Events in Sports History in 1972

Events 1 - 200 of 254

• Jan 1 38th Orange Bowl: #1 Nebraska beats #2 Alabama, 38-6
• Jan 1 38th Sugar Bowl: #3 Oklahoma beats #5 Auburn, 40-22
• Jan 1 58th Rose Bowl: #16 Stanford beats #4 Michigan, 13-12

• Jan 2 AFC Championship, Miami Orange Bowl: Miami Dolphins beat Baltimore Colts, 21-0

• Jan 2 NFC Championship, Texas Stadium, Irving: Dallas Cowboys beat San Francisco 49ers, 14-3

• Jan 7 Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Atlanta Hawks, 134-90 for their 33rd straight win, the longest winning streak in major professional sports
• Jan 8 NCAA announces freshman can play on teams starting in fall

• Jan 13 Bernice Gera wins anti-discrimination case against the National Baseball Congressl, initiated March 15, 1971 to be allowed to umpire

• Jan 16 Dutch speed skater Atje Keulen-Deelstra becomes European Allround ladies champion, for the first of three consecutive years
• Jan 16 Super Bowl VI, Tulane Stadium, New Orleans, LA: Dallas Cowboys beat Miami Dolphins, 24-3; MVP: Roger Staubach, Dallas, QB

• Jan 23 22nd NFL Pro Bowl, LA Memorial Coliseum: AFC beats NFC, 26-13; MVPs: Jan Stenerud, Kansas City Chiefs, PK; Willie Lanier, Kansas City Chiefs, LB

• Feb 1 1972 NFL Draft: Walt Patulski from University of Notre Dame first pick by Buffalo Bills
• Feb 2 Lefty Gomez, Ross Youngs & William Harridge selected for Baseball Hall of Fame
• Feb 3 XI Winter Olympic Games opens in Sapporo, Japan (1st in Asia)
• Feb 4 Dutch speed skater Ard Schenk wins the 5,000m at the Sapporo Winter Olympics; also wins the 1,500m and 10,000m gold medals
• Feb 5 Bob Douglas is 1st African American elected to Basketball Hall of Fame
• Feb 5 German speed skater Erhard Keller wins his 2nd consecutive Olympic 500m gold medal at the Sapporo Winter Games after taking out the event in Grenoble (1968)
• Feb 6 Dutch speed skater Ard Schenk follows his win in the 5,000m with victory in the 1,500m, on his way to 3 gold medals at the Sapporo Winter Olympics; also wins 10,000m
• Feb 7 Dutch Olympic 1,500m and 5,000m speed skating champion Ard Schenk wins his 3rd gold medal at the Sapporo Winter Games when he takes out the 10,000m

• Feb 13 XI Winter Olympic Games close at Sapporo, Japan
• Feb 15 Newly-formed NHL franchise New York Islanders hire Bill Torrey as their first General Manager
• Feb 16 Test Cricket debut of Lawrence Rowe WI v NZ Kingston, 214 & 100

• Feb 19 Glenn Turner carries his bat for 223* v WI at Kingston

• Feb 20 1st time Cleveland Cavaliers beat NY Knicks (111-109)
• Feb 20 Ard Schenk wins world championship for speed skating
• Feb 22 Red Wings rookie Henry Boucha scores in his first NHL Game in 5-4 win over Toronto Maple Leafs at Olympias Arena in Detroit, Michigan

• Feb 26 Ireland-Wales Five Nations Rugby match scheduled for Lansdowne Road, Dublin is cancelled because of escalating political situation; Championship not completed for first time since World War II

• Mar 5 Dutch speed skater Atje Keulen-Deelstra becomes Women's Allround World Champion at Heerenveen, Netherlands, her second title in 3 years

• Mar 9 Players on White Sox vote 31-0 in favor of a strike, if necessary
• Mar 11 19th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: North Carolina beats Maryland, 73-64
• Mar 14 NBA's Cincinnati Royals, plagued by poor home attendance, announce they are moving franchise to Kansas City
• Mar 18 Cornell NCAA hockey team shut out for 1st time in 225 games (Boston U)
• Mar 19 1st AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, Immaculata beats West Chester State 52-48 in Normal
• Mar 19 LA Lakers beat Golden State Warriors, 162-99, by then record 63 pts
• Mar 22 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar named NBA MVP
• Mar 22 Nick Mileti purchases Cleveland Indians for $9 million
• Mar 22 Yankees trade Danny Cater to the Red Sox for Sparky Lyle
• Mar 23 Geoge Harrison and Friends' "The Concert for Bangladesh" concert film, directed by Saul Swimmer released in the US
• Mar 23 NY Yankees agree to continue playing ball in the Bronx

