Events in Sport
Event of Interest
1952 1st African American executive of a major TV station (Jackie Robinson-WNBC NY)
Jackie Robinson
Event of Interest
1969 John Madden is named head coach of NFL's Oakland Raiders
John Madden
- 1971 Baseball announces a special hall of fame wing for blacks
- 1973 Islanders & Sabres had a penalty free game
- 1976 XII Winter Olympic Games open in Innsbruck, Austria
- 1979 Joanne Carner wins LPGA Colgate Triple Crown Golf Tournament
- 1979 29th NBA All-Star Game, Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Mi: West beats East, 134-129; MVP: David Thompson, Denver Nuggets, SG
- 1986 38th NHL All-Star Game, Hartford Civic Centre: Wales Conference beats Campbell Conference, 4-3 (OT); MVP: Grant Fuhr, Edmonton Oilers, G
- 1987 Stars & Stripes beats Australia's Kookaburra 3, sweeps America's Cup
- 1987 Sacramento Kings score only 4 points 1st quarter against Lakers; fewest in a period since introduction of 24 second shot-clock in 1954
- 1989 Australian cricketer Dean Jones scores 216 v WI at the Adelaide Oval
- 1990 Anders Holmertz swims world record 400 m freestyle (3:40.81)
- 1990 Lyudmila Narozhi-Lenko runs world record 60m hurdles indoor (7.69)
- 1990 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu: NFC beats AFC, 27-21; MVP: Jerry Gray, LA Rams, DB
Golf Tournament
1990 Pat Bradley wins Oldsmobile LPGA Golf Classic
Pat Bradley
Event of Interest
1990 Richard Hadlee takes his 400th Test Cricket wicket (Sanjay Manjrekar)
Richard Hadlee
- 1990 St Petersburg Pelicans beat West Palm Beach Tropics 12-4 to win 1st Senior Professional Baseball Association Championship
Hall of Fame
World Record
1991 Batsmen Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones make a world record 467 run stand for New Zealand v Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve in Wellington
Martin Crowe
Event of Interest
1997 Mario Lemieux is 7th NHL player to score 600 goals
Mario Lemieux
Event of Interest
2007 Super Bowl XLI, Dolphin Stadium, Miami Gardens: Indianapolis Colts beat Chicago Bears, 29-17; MVP: Peyton Manning, Indianapolis, QB
Peyton Manning
Birthdays in Sport
Byron Nelson
1912 Byron Nelson, PGA golfer (won 19 tournaments in 1945), born in Fort Worth, Texas
Byron Nelson
- 1935 Wallis Mathias, cricketer (1st non-Muslim to play for Pakistan)
- 1937 John Devitt, Australian swimmer (2 Olympic gold 1956, 1960), born in Sydney, Australia
- 1937 Magnar Solberg, Norwegian 20K biathalete (Olympic gold 1968, 72)
- 1946 Mary Meyer, American 500m speed skater (Olympic silver 1968)
- 1948 Rakesh Shukla, cricket leg-spinner (1 Test India v Sri Lanka 1982)
- 1951 Stan Papi, American baseball player
Lawrence Taylor
1959 Lawrence Taylor, American NFL player who is considered the greatest linebacker in history (NY Giants), born in Williamsburg, Virginia
Lawrence Taylor
- 1961 Denis Savard, Canadian NHL centre (Chicago Blackhawks) named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players' in history, born in Pointe Gatineau, Canada
- 1962 Vern Fleming, American NBA basketball player (Olympic gold 1984), born in NYC, New York
- 1962 Dan Plesac, pitcher (Pittsburgh Pirates), born in Gary, Indiana
- 1963 Jane Leary, Australian golfer (1992 Australian Amateur Champ), born in Sydney, New South Wales
- 1963 Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss alpine skier (Olympic gold 1988)
- 1963 Tracie Ruiz-Conforto, Hawaii, sync swimmer (Olympic 2 gold/silver-84, 88)
- 1965 John van Loen, Dutch soccer player (Feyenoord, San Frecce)
- 1966 Barry Klein, rower (Olympics 1996), born in Grand Rapids Michigan
- 1966 Viatcheslav Ekimov, Russian cyclist
- 1967 Sergei Grinkov, Russian ice skater
- 1969 Brad Cornett, American baseball pitcher (Toronto Blue Jays)
- 1969 Chris Crooms, WLAF safety (Barcelona Dragons)
- 1969 Dallas Drake, Trail, NHL center (Winnipeg Jets)
- 1969 Joe Sacco, Medford, NHL right wing (Anaheim Mighty Ducks), born in Medford, Massachusetts
- 1970 John Frascatore, American baseball pitcher (St Louis Cardinals)
- 1970 Todd Peterson, NFL kicker (Seattle Seahawks)
- 1971 Kevin Farkas, WLAF tackle (Amsterdam Admirals)
- 1971 Maarten Atmodikoro, soccer player (Dordrecht '90, NAC)
- 1971 Pete Pierson, NFL tackle (Tampa Bay Bucs)
- 1971 Sterling Palmer, NFL defensive end (Washington Redskins)
- 1972 Kelvin Anderson, CFL running back (Calgary Stampeders)
- 1972 Giovanni Silva De Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
- 1973 Oscar De La Hoya, American boxer (Olympic gold 1992, 6-weight world champion), born in Los Angeles, California
- 1974 Brandon Convery, Kingston, NHL center (Toronto Maple Leafs)
- 1974 Chris Ward, defensive end (Baltimore Ravens)
- 1975 Konstantinos Nebegleras, Greek footballer
- 1979 Giorgio Pantano, Italian racing car driver
- 1981 Tom Mastny, Indonesian baseball player
- 1981 Johan Van Summeren, Belgian cyclist
- 1981 Ben Hendrickson, American baseball player
- 1981 Jason Kapono, America professional basketball player
- 1982 Tomas Vaitkus, Lithuanian professional road racing cyclist
- 1984 Mauricio Pinilla, Chilean footballer
- 1986 Mohammad Mahmudullah, Bangladeshi cricketer
- 1987 Lucie Šafářová, Czech tennis player
- 1988 Eoin McDowell, Irish rugby player
- 1988 Alexandros Pagalis, Greek footballer
- 1988 Carly Patterson, American gymnast
- 1988 Jeff Horn, Australian professional boxer (WBO welterweight title 2017), born in Brisbane, Australia
Weddings in Sport
- 2006 2004 Summer Olympics badminton player gold medalist Taufik Hidayat (24) weds Armi Dianti Gumelar at Hotel Mulia Senayan in Jakarta
Divorces in Sport
Divorce of Interest
1985 Professional boxer George Foreman (35) divorces Andrea Skeete after almost 3 years of marriage
George Foreman
Deaths in Sport
- 1909 John Clarkson, American Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher (Triple Crown 1889), dies of mental illness & pneumonia at 47
- 1943 Frank Calder, 1st NHL president, dies
- 1975 Howard Hill, American archer (b. 1899)
- 1995 Roel Wiersma, Dutch soccer star (PSV), dies at 62
- 1995 Godfrey Brown, British athlete, 4 X 400m runner (Olympic gold 1936), dies at 79
- 2003 André Noyelle, Belgian cyclist (b. 1931)
- 2007 Steve Barber, American baseball pitcher (b. 1938)
- 2007 José Carlos Bauer, Brazilian World Cup footballer (b. 1925)
- 2016 Dave Mirra, American BMX rider, commits suicide at 41
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