sport in america

Baseball

1932 : Babe Ruth allegedly "calls the shot," hitting a home run against the Chicago Cubs.
1934 : Hank Greenberg refuses to play on Yom Kippur in the middle of a pennant race for the Detroit Tigers.
1939 : Lou Gehrig retires from the Major League with his "luckiest man" farewell speech.
1941 : Ted Williams finishes the season with a .406 batting average.
1941 : Joe DiMaggio sets a record by batting safely in 56 consecutive games.
1947 : Jackie Robinson breaks the color line in Major League Baseball.
1965 : Sandy Koufax refuses to start the first game of the World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers because it falls on Yom Kippur.
1969 : The New York Mets cap their miracle season and beat the Baltimore Orioles to win the World Series.
1971 : Satchel Paige is the first African American player to be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame.
1974 : Hank Aaron hits 715 career home runs, breaking Babe Ruth’s record.
1998 : Cal Ripken Jr ends his consecutive game streak at 2,632 games.
2001 : President Bush throws out the first pitch of the third game of the World Series in New York after the 9.11 attacks.
2004 : The Boston Red Sox come back to win the American League Championship against the New York Yankees, after being down 0-3.
2007 : Barry Bonds hits his 756th home run to surpass Hank Aaron's record.

Basketball

1970 : Willis Reed, the New York Knicks team captain, plays with a torn leg muscle in game 7 and helps the Knicks win their first NBA Championship.
1972 : The US Olympic basketball team is defeated by the Soviet Union in a controversial ending at the Munich Olympics.
1983 : North Carolina State beats Houston to win the NCAA championship.
1985 : Villanova upsets Georgetown to win the NCAA championship.
1991 : Magic Johnson retires at the age of 32 because he is HIV positive.
1992 : The Dream Team wins gold at the Barcelona Olympics.
2002 : Yao Ming is drafted into the NBA.
1962 : Wilt Chamberlin scores 100 points in one game.
1975 : John Wooden wins his 10th NCAA title in his last game as a coach. His career ends with a .813 winning percentage.
1998 : Michael Jordan leads the Bulls to their 6th NBA Championship and hits the game winning shot.
The Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry.

Football

1928 : "Win one for the Gipper," inspires a 2nd half comeback for Notre Dame against Army.
1969 : The New York Jets beat the Baltimore Colts in the Superbowl after Joe Namath guaranteed victory.
2007 : 41 point underdog Stanford beats No. 2 USC with a touchdown pass with only 49 seconds remaining, ending USC’s 35-game home winning streak.
2007 : The New York Giants beat the undefeated New England Patriots in the Superbowl.
The Michigan vs. Ohio State rivalry.
The Army vs. Navy rivalry.

Boxing

1935 : James Braddock upsets renowned heavyweight champion Max Baer.
1938 : The Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling rematch.
1967 : Muhammad Ali refuses to enter the Vietnam Draft and is stripped of his heavyweight title.
1971 : "The fight of the Century." Joe Frazier gives Muhammad Ali his first professional loss in his return to the ring.
1974 : The "Rumble in the Jungle." Muhammad Ali upsets George Foreman for the win.
1990 : The undefeated Mike Tyson is knocked out by Buster Douglas.

NCAA Basketball

1966 : Texas Western wins the NCAA Championship with five African American starters.

Tennis

1957 : Althea Gibson is the first African American woman to win Wimbledon.
1973 : Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in the battle of the sexes.
1981 : Bjorn Borg wins his fifth Wimbledon championship against John McEnroe.
2002 : Pete Sampras wins his 14th Grand Slam against Andre Agassi in the U.S. Open.
1975 : Arthur Ashe is the first African American man to win Wimbledon.

Golf

1945 : Babe Zaharias is the first woman to play in a PGA event.
1986 : Jack Nicklaus wins a record 6th Masters title.
2001 : Tiger Woods holds the titles to all four professional major championships at the same time, for the first time: “The Tiger Slam.”

Greco Roman Wrestling

2000 : U.S. Greco Roman wrestler Rulon Gardner upsets Russian wrestler Alexander Karelin, who was undefeated for 13 years in international competition, in the Sydney Olympics.

Gymnastics

1996 : Keri Strug's one footed vault gives the US Gymnastics team the gold at the Atlanta Olympics.

Hockey

1980 : The "Miracle on Ice." The US Hockey team upsets the Soviets in the Lake Placid Olympics.
1989 : Wayne Gretzy becomes the NHL’s leading scorer, doing so in a third of the time as Gordie Howie.

Horse Racing

1919 : Upset, a 100-1 long shot, gives the undefeated Man O’War his first and only loss.
1938 : Seasbiscuit defeats War Admiral.
1973 : Secretariat wins the Triple Crown.
2009 : Mine That Bird, the only gelding in the field, wins the Kentucky derby as a 50-1 long shot.

Swimming

Track

1936 : Jesse Owens wins 4 gold medals in the Berlin Olympics.
1968 : Claiming gold and silver in the 200 meters at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their fists in the Black power salute on the Olympic podium.

Track & Field

1968 : Bob Beamon shatters the long jump world record, jumping 29' 1/2' at the Mexico City Olympics.

Chess

1972 : Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky for the World Chess Championship

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