• Mar 25 UCLA wins its 6th consecutive national basketball title
• Mar 26 LA Lakers break NBA wins record by winning 69 of 82 games (69-13), record will stand for 24 years
• Mar 28 Wilt Chamberlain plays his last pro basketball game
• Apr 1 MLB players stage first ever collective strike; play resumes (13/4/72) when owners and players agree to $500,000 increase in pension fund payments

• Apr 5 The regular MLB season fails to open due to a player strike for the first time in history; 86 games are lost before the labor dispute settled
• Apr 8 126th Grand National: Graham Thorner aboard 14/1 bet Well To Do wins from 1970 winner Gay Trip; Black Secret & General Symons dead heat for 3rd
• Apr 8 Alvin Kallicharran scores 100* in his 1st Test Cricket innings v NZ
• Apr 9 36th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Jack Nicklaus leads wire-to-wire to win the 4th of his 6 Masters titles, 3 strokes ahead of Bruce Crampton, Tom Weiskopf and Bobby Mitchell
• Apr 9 New Zealand cricket opening batsmen Glenn Turner (259) & Terry Jarvis (187) make 387 partnership in 4th Test v WI in Georgetown, Guyana
• Apr 13 1st baseball players' strike ends after 13 days
• Apr 16 Chicago Cubs rookie pitcher Burt Hooton hurls a 4-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field, Chicago
• Apr 17 76th Boston Marathon: Olavi Suomalainen of Finland wins men's race in 2:15:39; American Nina Kuscsik takes inaugural women's title in 3:10:26; first year women's race officially sanctioned
• Apr 17 Kiteman attempting to throw out 1st ball in Phillie Vet crashes into centerfield seats
• Apr 20 Kallicharran scores his 2nd Test century in his 2nd Test Cricket
• Apr 28 Courts award 1968 Kentucky Derby prize money to 2nd place winner due to the winner being given drugs before the race
• May 6 98th Kentucky Derby: Ron Turcotte aboard Riva Ridge wins in 2:01.8
• May 7 26th NBA Championship: LA Lakers beat NY Knicks, 4 games to 1

• May 11 Stanley Cup Final, Madison Square Garden, NYC: Wayne Cashman scores twice as Boston Bruins beat NY Rangers, 3-0 to take title, 4-2
• May 12 Milwaukee Brewers beat Minnesota Twins, 4-3, in 22 innings (completed 5/13)
• May 13 Milwaukee Brewers beat Minnesota Twins, 4-3, in 22 innings (started 5/12)
• May 14 In Willie Mays' 1st game as New York Met, his homer beats San Francisco Giants, 5-4 (his former team of over 20 years), at Shea Stadium, New York
• May 18 American basketball player John Sebastian makes 63 consecutive free throws while blindfolded
• May 20 5th ABA Championship: Indiana Pacers beat NY Nets, 4 games to 2
• May 20 97th Preakness: Eldon Nelson aboard Bee Bee Bee wins in 1:55.6
• May 24 Glasgow Rangers of Scotland win 12th European Cup Winner's Cup against Dynamo Moscow 3-2 of the Soviet Union 3-2 in Barcelona
• May 25 Heavyweight Joe Frazier KOs Ron Stander
• May 26 Joe Frazier TKOs Ron Stander in 5 for heavyweight boxing title
• May 27 Indianapolis 500: Mark Donohue wins after leading only the final 13 laps; owner Roger Penske's first of eighteen Indy 500 victories
• May 29 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Southern Pines CC: Sandra Palmer wins first of 2 majors by a massive 10 strokes from Judy Rankin and Mickey Wright
• May 31 16th European Cup: Ajax beats Internazionale 2-0 at Rotterdam

• Jun 4 French Open Men's Tennis: Andrés Gimeno of Spain wins his only major singles title; beats Frenchman Patrick Proisy 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1
• Jun 7 Pirate's Gene Alley bases-loaded walk, beats Padres 1-0 in 18th

• Jun 10 104th Belmont: Ron Turcotte aboard Riva Ridge wins in 2:28
• Jun 10 Hank Aaron's grandslammer (14) ties him for NL lead with Gil Hodges & moves him ahead of Willie Mays as #2 HR hitter (649)
• Jun 11 LPGA Championship Women's Golf, Pleasant Valley CC: Kathy Ahern wins her only major title, by 6 strokes ahead of runner-up Jane Blalock

• Jun 18 US Open Men's Golf, Pebble Beach GL: Jack Nicklaus captures his 3rd Open title, 3 strokes ahead of Bruce Crampton of Australia

