About the day » Saturday May 17, 1980Calender converter

• Marieke Gertruda Maria van Rosmalen, Uden, Noord-Brabant, Nederland
• Els Bervoets, Geel (B), België († 2010)
• Geertje Pilgrim († 2004)

• Andreas Aalzens Booi (74), Drachten, Smallingerland, Friesland, Nederland
• Albert van Dijk (63), Ede
• Anny Denisa Fonteyne (46), Roeselare
• Alphonsus Maria Heerkens Thijssen (70)
• Adrianus Martinus van der Pol (88), 's-Gravenhage
• Pieter Sj Bootsma
• Amaury Werner Ghislain François DE MÉRODE (77), Leuven Flemish Brabant Belgium
• Anna Maria Sparnaaij (72)
• Carel Frederik Wilhelm SLUIJTER (95), Amsterdam, Nederland
• Amaury Werner Ghislain Frans Prins van Merode Graaf van Westerloo (77), Leuven, Brabant, Vlaanderen

• 1979 » David Jarolím, Czech footballer
• 1979 » Wayne Thomas, English footballer
• 1980 » Alistair Overeem, Dutch mixed martial artist and kickboxer
• 1980 » Ariën van Weesenbeek, Dutch drummer
• 1980 » Davor Džalto, Bosnian historian and philosopher
• 1980 » Fredrik Kessiakoff, Swedish cyclist
• 1981 » Beñat Albizuri, Spanish cyclist
• 1981 » Chris Skidmore, English historian and politician
• 1981 » Leon Osman, English footballer
• 1981 » Lim Jeong-hee, South Korean singer

• 1963 » John Wilce, American football player, coach, and physician (b. 1888)
• 1964 » Nandor Fodor, Hungarian-American psychologist and parapsychologist (b. 1895)
• 1974 » Ernest Nash, German-American photographer and scholar (b. 1898)
• 1977 » Charles E. Rosendahl, American admiral and pilot (b. 1892)
• 1980 » Gündüz Kılıç, Turkish football player and coach (b. 1918)
• 1985 » Abe Burrows, American director, composer, and author (b. 1910)
• 1987 » Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist, sociologist, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
• 1992 » Lawrence Welk, American accordion player and bandleader (b. 1903)
• 1995 » Toe Blake, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1912)
• 1996 » Kevin Gilbert, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1966)

• Koningin Juliana (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from September 4, 1948 till April 30, 1980 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• Koningin Beatrix (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from April 30, 1980 till April 30, 2013 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from Monday, December 19, 1977 to Friday, September 11, 1981 the cabinet Van Agt I, with Mr. A.A.M. van Agt (CDA/KVP) as prime minister.
• The Netherlands had about 14.1 million citizens.
• January 7 » U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.
• February 24 » The United States Olympic hockey team completes its Miracle on Ice by defeating Finland 4–2 to win the gold medal.
• March 14 » LOT Flight 7 crashes during final approach near Warsaw, Poland, killing 87 people, including a 14-man American boxing team.
• April 3 » US Congress restores a federal trust relationship with the 501 members of the Shvwits, Kanosh, Koosharem, and the Indian Peaks and Cedar City bands of the Paiute people of Utah.
• October 9 » Pope John Paul II greets the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City.
• November 23 » The 6.9 M_w  Irpinia earthquake shakes southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 2,483–4,900, and injuring 7,700–8,934.

The temperature on May 17, 1980 was between 6.4 °C and 19.7 °C and averaged 14.8 °C. There was 9.5 hours of sunshine (60%). The partly or heavily clouded was. The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the northeast.