Events in Sport
- 1871 Formation of the first Rugby Union at a meeting at Pall Mall restaurant, London, England
Event of Interest
1913 Jim Thorpe relinquishes his 1912 Olympic medals for playing as a professional
Jim Thorpe
- 1921 Soccer team GVAV of Groningen Neth forms
- 1921 Toronto St Pat Corb Denneny scores 6 goals vs Hamilton Tigers
- 1924 Charles Jewtraw, US 500m skater, takes 1st Winter Olympic gold medal
- 1924 17th Women's Australasian Championships: Sylvia Lance Harper beats Esna Boyd Robertson (6-3, 3-6, 8-6)
- 1924 17th Men's Australasian Championships: James Anderson beats Richard Schlesinger (6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3)
Donald Bradman
- 1948 36th Women's Australian Championships: Nancye Wynne Bolton beats Marie Toomey (6-3, 6-1)
- 1948 36th Men's Australian Championships: Adrian Quist beats John Bromwich (6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3)
- 1951 Mel Ott & Jimmie Foxx elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1956 7th Winter Olympic games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
Hall of Fame
1956 Hank Greenberg & Joe Cronin are elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
Hank Greenberg
- 1957 Joseph F Cairnes succeeds Lou Perini as President of Milwaukee Braves
- 1958 Marlene Hagge wins LPGA Lake Worth Open Golf Invitational
- 1959 47th Women's Australian Championships: Mary Carter Reitano beats Renee Schuurman Haygarth (6-2, 6-3)
- 1959 47th Men's Australian Championships: Alex Olmedo beats Neale Fraser (6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3)
- 1960 High-school basketball sensation Danny Heater scores 135 points
- 1960 Oakland Raiders enter the American Football League
Election of Interest
1960 Pete Rozelle elected NFL commissioner on 23rd ballot
Pete Rozelle
- 1963 Major League Rules Committee votes to expand strike zone
- 1976 NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 23-20
- 1977 Soviet figure skaters Sergei Shakrai & Marine Tcherkasova are 1st to perform a quadruple twist lift in Helsinki
- 1980 Islanders & Whalers play a NHL penalty-free game
- 1982 Islanders score 4 goals within 1:38, 5 within 2:37 vs Penguins
- 1984 Nordiques' Michel Goulet scored on 9th penalty shot against Islanders
- 1985 Edmonton Oiler Wayne Gretzky scores 50th goal in 49th game of season
- 1986 Hein Vergeer becomes European skating champion
- 1986 Val Skinner wins LPGA Mazda Golf Classic
- 1986 Super Bowl XX: Chicago Bears beat NE Patriots, 46-10 in New Orleans Super Bowl MVP: Richard Dent, Chicago, DE
- 1989 Allan Border takes 7-46 against the West Indies at the SCG
- 1990 Boston Red Sox hires Elaine Weddington as asst GM (highest-ranking African American female in a major-league front office)
- 1991 Houston guard Vernon Maxwell is 4th NBAer to score 30 pts in a quarter
- 1991 Jan Stenerud becomes 1st pure placekicker to make NFL Hall of Fame
- 1992 Super Bowl XXVI: Wash Red Skins beat Buffalo Bills, 37-24 in Minn Super Bowl MVP: Mark Rypien, Washington, QB
- 1992 80th Men's Australian Open: Jim Courier beats Stefan Edberg (6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2)
Tennis Open
1992 80th Women's Australian Open: Monica Seles beats Mary Joe Fernandez (6-2, 6-3)
Monica Seles
- 1997 Super Bowl XXXI: Green Bay Packers beat NE Patriots, 35-21 in New Orleans
Tennis Open
1997 85th Men's Australian Open: Pete Sampras beats Carlos Moya (6-2, 6-3, 6-3)
Pete Sampras
Tennis Open
1997 85th Women's Australian Open: Martina Hingis beats Mary Pierce (6-2, 6-2)
Martina Hingis
Mary Pierce
- 2003 Super Bowl XXXVII: Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Oakland Raiders, 48-21 at the Qualcomm Stadium MVP: Dexter Jackson, Tampa Bay, S
Tennis Open
2003 91st Men's Australian Open: Andre Agassi beats Rainer Schuttler (6-2, 6-2, 6-1)
Andre Agassi
Tennis Open
2003 91st Women's Australian Open: Serena Williams beats Venus Williams (7-6, 3-6, 6-4)
Serena Williams
Venus Williams
- 2013 101st Women's Australian Open: Victoria Azarenka beats Li Na (4-6, 6-4, 6-3)
Tennis Open
2014 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland wins his first major title; beats Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
Rafael Nadal
- 2014 NFL Pro Bowl: Team Rice beats Team Sanders 22-21
Birthdays in Sport
- 1878 A W "Dave" Nourse, cricketer ("Grand Old Man" of South African cricket)
- 1887 François Faber, Luxembourgian cyclist (Tour de France 1909), born in Aulnay-sur-lton, France (d. 1915)
- 1907 Henry Cotton, English golfer (British Open 1934, 1937, 1948)
- 1919 K C Ibrahim, cricketer (batted in 4 Tests India v WI 1948-49)
Paul Newman