• Jun 23 Bernice Gera becomes first female umpire in US pro baseball, Geneva Senators and Auburn Twins in Geneva, New York
• Jun 23 US President Nixon signs act barring sex discrimination in college sports
• Jun 24 South African runner Danie Malan sets a new 1,000m world record 2:16.0 in Munich, Germany
• Jun 26 Australian swing bowler Bob Massie takes 16 wickets (8-84 & 8-53) on Test cricket debut in 2nd Test vs England at Lord's
• Jul 2 American pole vaulter Bob Seagren breaks world record for the 4th and final time with 5.63m in Eugene, Oregon
• Jul 2 US Open Women's Golf, Winged Foot GC: American Susie Maxwell Berning wins by 1 from Judy Rankin, Kathy Ahern & Pam Barnett
• Jul 7 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Billie Jean King earns her 8th Grand Slam singles title beating Evonne Goolagong of Australia 6-3, 6-3

• Jul 13 LA Rams (Irsay) & Baltimore Colts (Rosenbloom) swap owners
• Jul 14 Plate umpire and catcher in a game are brothers; Bill Haller is umpire and Tom Haller is Detroit Tigers catcher; Kansas City Royals win, 1-0
• Jul 15 British Open Men's Golf, Muirfield: Lee Trevino claims his second straight Claret Jug; first to successfully defend his title since Arnold Palmer in 1962; wins by 1 stroke from Jack Nicklaus

• Jul 28 39th NFL Chicago All Star Game: Dallas 20, All Stars 7 (54,162)
• Jul 31 Chicago infielder Dick Allen becomes only 7th player in MLB history to hit 2 inside-the-park home runs in a game; both off Bert Blyleven in 8-1 White Sox win over Minnesota Twins
• Aug 1 Nate Colbert hits MLB record tying 5 HRs and record 13 RBI as Padres beat Atlanta 9-0, 11-7 in a doubleheader
• Aug 5 Detroit Tigers shortstop Ed Brinkman commits an error, ending record streak of 72 games & 331 total chances without a misplay
• Aug 6 Hank Aaron hits 660th & 661st HRs for the Atlanta Braves, breaking Babe Ruth's MLB record of homers for one team

• Aug 7 Yogi Berra, Sandy Koufax, Lefty Gomez, Early Wynn, Josh Gibson, Will Harridge, Buck Leonard & Ross Youngs are inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame
• Aug 8 NY Yanks sign 30-year lease to play in remodeled Yankee Stadium
• Aug 10 Finnish runner Lasse Virén wraps up the 5,000/10,000m double at the Munich Olympics; runs Olympic record 13:26.42 for the 5k gold medal

• Aug 17 MLB Philadelphia Phillies Steve Carlton wins his 15th straight game
• Aug 22 Rhodesia is expelled by the International Olympic Committee for its racist policies.

• Aug 26 XX Summer Olympic Games open in Munich, West Germany

• Aug 28 North Korean shooter Ri Ho-jun wins the 50m rifle prone event at the Munich Olympics; his nation's first ever Olympic gold medal

• Aug 29 Sandy Neilson wins the blue ribband women's 100m freestyle gold medal in 58.59 at the Munich Olympics beating fellow American Shirley Babashoff and Shane Gould of Australia
• Aug 29 SF Giant Jim Barr retires 1st 20 batters he faces added to last 21 he retired 6 days earlier for record 41 in a row
• Aug 30 American women's 4 x 100m freestyle relay team of Shirley Babashoff, Jane Barkman, Jenny Kemp & Sandy Neilson beats East Germany by just 0.36 to win gold at the Munich Olympics; world record 3:55.19
• Aug 30 Amidst Olga Korbut mania at the Munich Olympics, Soviet teammate Ludmilla Tourischeva wins the gymnastics individual all-round competition, her 2nd gold medal of the Games
• Aug 30 Australian teenage swimmer Shane Gould with a world record 4:19.04 for the 400m, wins her second of 3 gold medals at the Munich Olympics
• Aug 30 Japanese breaststroker Nobutaka Taguchi beats American pair Tom Bruce & John Hencken to win the 100m gold medal in world record 1:04.94 at the Munich Olympic Games
• Aug 30 Slalom canoeing is introduced at the Munich Olympics with East Germany winning all 4 events
• Aug 31 American 4 x 200m freestyle relay team of John Kinsella, Fred Tyler, Steve Genter & Mark Spitz swim a world record 7:35.78 to beat West Germany for the gold medal at the Munich Olympics
• Aug 31 American super swimmer Mark Spitz wraps up the Olympic butterfly double with a world record 54.27 in the 100m in Munich, having already won the 200m in world record time 2:00.70
• Aug 31 Australian swimmer Gail Neall with a world record 5:02.97 wins the 400m individual medley gold medal at the Munich Olympics
• Aug 31 Finnish runner Lasse Viren runs Olympic and world record 10,000m (27:38.4)
• Aug 31 Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut wins balance beam & floor exercise gold medals at the Munich Olympics; follows gold in the teams all-round

