‘Leaplings’ get to enjoy their true birthday this year

Sing a round of “Happy Birthday” on Feb. 29 as a tribute to people born on a “Leap Day.” They are known as “leaplings.”

 

Since Feb. 29 appears on the calendar just once every four years, folks born on this date are quite special. Statisticians say the odds of someone being born on Feb. 29 are 1 in 1,461.

 

Since 1988, the twin cities of Anthony (on each side of the New Mexico-Texas state line) with a combined population of about 12,315, have been known as the “Leap Year Capital of the World.” 

The communities host a three-day Leap Year Festival on the Texas side of the border. This year’s event is Feb. 29-March 2. Festival organizers are promoting “live music, craft vendors, carnival-style games for children, local eats and professional wrestling.”

 

Credit two local leaplings – neighbors Mary Ann Brown and Birdie Lewis – for pitching the idea for a festival in 1988 to Anthony’s chamber of commerce leaders. 

“I always thought that ‘Leap Year Day’ should have more recognition,” Brown said. “It just came to me that it would be a good theme – and we’d only have to work hard at it once every four years.” 

“It’s not just any old day,” Brown told American Profile magazine. “Leap Year Day is important, because it keeps the calendar in sync with the rotation of the Earth. It’s a very special day with a very special purpose.” 

Since the calendar year doesn’t quite match up with the Earth’s rotation around the sun, which requires roughly 365 and 1/4 days each go-round, it’s become a necessary adjustment to insert an extra day into the calendar between Feb. 28 and March 1 every fourth year. 

Journalist Chris Morgan has compiled a list of celebrities who are leaplings. From the music and entertainment arena, he begins with Jimmy Dorsey (1904), a jazz musician and big band leader who was “one of the most successful musicians of his era.”

 

He played clarinet on “Singin’ the Blues” in 1927 and the original 1930 recording of “Georgia on My Mind,” which were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. 

Dinah Shore (1916) once auditioned for Jimmy Dorsey as a vocalist. She was a multi-talented performer and hosted a highly popular 1950s television variety show, sponsored by Chevrolet. Shore popularized the jingle: “See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet.”

 

Johnny “Pepper” Martin (1904) played Major League Baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals and was known for his daring, aggressive baserunning abilities. He led the National League in stolen bases three times.

 

Al Rosen (1924), who played in the big leagues for the Cleveland Indians, led the American League in home runs and RBI twice and was named MVP in 1953.

 

From the National Hockey League, Morgan found Henri “Pocket Rocket” Richard (1936) of the Montreal Canadiens. During his Hall of Fame career, Richard won the Stanley Cup 11 times as a player, the most in NHL history.

 

Another NHL leapling is Cam Ward (1984), goalkeeper with the Carolina Hurricanes. He won the Stanley Cup in 2006 and earned the Conn Smythe Trophy that year as the playoffs’ MVP.

 

From the world of fiction, DC Comics revealed in 1976 that the birthday of Clark Kent (“Superman”) was Feb. 29.

 

Of course, there’s an official “Leap Day Cocktail.” This colorful version of a martini debuted at the Savoy Hotel in London, England, in 1928. Ingredients are gin, sweet vermouth, orange liqueur and lemon juice.

 

Savoy’s management says the drink “has been responsible for more marriage proposals than any other cocktail ever mixed.”

On a slow day, the National Science Foundation’s Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology posed the question: Why has the green American bullfrog assumed the role as the “mascot” for Leap Day? Sure, frogs can leap, but so do rabbits, kangaroos, grasshoppers, sturgeon and some spiders.

 

The “Mr. Amphibian” website reports that American bullfrogs jump for more than 7 feet in a single leap. One species, the South African Sharp-Nosed Frog, holds the Guinness World Record of 17.6 feet; 95 times the length of its body.

 “If the average human had the jumping power of the record-holding South African Sharp-Nosed Frog, he or she could jump around 517 feet; almost 1 and 1/2 football fields,” Mr. Amphibian stated.