1944 – Syd Howe of the Detroit Red Wings scores six goals in a 12-6 victory over the New York Rangers. Howe is the first player to score six goals in a game since Cy Denneny of the Ottawa Senators in 1921.
1956 – Austrian Toni Sailer wins the men’s downhill and becomes the first Olympic skier to sweep three alpine events.
1976 – Washington’s Dave Bing, in his final NBA All-Star Game appearance, wins MVP and leads the East to a 123-109 victory over the West in Philadelphia. Bing has 16 points and four assists.
1980 – Larry Bird makes the first 3-pointer in NBA All-Star Game history. Bird’ 3 came in overtime. East wins 144-136.
1982 – Steve Mahre, twin brother of overall champion Phil Mahre, becomes the first American skier to win a gold medal in an Olympic or world competition when he defeats Swede Ingemar Stenmark in the giant slalom at the worlds.
1990 – Bill Shoemaker, the winningest jockey in the world, finishes fourth at the Patchy Groundfog in his final race at Santa Anita. The 58-year-old Shoemaker ends his 40-year career with $123,375,524 in earnings, a record 8,833 wins, 6,136 seconds, and 4,987 thirds in 40,350 starts.
1998 – Dino Ciccarelli becomes the ninth NHL player to reach 600 goals when he scores on a power play with 5:09 left in the third period to give the Florida Panthers a 1-1 tie against the Detroit Red Wings.
2000 – World Wrestling Federation mastermind Vince McMahon unveils his latest creation: the XFL, a new professional soccer league.
2001 – A year later, the XFL breaks into the national sporting scene with its first two games. With exuberant cheerleaders and trash-talking players, the Las Vegas Outlaws beat the New York/New Jersey Hitmen 19-0, while the Orlando Rage beat the Chicago Enforcers 33-29 in front of an Orlando crowd of 35,603.
2002 – Adam Vinatieri’s 48-yard field goal as time expires gives Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots their first Super Bowl title with a 20-17 win over heavily favored St. Louis. Louis Rams by two touchdowns.
2006 – Martin Brodeur becomes the third goaltender in NHL history to reach 100 shutouts as New Jersey defeats Carolina 3-0. Brodeur joins Terry Sawchuk (115) and George Hainsworth (102).
2008 – Eli Manning and the New York Giants end New England’s unbeaten run and trigger one of the biggest upsets of the Super Bowl. Manning throws a 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left to beat the Patriots 17-14.
2013 — The Baltimore Ravens survive a Super Bowl power outage to defeat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31. Jacoby Jones returns early in the second half with a Super Bowl record 108 yards to give Baltimore a 28-6 lead. Moments later, the lights lining the Superdome disappear. When the action resumes 34 minutes later, Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers have scored 17 straight points, going close to 31-29. Baltimore to San Francisco on fourth and goal of 5 with less than 2 minutes left when Kaepernick’s pass sails past Michael Crabtree in the end zone.
2017 – Tara VanDerveer becomes the second NCAA women’s coach to reach 1,000 career wins when No. 8 Stanford beat Southern California 58-42 to give the Hall of Famer a milestone in front of a home crowd at Maples Pavilion.
2019 – Super Bowl LIII, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA: New England Patriots defeated Los Angeles Rams 13-3; MVP: Julian Edelman, NE Patriots, WR; Patriots’ 6th SB win
1861 – The Philadelphia Athletics beat Charter Oak 36-27 in a baseball game played on frozen Litchfield Pond in Brooklyn, New York, with players wearing ice skates.
1924 – The first Winter Olympics end in Chamonix, France. Sixteen countries competed in 17 events across seven sports.
1932 – Opening of the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY, the first Winter Games in the United States.
1957 – Joe McCarthy and Sam Crawford are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1969 – The 24 major league owners unanimously choose Bowie Kuhn as commissioner for a one-year term at a salary of $100,000.
1971 – The Baseball Hall of Fame establishes a separate section for players from the former Negro Leagues. In July, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, along with Hall President Paul Kirk, announce a change of heart and scrap plans for the separate section.
1976 – US District Court Judge John W. Oliver upholds referee Peter Seitz’s decision declaring Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally free agents.
1977 – Rick Martin scores two third-period goals, including the game-winning goal with less than two minutes remaining, to lead the Wales Conference to a 4-3 victory over the Campbell Conference in the NHL All-Star Game in vancouver.
1979 – Denver’s David Thompson scores 25 points on 11-of-17 shooting to lead the Western Conference to a 134-129 victory over the East in the 1979 NBA All-Star Game in Detroit. Thompson also grabs five rebounds and is named the game’s MVP. Julius Erving of Philadelphia leads all scorers with 29 points and George Gervin of San Antonio has 26 for the East.
1987 – The Sacramento Kings have the worst first quarter since the clock started in 1954. The Kings set an NBA record with just four points in the first quarter of a 128-92 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
1987 – Stars & Dennis Conner-led Stripes beat Kookaburra III 4-0 in Fremantle, Australia to bring the America’s Cup back to the United States.
1991 – Cooperstown’s doors are closed to Pete Rose when the Hall of Fame Board of Directors votes 12-0 to prevent consideration of players on the Permanently Ineligible List.
1997 – Mario Lemieux scores his 600th goal, an empty net, to help the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 6-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Lemieux is the first player to score 600 goals while spending his NHL career with one team.
2003 – Jaromir Jagr scores three goals, including his 500th, for his 11th career hat-trick as Washington beat Tampa Bay 5–1.
2007 – Peyton Manning is 25-of-38 for 247 yards and a touchdown as he rallyes Indianapolis to a 29-17 Super Bowl victory over Chicago in the rain of South Florida. Tony Dungy becomes the first black coach to win the championship, defeating good friend and protégé Lovie Smith in a game that featured the first two black coaches in the Super Bowl.
2012 – Lindsey Vonn earns her 50th World Cup win, winning the downhill with temperatures dropping to minus 13 degrees on the demanding Kandahar course in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
2017 – Gregg Popovich becomes the winningest head coach with a single franchise in NBA history, leading the San Antonio Spurs to a 121-97 victory over the Denver Nuggets. Popovich picks up his 1,128th win to pass former Utah head coach Jerry Sloan for the mark.
2018 – The Philadelphia Eagles win a record-setting match between Nick Foles and Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. Foles, the backup quarterback, leads a pressure-filled 75-yard drive for the game-winning touchdown, 11 yards to Zach Etrz with 2:21 to go. Then the defense makes two final stands to win 41-33.
2022 – Opening of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China.
1913 – The New York State Athletic Commission bans boxing matches between fighters of different races.
1919 – Accusations against Cincinnati’s Hal Chase of pitching games and betting against his team are dismissed by National League President John Heydler. Two weeks later, Chase is traded to the New York Giants.
1948 – After landing the first double axel in Olympic competition, Dick Button becomes the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating. Gretchen Fraser becomes the first female Olympic slalom champion in the United States.
1960 – Bill Russell grabs 51 rebounds as the Boston Celtics win 124-100 over the Syracuse Nationals. Russell is the first player in NBA history to grab 50 or more rebounds.
1972 – Bob Douglas is the first black person elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Known as “The Father of Black Professional Basketball,” Douglas owned and coached the New York Renaissance from 1922 to 1949.
1976 – Austrian Franz Klammer wins the Olympic gold medal in downhill in Innsbruck, Austria. Bill Koch wins a silver in the 30-kilometer cross-country race to become the first American to win a medal in a Nordic event.
1980 – Gordie Howe plays in his 23rd and final All-Star Game. Howe does not score, but prepares the final goal of the game, for Real Cloutier, in the Wales Conference’s 6-3 victory against the Campbell Conference at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
1990 – Notre Dame wins the College Football Association and becomes the first college to sell its home games to a major network, agreeing to a five-year contract with NBC beginning in 1991.
1991 – Dave Taylor of the Los Angeles Kings assists twice in a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, becoming the 29th player in NHL history with 1,000 points.
1999 – Patrick Roy, aged 33, becomes the youngest goaltender in NHL history to earn 400 wins by making 26 saves in the Colorado Avalanche’s 3-1 victory over the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.
2003 – Bode Miller of the United States wins his first major title, winning the combined gold medal at the world championships in St. Louis. Moritz, Switzerland.
2006 – Pittsburgh wins record-tying fifth Super Bowl, but first since 1980 with a 21-10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
2009 – Tennessee’s Pat Summitt becomes the first Division I basketball coach – male or female – to win 1,000 career games after his Lady Vols beat Georgia 73-43.
2011 – Dejen Gebremeskel of Ethiopia wins the men’s 3000 meters at the Boston Indoor Grand Prix after losing his right shoe early in the race. Gebremeskel stayed close to the lead throughout the race and took over on the last lap to finish in 7m35s37s. Briton Mo Farah finished second with 7m35s81.
2012 – Eli Manning and the Giants beat Tom Brady and the Patriots again, coming back with a last minute score to beat New England 21-17 for New York’s fourth Super Bowl title.
2017 – Tom Brady leads one of the greatest comebacks in sports, let alone Super Bowl history, lifting New England from a 25-point hole to the Patriots’ fifth NFL championship in the game’s first overtime. The Patriots score 19 points in the final quarter, including a pair of 2-point conversions, then relentlessly march to James White’s 2-yard touchdown run in overtime, defeating the Atlanta Falcons 34-28.
2022 – Six days before his 50th birthday, 11-time surfing world champion Kelly Slater wins his 8th Pipeline title defeating 22-year-old Hawaiian Seth Moniz in the final
1943 – Montreal’s Ray Getliffe scores five goals to lead the Canadiens to an 8–3 victory over the Boston Bruins.
1958 – Ted Williams signs a contract with the Boston Red Sox for $135,000, making him the highest paid player in major league history.
1967 – Muhammad Ali successfully defends his world heavyweight title with a 15-round decision over Ernest Terrell at the Houston Astrodome.
1970 – The NBA expands to 18 teams with the addition of franchises in Buffalo, Cleveland, Houston and Portland.
1981 – Wayne Gretzky scores three goals and three assists in Edmonton’s 10–4 win over the Winnipeg Jets, giving him 100 points for the season.
1985 – Seventeen-year-old Dianne Roffe becomes the first woman from the United States to win a gold medal in a World Alpine Ski Championship race, winning the giant slalom in 2:18.53.
1988 – Chicago’s Michael Jordan wins the NBA Slam Dunk contest with a perfect score of 50 on his final dunk in front of a hometown crowd at Chicago Stadium.
1990 – Brett Hull of St. Louis Blues scores his 50th goal, making him and his Hall of Famer father Bobby Hull the only father-son combination in NHL history to reach that milestone.
1993 – Riddick Bowe easily wins his first defense of his WBA and IBF heavyweight boxing titles by defeating Michael Dokes in the first round of their championship bout held at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
2000 – Randy Moss sets records with nine receptions for 212 yards and Mike Alstott scores three touchdowns in the NFC’s 51-31 victory over the AFC, a Pro Bowl-high.
2000 – Pavel Bure records the 11th hat-trick in All-Star history and goaltender Olaf Kolzig plays a third stoppage period as the world team defeats North America 9–4 in the 50th NHL All-Star Game.
2005 – The New England Patriots win their third Super Bowl in four years, 24-21 over the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s their ninth straight postseason win, matching Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers.
2011 – New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady becomes the unanimous first pick for the Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award. Brady gets all 50 votes since the AP began using a national panel of media members who cover the league.
2011 – Aaron Rodgers throws three touchdown passes and Nick Collins returns an interception for another score, leading the Green Bay Packers to a 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl.
2022 – NFL Pro Bowl, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada: AFC defeats NFC, 41-35; MVPs: Justin Herbert, QB LA Chargers; Maxx Crosby, DELV Raiders
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