Events in Sport
Boxing Title Fight
1882 Last bare knuckle champion John L. Sullivan KOs Paddy Ryan in Miss
John L. Sullivan
- 1884 Canadian Rugby Football Union forms
Event of Interest
1908 Philadelphia A's manager/owner Connie Mack sells future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Waddell to St Louis Browns for $5,000
Connie Mack
Event of Interest
1914 Charlie Chaplin debuts silent film character The Tramp in "Kid Auto Races at Venice"
Charlie Chaplin
Event of Interest
1949 Joe DiMaggio becomes 1st $100,000 a year baseball player for the New York Yankees
Joe DiMaggio
- 1958 Dodgers officially become the Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc
Event of Interest
1959 Dorothy Rigney sells White Sox to Bill Veeck for a reported $27M
Bill Veeck
- 1969 Diane Crump becomes 1st woman jockey at a major US racetrack (Hialeah)
Olympic Gold
1972 Dutch Olympic 1,500m and 5,000m speed skating champion Ard Schenk wins his 3rd gold medal at the Sapporo Winter Games when he takes out the 10,000m
Ard Schenk
- 1973 1st time Rangers shut-out Islanders 6-0
NHL Record
1976 Toronto center Darryl Sittler sets NHL record with 10 points in a Maple Leafs' 11-4 win over Boston at Maple Leaf Gardens; 6 goals, 4 assists
Darryl Sittler
- 1985 NY Devil Don Lever becomes 57th NHLer to score 300 goals
- 1987 Dennis Conner & Stars & Stripes bring the America's Cup back to US
- 1987 US male Figure Skating championship won by Brian Boitano
NBA All-Star Game
1988 38th NBA All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium: East beats West, 138-133; MVP: Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls, F
Michael Jordan
- 1988 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 15-6; MVP: Bruce Smith, Buffalo Bills, DE
NHL All-Star Game
1989 40th NHL All-Star Game, Northlands Coliseum, Edmonton: Campbell Conference beats Wales Conference, 9-5; MVP: Wayne Gretzky, LA Kings, C
Wayne Gretzky
Event of Interest
1989 Tennis superstar Björn Borg apparently attempts suicide in Milan
Björn Borg
Hall of Fame
1991 Bob Knight, Larry O'Brien, Tiny Archibald, Dave Cowens, Harry Gallatin & Larry Fleisher elected to NBA Hall of Fame
Dave Cowens
Event of Interest
1992 Mike Tyson testifies in his rape trial
Mike Tyson
- 1993 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 23-20; MVP: Steve Tasker, Buffalo Bills, WR
Event of Interest
1995 Last day of Test Cricket cricket for Graham Gooch & Mike Gatting
Graham Gooch
- 1998 XVIII Winter Olympic Games open in Nagano, Japan
- 1998 NHL's Dallas Stars retire Neal Broten's #7
- 1999 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 23-10; Keyshawn Johnson, NY Jets, QB; Ty Law, New England Patriots, CB
- 2005 Britain's Ellen MacArthur becomes the fastest person to sail solo around the world taking 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes 33 seconds
Super Bowl
2010 Super Bowl XLIV, Sun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens, Miami, FL; New Orleans Saints beat Indianapolis Colts, 31-17; MVP: Drew Brees, New Orleans, QB
Drew Brees
Event of Interest
2011 Laureus World Sports Awards, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, UAE: Sportsman: Rafael Nadal; Sportswoman: Lindsey Vonn; Team: Spanish Men's National Football team
Rafael Nadal
Super Bowl
2021 Super Bowl LV, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL: Tampa Bay Buccaneers dominate defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, 31-9; MVP: Tom Brady, TB Bucs, QB; Brady's record 7th SB win
Tom Brady
