Events in Sports History in February 1972

Schenk Wins Gold

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

Baseball Hall of Fame

Feb 8 Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

Negro League Baseball Legend Josh Gibson

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

NBA Record

Feb 16 Wilt Chamberlain of the Los Angeles Lakers becomes first player in NBA history to reach the career 30,000 point mark during a 110-109 loss to the Phoenix Suns

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

Daytona 500

Feb 20 14th Daytona 500: A .J. Foyt dominates the race, winning by almost 2 laps over his closest competitor Charlie Glotzbach

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

Baseball Trade

Feb 25 Lopsided MLB trade - St. Louis Cardinals trade pitcher Steve Carlton to Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Rick Wise; both players were involved in salary disputes with their teams

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

Baseball Record

Feb 29 Future Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder Hank Aaron becomes first player to earn $200,000 average annual salary; signs 3-year deal with Atlanta Braves after one of his best seasons – .327 average, 47 HRs and 118 RBIs