1925 Paul Newman, American actor (Hud, Hombre, Hustler), racing car driver and charity food company founder (Newman's Own), born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 2008)
Paul Newman
- 1927 Bob Nieman, American baseball player (d. 1985)
- 1930 Harry "Buddy" Melges Jr, Wisc, sailor (Olympic gold/bronze-1964, 72)
- 1933 Ercole Baldini, Italian cyclist
- 1935 Bob Uecker, catcher/actor (Mr Belvedere), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- 1935 Henry Jordan, Emporia Va, NFL defensive tackle (Cleveland, Green Bay)
- 1943 César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 2005)
- 1945 Mick Hill, cricketer (NSW all-rounder 1964-75)
- 1951 Jarmila Kratochvilova, Czech, 400m/800m runner (Olympic silver 1980)
- 1952 Thomas Edward Henderson, SC, basketballer (Olympic silver 1972)
- 1954 Kim Hughes, cricketer (brilliant Australian batsman 1977-84)
- 1957 Ashok Malhotra, cricketer (Indian batsman in 7 Tests 1982-84)
- 1957 Shivlal Yadav, cricketer (Indian off-spinner 102 Test wickets 1979-87)
- 1958 Salvador Sánchez, Mexican boxer
- 1960 Gary Plummer, NFL linebacker (San Diego Chargers, SF 49ers)
- 1960 Jeanette Bolden, 4x100m runner (Olympic gold 1984), born in Los Angeles, California
Wayne Gretzky
1961 Wayne Gretzky, Canadian NHL great scorer (Oiler, King, Rangers), born in Brantford, Ontario
Wayne Gretzky
- 1962 Roshan Guneratne, cricketer (wicketless in only Test SL v Aust 1983)
- 1962 Tim May, cricketer (Australian off-spinner 1987-95)
- 1962 Oscar Ruggeri, Argentine footballer
- 1963 Simon O'Donnell, cricketer (Deniliquin NSW ODI all-rounder 1985-90)
- 1963 José Mourinho, Portuguese football manager (Chelsea), born in Setúbal, Lisbon
- 1965 Lou Frazier, American baseball outfielder (Montreal Expos)
- 1965 Tim McDonald, safety (San Francisco 49ers)
- 1965 Natalia Yurchenko, Soviet gymnast
- 1967 Jeff Branson, American baseball infielder (Cincinnati Reds)
- 1967 Katie Peterson-Parker, LPGA golfer (1995 Oldsmobile-5th), born in Bethesda, Maryland
- 1967 Tim Pugh, Lake Tahoe CA, pitcher (Cincinnati Reds, KC Royals)
- 1968 Eric Davis, NFL cornerback (SF 49ers, Carolina Panthers)
- 1968 Reggie Jordan, NBA guard (Minn Timberwolves)
- 1970 Dan Carlson, American baseball pitcher (SF Giants)
- 1970 Dean Malkoc, NHL defenseman (Vancouver Canucks), born in Vancouver, British Columbia
- 1970 Ronald Moore, NFL running back (NY Jets, St Louis Rams, Az Cardinals)
- 1971 Jon Heidenreich, WLAF G (Frankfurt Galaxy)
- 1971 Lamar Mills, WLAF DE (Amsterdam Admirals)
- 1971 Lee Naylor, Australian 400m runner (Olympics 1996)
- 1971 Min Tang, Hunan China, tennis star (1995 Futures-Canberra AUS)
- 1972 Harrison Houston, NFL wide receiver (Chicago Bears)
- 1973 Mark Brook, WLAF LB (Rhein Fire)
- 1973 Tatsuki Katayama, hockey defenseman (Team Japan 1998)
- 1973 Tony Ramirez, tackle (Detroit Lions)
- 1976 Paul Byrne, Australian 800m ruuner (Olympics 1996)
- 1977 Justin Gimelstob, NJ, tennis star (1994 doubles USTA Bakersfield)
- 1977 Vince Carter [Vinsanity], American basketball player who famously made "Le dunk de la mort" (the Dunk of Death), born in Daytona Beach, Florida
- 1978 Estéban Germán, Dominican baseball player
- 1978 Corina Morariu, American tennis player
- 1981 Juan Jose Haedo, Argentinian Cyclist
- 1984 Iain Turner, Scottish footballer
- 1984 Luo Xuejuan, Chinese swimmer
- 1986 Gerald Green, American basketball player
- 1989 Emily Hughes, American figure skater
- 1990 Peter Sagan, Slovakian professional cyclist (World Road Champion 2016), born in Žilina, Slovakia
Weddings in Sport
Wedding of Interest
2005 Professional golfer Arnold Palmer (75) weds Kathleen Gawthrop in an intimate ceremony at a cottage on the beach at Turtle Bay Resort
Arnold Palmer
Deaths in Sport
- 1893 Abner Doubleday, Union general-major and inventor (baseball), dies at 73
- 1932 William K Wrigley, owner (Wrigley Gum, Chicago Cubs), dies
- 1961 Morris Nichols, cricketer (41 wkts in 14 Tests for Eng 1930-39), dies
- 1983 Paul "Bear" Bryant, American college football coach (Alabama), dies at 69
- 1990 Bob Gerard, British racing driver (b. 1914)
- 1995 Vic Buckingham, English soccer player/trainer (Ajax), dies at 79
- 1996 David Schultz, American wrestler (Olympic gold 1984), killed by John Du Pont at 36
- 2000 Don Budge, American tennis player (6 Grand Slam singles titles, Grand Slam 1938), dies of cardiac arrest at 84
- 2001 Al McGuire, American basketball coach (Marquette), dies at 72
- 2003 Valeriy Brumel, Soviet Olympic athlete (b. 1942)
- 2004 Fred Haas, American golfer (b. 1916)
- 2007 Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player, dies at 77
- 2014 Tom Gola, American basketball player, dies at 81