- 2021 Sarah Thomas becomes the first woman to referee a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, Florida
Birthdays in Sport
- 1902 Ethelda Blebtrey, 100m swimmer (Olympic gold 1920), born in Waterford, New York
- 1908 Clarence "Buster" Crabbe, American swimmer (Olympic gold 1932) and actor (Tarzan the Fearless, Flash Gordon), born in Oakland, California (d. 1983)
- 1909 Joseph "Poeske" Scherens, Flem cyclist (champ sprinter 1932-37) [OS]
- 1919 Ilse Pausin, Austrian figure skating pairs (Olympic silver 1936)
- 1921 Athol Rowan, cricketer (brother of Eric, South African off-spinner)
- 1927 Vladimir Kuts, Russian runner (d. 1975)
- 1928 Alphonse "Al" Smith [Fuzzy Smith], American MLB outfielder and third baseman (Cleveland Indians), born in Kirkwood, Missouri (d. 2002)
- 1933 John Anderton, English footballer
- 1938 Juan Pizarro, baseball player
- 1945 Gerald Davies, British rugby player
- 1945 Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (In the Name of the Father, Inception), born in Warrington, England (d. 2011)
- 1949 Sunil Wettimuny, cricket (Sri Lanka open batsman 1975-79 World Cups)
- 1949 Paulo César Carpegiani, Brazilian footballer and coach
- 1950 Burt Hooton, baseball player
- 1950 Marilyn Cochran, skier (Olympics 1972), born in Burlington, Vermont
- 1951 Benny Ayala, baseball player
- 1951 Manfred Schumann, German FR, bobsled (Olympic-silver/bronze-1976)
- 1953 Robert Brazile "Dr. Doom", NFL player (Houston Oilers), born in Mobile, Alabama
- 1953 Dan Quisenberry, American MLB player (5-time AL saves leader), born in Santa Monica, California, (d. 1998)
- 1955 Charlie Puleo, baseball player
- 1957 Carney Lansford, baseball player
- 1957 Dámaso García, Dominican baseball second baseman (MLB All-Star 1984, 85; Silver Slugger Award 1982; Toronto Blue Jays), born in Moca, Dominican Republic (d. 2020)
- 1959 Sammy Lee, British soccer player
- 1962 Alan Sippy, cricketer (dashing Bombay lefty batsman of 1980's)
- 1963 Roland Lefebvre, Dutch cricket all-rounder (11 ODIs, captain), born in Rotterdam, Netherlands
- 1964 Cynthia "Sippy" Woodhead, swimmer (Olympic silver 1984), born in Riverside, California
- 1964 Gretchen Magers, Pittsburgh PA/San Antonio TX, tennis star
- 1965 Reginald Thal, soccer player (MVV)
- 1966 Kristin Otto, German swimmer (6 Olympic gold 1988), born in Leipzig, Germany
- 1967 Richie Burnett, Welsh darts player (BDO World Darts Champion 1995), born in Cwmparc, Rhondda, Wales
- 1968 Martin Sinner, Koblenz Germany, tennis star (1990 Pretoria)
- 1968 Peter Bondra, Lutsk Ukr, NHL right wing (Washington Capitals)
- 1969 Bucky Richardson, US football quarterback (Houston Oilers)
- 1969 Fiona Robinson-Hannan, Australian basketball player (Olympic bronze 1996), born in Perth, Western Australia
- 1970 Chris Gardocki, NFL punter (Indianapolis Colts)
- 1970 Denis Chasse, NHL right wing (Winnipeg Jets), born in Montreal, Quebec
- 1970 Stanley Roberts, NBA center (LA Clippers, Minn Timberwolves)
- 1971 Andrew Currey, Australian javelin thrower (Olympics 1996)
- 1971 Marvin Graves, CFL quarterback (Montreal Alouettes)
- 1972 Aftab Habib, cricketer (Leicestershire right handed batsman 1996)
- 1972 John Slaney, St John's, NHL defenseman (LA Kings)
- 1972 Alex Bassi, American race car driver
- 1973 Billy Baumhoff, soccer midfielder/forward (Olympic gold 1996), born in St Louis, Missouri
- 1973 Juwan Howard, NBA forward/center (Washington Bullets/Wizards)
- 1973 Kristin Godridge, Traralgon Aust, tennis star (1993 Futures-Singapore)
