On This Day in Sport for August 31

Events in Sport

Baseball Record

1950 Dodger Gil Hodges hits 4 HRs & a single in a game vs Braves

MLB First Baseman Gil Hodges — MLB First Baseman
Gil Hodges

1954 Cincinnati 1st baseman Ted Kluszewski hits 2 HRs in a 9-3 loss v Phillies; 1st Redleg to ever hit 40 MLB HRs, en route to season total 49
1959 48th Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in New York (3-2)
1960 US sweeps the medals in the shot put at the Rome Olympics; Bill Nieder wins gold with 19.68m ahead of countrymen Parry O'Brien and Dallas Long
1966 Referee Leo Horn whistles his last soccer match (Ajax-Bulgaria)
1968 68th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Bruce Fleisher
1968 Gary Sobers becomes the first cricketer to hit 6 sixes in one over
1970 59th Davis Cup: USA beats Germany in Cleveland (5-0)
1971 Adrienne Beames runs female world record marathon (2:46:30)
1972 Lasse Viren runs Olympic/world record 10,000m (27:38.4)
1972 Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut wins balance beam & floor exercise gold medals at the Munich Olympics; follows gold in the teams all-round
1972 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
1972 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
1972 Australian swimmer Gail Neall with a world record 5:02.97 wins the 400m individual medley gold medal at the Munich Olympics
1979 16 yr old Tracy Austin defeats 14 yr old Andrea Jaeger at US Open Tennis
1979 Phillies replaces manager Danny Ozark with Dallas Green
1980 80th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Hal Sutton
1981 Dirk Wellham scores 103 on Test Cricket debut, v England at Lord's
1984 Pinklon Thomas beats Tim Witherspoon in 12 for heavyweight boxing title
1985 Angel Cordero becomes 3rd jockey to ride horses earning over $100 M
1987 Curtis Strange sets golf's earning for year record ($697,385)
1990 Ken Griffey Sr & Jr are 1st father & son to play on same team each goes 1 for 4 for Seattle Mariners
1991 Houston QB David Klingler sets NCAA record with 6 touchdown passes in the 2nd quarter as the Cougars clobbered Louisiana Tech 73-3
1993 Minnesota Twins beat Cleveland Indians 5-4 in 22 innings

Event of Interest

1994 Pentium computer beats world chess champ Garry Kasparov

Chess Grandmaster and Political Activist Garry Kasparov — Chess Grandmaster and Political Activist
Garry Kasparov

1997 Don Mattingly's #23 is retired by NY Yankees
1997 Scott Hoch wins Greater Milwaukee Golf Open with a 268
1997 Eddie George runs for 216 yards on 35 carries and scores a touchdown as the Oilers, playing their first NFL game in Tennessee, beat Oakland 24-21 in overtime at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis

Event of Interest

1999 Dino Ciccarelli retires from the NHL

NHL Star Dino Ciccarelli — NHL Star
Dino Ciccarelli

Birthdays in Sport

1869 Gregor MacGregor, English cricket wicketkeeper (8 Tests 1890-93) and Scottish rugby union player, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1919)
1878 Frank Jarvis, American athlete (Olympic 100m Champion-1900), born in California, Pennsylvania (d. 1933)
1889 A Provost Idell, father of modern volleyball
1889 Bombardier Billy Wells [William Thomas Wells], English heavyweight boxer (Lionsdale Belt, 1911), born in London, England (d. 1967)

Jean Beliveau

1931 Jean Marc Beliveau, Canadian NHL player (Montreal Canadiens, 10 Stanley Cups), born in Trois-Rivieres Quebec, (d. 2014)