• Sep 1 An American sweep of the medals in the women's 200m butterfly at the Munich Olympics; Karen Moe takes gold in world record 2:15.57 ahead of teammates Lynn Colella and Ellie Daniel
• Sep 1 Australian swimmer Shane Gould wins the 200m freestyle in world record 2:03.56 at the Munich Olympics; her 3rd gold medal & 3rd world record of the Games
• Sep 1 Japanese gymnast Sawao Kato wins the parallel bars gold medal at the Munich Olympics, his 3rd gold of the Games including team & individual all-round victories
• Sep 1 Polish shooter Józef Zapędzki successfully defends his Olympic 25m rapid fire pistol title at the Munich Games with an Olympic record 595 points
• Sep 1 Valeriy Borzov of the Soviet Union runs 10.14 to beat American Robert Miller and Lennox Miller of Jamaica in the coveted men's 100m final at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 1 Welshman Richard Meade representing Great Britain and riding Laurieston grabs the equestrian individual and team 3-day event gold medals at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 2 American breaststroker Cathy Carr swims a world record 1:13.58 to win the 100m gold medal at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 2 American breaststroker John Hencken beats David Wilkie of Great Britain to win the 200m gold medal in world record 2:21.55 at the Munich Olympic Games
• Sep 2 Chicago Cubs pitcher Milt Pappas no-hits San Diego Padres, 8-0
• Sep 2 East German sprinter Renate Stecher sets world record 11.07 to beat Raelene Boyle of Australia for the women's 100m gold medal at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 2 East German swimmer Roland Matthes wraps up the Olympic backstroke double with a world record 2:02.82 in the 200m in Munich, having already won the 100m in Olympic record time
• Sep 2 For the first time since the advent of the Modern Olympics in 1896, a non-American wins the pole vault gold medal; East German Wolfgang Nordwig clears 5.5m at the Munich Games
• Sep 2 French track cyclist Daniel Morelon successfully defends his Olympic sprint title beating Australian John Nicholson for the gold medal in Munich
• Sep 2 John Akii-Bua of Uganda with a world record 47.82 wins the 400m hurdles gold medal at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 3 American swimmer Keena Rothhammer has to swim world record 8:53.68 to beat Australian wonder-kid Shane Gould in the 800m at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 3 American swimmer Mark Spitz wins coveted 100m gold medal in world record 51.22 at the Munich Olympics; completes the freestyle sprint double having already won 200m in world record 1:52.78
• Sep 3 American women's 4 x 100m medley relay team of Melissa Belote, Cathy Carr, Deena Deardurff & Sandy Neilson swim world record 4:20.75 to beat East Germany for gold at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 3 Atlanta Braves slugger Hank Aaron earns his 6,135th total base to break Stan Musial’s MLB record in an 8-0 home defeat to the Philadelphia Phillies
• Sep 3 Finnish runner Lasse Virén scores a famous victory in the 10,000m at the Munich Olympics in world record 27:38.35
• Sep 3 Great Britain's Mary Peters sets a new world record of 4801 points to win the Munich Olympics pentathlon gold by just 10 points from Heide Rosendahl of West Germany
• Sep 3 Jerry Grant runs the first official 200mph qualifying lap in Champ Car history, posting a lap of 201.414mph around Ontario Motor Speedway
• Sep 3 Swedish swimmer Gunnar Larsson wraps up the Olympic medley double when he sets world record 2:07.17 in the 200m I/M in Munich, having already won the 400m I/M
• Sep 4 16-year-old Ulrike Meyfarth of West Germany with a world record equalling 1.92m, wins the women's high jump gold medal at the Munich Olympics; youngest winner of individual athletics event in Olympic history
• Sep 4 American swimmer Melissa Belote with a world record 2:19.19 takes the 200m backstroke gold medal at the Munich Olympics; wraps up backstroke double having won the 100m in Olympic record time
• Sep 4 American swimmer Mike Burton sets a world record 15:52.58 to win the 1,500m gold medal at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 4 Italian diver Klaus Dibiasi wins his 2nd of 3 consecutive 10m platform gold medals the Munich Olympics
• Sep 4 Kenyan legend Kipchoge Keino follows his 1,500m gold in Mexico City with an Olympic record 8:23.64 to win the 3,000m steeplechase at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 4 Soviet sprinter Valeriy Borzov runs 20.00 to win the men's 200m gold medal at the Munich Olympics; wraps up the 100/200m double at the Games
• Sep 4 US 4 x 100m medley relay team of Mike Stamm, Tom Bruce, Mark Spitz & Jerry Heidenreich sets world record 3:48.16 to win gold at the Munich Olympics; Mark Spitz becomes 1st athlete to win 7 Olympic gold medals at a single Games
• Sep 4 Willem Ruska of the Netherlands wins gold medals in both the heavyweight & open class Olympic judo competitions in Munich; first judoka to win 2 Olympic gold medals at one Games
• Sep 5 11 Israeli athletes taken hostage and later killed by Palestinian Black September group at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 6 Summer Olympics resume in Munich, Germany after massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by Black September Palestinian terrorist organization
• Sep 7 American athletes Vincent Matthews & Wayne Collett finish 1-2 in 400m at the Munich Olympics; acted casually on the medal stand, did not face the flag during anthem; banned from the Olympics for life
• Sep 7 American Rod Milburn with a world record 13.24 wins the 110m hurdles gold medal at the Munich Olympics; just 0.10 seconds ahead of Frenchman Guy Drut
• Sep 7 East German sprinter Renate Stecher runs a world record equalling 22.40 in the 200m final to repeat her 100m win over Australia's Raelene Boyle at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 7 Future world professional cycling road race champion Hennie Kuiper of the Netherlands wins the road race gold medal at the Munich Olympics in 4:14:37
• Sep 7 Nadezhda Chizhova of the Soviet Union throws a world record 21.03m to win the women's shot put at the Munich Olympics

