Events in Sport
- 1905 1st race meet at Oaklawn Park (Hot Springs, Ark)
- 1916 NY Yankees buy Frank "Home Run" Baker from the Athletics for $37,500
- 1921 Arthur Mailey completes 9-121 v England, Australian Test Cricket rec
- 1930 Weona beats Toluca in Illinois Basketball Tournament in 10 overtimes
- 1931 Spring training site of NY Yankees in St Petersburg is renamed Miller Huggins Field in honor of the team's late manager
- 1932 III Winter Olympic Games close at Lake Placid, New York
- 1932 Australia beat South Africa in cricket by an innings in 5 hrs 53 min playing time
Event of Interest
1932 As a member of gold medal winning US 4-man bobsleigh team at Lake Placid, Eddie Eagan (boxing gold Antwerp 1920) becomes only Olympian to win gold medals at both summer & winter Games in different sports
Eddie Eagan
- 1932 American brothers Hubert and Curtis Stevens beat the 8-nation field to win the 2-man bobsleigh gold medal at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics
- 1936 Sonja Henie of Norway becomes the most successful Olympic figure skater ever by winning her 3rd consecutive gold medal at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games; beats Cecilia College of Great Britain by 6.4 points
- 1936 Great Britain’s 0-0 tie with the US is enough to clinch their first ever Olympic ice hockey gold medal at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Games; breaks Canada’s 4 straight Games golden streak
- 1946 Cornelius Johnson, American high jumper (Olympic gold 1936), dies from bronchopneumonia at 32
- 1952 Giant slalom event for men debuts at the Winter Olympics at Oslo Games; Stein Erikson of Norway wins gold ahead of Austrians Christian Pravda and Toni Spiß
- 1958 Ice Dance Championship at Paris won by June Markham/Courtney Jones GRB
- 1961 Australia beat West Indies 2-1 in one of best Test Cricket series ever
Event of Interest
1964 Bill Bradley scores 51 points for Princeton
Bill Bradley
- 1966 Kees Verkerk becomes world champion all-round skater
- 1968 Biathlon 4 x 7.5k relay debuts at the Grenoble Winter Olympics with the Soviet Union taking the gold medal ahead of Norway and Sweden
- 1968 Fred Anton Maier of Norway skates a world record 7:22.4 in winning the 5,000m at the Grenoble Winter Olympics; Dutch 1,500m champion Kees Verkerk is just 0.8s behind for silver
- 1970 Ard Schenk becomes world champion all-round skater
- 1972 Newly-formed NHL franchise New York Islanders hire Bill Torrey as their first General Manager
- 1973 Friendsville Academy (Tenn) ends 138-game basketball losing streak
- 1976 XII Winter Olympic Games close in Innsbruck, Austria
- 1976 18th Daytona 500: David Pearson makes contact with Richard Petty just yards from finish line into a wall and to infield; Petty stalls whilst Pearson re-starts to win
- 1978 England all out 64 for 1st loss to NZ in cricket (Geoffrey Boycott captain)
Boxing Title Fight
1978 Leon Spinks beats Muhammad Ali in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
Leon Spinks
Muhammad Ali
- 1980 American speed skater Eric Heiden wins 500m in Olympic record 38.03s; first of record 5 gold medal sweep of events at Lake Placid
- 1980 Wayne Gretzy assists on NHL-record-tieing 7 goals
- 1980 East German speed skater Karin Enke wins first of 3 career Olympic gold medals with victory in the 500m at Lake Placid Winter; wins 1,000m & 1,500m in Sarajevo (1984)
- 1980 Soviet cross-country skier Raisa Smetanina claims her 3rd of 4 career Olympic gold medals in the 5k event at Lake Placid; also wins 10k and relay gold (Innsbruck 1976) and relay (Albertville 1992)
- 1981 23rd Daytona 500: Richard Petty wins record 7th title at Daytona, beating Bobby Allison to the line by 3.5 seconds
- 1982 Dan Issel (NBA-Nuggets), begins streak of 63 consecutive free throw
- 1984 An East German sweep of the medals in the women's 3,000m speed skating at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; Andrea Schöne takes gold ahead of team mates Karin Enke and Gabi Zange
Garry Kasparov
- 1986 44,180 largest NBA crowd to date-Philadelphia at Detroit
- 1987 Nikolai Guljajev becomes world champion skater
- 1987 29th Daytona 500: Bill Elliott leads for 104 of 200 laps including the last 3; had won pole with record speed of 210.364 mph
- 1987 PGA Seniors' Championship Men's Golf, PGA National GC: Chi-Chi Rodríguez wins his second and final Champions Tour major title by 1 stroke from Dale Douglass
- 1990 Baseball owners lock out players
- 1991 Troy State sets NCAA Div II record with 103 points in 2nd half routing DeVry Institute 187-117
