- 1871 The Rugby Football Union is formed at a meeting of 21 clubs at the Pall Mall Restaurant, London, England
Olympic Games
1913 Jim Thorpe relinquishes his 1912 Olympic medals for playing 2 seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics
- 1921 Toronto NHL center Corb Denneny scores 6 goals to lead St. Patricks to a 10-3 win over Hamilton Tigers in Toronto
1st Winter Olympics
1924 American skater Charles Jewtraw claims the first ever Winter Olympic gold medal; wins 500m speed skating event in 44.0s at the Chamonix Games in France
- 1924 Australasian Championships Women's Tennis, Melbourne: All-Australian final; Sylvia Lance Harper beats Esna Boyd Robertson 6-3, 3-6, 8-6
- 1924 Australasian Championships Men's Tennis. Melbourne: James Anderson wins 2nd of 3 Australasian titles; beats fellow Australian Richard Schlesinger 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3
- 1924 Clas Thunberg of Finland claims his first of 5 gold medals when he wins the 5,000m speed skating in 2:20.8 at the Chamonix Winter Olympics
- 1948 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Nancye Wynne Bolton beats Marie Toomey 6-3, 6-1 for 4th straight Australian single title
- 1948 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Adrian Quist wins his 3rd Australian title; beats fellow Australian and doubles partner John Bromwich 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3
- 1951 Mel Ott & Jimmie Foxx elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1956 VII Winter Olympic Games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
Hall of Fame
1956 Hank Greenberg & Joe Cronin are elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1957 Joseph F Cairnes succeeds Lou Perini as President of Milwaukee Braves
- 1959 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Mary Carter Reitano wins her 2nd home singles title; beats Renee Schuurman of South Africa 6-2, 6-3
- 1959 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: American based Peruvian Alex Olmedo wins his first Grand Slam event; beats Neale Fraser of Australia 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
- 1963 Major League Rules Committee votes to expand strike zone
World Record
1966 Ard Schenk skates world record 1500m (2:06.2)
Australian Open Women's Tennis
1969 1st Australian Open Women's Tennis: Margaret Court wins inaugural Open event; beats American Billie Jean King 6-4, 6-1
- 1970 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Margaret Court beats fellow Australian Kerry Melville Reid 6-1, 6-3; Court retains title for 9th Australian singles crown and 1st leg of her Grand Slam
- 1976 NFL Pro Bowl, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans: NFC beats AFC, 23-20; MVP: Billy Johnson, Houston Oilers, WR
- 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 In a 9-2 NHL win over Pittsburgh Penguins, the NY Islanders score 4 goals within 1:38, 5 within 2:37 in a 6 goal 1st period
- 1984 Nordiques' Michel Goulet scored on 9th penalty shot against Islanders
Sports History
1985 Edmonton Oiler Wayne Gretzky scores 50th goal in 49th game of season
Sports History
1989 Allan Border takes 7-46 against the West Indies at the SCG
Australian Open Women's Tennis
1991 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Monica Seles becomes the only Yugoslav player – male or female – to win a Grand Slam singles title; beats Jana Novotná 5-7, 6-3, 6-1
- 1991 Houston guard Vernon Maxwell becomes 5th player in NBA history to score 30 points in a quarter in Rockets' 103-97 home win over Cleveland; joins Wilt Chamberlain, David Thompson, George Gervin & Michael Jordan
- 1992 Super Bowl XXVI, Metrodome, Minneapolis, MI: Washington Redskins beat Buffalo Bills, 37-24; MVP: Mark Rypien, Washington, QB
Australian Men's Tennis Open
1992 Australian Open Men's Tennis: American Jim Courier wins 2nd career Grand Slam title and 1st Australian title; beats Stefan Edberg of Sweden 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
- 1993 Everton scores a 3-1 away win over Wimbledon at Selhurst Park in London; lowest ever attendance at an EPL fixture, 3,039
- 1995 With a record 6,254,427 ballots cast by fans in NBA All-Star Voting, Detroit's Grant Hill becomes the first rookie to lead all NBA players in All-Star votes received, earning #1 on 1,289,585 ballots
- 1997 Super Bowl XXXI, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, LA: Green Bay Packers beat New England Patriots, 35-21; MVP: Desmond Howard, Green Bay KR
Australian Men's Tennis Open
1997 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Pete Sampras wins his 2nd and last Australian title; beats Carlos Moyá of Spain 6-2, 6-3, 6-3
Australian Open Women's Tennis
1997 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Martina Hingis becomes first Swiss player – male or female – to win a Grand Slam singles title; beats Mary Pierce of France 6-2, 6-2
NHL Record
1997 Mario Lemieux ties NHL record with 4 goals in the 3rd period as Pittsburgh wins, 5-2 at Montreal; 39th career hat trick and 13th 4-goal game, tying NHL record shared by Wayne Gretzky & Mike Bossy
- 2002 Australian Open Women's Tennis: American Jennifer Capriati wins her 2nd consecutive Australian title; beats Martina Hingis 4-6, 7-6, 6-2
- 2003 Super Bowl XXXVII, Qualc:omm Stadium, San Diego, CA: Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Oakland Raiders, 48-21; MVP: Dexter Jackson, Tampa Bay, S
Australian Men's Tennis Open
2003 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Andre Agassi of the US wins his 8th and last Grand Slam title; beats Rainer Schuttler of Germany 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
Australian Open Women's Tennis
2008 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Russian Maria Sharapova wins her first and only Australian title; beats Ana Ivanović of Serbia 7-5, 6-3
Australian Open Women's Tennis
2013 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Victoria Azarenka of Belarus wins her 2nd straight Australian title; beats Li Na of China 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Australian Men's 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
- 2014 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: Team Rice beats Team Sanders, 22-21; MVPs: Nick Foles, Philadelphia, QB; Derrick Johnson, KC Chiefs, LB
Australian Open Women's Tennis
2019 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Naomi Osaka becomes world #1 ranked player with 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 win over Petra Kvitová of the Czech Republic; first Japanese player to win Australian singles title
- 2019 64th NHL All Star Games, SAP Centre, San Jose, CA: Metropolitan All Stars win four-team, 3-on-3 tournament; MVP: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins, C
Sports History
2020 LA Lakers basketball legend Kobe Bryant dies in a helicopter crash in foggy conditions in the hills above Calabasas, southern California; considered one of the greatest players in the game's history
- 2020 NFL Pro Bowl, Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Florida: AFC beats NFC, 38-33; MVP's: Lamar Jackson, QB (Baltimore Ravens), Calais Campbell, DE (Jacksonville Jaguars)
