Jan. 20
1891 - The International YMCA in Springfield, Mass. is the site of the first official basketball game. Peach baskets were used, but it wasn’t until 1905 that someone removed the baskets’ bottoms.
1937 - Nels Stewart of the New York Americans becomes the NHL’s all-time scorer with his 270th goal in a 4-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
1952 - George Mikan scores 61 points, a career-high, to lead the Minneapolis Lakers to a 91-81 double-overtime victory over the Rochester Royals.
1966 - Ted Williams, longtime star of the Boston Red Sox, is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Williams was a two time triple crown winner, a two time MVP and the last player to hit over .400 - despite losing five prime years to service in the Marine Corps.
1968 - Elvin Hayes scores 39 points to lead Houston to a 71-69 victory and end UCLA’s 47-game winning streak. A regular-season record 52,693 fans attend the game at the Houston Astrodome.
1970 - Cincinnati’s Tom Van Arsdale and Phoenix’s Dick Van Arsdale are the first brothers to play in the same NBA All-Star game. Dick scores eight points for the West team, while Tom scores five for the East, which wins the game 142-135 at Philadelphia.
1980 - President Carter announces the U.S. Olympic team will not participate in the Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the previous month.
1980 - Terry Bradshaw passes for 309 yards and sets two passing records to help the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Los Angeles Rams 31-19 and become the first team to win four Super Bowls.
1985 - Joe Montana passes for a Super Bowl record 331 yards and three touchdowns to lead the San Francisco 49ers to a 38-16 victory over the Miami Dolphins. Roger Craig scores a record three touchdowns.
1996 - Rudy Galindo, in the biggest upset in decades, wins the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, earning two perfect marks along the way.
2001 - Alan Webb of South Lakes High School in Reston, Va., becomes the first American prep runner to break four minutes for the indoor mile, with a time of 3:59.86 at the New Balance Games in New York.
2002 - Steve Yzerman becomes the ninth player in NHL history to notch 1,000 assists, which he earns on Mathieu Dandenault’s game-winning goal when Detroit beats Ottawa 3-2 in overtime.
2008 - Despite a shaky Tom Brady, New England Patriots are too much for the banged-up San Diego Chargers in the AFC championship game, pulling out a 21-12 victory that sends them back to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in seven seasons.
2008 - Lawrence Tynes, who missed a 36-yard field goal at the end of regulation following a bad snap, nails a 47-yarder in overtime to give the New York Giants a 23-20 win over Green Bay in the NFC championship at Lambeau Field. The Giants win their 10th straight on the road in the third-coldest championship game ever.
2013 - San Francisco’s Frank Gore runs for a pair of second-half touchdowns and the 49ers rebounds from a 17-0 deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons 28-24 in the NFC championship game.
2013 - Joe Flacco outduels Tom Brady, throwing three touchdown passes in the second half and leading the Baltimore Ravens to their first Super Bowl in 12 years with a 28-13 victory over the New England Patriots for the AFC championship.
2016 - Kathryn Smith is promoted by the Buffalo Bills to take over as special teams quality control coach, making her the first full-time female coach in the NFL.
2017 - Henrik Sedin had a goal for his 1,000th career point before Luca Sbisa scored the winner early in the third period to help Vancouver beat Florida 2-1. Sedin converted a pass from twin brother Daniel on a 2-on-1 rush for his 11th goal of the season. Henrik Sedin became the 85th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points, and the 38th to accomplish the feat with one franchise.
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Jan. 21
1921 - Kenesaw Mountain Landis takes office as baseball’s commissioner.
1947 - Carl Hubbell, Frank Frisch, Mickey Cochrane, and Lefty Grove are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1953 - Dizzy Dean and Al Simmons are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The baseball writers pass over Joe DiMaggio in his first year of eligibility.
1954 - For the first time in NBA All-Star history, an overtime period is needed. Boston’s Bob Cousy scores 10 points in the overtime to give the East a 98-93 victory and Cousy the MVP honors.
1958 - Bob Pettit of St. Louis becomes the first member of the losing team to win the NBA All-Star MVP award, scoring 28 points and grabbing 26 rebounds, even though the East beats the West 130-118.
1969 - Roy Campanella and Stan Musial are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1979 - Terry Bradshaw throws four touchdown passes to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to their third Super Bowl win, a 35-31 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. Bradshaw, the game’s MVP, completes 17 of 30 passes for 318 yards.
1990 - John McEnroe becomes the first player thrown out of the Australian Open. McEnroe’s tantrum comes while leading Mike Pernfors 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, 2-4.