- 1994 Tom Barrasso becomes winningest US born goalie in NHL history, as the Pittsburgh Penguins win, 5-3 over visiting Winnipeg; passes record of 252 career wins set by Frank Brimsek
NFL Record
1996 NFL coaching maestro Bill Belichick is fired by Cleveland, finishing his Browns coaching career with a record of 36-44
Bill Belichick
Event of Interest
1996 American boxer Tommy Morrison announces he has contracted HIV
Tommy Morrison
- 1998 40th Daytona 500: Dale Earnhardt's only Daytona win in his 20th start; snaps a 59-race winless streak
Event of Interest
1999 Wayne Gretzky records 5 assists in NY Rangers' 7-4 win over the Predators; takes a 1,000 point lead over Gordie Howe in all time NHL scoring lead; Gretzky's only appearance in Nashville
Wayne Gretzky
Sports Awards
1999 7th ESPY Awards: Mark McGwire, Chamique Holdsclaw win
Mark McGwire
Event of Interest
2000 Martin Brodeur becomes first goaltender in NHL history to get credit for a "game winning" goal as New Jersey wins, 4-2 over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers
Martin Brodeur
NBA All-Star Game
2004 53rd NBA All-Star Game, Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA: West beats East, 136-132; MVP: Shaquille O'Neal, LA Lakers, C
Shaquille O'Neal
- 2004 46th Daytona 500: Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins exactly 6 years to the day after his father Dale Earnhardt Sr. won his first and only Daytona 500 in 1998
NBA All-Star Game
2009 58th NBA All-Star Game, US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ: West beats East, 146-119; MVPs: Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers, F; Shaquille O'Neal, LA Lakers, C
Kobe Bryant
Shaquille O'Neal
- 2009 51st Daytona 500: Matt Kenseth wins shortened race; called off with 48 laps to go after a severe rainstorm hits the track
- 2014 World champion Aleksandr Tretyakov of Russia wins the men's skeleton gold medal at his home Sochi Winter Olympics
- 2014 Polish ski jumper Kamil Stoch wins his 2nd gold medal of the Sochi Winter Olympics in the men's large hill event; also wins normal hill gold
- 2015 64th NBA All-Star Game, Madison Square Garden, NYC: West beats East, 163-158; MVP: Russell Westbrook, OKC Thunder, G
- 2018 German figure skaters Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot set new ISU best free skating score of 159.31 on their way to pairs gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics
- 2018 IBU Female Rookie of the Year, Hanna Öberg of Sweden wins 15k individual biathlon gold medal with 4 clean shootings at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics; first victory and podium of her career
- 2018 German women's luge singles champion Natalie Geisenberger and men's doubles winners Tobias Wendl & Tobias Arlt earn their 2nd Olympic gold medals in Pyeongchang in the team relay event
- 2018 Vancouver (2010) Olympic super-G champion Aksul Lund Svindal of Sweden wins the downhill gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Games
- 2018 Sochi (2014) Olympic slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin of the US wins the giant slalom at the Pyeongchang Winter Games; also takes combined silver
- 2018 Frenchman Pierre Vaultier retains his Olympic snowboard cross title (Sochi 2014) with a gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Games
- 2018 Denver's Serbian center Nikola Jokić records fastest triple double in NBA history (14 minutes, 33 seconds) in the Nuggets' 134-123 win at Milwaukee; Jokić finishes with 30 points, 17 assists, 15 rebounds
Birthdays in Sport
Alfred Carlton Gilbert
1884 Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athlete, inventor, and businessman (invented the Erector Set), born in Salem, Oregon (d. 1961)
Alfred Carlton Gilbert
- 1895 Earl Thomson, Canadian athlete (d. 1971)
- 1897 Earl H Blaik, Det, college football hall of fame coach (elected 1965)
- 1898 Allen Woodring, American runner (d. 1982)
- 1900 George Earnshaw American baseball pitcher (World Series 1929-30; Philadelphia Athletics), born in Little Rock, Arkansas (d. 1976)
- 1904 Antonin Magne, French cyclist (Tour de France 1931, 34)
- 1913 Erich Eliskases, Austrian chess player (d. 1997)
- 1914 Arthur Sydney Martin, spy catcher
- 1929 Graham Hill, auto racer (1962, 68 international racing champ), born in London, England
- 1940 John Hadl, American football player
- 1941 Austin Savage, Welsh hockey player, born in St Asaph, Wales
- 1948 Ron "Penguin" Cey, American MLB 3rd baseman (LA Dodgers), born in Tacoma, Washington
- 1949 Ken Anderson, NFL quarterback (Cincinnati Bengals)
