Events in Sport
- 1876 Baseball's National League forms with teams in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia, St Louis
- 1892 Longest boxing match under modern rules; 77 rounds in Nameoki, Illinois between Harry Sharpe & Frank Crosby
- 1926 Australasian Championships Women's Tennis, Adelaide: Daphne Akhurst Cozens retains title; beats Esna Boyd Robertson 6-1, 6-3
- 1926 Australasian Championships Men's Tennis, Adelaide: In all-Australian final John Hawkes beats James Willard 6-1, 6-3, 6-1
- 1943 Cubs return to original uniform after experimenting with a vest
- 1944 Baseball meets in NYC to discuss postwar action
- 1954 Bevo Francis, Rio Grande College, scores 113 pts in basketball game
Contract of Interest
1959 Vince Lombardi signs a 5 year contract to coach Green Bay Packers
Vince Lombardi
Hall of Fame
Event of Interest
1970 Pete Maravich becomes 1st to score 3,000 college basketball points
Pete Maravich
- 1973 Test Cricket debut of Richard John Hadlee, NZ v Pakistan, Wellington
- 1974 Smallest crowd at Cleveland Arena (Cavs vs Golden State-1,641)
- 1976 Roger Connor, Fred Lindstrom & umpire Cal Hubbard elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1977 Toronto's Ian Turnbull scores 5 goals, NHL REcord for a defenseman
- 1980 Mexican boxer Salvador Sánchez dethrones Danny “Little Red” Lopez as WBC world featherweight champion with a 13th-round TKO in Phoenix, AZ; Lopez champion since November 1976, 8th defence
- 1986 Ayako Okamoto wins LPGA Elizabeth Arden Golf Classic
- 1986 NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 28-24
- 1987 KC Royal pitcher Dennis Leonard (3X 20 game winner), retires
- 1988 David Boon's 6th Test Cricket century, 184* v England at Sydney
- 1992 Colleen Walker wins Oldsmobile LPGA Golf Classic
- 1992 David Boon's 13 Test Cricket century, 107 v India at Perth
- 1992 Kieren Perkins swims world record 1500m freestyle (14:32.40)
- 1992 NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 21-15
- 1995 Henry Olonga no-balled for throwing in Zimbabwe-Pakistan Test Cricket
- 1997 Mark O'Meara wins Pebble Beach National Golf Pro-am
- 1997 NFL Pro Bowl: AFC beats NFC 26-23 (OT)
Event of Interest
1997 Scotty Bowman becomes first coach in NHL history to win 1,000 games
Scotty Bowman
- 2002 52nd NHL All-Star Game, Staples Center, LA: World beats North America, 8-5; MVP: Éric Dazé, Chicago Blackhawks, RW
- 2003 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu: AFC beats NFC, 45-23; MVP: Ricky Williams, Miami Dolphins, RB
- 2003 53rd NHL All-Star Game, Office Depot Centre, Sunrise, Florida: West beats East, 6-5; MVP: Danny Heatley, Atlanta Thrashers, LW
- 2012 NHL player Sam Gagner becomes the first player to scores eight points in one game for the Edmonton Oilers against the Chicago Blackhawks since 1989
- 2014 Super Bowl XLVIII, MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ: Seattle Seahawks beat Denver Broncos, 42-8; MVP: Malcolm Smith, Seattle, LB
Birthdays in Sport
George Halas
1895 George Halas [Papa Bear], American NFL coach and pioneering owner of the Chicago Bears, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1983)
George Halas
- 1900 Asa Smith Bushnell Jr, Sec of US Olympics (1945-65), born in Springfield, Ohio
- 1900 Willie Kamm, MLB third baseman (d. 1988)
