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Feb. 4
1861 — The Philadelphia Athletics beat Charter Oak 36-27 in a baseball game played on frozen Litchfield Pond in Brooklyn, N.Y., with the players wearing ice skates.
1924 — The first Winter Olympics close in Chamonix, France. Sixteen countries competed in 17 events from seven sports.
1932 — The Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, N.Y., 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 select 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 old 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 — U.S. District Court Judge John W. Oliver upholds the ruling of arbitrator Peter Seitz that declared Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally free agents.
1977 — Rick Martin scores two goals in the third period, including the game-winning goal with under two minutes to play, to lead the Wales Conference to a 4-3 win over the Campbell conference in the NHL All-Star game at Vancouver.
1979 — Denver’s David Thompson scores 25 points on 11-of-17 shooting to lead the West Conference to a 134-129 victory over the East at the 1979 NBA All-Star Game in Detroit. Thompson also grabs five rebounds and is named the games MVP. Philadelphia’s Julius Erving leads all scorers with 29 points and san Antonio’s George Gervin adds 26 for the East.
1987 — The Sacramento Kings have the worst first quarter since the inception of the shot clock in 1954. The Kings set the NBA record with only four points in the opening quarter of a 128-92 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
1987 — Stars & Stripes, skippered by Dennis Conner, sweeps Kookaburra III 4-0 at Fremantle, Australia, to bring sailing’s America’s Cup back to the United States.
1991 — The doors of Cooperstown are slammed shut on Pete Rose when the Hall of Fame’s board of directors votes 12-0 to bar players on the permanently ineligible list from consideration.
1997 — Mario Lemieux scores his 600th goal, an empty netter, to help the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 6-4 win against 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 rallies Indianapolis to a 29-17 Super Bowl victory over Chicago in the South Florida rain. Tony Dungy becomes the first black coach to win the championship, beating good friend and protege Lovie Smith in a game that featured the first two black coaches in the Super Bowl.
2012 — Lindsey Vonn captures her 50th World Cup victory, winning the downhill with temperatures plunging to minus 13 on the demanding Kandahar course in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
2017 — Gregg Popovich becomes the winningest coach with a single franchise in NBA history, leading the San Antonio Spurs to a 121-97 victory over the Denver Nuggets. Popovich earns his 1,128th victory to pass former Utah coach Jerry Sloan for the mark.
2018 — The Philadelphia Eagles win a record-setting shootout between Nick Foles and Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. Foles, the backup quarterback, leads a pressure-packed 75-yard drive to the winning touchdown, 11 yards to Zach Etrz with 2:21 to go. Then the defense makes two final stands to win 41-33.
Feb. 5
1913 — The New York State Athletic Commission bans boxing matches between fighters of different races.
1919 — Charges against Cincinnati’s Hal Chase of throwing 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 the Olympic gold medal in figure skating. Gretchen Fraser becomes the first U.S. woman Olympic slalom champion.
1960 — Bill Russell grabs 51 rebounds in the Boston Celtics’ 124-100 victory over the Syracuse Nationals. Russell is the first player in NBA history to pull in 50 or more rebounds.
1972 — Bob Douglas is the first black elected to Basketball Hall of Fame. Known as “The Father of Black Professional Basketball,” Douglas owned and coached the New York Renaissance from 1922 until 1949.
1976 — Austrian Franz Klammer wins the Olympic gold medal in the downhill at 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 his 23rd and final All-Star Game. Howe doesn’t score, but sets up the final goal of the game, by Real Cloutier, in the Wales Conference’s 6-3 win against the Campbell Conference at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
1990 — Notre Dame bucks 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 has two assists in a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers to become the 29th player in NHL history with 1,000 points.
1999 — Patrick Roy, at 33, becomes the youngest goalie in NHL history to earn 400 wins when he makes 26 saves in the Colorado Avalanche’s 3-1 win against the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.
2003 — Bode Miller of the United States captures his first major title, winning the gold medal in the combined at the world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
2006 — Pittsburgh wins a record-tying fifth Super Bowl, but its first since 1980 with a 21-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
2009 — Tennessee’s Pat Summitt becomes the first Division I basketball coach — man or woman — to win 1,000 career games after her Lady Vols beat Georgia 73-43.