1935 Frank Robinson, American baseball player and manager (MVP 1961-NL 1966-AL), born in Beaumont, Texas
1940 Alain Calmat, French figure skater (Olympic silver 1964)
1942 Isao Aoki, Abiko Chiba Japan, PGA golfer (1983 Hawaiian Open)
1944 Clive Hubert Lloyd, cricketer ("Supercat", 110 Tests 1966-85)
1948 Harald Ertl, Austrian racing driver (d. 1982)
1948 Holger Osieck, German footballer and coach
1953 Miguel Ángel Guerra, Argentine racing driver
1955 Edwin Corley Moses, Dayton, 400m hurdler (Olympic 2 gold/br-76, 84, 88)
1957 Tom Candiotti, pitcher (LA Dodgers), born in Walnut Creek, California
1957 Colm O'Rourke, Former Gaelic footballer and Current panelist
1958 Serge Blanco, French rugby union footballer
1960 Vali Ionescu, Romanian long jumper
1962 Wanda Guenette, volleyballer (Olympics 1996), born in Winnipeg, Manitoba
1963 Sonny Silooy, soccer player (Ajax)
1965 Willie Watson, cricket pace bowler (NZ)
1966 Jeff Frye, infielder (Boston Red Sox), born in Oakland, California
1967 Diane Madl, Mountain Top PA, field hockey forward/midfielder (Olympics 1996)
1967 Melanie Sullivan, Branford Ct, WPVA volleyballer (National-13th-1994)
1968 Glenroy Gilbert, Trinidad, Canadian 4X100m sprinter (Olympic gold 1996)
1968 Hideo Nomo, pitcher (LA Dodgers), born in Osaka, Japan
1968 Jennifer Azzi, Oak Ridge Tenn, basketball guard (Olympic gold 1996)
1968 Jolene Watanabe, tennis star (1994 Futures-Evansville), born in Los Angeles, California
1969 Andrei Trefilov, Kirovo Russia, NHL goalie (Buffalo Sabres, Olympic silver 1998)
1969 Javagal Srinath, cricketer (Indian right-arm pace bowler since 1991)
1969 Nathan Minchey, pitcher (Boston Red Sox)
1969 Victor Alexander, NBA forward/center (NY Knicks)
1970 James Robinson, NBA guard (LA Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers)
1970 Steve Nikataras, cricketer (left-arm pace bowler for NSW 1996-97)
1970 Arie van Lent, Dutch-German footballer
1971 Greg Jefferson, NFL defensive end (Philadelphia Eagles)
1971 Mike Caldwell, NFL linebacker (Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals)
1971 Pádraig Harrington, Irish golfer
1973 Earl Scott, WLAF OL (Amsterdam Admirals)
1973 Priest Lauderdale, NBA center (Denver Nuggets)
1973 Reggie Geary, NBA guard (San Antonio Spurs)
1973 Scott Niedermayer, Edmonton, NHL defenseman (NJ Devils)
1974 Andrei Medvedev, tennis star (1991 French Open junior), born in Kiev, Ukraine
1974 Jeremy O'day, CFL offensive linebacker (Toronto Argonauts)
1975 Raleigh Roundtree, tackle (San Diego Chargers)
1976 Roque Júnior, Brazilian footballer
1977 Ian Harte, Irish footballer
1978 Philippe Christanval, French footballer
1979 Clay Hensley, American baseball player
1979 Mark Johnston, Canadian swimmer
1979 Ramón Santiago, Dominican baseball player
1981 Dwayne Peel, Welsh rugby union footballer
1981 Steve Saviano, American ice hockey player
1982 Lien Huyghebaert, Belgian athlete
1982 José Reina, Spanish footballer
1982 Michele Rugolo, Italian racing driver
1982 Ian Crocker, American swimmer
1982 Chris Duhon, American basketball player
1982 Josh Kroeger, American baseball player
1982 Alexei Mikhnov, Ukrainian-born ice hockey player
1983 Larry Fitzgerald, American football player
1984 Charl Schwartzel, South African golfer
1986 Feng Tianwei, Singaporean table tennis player
1987 Petros Kravaritis, Greek footballer

Weddings in Sport

Wedding of Interest

1940 Football player and coach Vince Lombardi (27) weds Marie Planitz at Our Lady of Refuge Church in Bronx, New York

NFL Coach Vince Lombardi — NFL Coach
Vince Lombardi

Deaths in Sport

1795 François-André Danican Philidor, French composer and chess champion, dies at 68

Rocky Marciano

1969 Rocky Marciano, former heavyweight champ, dies in a plane crash at 45

1973 Stan Worthington, English cricket pace bowler (9 Tests 1930-36), dies
1979 E J "Tiger" Smith, England cricket wicket-keeper 1911-14), dies
1981 Victor Trumper Jr, Australian cricketer (7 games for NSW, 74 runs 12 wkts), dies at 67
1990 Johnny Lindsay, cricketer (South African wicket-keeper 1947), dies
1990 Nat (Sweetwater) Clifton, NY Knick, dies at 65 of a heart attack
2006 Tom Delaney, British racing driver (b. 1911)
2006 Mohamed Abdelwahab, Egyptian footballer (b. 1983)
2007 Gay Brewer, American golfer (b. 1932)
2010 Laurent Fignon, French cyclist (1983 & 1984 Tour de France), dies of cancer at 50
2011 Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1976)

30 Aug
On This Day in Sport
Sep 1