- 1908 Wes Ferrell, All-Star MLB pitcher, born in Greensboro, North Carolina (d. 1976)
- 1915 Stan Leonard, Canadian professional golfer (d. 2005)
- 1919 Allie Reynolds, NY Yankee pitcher (1952 AL ERA leader (2.07))
- 1923 Red Schoendienst, American Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman/manager (10-time All Star), born in Germantown, Illinois (d. 2018)
- 1935 Pete Brown, American golfer (first African-American to win on PGA Tour, Waco 1964), born in Port Gibson, Mississippi (d. 2015)
- 1937 Martina Arroyo, American opera soprano (NY Met), born in NYC, New York
- 1937 Don Buford, All-Star MLB outfielder
- 1940 Wayne Fontes, American football coach
- 1946 Gerrie Muhren, Volendam, Netherlands, footballer (Ajax, European Cup Winner, 1971-3), (d. 2013)
- 1947 Aleksandr Medved, USSR, wrestler (Olympic gold 1964, 68, 72)
- 1949 Francisco Maturana, Colombian football manager
- 1953 Penny Pulz, LPGA golfer
- 1954 Jayantha Amerasinghe, cricketer (2 Tests for Sri Lanka v NZ 1983)
- 1958 Dexter Manley, NFLer (Wash Redskins)
- 1960 Lee Chill, Canadian Tour golfer (1977 Ohio Jr), born in Cleveland Ohio
- 1961 Joey Benjamin, cricket pace bowler (in St Kitts England in 1994)
- 1962 Ben Testerman, tennis star, born in Knoxville, Tennessee
- 1962 Andy Fordham, English darts player
- 1962 Paul Kilgus, baseball player
- 1965 Harry Swayne, NFL tackle (San Diego Chargers, Denver Broncos-Super Bowl 32)
- 1965 Carl Airey, English footballer
- 1966 Andrei Chesnokov, Russian tennis star
- 1966 Bob Alan Estes, Graham TX, PGA golfer (1994 Texas Open)
- 1966 Tony Plourde, Chibougamau Quebec, sabre (Olympics 1996)
- 1966 Victor Muhammad, WLAF running back (London Monarchs)
- 1967 Arturs Irbe, Latvian hockey player
- 1968 Paul McKenzie, Australian Finn class sailor (Olympics 1996)
- 1968 Sari Krooks, ice hockey right wing (Finland, Olympics 1998)
- 1968 Scott Erickson, pitcher (Minnesota Twins, Balt Orioles), born in Long Beach, California
- 1968 Sean Elliott, NBA forward (San Antonio Spurs)
- 1968 Steve Henson, NBA guard (Detroit Pistons)
- 1968 Ventson Donelson, CFL cornerback (Saskatchewan Roughriders)
- 1969 Ijaz Ahmed Jr, cricketer (one Test Pakistan v Sri Lanka 1995)
- 1969 Jeff Christy, corner (Minnesota Vikings)
- 1969 Jody Hull, Cambridge, NHL right wing (Florida Panthers)
- 1969 Valeri Karpin, Russian footballer
- 1970 Chris Luneburg, WLAF T (London Monarchs)
- 1970 Diego Martos, WLAF linebacker (Barcelona Dragons)
- 1970 Erik ten Hag, soccer player (FC Twente, RKC, FC Utrecht)
- 1970 Ivan Vukov, soccer player (FC Volendam)
- 1970 Nikolaos Michopoulos, Greek footballer
- 1970 Roar Strand, Norwegian footballer
- 1971 Ken Dilger, NFL tight end (Indianapolis Colts)
- 1971 Tony Miller, Mount Pleasant Texas, 400m runner
- 1972 Charlie Williams, NFL safety (Dallas Cowboys)
- 1972 Ivan Droppa, Liptovsky Mikulas CZE, NHL defenseman (Chicago)
- 1972 Lance Brown, NFL defensive back (Arizona Cardinals)
- 1973 Dan Brandenburg, linebacker (Buffalo Bills)
- 1973 Jose White, WLAF/NFL defensive tackle (Minnesota Vikings, Frankfurt Galaxy)
- 1973 Patrick Jeffers, NFL wide receiver (Denver Broncos-Super Bowl 32)
- 1973 Radka Bobkova, tennis star (quarter Bournemouth), born in Prague, Czechoslovakia
- 1973 Tim Denton, NFL cornerback (Atlanta Falcons)
