Cup 2024 and Champions Trophy 2025 when Binny was the president of BCCI.

Nicholas Nicholie Koback was a Russian American professional baseball player whose career spanned eight seasons, three of which were spent with the Major League Baseball (MLB) Pittsburgh Pirates (1953–55). At the age of 17, Koback signed with the Pirates as a bonus baby out of Hartford Public High School. He made his MLB debut without ever playing in the minor leagues. At the time, he was the youngest Pittsburgh Pirates player ever. During his first career start, Koback caught a complete game shutout by Pirates pitcher Murry Dickson. Most of Koback's time with Pittsburgh was spent as a bullpen catcher. Over his three-year MLB career, Koback compiled a .121 batting average with one run scored, four hits, one triple and one base on balls in 16 games played. The majority of his playing career was spent in the minor leagues with the Lincoln Chiefs, Williamsport Grays (1956), Hollywood Stars (1956–57), New Orleans Pelicans (1956–57), Columbus/Gastonia Pirates (1958) and Charleston Senators (1960). He batted and threw right-handed. During his career, he weighed 187 pounds (85 kg) and stood at 6 feet (180 cm). After retiring from baseball, Koback played pro–am golf in Connecticut.

James Dickinson "Dick" Irvin Jr. was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. He played for professional teams in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, the Western Canada Hockey League, and the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1916 to 1928, when he had to retire from repeated injuries. Irvin was one of the greatest players of his day, balancing a torrid slap shot and tough style with gentlemanly play. For his playing career, Irvin was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958. After playing, Irvin built a successful career as a coach in the NHL with the Chicago Black Hawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Montreal Canadiens. He coached his teams to the Stanley Cup Finals 16 times in 26 years as a full-time head coach, winning one Stanley Cup coaching Toronto and three coaching Montreal, finishing with over 600 wins as a coach. He also served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War.

Alice Dunbar Nelson was an American poet, journalist, and political activist. Among the first generation of African Americans born free in the Southern United States after the end of the American Civil War, she was one of the prominent African Americans involved in the artistic flourishing of the Harlem Renaissance. She gained recognition for her poetry, short stories, and essays that explored themes of race, gender, and respectability; for her journalism and newspaper columns advocating for Black women's rights and anti-lynching legislation; and for her editorial work on two influential anthologies that highlighted African American literature.

Conrad Vorstius was a German-Dutch controversial Remonstrant theologian, successor to Jacobus Arminius in the theology chair at Leiden University, and—as a theologian—second to Johannes Uytenbogaert in the Remonstrant Society. His appointment, and the controversy surrounding it, became an international matter in the political and religious affairs of the United Provinces during the Twelve Years' Truce, supplying a pretext for the irregular intervention of King James I of England in those affairs. Vorstius published theological views which were taken by some to show sympathy with the Socinians, and was declared unworthy of his office by the Calvinists at the Synod of Dort in 1619.

David Colquhoun is a British pharmacologist at University College London (UCL). He has contributed to the general theory of receptor and synaptic mechanisms, and in particular the theory and practice of single ion channel function. He held the A.J. Clark chair of Pharmacology at UCL from 1985 to 2004, and was the Hon. Director of the Wellcome Laboratory for Molecular Pharmacology. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1985 and an honorary fellow of UCL in 2004. Colquhoun runs the website DC's Improbable Science, which is critical of pseudoscience, particularly alternative medicine, and managerialism.

William Allen Rusher was an American lawyer, author, activist, and conservative columnist. He was one of the founders of the modern conservative movement and was one of its most prominent spokesmen for thirty years as publisher of National Review magazine, which was edited by William F. Buckley Jr. Historian Geoffrey Kabaservice argues that, "in many ways it was Rusher, not Buckley, who was the founding father of the conservative movement as it currently exists. We have Rusher, not Buckley, to thank for the populist, operationally sophisticated, and occasionally extremist elements that characterize the contemporary movement."

Herbert Marcuse was a German and American philosopher, social critic, and political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. Born in Berlin, Marcuse studied at the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin and then at the University of Freiburg, where he received his PhD under the supervision of Martin Heidegger. He was a prominent figure in the Frankfurt-based Institute for Social Research, which later became known as the Frankfurt School. In his written works, he criticized capitalism, modern technology, Soviet Communism, and popular culture, arguing that they represent new forms of social control.

Archibald Joseph Cronin (Cronogue) (19 July 1896 – 6 January 1981) was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known novel is The Citadel (1937), about a Scottish physician who serves in a Welsh mining village, and then moves into a highly paid private practice in London where he becomes disillusioned with the greed and incompetence of some doctors. In writing the book, Cronin utilized his experiences both as a medical inspector of mines, and a physician on Harley Street. The Citadel exposed unfairness in British medicine and helped inspire the National Health Service.

Seraphim of Sarov, born Prókhor Isídorovich Moshnín (Mashnín) [Про́хор Иси́дорович Мошни́н (Машни́н)], is one of the most renowned Russian saints and is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion. He is generally considered the greatest of the 18th-century startsy (elders). Seraphim extended the monastic teachings of contemplation, theoria and self-denial to the layperson. He taught that the purpose of the Christian life was to receive the Holy Spirit. Perhaps his most popular quotation amongst his devotees is "Acquire the Spirit of Peace, and thousands around you will be saved."

Pavel Kuka is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a forward. He represented his national team on 87 occasions, scoring 29 goals. At club level Kuka started in 1987 with Rudá Hvězda Cheb in the Czechoslovak First League before transferring to Slavia Prague two years later. During the 1993–94 season he moved to Germany, where he played in the Bundesliga for 1. FC Kaiserslautern, 1. FC Nürnberg and VfB Stuttgart. In 2000 he returned to Slavia, where he spent a further five years before retiring from top-level football in 2005.

Ebbe Sand is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a striker for Brøndby IF in Denmark and FC Schalke 04 in Germany. He was the Bundesliga top scorer in 2001 and won the DFB-Pokal in 2001 and 2002 with Schalke. On the international stage, he played for the Denmark national team at the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup, as well as the 2000 and 2004 European Championships. At the 1998 World Cup, he scored the fastest-ever World Cup goal by a substitute – 16 seconds after entering the match.

Earl Andrew Hamilton was an American left-handed pitcher for the St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers (1916), Pittsburgh Pirates (1918–23), and the Philadelphia Phillies (1924) of Major League Baseball (MLB). He pitched a no-hitter against Detroit on August 30, 1912, becoming the first player to pitch a no-hitter without recording a strikeout. The Tigers did get a run on a Ty Cobb walk and an error, making the final score 5-1 Browns. Hamilton also batted left-handed and ended his career with an average pitcher's batting average of .153 in 733 at bats.

George Stanley McGovern was an American politician, diplomat, and historian from South Dakota who served in both chambers of the United States Congress, first as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing South Dakota's 1st congressional district from 1957 to 1961, and then as a United States Senator from 1963 to 1981. McGovern also served as the director of Food for Peace in 1961 and 1962 under President John F. Kennedy. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's presidential nominee in the 1972 presidential election.