* 1937 – Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and musician

* 1937 – Peter Maivia, Samoan wrestler ( d. 1982 )

* 1937 – Billy Dee Williams, American actor

* 1937 – Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.

* 1856 – William Martin Conway, English art critic and mountaineer ( d. 1937 )

* 1937 – Igor Volk, Soviet astronaut

* 1937 – The Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage ; over 90 % would vote in the affirmative.

* 1876 – Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist ( d. 1937 )

* 1937 – Alice Coltrane, American pianist and composer ( d. 2007 )

* 1937 – Tommy Sands, American actor and singer

* 1937 – Baden Powell de Aquino, Brazilian guitarist ( d. 2000 )

* 1937 – Barbara Windsor, English actress

* 1845 – André Bessette, Canadian pastor and saint ( d. 1937 )

* 1937 – The Battle of Shanghai begins.

* 1937 – The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.

* 1937 – Billy Cannon, American football player

* 1937 – Garth Hudson, Canadian musician, composer, and producer ( The Band )

* 1937 – Josip Broz Tito reads the resolution " Manifesto of constitutional congress of KPH " to the constitutive congress of KPH ( Croatian Communist Party ) in woods near Samobor.

* 1858 – Gaston Doumergue, French politician ( d. 1937 )

* 1937 – Al D ' Amato, American politician

* 1937 – Steven Berkoff, English actor

* 1937 – Roland Burris, American politician

* 1937 – Duncan Sharpe, Pakistani cricketer

* 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Guernica ( or Gernika in Basque ), Spain is bombed by German Luftwaffe.

* 1878 – Joe Lydon, American welterweight boxer ( d. 1937 )

Seven of the American League's 1937 All-Star players, from left to right Lou Gehrig, Joe Cronin, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Gehringer, Jimmie Foxx, and Hank Greenberg.

* Joe Smith ( musician ) ( 1902 – 1937 ), jazz trumpeter

* 1937 – Joe Viterelli, American actor ( d. 2004 )

* 1937 – Joe Warfield, American actor

* February 5 – Joe Morrison, University of South Carolina Head Football Coach ( b. 1937 )

** Joe Raposo, musician, composer for Sesame Street and The Electric Company ( b. 1937 )

Sport: In the first half of the twentieth century, before Major League Baseball was racially integrated, dark-skinned and dark-complexion players were nicknamed Nig ; examples are: Johnny Beazley ( 1941 – 49 ), Joe Berry ( 1921 – 22 ), Bobby Bragan ( 1940 – 48 ), Nig Clarke ( 1905 – 20 ), Nig Cuppy ( 1892 – 1901 ), Nig Fuller ( 1902 ), Johnny Grabowski ( 1923 – 31 ), Nig Lipscomb ( 1937 ), Charlie Niebergall ( 1921 – 24 ), Nig Perrine ( 1907 ), and Frank Smith ( 1904 – 15 ).

Seven of the American League's 1937 All-Star players, from left to right Lou Gehrig, Joe Cronin, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Gehringer, Jimmie Foxx, and Hank Greenberg.

* c. 1937: Joe Keyes, Buck Clayton, Carl Smith, George Hunt, Dan Minor, Caughey Roberts, Herschel Evans, Lester Young, Jack Washington, Claude Williams, Walter Page, Jo Jones.

In 1936, Schmeling knocked out American rising star Joe Louis, placing him as the number one contender for Jim Braddock's title, but Louis got the fight and knocked Braddock out to win the championship in 1937.

Joseph Louis Barrow ( May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981 ), better known as Joe Louis, was an American professional boxer and the World Heavyweight Champion from 1937 to 1949.

Seven of the American League's 1937 All-Star players, from left to right Lou Gehrig, Joe Cronin, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Gehringer, Jimmie Foxx, and Hank Greenberg.

A Fortune popularity poll in 1937 indicated Little Orphan Annie ranked number one and ahead of Popeye, Dick Tracy, Bringing Up Father, The Gumps, Blondie, Moon Mullins, Joe Palooka, Li ' l Abner and Tillie the Toiler.

In 1937, Joe Louis, greatly respected by both blacks and whites, defeated James J. Braddock, " The Cinderella Man ", to become the second African American to hold the world heavyweight championship title.

* Joe Viterelli ( 1937 – 2004 ), actor

Along with Hornsby's two, Tip O ' Neill won in the now-defunct American Association in 1887 while the team was known as the St. Louis Browns, and Joe Medwick added the Cardinals ' fourth in 1937.

But then, in his next fight of importance, on June 25, 1935, he was knocked out in six rounds by Joe Louis, who would become world heavyweight champion in 1937.

Seven of the American League's 1937 All-Star players, from left to right Lou Gehrig, Joe Cronin, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Gehringer, Jimmie Foxx, and Hank Greenberg.

In 1937 Disney story man Joe Grant came up with an idea inspired by the antics of his of his English Springer Spaniel Lady, and how she got " shoved aside " by Joe's new baby.