Prior Lake High School

The Year 1972

Some facts from 1972:

What things cost in 1972 (average)

• A loaf of bread:  .25
• A gallon of gas:  .36
• First class postage:  .18
• Call from a pay phone:  .10
• New home:  $40,000
• New car:  $4,500
• Median family income:  $14,000
• Minimum hourly wage:  $1.60

Science and Technology

• HBO, the first pay cable network, is born.
• CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) scanning is developed in England
• The antidepressant Prozac (fluoxetine) is developed by Bryan B. Malloy (Scotland) and Klaus K. Schmiegel (US)
• Apollo XVII, the last manned moon landing to date, returns to Earth with 250 pounds of lunar samples.
• Richard Nixon orders the start for the space shuttle program
• Digital Watches are introduced
• First scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) introduced (price: $395)
• The Volkswagen Beetle becomes the most popular car ever sold with in excess of 15 million sold
• Atari kicks off the first generation of video games with the release of PONG, the first game to achieve commercial success.
  

Sports

• Super Bowl - Dallas d. Miami (24-3)
• World Series - Oakland A's d. Cincinnati (4-3)
• NBA Championship - LA Lakers d. New York (4-1)
• Stanley Cup - Boston d. NY Rangers (4-2)
• Wimbledon - Women: Billie Jean King d. E. Goolagong (6-3 6-3)
  

Men: Stan Smith d. I. Nastase (4-6 6-3 6-3 4-6 7-5)

• Kentucky Derby Champion - Riva Ridge
• NCAA Basketball Championship - UCLA d. Florida St. (81-76)
• NCAA Football Champions - USC (12-0-0)
• The summer olympics were held in Munich, Germany (American Swimmer Mark Spitz wins a record 7 gold medals).
• The winter olympics were held in Sapporo, northern Japan

World Events

• Nixon orders "Christmas bombing" of North Vietnam
• Eleven Israeli athletes at Olympic Games in Munich are killed
• Nixon visits China
• Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama is shot
• The Watergate scandal starts as five men are apprehended while attempting to bug the Democratic National Committee HQ
• Harry S. Truman and J. Edgar Hoover die
• Britain takes over direct rule of Northern Ireland in bid for peace (March 24)

Entertainment

• M*A*S*H television series premieres on CBS
• Oscar for best picture goes to French Connection
• The most Emmys went to All In The Family (4)

Music.

• Carole King wins Grammys for Record (It's Too Late), Album (Tapestry), and Song of the Year (You've Got a Friend)
• Carly Simon wins Grammy for Best New Artist

Other

• 1985 graduates enter kindergarten
• 1990/1991 graduates are born
• The Largest Diamond, The Star of Sierra leone, is unearthed.  It is 969.8 carats.