• Sep 8 East German Annelie Ehrhardt with a world record 12.59 takes the 100m hurdles gold medal at the Munich Olympics; beats Romanian Valeria Bufanu by just 0.25
• Sep 8 Mykola Avilov representing the Soviet Union scores a world record 8454 points to win the decathlon gold medal at the Munich Olympics; beats teammate Leonid Lytvynenko by 419 points
• Sep 9 Soviet runner Lyudmila Bragina with a world record 4:01.38 wins the women's 1,500m gold medal at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 9 Soviet Union beats the United States 51-50 in the most controversial game in international basketball history; with US leading 50-49 the final 3 seconds is replayed 3 times until the Soviets finally win
• Sep 9 US Open Women's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Billie Jean King retains her title; beats Kerry Melville Reid of Australia 6-3, 7-5
• Sep 9 West German equestrian rider Liselott Linsenhoff follows her dressage teams gold in Mexico City with the individual dressage title at her home Olympics in Munich
• Sep 10 American freestyle wrestler Dan Gable wins the 68kg division gold medal at the Munich Olympics; only Olympic wrestler not to have a single point scored against him in the competition
• Sep 10 American long distance runner Frank Shorter scores a famous win in the men's marathon in 2:12:19.8 at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 10 American men's 4 x 100m relay team of Larry Black, Robert Taylor, Gerald Tinker & Eddie Hart combine for a world record 38.19 to beat the Soviet Union for the gold medal at the Munich Olympics
• Sep 10 An American double in the inaugural Olympic archery competition in Munich; John Williams wins the men's individual gold medal; Doreen Wilber takes the women's gold
• Sep 10 Cuban boxer Teófilo Stevenson wins first of 3 consecutive Olympic heavyweight gold medals when Munich Games opponent Ion Alexe of Romania withdraws from the final because of a broken thumb
• Sep 10 East v West in a women's 4 x 100m relay at the Munich Olympics; West Germany beats East Germany by 0.13 seconds for the gold medal
• Sep 10 Kazimierz Deyna scores twice as Poland beats Hungary 2-1 in the Olympic football gold medal match; 80,000 at the Munich Olympic Stadium
• Sep 10 US Open Men's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Ilie Năstase of Romania beats Arthur Ashe 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 for his first Grand Slam title
• Sep 10 West Germany beats Pakistan 1-0 to become first European nation since 1920 to win the field hockey Olympic title; marred by disgraceful behaviour of Pakistani players, fans & officials after losing the Munich final
• Sep 10 Yugoslavia beats Czechoslovakia, 21-16 in the inaugural Olympic handball final in Munich
• Sep 11 XX Summer Olympic Games close in Munich, German FR

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