1996 - Karrie Webb becomes the second quickest winner in LPGA Tour history winning the HealthSouth Inaugural at Walt Disney World. Webb, in her second LPGA start, beat Jane Geddes and Martha Nause on the fourth hole of a playoff. Webb finished second in her first LPGA start a week earlier in the Chrysler-Plymouth Tournament of Champions.
2005 - Four-time Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjoerndalen wins his 49th career World Cup biathlon, breaking the record for career victories. Bjoerndalen edges fellow Norwegian Frode Andresen in the 10-kilometer sprint event to pass former cross country great Bjorn Daehlie at 48 career wins.
2007 - Lovie Smith becomes the first black head coach to make it to the Super Bowl when his Chicago Bears win the NFC championship. Tony Dungy joins him when his Indianapolis Colts take the AFC title.
2009 - New Jersey Institute of Technology ends its 51-game losing streak, getting 26 points from Jheryl Wilson in a 61-51 victory over Bryant. NJIT had not won since it defeated Longwood on Feb. 19, 2007.
2010 - Los Angeles guard Kobe Bryant becomes the 15th player in NBA history to reach 25,000 career points and the youngest to hit the milestone. Bryant finishes with 31 points in the Lakers’ 93-87 loss at Cleveland.
2012 - Notre Dame upsets No. 1 Syracuse 67-58 and hands the Orange their first loss after 20 straight victories. It’s the eighth time Notre Dame has beaten a No. 1 team - that ties for fourth-most all-time.
2017 - Adam Hadwin shoots a 13-under 59 in the CareerBuilder Challenge for the ninth sub-60 round in PGA Tour history and the second in 10 days. The 29-year-old Canadian reaches 13 under with a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-4 17th and makes a 3-footer from just off the green for par on the 18th at La Quinta Country Club.
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Jan. 22
1920 - The New York Yankees announce they will be the first team to wear uniform numbers, according to the player’s position in batting order.
1960 - Paul Pender beats Sugar Ray Robinson in a 15-round split decision to capture the world middleweight boxing title.
1962 - Bob Feller and Jackie Robinson are elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Robinson, who had the distinction of becoming the first black to play in the Major League, is also the first to enter the Hall of Fame.
1968 - The NBA awards expansion franchises to Milwaukee and Phoenix.
1973 - George Foreman knocks out Joe Frazier in the second round in Kingston, Jamaica, to win the world heavyweight title.
1983 - Houston becomes the first NBA team not to score a point in overtime as the Portland Trail Blazers outscore the Rockets 17-0 for a 113-96 victory.
1988 - Mike Tyson knocks out Larry Holmes in the fourth round at Atlantic City to retain his world heavyweight title.
1994 - New York Islanders’ Pierre Turgeon has four assists to help the Eastern Conference beat the Western Conference 9-8 in the NHL All-Star game.
1998 - New York’s Pat LaFontaine reaches the 1,000-point mark, scoring his 19th goal in the Rangers’ 4-3 loss to Philadelphia.
2005 - Jockey Russell Baze passes Bill Shoemaker to take over second place on the all-time win list. Russell gets his 8,834th victory aboard Hollow Memoires in the seventh race at Golden Gate Fields.
2006 - The Pittsburgh Steelers are the first team since the 1985 Patriots to win three postseason road games thanks to a 34-17 dismantling of the Denver Broncos in the AFC title game.
2006 - Kobe Bryant scores a staggering 81 points - the second-highest total in NBA history - and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors 122-104.
2012 - The New England Patriots beat the stunned Ravens 23-20 in the AFC championship game after Baltimore’s Billy Cundiff misses a 32-yard field goal attempt with 11 seconds remaining that would have tied the score.
2012 - Lawrence Tynes kicks a winning 31-yard field goal in sudden-death overtime and New York beat the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in the NFC championship game.
2017 - Atlanta’s Matt Ryan throws for 392 yards and four touchdowns and runs for another score, leading the Falcons to a 44-21 blowout of Green Bay in the NFC championship game.
2017 - New England’s Tom Brady passes for a Patriots playoff-record 384 yards, going 32 of 42 with three TD tosses to lead the Patriots to the Super Bowl with a 36-17 win over Pittsburgh.
2017 - Nathan Chen follows a record-setting short program with a near-flawless free skate featuring five quadruple jumps to become the youngest men’s U.S. figure skating champion in more than five decades. The 17-year-old Chen, performing to “The Polovtsian Dances,” became the first skater in the world to land five clean quads in competition.
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