Events in Sports History on January 4

  • 1883 Ontario Rugby Football Union (forerunner of CFL) forms
  • 1887 Thomas Stevens is 1st man to bicycle around the world (San Francisco to San Francisco)
  • 1902 Australian cricket spin bowler Hugh Trumble dismisses England batsmen Arthur Jones, John Gunn and Sydney Barnes in successive balls to complete 2nd Test rout by 229 runs in Melbourne; Trumble's first of 2 Test hat-tricks
  • 1904 Stanley Cup, Aberdeen Pavilion, Ottawa, Ontario: Ottawa HC beats Winnipeg Rowing Club, 2-0 for 2-1 challenge series victory
  • 1942 4th NFL All Star Game, Polo Grounds, NYC: Chicago Bears beat NFL All-Stars, 35-24

Rogers Hornsby

1942 7 x NL batting champion Rogers Hornsby is 14th player selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

  • 1957 MLB Los Angeles Dodgers buy 44 passenger twin-engine airplane for $775,000
  • 1966 Doug Walters scores second Test century in his second Test

Chiefs Defeat Raiders

1970 AFL Championship, Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland: Kansas City Chiefs beat Oakland Raiders, 17-7; Chiefs defense forces 4 interceptions

  • 1970 NFL Championship, Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington: Minnesota Vikings beat Cleveland Browns, 27-7
  • 1971 Philadelphia's multi-purpose Veteran's Stadium dedicated, it becomes home to MLB Phillies and NFL Eagles
  • 1975 Montreal Canadiens shutout Washington Capitals 10-0
  • 1975 New Orleans Jazz set a then NBA record (with 24-second shot clock) by scoring only 20 points in the first half of a 111-89 loss in Seattle; unwanted record stands for nearly 25 years
  • 1975 NHL Boston Bruins Dave Forbes becomes 1st athlete indicted for criminal assault for excessive violence during play; stick butt-end the face of Minnesota North Star Henry Boucha caused permanent vision damage; court case ends in hung jury, and a civil settlement is eventually reached
  • 1976 AFC Championship, Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Oakland Raiders, 16-10

Edmondson Defeats Newcombe

1976 Australian Open Men's Tennis: In an all-Australian final Mark Edmondson upsets John Newcombe 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1 for his first and only Grand Slam title

  • 1976 NFC Championship, LA Memorial Coliseum: Dallas Cowboys beat Los Angeles Rams, 37-7
  • 1977 Mary Shane hired by Chicago White Sox as 1st woman TV play-by-play announcer
  • 1981 Australian Open Men's Tennis: American Brian Teacher wins his first and only Grand Slam event; beats home favourite Kim Warwick 7-5, 7-6, 6-3
  • 1984 Adrian Dantley ties Wilt Chamberlain's NBA record for most free throws made in a game by converting 28 of 29 free throws in Utah's 116-111 win over Houston at Las Vegas
  • 1984 Edmonton beats Minnesota 12-8 highest-scoring modern NHL game

Boon's 2nd Test Century

1986 David Boon's second Test century, 131 v India at Adelaide

Dickerson's Postseason Record

1986 Los Angeles Rams running back Eric Dickerson scores twice as he rushes for an NFL postseason record 248 yards in 20-0 victory over Dallas Cowboys in NFC divisional playoff in Anaheim, California

Robinson's Record Blocks

1986 NCAA basketball's David Robinson blocks a record 14 shots

  • 1991 12-year-old Chinese diver Fu Mingxia wins 10m platform gold medal at World Swimming Championships in Perth, Australia; youngest world champion in the history of any aquatic event
  • 1991 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: Goran Prpić beats American David Wheaton 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 for an unassailable 2-0 lead, (ends 2-1) and Yugoslavia's first title

Parish's Block Record

1992 Boston's Robert Parish becomes 5th player in NBA history to register 2,000 career blocks during Celtics' 100-96 loss at Minnesota - others Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mark Eaton, Wayne Rollins and George Johnson

  • 1997 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: Justin Gimelstob & Chanda Rubin clinch first title for the US; beat South African pair Wayne Ferreira & Amanda Coetzer 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 for a 2-1 victory
  • 1999 College Football, 1st BCS National Championship, Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, AZ: #1 Tennessee beats #2 Florida State, 23-16, at 28th Fiesta Bowl

Belichick Rejects NY Jets

2000 A day after accepting the head coaching position at the New York Jets, Bill Belichick resigns and moves to the New England Patriots

  • 2000 American businessman and investor Mark Cuban purchases a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks NBA franchise for $285m from H. Ross Perot, Jr.
  • 2000 College Football, 2nd BCS National Championship, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans: #1 Florida State beats #2 Virginia Tech, 46-29, at 66th Sugar Bowl

Jordan Scores 30,000 Points

2001 Washington Wizards forward Michael Jordan becomes 4th player in NBA history to score 30,000 career points; hits a free throw in 2nd quarter of an 89-83 win against his old team, the Chicago Bulls

America Wins Title

2003 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: Serena Williams & James Blake beat Australian pair Alicia Molik & Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-2 for a 3-0 win, and 2nd American title

  • 2004 College Football, 6th BCS National Championship, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans: #2 LSU beats #1 Oklahoma, 21-14 at 70th Sugar Bowl
  • 2005 Adam Gilchrist of Australia becomes the most prolific century scoring wicket keeper in cricket history when he smashes 113 from just 120 balls in the 3rd Test against Pakistan in Sydney
  • 2005 College Football, 7th BCS National Championship, Pro Player Stadium, Miami Gardens: #1 Southern California beats #2 Oklahoma, 55-19, at 71st Orange Bowl (USC later vacates Championship)
  • 2006 College Football, 8th BCS National Championship: #2 Texas beats #1 Southern California, 41-38, at 92nd Rose Bowl
  • 2008 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: Americans Serena Williams & Mardy Fish beat Serbian pair Novak Đoković & Jelena Janković 7-6, 6-2 for an unassailable 2-0 lead, and the 5th US title
  • 2009 Phil Taylor, with a 7–1 victory in the final over Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld wins his 12th PDC World Darts title, his 14th in all; his 110.94 average remains a record for the PDC World Darts Championship final
  • 2010 39th Fiesta Bowl: #6 Boise State beats #3 TCU, 17-10
  • 2011 77th Sugar Bowl: #6 Ohio State beats #8 Arkansas, 31-26
  • 2012 78th Orange Bowl: #23 West Virginia beats #14 Clemson, 70-33
  • 2014 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: France wins first title; Alizé Cornet & Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Poland's Agnieszka Radwańska & Grzegorz Panfil 6-0, 6-2 to clinch 2-1 victory
  • 2015 Gary Anderson of Scotland beats 16-time world champion Phil Taylor, 7-6 to win his first PDC World Darts Championship at the Alexandra Palace, London

African Player of the Year

2018 Liverpool and Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah is named African Football Player of the Year

  • 2019 Indian cricket batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara scores 193 and Rishabh Pant 159no as the tourists declare at 622/7 on Day 2 of 4th Test against Australia in Sydney; Pant, first Indian wicketkeeper to hit a century in Australia

Sports History

2021 Duhan van der Merwe signs for Worcester Warriors in the Premiership Rugby competition for the 2021-22 season