FLASHBACKS: RICHARD GERE, CINDY CRAWFORD MARRY, ‘PACMAN’ PLEADS NO CONTEST & NFR MAKES VEGAS DEBUT
December 1, 1994: Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford announce they are ending their three-year marriage. They had wed Dec. 1, 1991, at the Little Church of the West, flying impulsively to Las Vegas and fashioning rings out of aluminum foil.
December 2, 2010: Steve Wynn’s British girlfriend, Andrea Hissom, has been spotted sporting a huge engagement ring. They would marry on April 30, 2011, with Clint Eastwood serving as Wynn’s best man. Garth Brooks sang “Friends in Low Places” at a party the night before the wedding.
December 3, 2011: The first exhibition of Michael Jackson memorabilia authorized by his estate opens at the Mandalay Bay to coincide with the new MJ-themed Cirque du Soleil show. Among the attractions are his gloves, sequined suits, gold Rolls-Royce, furniture and the gates that guarded Neverland Ranch.
December 4, 2005: The Las Vegas Marathon, which began in 1967, alters its route to include the Las Vegas Strip for the first time. Sports books also began taking bets on the winner.
December 5, 2000: In her first major appearance after gastric bypass surgery, singer Carnie Wilson takes the stage at the Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. She’s exactly half of her former 300-pound self, and the amazed crowd erupts in applause.
December 6, 2007: Football star Adam “Pacman” Jones pleads no contest to conspiracy charges stemming from a February 2007 brawl at the Minxx strip club. He receives probation, but in 2012 a Las Vegas jury orders Pacman to pay $11 million to two Minxx employees who were shot by one of his buddies.
December 7, 1985: The National Finals Rodeo, the Super Bowl of rodeo, opens at the Thomas & Mack Center. Benny Binion and other Vegas luminaries lured the event from Oklahoma City with bigger purses and more perks, and it has remained there ever since.
—RESEARCHED AND WRITTEN BY MIKE PRECKER