- 1878 Harvard player Frederick Thayer patents baseball catcher's mask (pat # 200,358)
- 1899 1st 2-man team 6-day bicycle race in US begins, Madison Square Garden, NYC
- 1908 NY to Paris auto race (via Alaska & Siberia) begins in NYC George Schuster wins after 88 days behind the wheel
- 1909 American James Clark runs world record marathon (2:46:52.6) in NYC
- 1920 NL votes 6-2 for a single baseball commissioner, AL votes 6-2 to keep group commission
- 1926 Barendrecht soccer team forms
- 1932 49-year-old Australian cricket spin bowler Bert Ironmonger captures 5-6 as South Africa dismissed for 36 in 5th Test in Melbourne; Australia wins by an innings & 72 runs; series 5-0
- 1932 Karl Schäfer of Austria wins the first of 2 consecutive men’s figure skating Olympic gold medals at the Lake Placid Winter Games in the United States
Olympic Gold
1932 Sonja Henie of Norway wins her 2nd of 3 consecutive Olympic gold medals in women’s figure skating at the Lake Placid Winter Games; beats Austria’s Fritzi Burger into 2nd place for 2nd straight Games
- 1932 World champion French husband and wife team Pierrre and Andrée Brunet win their 2nd consecutive Olympic pairs figure skating gold medal at the Lake Placid Games
- 1937 Cleveland (now Los Angeles) Rams granted an NFL franchise
Sports History
1958 Boston Celtic Bill Russell grabs 41 rebounds to beat Syracuse Nationals, 119-101
- 1961 Boston Celtic Bill Russell grabs 40 rebounds to beat Philadelphia Warriors, 136-125
- 1961 Pakistani cricketer Mushtaq Mohammad scores his 1st test cricket century for Pakistan at 17 years of age
Cricket History
1964 End of Richie Benaud's 63-Test cricket career in drawn 5th Test v South Africa in Sydney
Sports History
1964 US female Figure Skating championship won by Peggy Fleming
- 1967 Dutch speed skater Kees Verkerk becomes All-Around World Champion
- 1968 Dutch speed skater Ans Schut wins women's 3,000m event at Grenoble Winter Olympics; first 10 finishers beat previous Olympic record set in Squaw Valley (1960)
- 1968 Frenchman Jean Claude-Killy follows his win in the downhill with victory in giant slalom at Grenoble Winter Olympics; clean sweeps 3 alpine skiing events with success in the slalom
- 1977 Toronto Maple Leafs shutout Washington Capitals 10-0
- 1980 NY Islanders 2nd scoreless tie, vs Winnipeg Jets
Sports History
1980 Richard Hadlee becomes NZ's top wicket-taker with 117
- 1981 Arbitrator Goetz declares Boston Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk a free agent
NHL Record
1982 Wayne Gretzky scores 153rd point of season, breaking NHL record
- 1984 12 years after winning the doubles in Sapporo (1972), Italian Paul Hildgarten wins the men's luge singles at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics
Daytona 500
1984 Cale Yarborough, becomes 1st Daytona 500 qualifier, above 200 MPH
- 1984 East German luger Steffi Martin wins the first of 2 consecutive women's singles gold medals at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins in Calgary (1988)
- 1984 Finnish cross-country skier Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen wins the 5k gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; 2nd of 3 individual medal sweep, also winning 10k and 20k events
- 1984 West Indies beat Australia 2-1 to win cricket's World Series Cup after going undefeated in the qualifying rounds
NHL All-Star Game
1985 37th NHL All-Star Game, Olympic Saddledome, Calgary: Wales Conference beats Campbell Conference, 6-4; MVP: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins, C
- 1985 West Indies beat Australia 2-1 to win cricket's World Series Cup (Australian Tri-Series)
Cricket Debut
1986 1st-class cricket debut of Curtly Ambrose, Leeward Is vs Guyana
NBA All-Star Game
1989 39th NBA All-Star Game, Astrodome, Houston, Texas West beats East, 143-134; MVP: Karl Malone, Utah Jazz, forward
- 1989 Senior PGA Championship, PGA National GC: Larry Mowry wins only career major title; beats Miller Barber & Al Geiberger by 1 stroke
- 1989 Thursday's Child sets sailing record, NY-Cape Horn-SF, 80 d 20 h
- 1989 Wayne Gretzky sets 2 records, his 45th hat trick & 10th 40+ goal season
- 1994 XVII Winter Olympic Games opens in Lillehammer, Norway
- 1995 45th NBA All-Star Game, America West Arena, Phoenix, AZ: West beats East, 139-112; MVP: Mitch Richmond, Sacramento Kings, SG
World Record
1995 Bonnie Blair skates female world record 500m (38.69 sec)
- 1995 Jeff Rouse swims world record 50m backstroke (24.37 sec)
- 1995 Sun Cayun pole vaults indoor female world record (4.13m)
ESPY Awards
1996 4th ESPY Awards: Cal Ripken, Rebecca Lobo win
Murder of Interest
1997 Fred Goldman says he will settle for a signed murder confession from O.J. Simpson in lieu of his $20.5 million judgement
- 1998 Dallas Cowboys sign Chan Gailey as their 4th head coach
ESPY Awards
2001 9th ESPY Awards: Tiger Woods, Marion Jones win
- 2006 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: NFC beats AFC, 23-17; MVP: Derrick Brooks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, LB
Coach Schottenheimer Fired
2007 Marty Schottenheimer is abruptly fired as head coach of the San Diego Chargers due to lack of playoff success and a strained relationship with ownership
- 2010 XXI Winter Olympic Games open in Vancouver, Canada
Sports History
2013 At a ceremony in Philadelphia, the NFL pays tribute to the life of the late Steve Sabol and his many contributions to the league
- 2014 German Nordic combined skier Eric Frenzel wins the 1st of 3 career Olympic gold medals in Individual normal hill/10 km event in Sochi; wins event again Pyeongchang and long hill 4 x 5k relay
- 2014 Switzerland’s Dominique Gisin and Tina Maze of Slovenia tie for gold in the women’s downhill event at 1:41.57s at the Sochi Winter Games; first-ever dead-heat in Olympic alpine skiing
- 2014 Tatyana Volosozhar and Maksim Trankov win the Olympic gold in pairs figure skating
- 2018 American snowboarder Jamie Anderson retains her Olympic slopestyle title (Sochi 2014) at the Pyeongchang Winter Games, comfortably ahead of Canada's Laurie Blouin
- 2018 Dutch speed skater Ireen Wüst becomes first Winter Olympian to win an individual gold medal in 4 straight Games with victory in the 1,500m at Pyeongchang; first speed skater to win 10 Olympic medals
- 2018 French biathlete Martin Fourcade wins men's 12.5k pursuit gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics; also wins 15k mass start gold
- 2018 German biathlete Laura Dahlmeier wins her 2nd gold medal of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the women's 10k pursuit; also wins 7.5k sprint gold
Super Bowl LVII
2023 Super Bowl LVII, State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona: Kansas City Chiefs beat Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35; MVP: Patrick Mahomes, KC, QB
