Happy Father's Day -- by the numbers

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WASHINGTON, June 17 (UPI) -- For more than 100 years, dads across the United States have had their own day to celebrate with all the trimmings -- ties, books and maybe a sporting event.

Father's Day, set aside as the third Sunday in June, was first celebrated by Senora Louise Smart Dodd of Spokane, Wash., on June 19, 1910, her dad's birthday, said some Father's Day facts CNN noted Sunday.

In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge supported a national Father's Day but it didn't become a national observance until President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed it as such in 1966.

President Richard Nixon signed a permanent U.S. Father's Day into law in 1972, designating it to be observed on the third Sunday in June.

Father's Day is the fourth-largest card-sending occasion, the U.S. broadcaster said.

CNN also offered these by-the-number tidbits:

-- 70.1 million: Estimated number of fathers in the United States.

-- 24.7 million: Number of married men with children under 18 at home in the United States.

-- 1.7 million: Number of single fathers in the United States last year.