Events in Sport
- 1908 1st US-Japanese baseball game Reach All-Americans defeat Waseda U, 5-0
- 1910 Arthur Knight patents steel shaft golf clubs
PGA Championship
1936 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Pinehurst CC: Denny Shute wins first of his consecutive PGA titles, defeating Jimmy Thomson, 3 & 2
Denny Shute
- 1945 Jim Benton, Cleveland end, gains 303 yards (NFL record)
- 1950 7,021 see lowest NBA score, Ft Wayne Pistons 19, Minneapolis Lakers 18
- 1956 XVI Summer Olympic Games open in Melbourne, Australia; first to be staged in Southern Hemisphere and Oceania, as well as first to be held outside Europe and North America
Event of Interest
1956 Bill Sharman (Boston) begins NBA free throw streak of 55 games
Bill Sharman
Event of Interest
1957 Mickey Mantle wins AL MVP for the 2nd time
Mickey Mantle
Event of Interest
1961 Frank Robinson, Cincinnati Reds outfielder, selected as NL MVP
Frank Robinson
NBA Record
1961 St. Louis Hawk Bob Pettit sets NBA record, hitting 19 of 19 free throws
Bob Pettit
Boxing Title Fight
1965 In his second title defence, Muhammad Ali scores 12th-round KO of Floyd Patterson at Las Vegas Convention Center to retain his world heavyweight boxing championship
Muhammad Ali
Floyd Patterson
- 1966 32nd Heisman Trophy Award: Steve Spurrier, Florida (QB)
- 1970 20th NASCAR Sprint Cup: Bobby Isaac wins
- 1972 Philadelphia Flyers beat New York Islanders and start them on 15 game winless streak
- 1972 In Pittsburgh, Penguins set NHL record for scoring fastest 5 goals (2:07) in 10-4 win over St. Louis Blues
- 1974 Test Cricket debut of Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards, at Bangalore
- 1981 CFL Grey Cup, Olympic Stadium, Montreal: Edmonton Eskimos 4th consecutive Championship; beat Ottawa Rough Riders, 26-23; final Grey Cup game for Rough Riders, fold in 1996
- 1981 31st NASCAR Sprint Cup: Darrell Waltrip wins
Boxing Title Fight
1986 20 year old Mike Tyson becomes youngest heavyweight champion in history when he stops Trevor Berbick in round 2 at Las Vegas Hilton to earn the WBC title
Mike Tyson
Event of Interest
1986 Edmonton Oiler Wayne Gretzky becomes the 13th NHLer to score 500 goals
Wayne Gretzky
- 1987 Jack Sikma (Milwaukee) ends his NBA free throw streak of 51 games
Event of Interest
1987 37th NASCAR Sprint Cup: Dale Earnhardt wins
Dale Earnhardt
Contract of Interest
1989 MLB center fielder Kirby Puckett signs record $3,000,000 per year contract with Minnesota Twins
Kirby Puckett
Event of Interest
1991 NY Knicks pay Patrick Ewing a record $18.8 million for 2 yr extension
Patrick Ewing
- 1992 Sandra Volker swims world record 50m backstroke (28.57 sec)
Event of Interest
1992 Yugoslavian tennis star Monica Seles beats Martina Navratilova for the second consecutive year to win WTA Tour Championship 7–5, 6–3, 6–1 in NYC; her 3rd straight end of season title
Monica Seles
Martina Navratilova
Event of Interest
1996 O.J. Simpson takes stand as hostile witness in the wrongful death lawsuit filed against him, saying it is "absolutely not true"
O.J. Simpson
Event of Interest
1998 Swiss tennis star Martina Hingis beats American Lindsay Davenport 7–5, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2 in the WTA Tour Championship final at Madison Square Garden, NYC
Martina Hingis
Event of Interest
2008 Patrick Roy's #33 jersey is retired by the Montreal Canadiens
Patrick Roy
- 2008 13th Rugby League World Cup: New Zealand beats Australia 34-20
Event of Interest
2013 Norwegian, Magnus Carlsen defeats Viswanathan Anand to win the 2013 World Chess Championship
Magnus Carlsen
Event of Interest
2014 Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona sets a new goal scoring record in La Liga of 253 goals