- 1954 Pamela Theresa Jiles, American 4X400m relayer (Olympic silver 1976), born in New Orleans, Louisiana
- 1956 Desmond Haynes, West Indian cricket batsman and administrator (116 Tests; 7,487 runs @ 42.29; 238 ODIs; Director WI Cricket Board), born in Saint James, Barbados
- 1956 Hitoshi Ogawa, Japanese racing driver (d. 1992)
- 1957 Jimmy Spencer, American race car driver
- 1957 Steve Farhood, American boxing historian and analyst
- 1959 Guy De Alwis, cricket wicket-keeper (Sri Lankan mid 80s)
- 1959 Joe Hesketh, MLB player (Boston Red Sox), born in Lackawanna, New York
- 1959 Hugo Savinovich, Ecuadorian sports commentator and wrestler, born in Guayaquil, Ecuador
- 1960 Darrell Green, NFL cornerback (Washington Redskins), born in Houston, Texas
- 1960 Jeanne Goldsmith, WPVA volleyballer (National-5th-1987), born in Los Angeles, California
- 1960 Jock Hobbs [Michael James Bowie Hobbs], chairman of the New Zealand Rugby Union and 21 test All Black, born in Christchurch, New Zealand (d. 2012)
- 1964 Mark Price, NBA guard (Washington Bullets, Orlando Magic), born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma
- 1965 Craig Matthews, South African cricket pace bowler (South African Test), born in Cape Town, South Africa
- 1966 Melido Perez, Dominican-American baseball pitcher (NY Yankees), born in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic
- 1966 Petra Huber, Austrian professional tennis player
- 1968 Mieke Suys, Belgian triathlete, born in Ghent, Belgium
- 1969 Brian Williams, MLB pitcher (Detroit Tigers, Astros), born in Lancaster, South Carolina
- 1969 Edgar Bennett, NFL running back (Green Bay Packers-Super Bowl 31), born in Jacksonville, Florida
- 1970 Nathaniel Mills, US speed skater (Olympics 1994), born in Evanston, Illinois
- 1970 Tyrone Legette, NFL cornerback (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), born in Columbia, South Carolina
- 1971 Jim Butler, US table tennis player (Olympics 1992, 96), born in Iowa City, Iowa
- 1971 Ray Sefo, New Zealand kick boxer, born in Auckland, New Zealand
- 1972 Jaromír Jágr, Czech NHL right wing (Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup 1991-92, Czech Olympic gold 1998), born in Kladno, Czech Republic
- 1972 Lance Scott, NFL offensive linesman (Arizona Cardinals), born in Salt Lake City, Utah
- 1973 Amy Van Dyken, US 50m/100m freestyle/100m butterfly swimmer (Olympic 2 g-96), born in Denver, Colorado
- 1974 Erik Schulz, US pairs skater (& Ilana Goldfogel), born in Port Huron, Michigan
- 1974 Tim Hall, US running back (Oakland Raiders), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1998)
- 1974 Ugueth Urbina, Venezuelan pitcher (Montreal Expos), born in Caracas, Venezuela
- 1974 Seattle Slew, American racehorse, born in White Horse Acres Farm, Texas (d. 2002)
- 1974 Alexander Wurz, Austrian racing driver, born in Waidhofen an der Thaya, Austria
- 1975 Robert Fuchs, Dutch footballer (PSV, DESK Kaatsheuvel), born in Eindhoven, Netherlands
- 1976 Óscar Freire, Spanish cyclist, born in Torrelavega, Spain
- 1979 Gordon Shedden, Scottish auto racing driver, born in Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- 1979 Alenka Kejžar, Slovenian swimmer, born in Kranj, Slovenia
- 1979 Josh Low, English footballer, born in Bristol, United Kingdom
- 1981 Diego Martínez, Mexican footballer, born in Mexico City, Mexico
- 1983 Russell Martin, Canadian baseball player, born in East York, Canada
- 1986 Gabriel Paletta, Argentine-born Italian footballer, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina
- 1990 Erwin Sak, Polish football goalkeeper (Stomil Olstyn), born in Lublin, Poland
Weddings in Sport
Wedding of Interest
1958 Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully (30) weds model Joan (not the actress) Crawford in California
Vin Scully
Wedding of Interest
1991 Baseball superstar George Brett (37) weds Leslie Davenport in Manhattan Beach, California
George Brett
Deaths in Sport
- 1961 Maribel Vinson, American figure skater (9 time US National Champion), dies at 49
- 1971 Dimitrios Loundras, Greek gymnast, dies at 85
- 1981 Jack Crapp, English cricketer (7 Tests for England 1948-49, 319 runs), dies at 68
- 1991 Gary Gears, Chicago disk jockey, dies at 46 of a heart attack
- 2019 Gene Littler, American golfer (1961 US Open, 29 PGA Tour titles), dies at 88
- 2020 Tony Fernández, Dominican baseball shortstop (MLB All-Star 1986, 87, 89, 92, 99; World Series 1993; Gold Glove Award 1986–89; Toronto Blue Jays), dies of polycystic kidney disease at 57
