- 1878 Harvard player Frederick Thayer patents baseball catcher's mask (pat # 200,358)
- 1899 1st 2-man team 6-day bicycle race in US begins, Madison Square Garden, NYC
- 1908 NY to Paris auto race (via Alaska & Siberia) begins in NYC George Schuster wins after 88 days behind the wheel
- 1909 American James Clark runs world record marathon (2:46:52.6) in NYC
- 1920 NL votes 6-2 for a single baseball commissioner, AL votes 6-2 to keep group commission
- 1926 Barendrecht soccer team forms
- 1932 49-year-old Australian cricket spin bowler Bert Ironmonger captures 5-6 as South Africa dismissed for 36 in 5th Test in Melbourne; Australia wins by an innings & 72 runs; series 5-0
- 1932 Karl Schäfer of Austria wins the first of 2 consecutive men’s figure skating Olympic gold medals at the Lake Placid Winter Games in the United States
Olympic Gold
1932 Sonja Henie of Norway wins her 2nd of 3 consecutive Olympic gold medals in women’s figure skating at the Lake Placid Winter Games; beats Austria’s Fritzi Burger into 2nd place for 2nd straight Games
- 1932 World champion French husband and wife team Pierrre and Andrée Brunet win their 2nd consecutive Olympic pairs figure skating gold medal at the Lake Placid Games
- 1937 Cleveland (now Los Angeles) Rams granted an NFL franchise
Sports History
1958 Boston Celtic Bill Russell grabs 41 rebounds to beat Syracuse Nationals, 119-101
- 1961 Boston Celtic Bill Russell grabs 40 rebounds to beat Philadelphia Warriors, 136-125
- 1961 Pakistani cricketer Mushtaq Mohammad scores his 1st test cricket century for Pakistan at 17 years of age
Cricket History
1964 End of Richie Benaud's 63-Test cricket career in drawn 5th Test v South Africa in Sydney
- 1967 Dutch speed skater Kees Verkerk becomes All-Around World Champion
- 1968 Dutch speed skater Ans Schut wins women's 3,000m event at Grenoble Winter Olympics; first 10 finishers beat previous Olympic record set in Squaw Valley (1960)
- 1968 Frenchman Jean Claude-Killy follows his win in the downhill with victory in giant slalom at Grenoble Winter Olympics; clean sweeps 3 alpine skiing events with success in the slalom
- 1977 Toronto Maple Leafs shutout Washington Capitals 10-0
- 1980 NY Islanders 2nd scoreless tie, vs Winnipeg Jets
- 1981 Arbitrator Goetz declares Boston Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk a free agent
NHL Record
1982 Wayne Gretzky scores his 153rd point of the season, breaking the NHL record
- 1984 12 years after winning the doubles in Sapporo (1972), Italian Paul Hildgarten wins the men's luge singles at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics
- 1984 East German luger Steffi Martin wins the first of 2 consecutive women's singles gold medals at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; also wins in Calgary (1988)
- 1984 Finnish cross-country skier Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen wins the 5k gold medal at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; 2nd of 3 individual medal sweep, also winning 10k and 20k events
- 1984 West Indies beat Australia 2-1 to win cricket's World Series Cup after going undefeated in the qualifying rounds
1985 37th NHL All-Star Game, Olympic Saddledome, Calgary: Wales Conference beats Campbell Conference, 6-4; MVP: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins, C
- 1985 West Indies beat Australia 2-1 to win cricket's World Series Cup (Australian Tri-Series)
1989 39th NBA All-Star Game, Astrodome, Houston, Texas West beats East, 143-134; MVP: Karl Malone, Utah Jazz, forward
- 1989 Senior PGA Championship, PGA National GC: Larry Mowry wins only career major title; beats Miller Barber & Al Geiberger by 1 stroke
- 1989 Thursday's Child sets sailing record, NY-Cape Horn-SF, 80 d 20 h
- 1989 Wayne Gretzky sets 2 records, his 45th hat trick & 10th 40+ goal season
- 1994 XVII Winter Olympic Games opens in Lillehammer, Norway
- 1995 45th NBA All-Star Game, America West Arena, Phoenix, AZ: West beats East, 139-112; MVP: Mitch Richmond, Sacramento Kings, SG
- 1995 Jeff Rouse swims world record 50m backstroke (24.37 sec)
- 1995 Sun Cayun pole vaults indoor female world record (4.13m)
Murder of Interest
1997 Fred Goldman says he will settle for a signed murder confession from O.J. Simpson in lieu of his $20.5 million judgement
- 1998 Dallas Cowboys sign Chan Gailey as their 4th head coach
- 2006 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: NFC beats AFC, 23-17; MVP: Derrick Brooks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, LB
Coach Schottenheimer Fired
2007 Marty Schottenheimer is abruptly fired as head coach of the San Diego Chargers due to lack of playoff success and a strained relationship with ownership
- 2010 XXI Winter Olympic Games open in Vancouver, Canada
Sports History
2013 At a ceremony in Philadelphia, the NFL pays tribute to the life of the late Steve Sabol and his many contributions to the league
- 2014 German Nordic combined skier Eric Frenzel wins the 1st of 3 career Olympic gold medals in Individual normal hill/10 km event in Sochi; wins event again Pyeongchang and long hill 4 x 5k relay
- 2014 Switzerland’s Dominique Gisin and Tina Maze of Slovenia tie for gold in the women’s downhill event at 1:41.57s at the Sochi Winter Games; first-ever dead-heat in Olympic alpine skiing
- 2014 Tatyana Volosozhar and Maksim Trankov win the Olympic gold in pairs figure skating
- 2018 American snowboarder Jamie Anderson retains her Olympic slopestyle title (Sochi 2014) at the Pyeongchang Winter Games, comfortably ahead of Canada's Laurie Blouin
- 2018 Dutch speed skater Ireen Wüst becomes first Winter Olympian to win an individual gold medal in 4 straight Games with victory in the 1,500m at Pyeongchang; first speed skater to win 10 Olympic medals
- 2018 French biathlete Martin Fourcade wins men's 12.5k pursuit gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics; also wins 15k mass start gold
- 2018 German biathlete Laura Dahlmeier wins her 2nd gold medal of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the women's 10k pursuit; also wins 7.5k sprint gold
Rihanna Performs at Super Bowl
2023 Rihanna performs half-time at the Super Bowl, in her first live performance in six years in Glendale, Arizona [1]
2023 Super Bowl LVII, State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona: Kansas City Chiefs beat Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35; MVP: Patrick Mahomes, KC, QB
