News

Actions

Nashville man revisits Leap Day birthday newspaper article from 1960

Nashville man revisits Leap Day birthday newspaper article from 1960
Posted
and last updated

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Every four years brings a type of change.

For kids who wait all year for their birthday, how do you explain this to a kid born on Leap Day and has to wait every four years?

Maybe they celebrate on February 28 or March 1, but every four years is a reason to celebrate.

"I was always considered the baby, which I was," said Bobby Sanders, sitting on a couch in Sanders' Furniture store.

It's a family-run business in West Nashville.

"Pictures bring back a lot of old memories," Sanders said while looking at old photos scattered across a coffee table.

The pictures aren't quite why we went to talk with Sanders. There was one element, though, that we were particularly interested and it's the reason we reached out to him in the first place.

In 1960, he was featured in the Tennessean for celebrating a Leap Day birthday. He and his mother interviewed with the newspaper for a fun, light-hearted story.

"There's them brown eyes right there," he said looking down at the photo of when he was eight years old. "This is a cut out of the Tennessean of when they made that write up about me."

Sanders admits he doesn't fully remember the interview, but he says his mother did most of the talking.

So, how will he celebrate this year? He says 72 candles on the cake might be too many, but 18 will do.

Carrie: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/2e/72/be0f23854c54a228c9d6138c9847/carrie-recommends-header.png

Rhori: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/5b/25/a224d13d47739165c92b94e643db/rhori-recommends-header.png

Eugene: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/7b/09/9eaf788d46f580c4234978610d60/screenshot-2026-04-29-at-12-11-52-pm.png

Lelan: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/af/54/833bf879454097a398bd44f723de/lelan-recommends.png

Nikki-Dee: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/e1/b4/685a931d4182b82d9322d496fa15/screenshot-2026-04-15-at-12-01-18-pm.png

Henry: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/f7/31/2e3894bf45d9a1668f1ccc56b9f6/screenshot-2026-04-15-at-12-01-00-pm.png

Katie: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/77/55/afe9375249a4b9e058e4b2c3d2ea/screenshot-2026-04-15-at-12-00-46-pm.png

Brittany: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/67/90/788e5c364f00baabf9c5edae87e2/screenshot-2026-04-15-at-12-00-06-pm.png

Jennifer: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/e4/1e/9771c0824888a0fd87b2a1030979/screenshot-2026-04-15-at-12-02-19-pm.png

The skies were closed on 9/11. A Nashville phone call helped save a baby’s life

September 11, 2001 is a day most associate with terror and tragedy. Austin Pollack shares a story from that day about hope and persistence: the effort to save a little girl’s life – with an organ donation. The problem? The young patient was in Houston, and her life-saving liver here in Nashville. With the grounding of all civilian aircraft, how could it be done? “Nobody ever said this isn’t possible.”

- Rhori Johnston