2011 — Dejen Gebremeskel of Ethiopia wins the men’s 3,000 at the Boston Indoor Grand Prix, after losing his right shoe at the start of the race. Gebremeskel stays close to the lead throughout the race and takes over on the final lap to finish in 7:35.37. Britain’s Mo Farah finishes second in 7:35.81.
2012 — Eli Manning and the Giants one-up 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 finish. The Patriots score 19 points in the final quarter, including a pair of 2-point conversions, then marches relentlessly to James White’s 2-yard touchdown run in overtime beating the Atlanta Falcons 34-28.
Feb. 6
1943 — Montreal’s Ray Getliffe scores five goals to lead the Canadiens to an 8-3 triumph 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 in 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 a 10-4 Edmonton victory over the Winnipeg Jets, giving him 100 points in the season.
1985 — Seventeen-year-old Dianne Roffe becomes the first U.S. woman to win a gold medal in a World Alpine Ski Championship race, capturing 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 the 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 beating 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 catches for 212 yards, and Mike Alstott scores three touchdowns in the NFC’s 51-31 victory over the AFC, the highest-scoring Pro Bowl.
2000 — Pavel Bure records the 11th hat trick in All-Star history and goalie Olaf Kolzig plays a shutout third period as the World team routs North America 9-4 in the NHL’s 50th 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 victory, equaling Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers.
2011 — New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady becomes the first unanimous choice for The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award. Brady gets all 50 votes since the AP began using a nationwide 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.
Feb. 7
1882 — John L. Sullivan wins the world heavyweight bare-knuckle title by beating Paddy Ryan in a nine-round bout in Mississippi City, Miss.
1942 — At the Millrose Games in New York, Dutch Warmerdam becomes the first man to clear 15 feet in the pole vault indoors. Warmerdam, the first to break the 15-foot mark outdoors in 1940, clears 15 feet 3/8 inch.
1949 — Joe DiMaggio signs his contract with the New York Yankees, making him the first baseball player to earn $100,000 per year.
1969 — Diana Crump becomes the first female jockey to race at a U.S. pari-mutuel track. She rode her first mount to 10th place in a field of 12 in Hialeah, Fla.
1970 — Pete Maravich scores 69 points, including 47 in the second half, to set a NCAA record, but LSU loses to Alabama 106-104.
1976 — Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs sets an NHL record for points in a game with six goals and four assists in an 11-4 victory over the Boston Bruins.
1990 — Lisa Leslie of Morningside High School in Inglewood, Calif., scores 101 points in the first half against South Torrance High School. The final score is 102-24 as the coach of South Torrance decides not to bring his team out for the second half.
1995 — Joe Mullen becomes the first American-born player to reach 1,000 points in the NHL when he assists on two of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ first three goals in a 7-3 victory over Florida.
2000 — With an astonishing comeback to win the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Tiger Woods wins his sixth straight PGA Tour victory. Seven strokes behind with seven holes to play, Woods holes a 97-yard wedge for eagle on the 15th, and birdies two of the last three holes to win. Woods becomes the first player since Ben Hogan in 1948 to win six straight.
2010 — Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints rally to beat Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in the Super Bowl.
2013 — Tyler Griffey makes an uncontested layup at the buzzer off a baseline inbound pass and Illinois beats No. 1 Indiana 74-72, the fifth straight week the nation’s top-ranked team loses. The Hoosiers took over the top spot in The Associated Press’ Top 25 on Feb. 4. The run of No. 1 teams to lose has been Duke, Louisville, Duke again, Michigan and Indiana.
2015 — Philadelphia University coach Herb Magee becomes the second NCAA men’s basketball coach to win 1,000 games. Magee, who won 1,000 games over 48 seasons at the school, hits the milestone with the Rams’ 80-60 win over Post.
2016 — Von Miller forces two fumbles to set up Denver’s two touchdowns and the Broncos defense frustrates Cam Newton all game to carry Peyton Manning to his second Super Bowl title with a 24-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
2016 — Rachel Banham ties an NCAA women’s record with 60 points — with 10 coming in the first overtime and eight in the second — to lead Minnesota to a 112-106 win over Northwestern. Banham matches the 60 points put up by Cindy Brown of Long Beach State against San Jose State on Feb. 16, 1987.
2018 — St. John’s takes down another of the nation’s elite, and stuns No. 1 Villanova 79-75 for its second win over a top-five team in one week. St. John’s beat then-No. 4 Duke 81-77 at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 3, snapping an 11-game losing streak.
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