Lionel Messi
Event of Interest
2015 Serbian tennis star Novak Đoković makes it 4 straight season-ending ATP World Tour Finals tennis titles beating Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4 in the final in London, England
Novak Đoković
Roger Federer
Birthdays in Sport
- 1873 Johnny Tyldesley, English cricketer (brother of Ernest, 1661 runs in 31 Tests for England), born in Worsley, Lancashire, England (d. 1930)
- 1900 Bennie Borgmann, American Basketball Hall of Fame forward and coach (Kingston Colonials, Original Celtics; coach Syracuse Nationals), born in Haledon, New Jersey (d. 1978)
- 1902 Albert Leduc, Canadian ice hockey player, born in Valleyfield, Quebec (d. 1990)
- 1907 Dick Bartell, American baseball shortstop, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1995)
- 1911 Ralph Guldahl, American golfer (US Masters 1939, US Open 1937-38), born in Dallas, Texas (d. 1987)
- 1913 Gardnar Mulloy, American tennis player (5-time Grand Slam doubles champion), born in Washington, D.C. (d. 2016)
Eugene Stoner
1922 Eugene Stoner, American firearms designer and inventor of the M16, born in Gosport, Indiana (d. 1997)
Eugene Stoner
- 1926 Lew Burdette, baseball player
- 1926 Zulfiqar Ahmed, Pakistani cricket pace bowler (9 Tests 1952-56)
- 1928 Juno Stover-Irwin, American diver (Olympic silver 1956)
- 1928 Pat Smythe, English equestrian rider (Olympic bronze team jumps 1956; author children's books), born in London, England (d. 1996)
- 1932 Günter Sawitzki, German soccer goalkeeper (10 caps West Germany; VfB Stuttgart), born in Herne, Germany (d. 2020)
- 1935 Ludmila Belousova, Russian pairs skater (Olympic gold 1964, 68), born in Ulyanovsk, Russia (d. 2017)
- 1935 Bobby Wilson, English tennis player (Wimbledon doubles 1960 runner-up), born in Hendon, England (d. 2020)
- 1941 Jacques LaPerriere, NHL defensive Hall of Famer
Billie Jean King
1943 Billie Jean King, American tennis player (12 Grand Slam singles titles, 39 Grand Slam titles), born in Long Beach, California
Billie Jean King
- 1943 Mushtaq Mohammad, Pakistani cricket all-rounder (57 Tests @ 39.17; 10 x 100, 19 x 50, 79 wickets; brother of Hanif), born in Junagadh, India
- 1943 Yvan Cournoyer, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1948 Radomir Antić, Serbian soccer defender (1 cap Yugoslavia; Partizan, Luton Town) and manager (Atlético Madrid; Serbia), born in Žitište, Serbia (d. 2020)
- 1949 David Pietrusza, American baseball historian
- 1950 Greg Luzinski, baseball player (Phillies, White Sox)
- 1950 Lyman Bostock, baseball player
- 1953 Wayne Larkins, cricketer (England opening batsman of 80's)
- 1955 James Edwards, American basketball center (NBA C'ship 1989, 90 Detroit Pistons, 1996 Chicago Bulls), born in Seattle, Washington
- 1955 Sue Novara-Reber, cyclist (1975 World sprint champ), born in Flint, Michigan
- 1955 Wayne Tolleson, baseball player
- 1958 Lee Guetterman, pitcher (NY Yankees, Seattle Mariners), born in Chattanooga, Tennessee
- 1959 Frank McAvennie, Scottish footballer
- 1959 Fabio Parra, Colombian cyclist
- 1962 Steve DeOssie, NFL inside linebacker (NE Patriots)
- 1963 Helen Reale, American WPVA volleyballer (Manhattan Beach-7th-1994), born in NYC, New York
- 1963 Hugh Millen, NFL quarterback (Denver Broncos)
- 1964 Akram Raza, cricketer (Pakistani off-spin all-rounder)
- 1964 Benoit Benjamin, NBA center (Milwaukee Bucks)
- 1964 David Tate, NFL defensive back (Indianapolis Colts)
- 1964 Gene Atkins, NFL safety (Miami Dolphins)
- 1964 Pierre Vercheval, CFL guard (Toronto Argonauts)
- 1964 Robbie Slater, Australian former footballer
- 1965 Eric Allen, NFL cornerback (New Orleans Saints)
