On this day: February 8

2009: In the early morning hours on the day of the Grammy Awards, R&B singer Chris Brown is arrested and held on suspicion of making criminal threats on his girlfriend, fellow singer Rihanna, who suffered visible injuries and identified him as her attacker. The incident led Rihanna to postpone concerts scheduled in Indonesia and in Malaysia. Brown would plead guilty to felony assault in June and be sentenced to five years probation and six months of community service. The two singers are seen here in December 2008.

2007: Actress and Playboy Playmate of the Year Anna Nicole Smith dies at age 39 in a Hollywood, Florida, hotel room as a result of an overdose of prescription drugs.

2000: Derrick Thomas, an 11-year defensive end/linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, dies from a massive blood clot that developed in his paralyzed lower extremities and traveled to his lungs. His paralysis was the result of severe injuries sustained in a car accident weeks earlier. Thomas, part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's class of 2009, was a premier football player throughout the 1990s and is considered one of the best pass rushers of all-time.

1998: The first women's ice hockey game in Olympic history takes place at Aqua Wing Arena in Nagano, Japan, as Finland beats Sweden 6-0. On Feb. 17, the United States would beat Canada 3-1 for the first Olympic gold medal in the sport.

1990: Rock 'n' roll singer-songwriter Del Shannon, best known for his 1961 No. 1 hit song "Runaway" and other songs such as "Hats Off to Larry," "So Long, Baby" and "Little Town Flirt," commits suicide with a .22-caliber rifle in his home in Santa Clarita, California, at the age of 55. Shannon, whose real name was Charles Weedon Westover, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.

1986: Five-foot-seven-inch point guard Spud Webb of the Atlanta Hawks wins the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, becoming the shortest player ever to win the competition.

1985: "The Dukes of Hazzard" ends its six and a half year run on television. The show followed the adventures of cousins Bo and Luke Duke as they raced around in their customized 1969 Dodge Charger, christened The General Lee, while evading crooked county commissioner Boss Hogg and his inept county sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane. The show was consistently among the top-rated television series for its first four seasons.

1976: Martin Scorsese's psychological thriller film "Taxi Driver," starring Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, a mentally unstable New York taxi driver prone to outbursts of violence, premieres in theaters. The movie, which also features Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd and Harvey Keitel, would end up earning four Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor for De Niro, Best Supporting Actress for Foster, and Best Original Score.