- 1843 5th Grand National: Tom Olliver aboard 12/1 Vanguard wins; first year race run as a handicap
- 1848 10th Grand National: Capt. Josey Little aboard 12/1 Chandler wins; race marred by fatal falls of 3 competitors
- 1854 16th Grand National: John Tasker wins aboard race favourite Bourton at 4/1
- 1903 Major League Baseball Rules Committee rule that pitcher's mound must not be more than 15 inches higher than the baselines or home plate
- 1910 National Baseball Commission prohibits giving mementos to players on winning World Series teams; decision later reversed, making way for traditional winners' watches, rings, and stickpins
- 1919 Future Hockey Hall of Fame center Newsy Lalonde sets a playoff record with 5 goals in the Canadiens' 6-3 win over Ottawa in NHL Championship Game 3 in Montreal
- 1921 Spin bowler Arthur Mailey takes 5 for 119 (record 36 wickets for series) to lead Australia to a 9 wicket 5th Test win over England in Sydney; first ever, 5-0 Ashes cricket series win for Australia
Carnera vs Loughran
1934 Italian boxer Primo Carnera beats American challenger Tommy Loughran by unanimous points decision at Madison Square Garden, NYC for the NYSAC and NBA heavyweight titles
- 1938 Federal Trade Commission orders 8 manufacturers and the PGA of America to end their practice of golf ball price-fixing
- 1941 Former University of Notre Dame star fullback Elmer Layden is named first Commissioner of the NFL
- 1941 Rangers' goalie Dave Kerr becomes the 5th goaltender in NHL history to record 200 career victories when New York wins, 3-1 over the Canadiens at Montreal
- 1942 Major League Baseball owners decide not to allow players in the military to play for their clubs when on furlough
Indians Prepare for 1st Black Players
1947 MLB Cleveland Indians owner Bill Veeck sets up spring training camp in racially tolerant Phoenix, AZ in anticipation of signing team's first black players; Larry Doby is first acquisition later in the season
Golf Tournament
1953 American golfer Babe Zaharias wins a controversial Sarasota Women's Open by 7 strokes as playing partner Louise Suggs refuses to sign the scorecard after Zaharias given a beneficial ruling
Baseball History
1954 Future Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Ted Williams fractures his collarbone on the first day of Boston Red Sox spring training; injury keeps him out of Boston lineup until May 15
- 1955 Pakistan and India play out a draw in the 5th cricket Test at the National Stadium in Karachi; 5 Test series drawn 0-0
Cricket Record
1958 21-year-old West Indian cricket all-rounder Garfield Sobers turns his maiden Test century into a world record 365no in the Windies' 3rd Test win over Pakistan in Kingston, Jamaica; Sobers and Conrad Hunte (260) 446 run partnership for 2nd wicket
Olympic Gold
1965 Australian swimming authorities suspend triple Olympic gold medal winning sprinter Dawn Fraser for 10 years for misconduct at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics
- 1967 MLB Commissioner William Eckert approves the Baseball Writers Association of America's plan to name a Cy Young Award recipient from both the National and American Leagues
- 1968 High winds blow-off the Philadelphia Spectrum's roof, forcing the Flyers to play their final month of the NHL season on the road, with home games moved to Toronto, NYC and Quebec City
Sports History
1969 New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle announces his retirement due to persistent knee injuries; finishes 18-season career with 536 home runs and .298 batting average
NHL Record
1969 Phil Esposito has a goal and assist in Boston Bruins' 8-5 win over NY Rangers to give him 99 points for the season, breaking the NHL record for most points in a season (97) held by Stan Mikita
- 1969 Tuesdee Testa becomes the first female jockey to win a race at a major American Thoroughbred track when she takes out the 3rd race at Santa Anita Park aboard Buz On
- 1970 Dutch speed skater Atje Keulen-Deelstra becomes Women's Allround World Champion at West Allis, Wisconsin, US, winning her first of four titles
- 1970 Minnesota coach Charlie Burns becomes the final player/coach in NHL history, when he plays in the North Stars' 8-0 win over Toronto Maple Leafs; remains in role for final month of the season
- 1973 Robyn Smith rides North Sea to victory in the Paumanok Handicap at Aqueduct Race Track in NYC to become the first American female jockey to win a stakes race
Cricket Record
1974 Australian cricketing brothers Ian (145) and Greg Chappell (162no) record 264 partnership in 1st Test draw vs New Zealand at Wellington; Ian (121) and Greg (133) double up with centuries in 2nd innings
- 1975 Five Nations Rugby Championship match between Scotland and Wales at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh attracts a world record attendance of 104,000; Scots win 12-10
PGA Players Championship
1976 PGA Tournament Players Championship, Inverrary CC: Jack Nicklaus wins his second TPC title, 3 strokes ahead of runner-up J. C. Snead