- 1965 Mike Benjamin, Euclid Ohio, infielder (Philadelphia Phillies)
- 1965 R Duncan Douglas, American biathlete (Olympics 1994), born in NYC, New York
Boris Becker
1967 Boris Becker, German tennis player (Wimbledon 1985, 86, 89), born in Leimen, Germany
Boris Becker
- 1967 Donald Hollas, quarterback (Oakland Raiders)
- 1968 Daedra Charles, WNBA forward/center (LA Sparks)
- 1968 Darryl Hardy, NFL linebacker (Dallas Cowboys)
- 1968 Irina Privalova, Russian 100m/200m/400m runner
- 1968 Jonathan Moss, Tenafly NJ, rower (Olympics 1996)
- 1969 Byron Houston, NBA forward (Sacramento Kings)
- 1969 John Parrella, NFL defensive tackle (San Diego Chargers)
- 1970 Alison Korn, rower (Olympics 1996), born in Ottawa, Ontario
- 1970 Marvan Atapattu, Sri Lankan cricketeer
- 1971 Lloyd Kammeron, soccer player (Feyenoord, Go Ahead Eagles)
- 1971 Tyoka Jackson, defensive end (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
- 1971 Yone Kamio, tennis star (1995 semi-finalist Hobart), born in Yokohama, Japan
- 1972 Mavan Atapattu, cricketer (Sri Lankan Test batsman)
- 1973 Alexandra Fusai, St Cloud France, tennis star (1995 Futures-Szczecin)
- 1973 Brandon Paulsen, Coon Rapids Minn, greco-roman wrestler (Olympic silver 1996)
- 1973 Cassie Campbell, ice hockey defenseman (Canada, Olympics 1998)
- 1973 Michael Murphy, Brisbane QLD Queensland Australia, diver (Olympics 1996)
- 1974 Meike Babel, Langen Germany, tennis star (1991 Futures-Paderborn-GER)
- 1974 Joe Nathan, American baseball player
- 1976 Torsten Frings, German footballer
- 1976 Adrian Bakalli, Belgian footballer
- 1976 Regina Halmich, German female boxer
- 1977 Michael Preston, English footballer
- 1978 Magdalena Grzybowska, Polish tennis star (1995 Futures Slovakia), born in Poznań, Poland
- 1980 Yaroslav Rybakov, Russian athlete
- 1981 Seweryn Gancarczyk, Polish footballer
- 1981 Pape Sow, Senegalese basketball player
- 1982 Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Nigerian footballer
- 1983 Peter Ramage, English footballer
- 1985 Asamoah Gyan, Ghanaian footballer
- 1986 Oscar Pistorius, South African paralympic athlete
- 1987 Marouane Fellaini, Belgian footballer
Deaths in Sport
Molla Mallory
1959 Molla Bjurstedt Mallory, American-Norwegian tennis player (US Nat C'ship 1915-18, 20-22, 26), dies at 75
Molla Mallory
- 1963 Claude Floquet, cricketer (Test for South Africa), dies
- 1977 Reg Perks, England cricket pace bowler (1938-39), dies
- 1980 Herbert Wade, cricketer (South African batsman & captain 1935-36), dies
- 1981 Jack Fingleton, Australian cricket batsman (18 Tests, 1,189 runs @ 42.46, 5 x 100s), dies at 73
- 1986 Dinny Pails, Australian tennis player (Australian C'ship 1947), dies at 65
- 1989 Rajindernath, Indian cricketer wicketkeeper (1 Test), dies
- 1994 Charles Fortune, South African cricket commentator, dies
- 2000 Emil Zátopek, Czech distance runner (4 x Olympic gold 1948, 52), dies of a stroke at 78
- 2002 C. S. Nayudu, Indian cricketer (brother of C K, 11 Tests as leggie), dies at 88
- 2005 Bruce Hobbs, American jockey (youngest to ride winner of English Grand National on Battleship 1938), dies at 84
- 2006 Pat Dobson, American baseball player (b. 1942)
- 2010 Jean Cione, American All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player (b. 1928)
- 2013 Reg Simpson, English cricket batsman (27 Tests; best 156no v Australia 1951), dies at 93
- 2020 Ray Prosser, Welsh rugby union prop (22 caps Wales, 1 British & Irish Lions; Pontypool) and coach (Pontypool RFC 1969-87), dies at 93
- 2020 Maurice Setters, English soccer wing half (West Bromwich Albion, Manchester United, Stoke City) and manager (Doncaster Rovers), dies from Alzheimer's disease at 83
