December 1975 in Sports History

Events in Sport

Cricket Debut

Dec 2 Greg Chappell in his debut as Australian cricket captain completes a fine double in 8 wicket win in 1st Test v West Indies in Brisbane; scores 109no in 2nd innings to follow his 1st innings 123

Dec 6 41st Heisman Trophy Award: Archie Griffin, Ohio State (RB)

Sports History

Dec 7 Romanian tennis star Ilie Năstase wins his 4th season-ending ATP Masters Grand Prix title with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 rout of Björn Borg of Sweden in Stockholm

Baseball Trade

Dec 11 MLB New York Yankees make great trade getting Willie Randolph, Dock Ellis & Ken Brett from Pittsburgh Pirates for George "Doc" Medich

MLB Second Baseman and Manager Willie Randolph

Dec 13 West Indian cricket opener Roy Fredericks smashes 169 in 2nd Test win v Australia in Perth; hundred in 71 balls

Sports History

Dec 16 Bill Veeck buys 80% of MLB Chicago White Sox from John Allyn

Dec 17 NHL NY Islanders shut-out NY Rangers, for 1st time in 3-0 win with Billy Smith in goal
Dec 21 Buffalo Sabres set NHL record of 40 points beating Caps 14-2 scoring 5 goals vs Washington Caps in 4:57

Davis Cup

Dec 21 Davis Cup Men's Tennis, Stockholm, Sweden: Home town hero Björn Borg beats Czech Jan Kodeš 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 to give Sweden unassailable 3-1 lead; ends 3-2

Dec 26 5th Fiesta Bowl: #7 Arizona State beats #6 Nebraska, 17-14
Dec 26 Crowd of 85,661 attend the 1st day of the Australia vs West Indies MCG cricket test
Dec 28 "The Hail Mary", with 32 seconds left in the NFC Divisional Playoff Game, Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach throws a legendary 50-yard winning touchdown pass to Drew Pearson to defeat the Minnesota Vikings, and the "Hail Mary" play is born
Dec 28 Gary Cosier scores 109 v West Indies at MCG on Test Cricket debut
Dec 28 In the aftermath of the Cold War, the New York Rangers become first team in NHL history to face a touring Soviet hockey squad; Soviet Army beats the Rangers, 7-3 at Madison Square Garden
Dec 28 Red Army beats NY Rangers 7-3 at Madison Square Garden

Ballon d'Or

Dec 30 Ballon d'Or: FC Dynamo Kyiv forward Oleg Blokhin claims award for best European football player ahead of former winners, Bayern Munich defender Franz Beckenbauer and Ajax forward Johan Cruyff

Dec 31 42nd Sugar Bowl: #3 Alabama beats #7 Penn State, 13-6

Birthdays in Sport

Dec 2 Mark Kotsay, American baseball outfielder and coach (1,914 MLB games; Florida Marlins, Oakland A's), born in Whittier, California
Dec 4 Marci Jobson (Miller), American soccer midfielder (17 caps; Turbine Potsdam FC, Atlanta Beat) and coach (Baylor University 2008-14), born in St. Charles, Illinois

Ronnie O'Sullivan (47 years old)

Dec 5 British snooker player (7 x world champion; 7 x Masters champion; 7 x UK champion), born in Wordsley, England

Dec 6 Natalie Titcume, Australian softball catcher (Olympic bronze 1996), born in Sydney, Australia
Dec 7 Jamie Clapham, English footballer (Ipswich Town), born in Lincoln, England
Dec 8 Kevin Harvick, American auto racer (NASCAR Cup Series Champion 2014), born in Bakersfield, California
Dec 10 Josip Skoko, Australian footballer
Dec 11 Gerben de Knegt, Dutch cyclist, born in Tilburg, Netherlands
Dec 12 Craig Moore, Australian soccer defender and broadcaster (52 caps; Glasgow Rangers 175 games), born in Sydney, New South Wales
Dec 13 Matt LeCroy, American baseball catcher (Olympic bronze 1996), born in Belton, South Carolina
Dec 14 James Cotton, American NBA guard (Seattle Supersonics), born in Los Angeles, California
Dec 14 Tamecka Dixon, American WNBA guard (LA Sparks), born in Linden, New Jersey
Dec 16 Valentin Bădoi, Romanian footballer
Dec 17 Nick Farrell, Canadian boxer (Olympics 1996), born in East York, Ontario
Dec 17 Tim Clark, South African golfer (US Masters 2006 runner-up; Players C'ship 2010), born in Durban, RSA
Dec 18 Michael Barry, cyclist (Olympics 1996), born in Toronto, Ontario
Dec 19 Olivier Tebily, Ivorian footballer
Dec 20 Bartosz Bosacki, Polish footballer, born in Poznań, Poland
Dec 22 Dmitri Khokhlov, Russian footballer, born in Krasnodar, Russia
Dec 22 Sergei Aschwanden, Swiss judoka, born in Bern, Switzerland
Dec 22 Stanislav Neckar, NHL defenseman (Ottawa Senators, Olympic gold 1998), born in České Budějovice, Czech Republic
Dec 23 Vadim Sharifijanov, Russian ice hockey player, born in Ufa, Russia
Dec 24 Natalie Ward, Australian softball shortstop/2nd baseman (Olympic bronze 1996)
Dec 25 Hideki Okajima, Japanese baseball pitcher (3 × NPB All-Star; MLB All Star 2007; first Japanese-born pitcher to play in World Series, Game 2 2007 Boston Red Sox; Yomiuri Giants), born in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Dec 25 Marcus Trescothick, English cricket batsman (76 Tests, 14 x 100s, HS 219; 123 ODIs; Somerset CCC), born in Keynsham, England
Dec 26 Marcelo Rios, Chilean tennis star (1995 Amsterdam), born in Santiago, Chile
Dec 27 Patrick Paauwe, Dutch soccer player (PSV, Graafschap)
Dec 29 Jaret Wright, American baseball player, born in Anaheim, California

Tiger Woods (47 years old)

Dec 30 American golfer (15 major titles; 81 PGA Tour titles; 41 European Tour titles), born in Cypress, California

Dec 31 Toni Kuivasto, Finnish soccer defender (75 caps; Djurgårdens IF 165 games), born in Tampere, Finland

Deaths in Sport

Dec 1 Ernesto Maserati, Italian auto racer and engineer (director, chief engineer Maserati of Modena), dies at 77
Dec 1 Nellie Fox, American Baseball Hall of Fame infielder (15 x MLB All Star; AL MVP 1959; Chicago White Sox), dies from lymphatic cancer at 47
Dec 1 Ranganandhan Francis, Indian field hockey goalkeeper (Olympic gold 1948, 52, 56), dies at 55
Dec 7 Beatrix Loughran, American figure skater (Olympic gold 1924, 1928, 1932), dies at 75
Dec 9 Jeff Heath, Canadian baseball outfielder (MLB All Star 1941, 43, 45; Cleveland Indians), dies from a heart attack at 60