- 1974 David Buck, kayak (alt-Olympics 1996), born in Honolulu, Hawaii
- 1974 J R Conrad, offensive tackle/guard (NY Jets)
- 1974 Jeff Cassar, soccer goalkeeper (Olympic gold 1996)
- 1975 Macey Brooks, wide receiver (Dallas Cowboys)
- 1975 Todd Bertuzzi, Sudbury, NHL right wing (NY Islanders)
- 1975 Ieroklis Stoltidis, Greek footballer
- 1975 Vaggelis Koutsoures, Greek footballer
- 1976 Steven Dewick, Australian swimmer (Olympics 1996), born in Sydney, New South Wales
- 1976 James Hickman, British swimmer
- 1977 Libor Sionko, Czech football player
- 1978 Annabel Ellwood, Canberra Australia, tennis star (1995 Futures NC)
- 1978 Barry Ferguson, Scottish football player
- 1979 Lindsay Langston, Modesto California, archer (Olympics 1996)
- 1979 Petra Cada, Canadian table tennis player (Olympics 1996), born in Prague, Czechoslovakia
- 1979 Fani Halkia, Greek hurdler
- 1979 Irini Terzoglou, Greek shot putter
- 1980 Oleguer Presas, Spanish football player
- 1981 Jason Kapono, American basketball player
- 1982 Sergio Castaño, Spanish footballer
- 1982 Kelly Mazzante, American basketball player
- 1983 Carolina Klüft, Swedish athlete
- 1983 Jordin Tootoo, Canadian hockey player
- 1987 Gerard Piqué, Spanish football player
Weddings in Sport
Wedding of Interest
1985 NFL Footballer and felon O.J. Simpson marries 2nd wife Nicole Brown (murdered 1994)
O.J. Simpson
Deaths in Sport
- 1918 John L. Sullivan, Irish-American heavyweight boxing champ (1882-92), dies at 59
- 1948 Bevil Rudd, South African athlete (Olympic gold 1920), dies at 53
- 1959 Frank DeCaires, cricketer (WI bat v Eng 1930, 3 Tests 232 runs), dies
- 1969 Giovanni Martinelli, opera singer (NY Met), dies at 83
- 1976 Harry Elliott, England cricket wicketkeeper (3 Tests 1927-34), dies
- 1979 Jim Burke, Australian cricketer (Australian opener), commits suicide at 48
- 1983 Bryan Valentine, cricketer (7 Tests for England, 454 runs), dies
- 1987 Castilho, Brazilian footballer (b. 1927)
- 1989 Ondrej Nepela, Slovak figure skater (b. 1951)
- 1990 Joe Erskine, Welsh boxer (b. 1934)
- 1995 Fred Perry, English tennis player/broadcaster (8-time Grand Slam singles winner), dies of broken ribs at 85
- 1997 Erich Eliskases, Austrian chess player (b. 1913)
- 2005 Max Schmeling, German boxer (world heavyweight champion 1930-32), dies at 99
- 2007 Masao Takemoto, Japanese gymnast (b. 1919)
- 2013 Walter Francis Sweeney, American NFL guard, dies from pancreatic cancer at 71
February in History
River of Dreams Delivers a Writer of Genius
Forced to find a new job when the American Civil War struck the Mississippi river, Samuel Longhorne Clemens turned to writing and Mark Twain was born.
February 2, 1863
I'm Not Gay Insists 'Fruit-Flavoured, Mincing' Liberace
Entertainer Liberace died on this day, going to his grave insisting he was not gay. But his death from AIDS told a different story . . .
February 4, 1987
Soccer Star Dodges TV Trap
How did a 'This Is Your Life' surprise for footballer Danny Blanchflower backfire so badly and end with the Tottenham Hotspur star storming off the set?
February 6, 1961
2,000-year-old Glass Treasure Shattered by a Drunk
One of the British Museum's treasured pieces of Roman antiquity was shattered on this day by a drunken visitor.
February 7, 1845