- 1977 PGA of America announces a sudden-death playoff format for the PGA Championship to be implemented; previously an 18-hole playoff applied after tie in regulation 72 holes
- 1980 21st SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, BJCC Coliseum, Birmingham, AL: LSU beats Kentucky, 80-78
- 1980 27th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament, Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC: Duke beats Maryland, 73-72
- 1981 Houston Rockets guard Calvin Murphy misses a free throw in a 102-86 loss in San Antonio, ending his NBA record consecutive free throw streak at 78
- 1983 Alpine skier Tamara McKinney becomes the first American woman to top the overall World Cup standings with 225 points
- 1985 Milwaukee businessman Herb Kohl purchases NBA's Milwaukee Bucks for $18 million
Sports History
1986 Quebec's Peter Šťastný becomes just the 2nd player in NHL history to score 100 points in each of his first 6 seasons, with an assist in an 8-4 Nordiques' loss to the visiting Buffalo Sabres
Sports History
1988 Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky picks up a 1st period assist in Oilers' 5-3 win over LA Kings to move ahead of Gordie Howe as NHL's all time leader in career assists; Howe 1,049 assists in 26 years, Gretzky 1,050 in 9 years
Sports History
1988 For first time since 1956, the Special Veterans Committee does not elect anyone to the Baseball Hall of Fame; Phil Rizzuto, Leo Durocher, Joe Gordon and Gil Hodges passed over
- 1989 Charlie Francis, coach of disqualified sprinter Ben Johnson tells federal inquiry into Canada's greatest sports scandal Johnson knowingly used steroids since 1981; Johnson first across line Olympic 100m 1988
- 1990 England cricket has its first win against West Indies in 16 years and 24 matches; 9 wicket victory in the 1st Test in Kingston, Jamaica; Allan Lamb's first overseas century 132
- 1992 In a rematch of one of the most controversial decisions in boxing history, Ghana's WBC super featherweight champion Azumah Nelson KOs Australian Jeff Fenech in 8th round in Melbourne
- 1992 Jenny Thompson swims 100m freestyle world record 54.48s at the US Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, IN; passes famous GDR drug tainted record, Kristen Otto 1986 by 0.25s
- 1993 New expansion NHL team, owned in Anaheim, CA by Disney, receives its name, inspired by the 1992 Disney movie 'The Mighty Ducks'
Sports History
1993 New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is reinstated as general partner of the team; banned because of his relationship with convicted gambler Howie Spira
Sports History
1993 Pavel Bure scores twice to become the first player in Vancouver's 23 year history to record 50 goals in an NHL season as Canucks beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-2 in Hamilton
NBA Record
1996 Atlanta's Lenny Wilkens becomes first coach in NBA history to reach 1,000 career victories when the Hawks beat Cleveland Cavaliers, 74-68
Sports History
1997 Canadian Elvis Stojko hits the first quad-triple combination jump in the history of figure-skating competition to win the Championship Series final in Hamilton, Ontario
Sports History
1997 Puerto Rican boxer Héctor Camacho stops Sugar Ray Leonard in 5th round in Atlantic City, NJ to retain IBC middleweight title; only time Leonard's is KO'ed and sends him into permanent retirement
- 1998 Mark Martin drives his Ford Taurus to victory in the inaugural NASCAR Winston Cup event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway; Martin finishes 1.6 seconds ahead of teammate Jeff Burton
- 1998 Miami's Pat Riley becomes the 5th head coach to record 900 NBA career wins with Heat's 85-84 win over the New Jersey Nets
- 1999 Daryll Cullinan scores South African cricket record 275no in the drawn 1st Test against New Zealand at Eden Park, Auckland; Gary Kirsten 128
- 2001 Carolina center Ron Francis scores a goal on his 38th birthday in Hurricanes' 3-1 win over NY Islanders to become only the 2nd player in NHL history to score 50+ points for 20 straight seasons
- 2003 Legendary Mount St. Mary's basketball head coach Jim Phelan wins final game of 49 year career as Mountaineers win 60-56 over Central Connecticut State; Phelan: 830 wins in NCAA record 1,354 games
- 2003 Nashville's Barry Trotz sets NHL record for most games coached with an expansion team from inception as Predators score a 5-4 OT win over Chicago; his 392nd game, Terry Crisp 391 with Tampa Bay
- 2003 World light heavyweight boxing champion Roy Jones Jr. wins a unanimous decision against champion John Ruiz to capture the WBA heavyweight crown in Las Vegas
- 2009 Steven Holcomb pilots USA-1 sled to victory in the 4-man competition at the World Bobsled Championships at Mt Van Hoevenberg, NY; first American win in the event in 50 years
- 2016 MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred sends a strong message on the issue of domestic violence; issues a 30-game suspension to NY Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman
