Today's events in sports history

DEC 31

• 1906 Australasian Championships Men's Tennis, Christchurch, NZ: All-NZ final; Antony Wilding beats Francis Fisher 6-0, 6-4, 6-4
• 1918 Kid Gleason replaces Pants Rowland as Chicago White Sox manager; reach World Series but lose in the "Black Sox" betting scandal; Gleason not involved

US Beats Australasia

1920 International Lawn Tennis Challenge, Auckland, NZ: Bill Johnson & Bill Tilden (US) beat Norman Brookes & Gerald Patterson (Australasia) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 for an unassailable 3-0 lead; ends 5-0


Tennis PlayerBill Tilden

Tennis PlayerGerald Patterson

Tennis PlayerNorman Brookes

• 1920 Victorian all-rounder Roy Park makes Test cricket debut for Australia v England in 2nd Test in Melbourne; bowled by Harry Howell for a first ball 'golden duck' in his first and only Test innings
• 1921 Australasian Championships Men's Tennis, Perth: Australian Rhys Gemmell beats countryman Alf Hedeman 7-5, 6-1, 6-4

Bradman's 1st Post-war Century
1945 Before the biggest Adelaide Oval crowd of the season, batting maestro Don Bradman scores his first post-WWII century; 112 for South Australia v Australian Services


Cricket LegendDonald Bradman
Shoemaker and Culmone Tied
1950 American thoroughbred jockeys Bill Shoemaker and Joe Culmone end the year tied, leading the nation with record 388 wins


Racing Hall of Fame JockeyBill Shoemaker
Nardico vs. LaMotta
1952 Danny Nardico stops former world middleweight champion Jake LaMotta in 7 rounds in a light heavyweight non-title bout in Coral Gables, Florida; LaMotta is knocked down for the only time in his career, his corner stopping fight after the round


World Middleweight Boxing ChampionJake LaMotta
Australia Retains Title
1952 Davis Cup Men's Tennis, Memorial Drive, Adelaide: Vic Seixas beats Ken McGregor in 4 sets but Australia retains title for third straight year; beats US, 4-1 in Adelaide


Tennis PlayerVic Seixas

• 1953 42nd Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Melbourne (3-2)
• 1953 Bill Shoemaker shatters record, riding 485 winners in a year
• 1958 47th Davis Cup: USA beats Australia in Brisbane (3-2)
• 1958 Bill Shoemaker 1st jockey to win national riding championship 4X

Packers Defeat Giants
1961 National Football League Championship, City Stadium, Green Bay: Green Bay Packers shutout NY Giants 37-0; first of 5 NFL titles won in 7-season span by Packers and head coach, Vince Lombardi


NFL CoachVince Lombardi

• 1962 American Basketball League announces suspension of operation
• 1966 Test Cricket debut of Bishen Singh Bedi, India v WI Calcutta, 2-92
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• 1967 1st NBA game at Great Western Forum, LA Lakers beat Houston 147-118

Raiders Beat Oilers
1967 AFL Championship, Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland: Oakland Raiders beat Houston Oilers 40-7; George Blanda 4 field goals for Raiders in club's 1st AFL Championship


NFL Coach and SportscasterJohn Madden

NFL Quarterback and PlacekickerGeorge Blanda

• 1967 NFL Championship, Lambeau Field, Green Bay: Green Bay Packers beat Dallas Cowboys, 21-17; "The Ice Bowl", -13°F
• 1968 NY Jets win AFL championship
• 1970 Would have been start of Aust/Eng Test Cricket at MCG, washed out
• 1972 39th Sugar Bowl: #2 Oklahoma beats #5 Penn State, 14-0
• 1972 AFC Championship, Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh: Miami Dolphins beat Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-7

Court Defeats Goolagong
1972 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Margaret Court beats Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6-4, 7-5 for her record 11th and final Australian singles crown


Tennis PlayerEvonne Goolagong Cawley

• 1972 NFC Championship, RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.: Washington Redskins beat Dallas Cowboys 26-3
• 1973 40th Sugar Bowl: #3 Notre Dame beats #1 Alabama, 24-23

Goologong Defeats Evert
1973 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley beats Chris Evert 7-6, 4-6, 6-0 for her first of 4 home singles titles


Tennis LegendChris Evert

Tennis PlayerEvonne Goolagong Cawley
Johan Cruyff Honored
1973 Johan Cruyff chosen European Football Player of theYear


Soccer Player and CoachJohan Cruyff

• 1974 41st Sugar Bowl: #8 Nebraska beats #18 Florida, 13-10

Goolagong Retains Title
1974 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley retains her title; beats Martina Navratilova of Czechoslovakia 6-3, 6-2


Tennis PlayerMartina Navratilova

Tennis PlayerEvonne Goolagong Cawley

• 1974 Ballon d'Or: Ajax forward Johan Cruyff wins back-to-back awards, and his 3rd overall, for best European football player ahead of Bayern Munich defender Franz Beckenbauer and Legia Warsaw midfielder Kazimierz Deyna
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• 1974 New York Yankees sign Cy Young Award winner Jim "Catfish" Hunter for 5 years for a record $3.75 million from the Oakland A's
• 1975 42nd Sugar Bowl: #3 Alabama beats #7 Penn State, 13-6

Gerulaitis Defeats Lloyd
1977 Australian Open Men's Tennis: American Vitas Gerulaitis wins his first and only Grand Slam event; beats Englishman John Lloyd 6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 3-6, 6-2


Tennis PlayerVitas Gerulaitis

• 1980 NY Islanders greatest shutout margin (9-0) vs Chicago Black Hawks
• 1984 Test Cricket debut of Mohammad Azharuddin, v England at Calcutta

The 1988 Fog Bowl
1988 "The Fog Bowl", a heavy, dense fog rolls over Soldier Field in Chicago during second quarter of the Bears vs Eagles NFC Divisional Playoff Game, cuts visibility to 15-20 yards (Bears win 20-12)


A photo taken as the Bears and Eagles face off in the 1988 "Fog Bowl"
Lemieux's Famous Five
1988 Pittsburgh NHL center Mario Lemieux accounts for all his team's goals in Penguins 8-6 win over the NJ Devils; famously scores 5 goals, each in a different way: even strength, power play, shorthanded, penalty shot and empty net; also 3 assists


NHL Legend and OwnerMario Lemieux
Desormeaux's Win Record
1989 Jockey Kent Desormeaux sets record with 598 wins in a year


JockeyKent Desormeaux

• 1991 Daniel R. McCarthy elected NY Yankee managing general partner
• 1991 J. Donald Crump resigns as CFL Commissioner
• 1995 62nd Sugar Bowl: #13 Virginia Tech beats #9 Texas, 28-10
• 1995 Matthew Elliott scores separate cricket century same day for Victoria
• 1996 63rd Orange Bowl: #6 Nebraska beats #10 Virginia Tech, 41-21
• 1997 27th Fiesta Bowl: #10 Kansas State beats #14 Syracuse, 35-18
• 1997 72 year-old Marv Levy retires as coach of the NFL Buffalo Bills after 12 seasons, including 4 consecutive losing Super Bowl appearances
• 1997 Buffalo's Czech NHL goalie Dominik Hasek stops 36 shots for his 27th career shutout in Sabres' 3-0 win over Ottawa Senators; his 6th shutout in month of December; first since George Hainsworth in 1928-29 to achieve the feat
• 2006 The final contest at the old Lansdowne Road Stadium in Dublin is a rugby match with Leinster beating Ulster 20-12 in a Celtic League game
• 2014 44th Fiesta Bowl: #20 Boise State beats #10 Arizona, 38-30
• 2014 81st Orange Bowl: #10 Georgia Tech beats #8 Mississippi State, 49-34
• 2015 82nd Orange Bowl: #1 Clemson beats #4 Oklahoma, 37-17
• 2017 Cleveland Browns crash to a 28-24 loss to Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field to become only the 2nd team in NFL history to finish season with 0-16 record
• 2018 Houston guard James Harden scores 43 points in Rockets' 113-101 win over Memphis Grizzlies; 4th straight NBA game with 40+ points and 8th straight with 35+; joins Oscar Robertson as only player with at least 35 points & 5 assists in 8 straight games