- 1973 Leanne Schuster, WPVA volleyballer (National-9th-1995), born in Mesa, Arizona
- 1973 Sonia Paquette, St-Janvier Quebec, hurdler (Olympics 1996)
- 1973 Tim Bowens, NFL defensive tackle (Miami Dolphins)
- 1974 Ryan Phillips, linebacker (NY Giants)
Steve Nash
1974 Steve Nash, Canadian NBA guard (Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, LA Lakers), born in Johannesburg, South Africa
Steve Nash
- 1975 Alexandre Daigle, NHL center (Ottawa Senators), born in Montreal, Quebec
- 1975 Marika Lehtimaki, ice hockey center (Finland, Olympics 1998)
- 1976 Terry Battle, running back (Detroit Lions)
- 1976 Sreto Ristić, German footballer
- 1977 Christine Scheels, New Berlin Wis, speed skater (Olympics 1994)
- 1977 Hillary Wolf, extra lightweight judoka (Olympics 1996), born in Chicago, Illinois
- 1978 Daniel Van Buyten, Belgian footballer
- 1978 Endy Chávez, baseball player
- 1979 Jon Leicester, American baseball player
- 1983 Christian Klien, Austrian racing driver
- 1983 Teshome Getu, Ethiopian footballer
- 1983 Georgios Gougoulias, Greek footballer
- 1988 Matthew Stafford, American college football player
- 1990 Steven Stamkos, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1992 Miguel Andres Matienzo Guerra, Mexican athlete
Weddings in Sport
Wedding of Interest
1925 Heavyweight boxing champ Jack Dempsey (29) weds actress Estelle Taylor (30)
Jack Dempsey
Wedding of Interest
1988 Heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson marries actress Robin Givens
Mike Tyson
Robin Givens
- 2009 Actress and skating champ Kristy Swanson (39) weds 1993 World Pair Skater Champion Lloyd Eisler (45) at The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, California
Deaths in Sport
- 1911 Harry Graham, Australian cricketer (6 Test for Australia 1893-96, 301 runs), dies at 40
- 1940 Francis Ford, cricketer (5 Tests for England v Australia 1894-95), dies
- 1942 Dorando di Desiderio Pietri, marathoner (Olympic gold 1908), dies at 56
- 1952 Pete Henry, American NFL tackle (Canton, NY Giants, Pottsville), dies at 54
- 1959 Napoleon Lajorie, baseball player, dies at 83
- 1962 Arthur Carr, cricketer (11 Tests for Eng 22-29), dies shovelling snow
- 1963 Learco Guerra, Italian road racing cyclist, dies at 60
- 1964 Lillian Copeland, US discus thrower (Olympic gold 1932), dies at 59
- 1979 Warren Giles, American baseball National League president, dies at 82
- 1985 Uday Merchant, cricket (bro of Vijay, prolific scorer), dies
- 1992 Buzz Sawyer, wrestler (b. 1959)
- 2002 Jack Fairman, British racing driver (b. 1913)
- 2005 Bob Turner, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1934)
- 2006 Shujauddin Butt, Pakistani cricketer (batted in 19 Tests for Pakistan 1954-62), dies at 75
- 2009 Betty Jameson, American golfer (US Open 1947, Western Open 1942, 54), dies at 89
- 2015 Billy Casper, American golfer (US Open 1959, 66; US Masters 1970), dies of a heart attack at 83
- 2015 Dean Smith, American actor & relay runner (Olympic gold 1952), dies at 83
Frank Robinson
2019 Frank Robinson, American Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder, manager (MVP 1961-NL and 1966-AL), dies of bone cancer at 83
Frank Robinson
- 2021 Ralph Backstrom, Canadian ice hockey center (6 x Stanley Cup with Montreal Canadiens; 6 x NHL All-Star), dies at 83
- 2021 Leslie Laing, Jamaican athlete (Olympic gold men's 4x400m relay 1952 WR 3:03.9), dies at 91
- 2021 Mario Osbén, Chilean soccer goalkeeper (36 caps; Unión Española, Colo Colo, Cobreloa), dies from a heart attack at 70
