Highlights of today’s sports history:
In 2012, Jamaican Usain Bolt won back-to-back gold medals in track and field’s premier event at the London Summer Games. Ranking just fifth of eight runners at the halfway point, Bolt overcame a star-studded field to win the 100-meter final in an Olympic record time of 9.63 seconds, joining Carl Lewis as the only men to have won the event twice.
To this date :
1921 — Radio station KDKA and announcer Harold Arlin broadcast the first major league game as the Pirates beat the Phillies 8-5 in Pittsburgh.
1936 — At the Berlin Olympics, Jesse Owens wins his third of four gold medals, winning the 200-meter race in an Olympic record time of 20.7 seconds.
1954 — The first election for the Boxing Hall of Fame is held. Twenty-four boxers are elected, the most notable of the modern era being Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis and Henry Armstrong. Fifteen boxers from the pioneer era are selected, including John L. Sullivan, Gentleman Jim Corbett and Jack Johnson.
1967 — The Denver Broncos defeat the Detroit Lions, 13-7, in a preseason game, for the AFL’s first victory over an NFL team.
1984 — American Joan Benoit wins the first women’s Olympic marathon in 2:24:52, finishing 400 meters ahead of Norway’s Grete Waitz.
1991 — Sergei Bubka becomes the first person to clear 20 feet outdoors in the pole vault, breaking his own world record by half an inch at the Galan track and field meet in Malmo, Sweden.
1997 — Michael Johnson wins his third consecutive 400-meter title at the world championships in Athens, Greece, taking the gold medal in 44.12 seconds.
2005 — Jason Gore shoots a 12-under 59 in the second round of the Nationwide Tour’s Cox Classic in Omaha, Nebraska.
2006 — Warren Moon becomes the first black quarterback inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio; joined by Troy Aikman, John Madden, Rayfield Wright, Harry Carson and Reggie White.
2007 — Tom Glavine earns his 300th win in an 8-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
2007 — Lorena Ochoa wins the Women’s British Open — the first women’s professional tournament played at venerable St. Andrews — for her first major title.
2012 — Britain’s Andy Murray defeats Roger Federer 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in the tennis singles final at the Wimbledon Olympics. Serena Williams and Venus Williams win the doubles title, becoming the first double Olympic gold medalist since Venus won both singles and doubles at the 2000 Sydney Games. Ben Ainslie wins another gold medal in the Finn class, becoming the most decorated sailor in Olympic history.
2013 — Alex Rodriguez is suspended through 2014 (211 games) and All-Stars Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta and Everth Cabrera are suspended 50 games each when Major League Baseball sanctions 13 players in a drug case.
2014 — The San Antonio Spurs hire WNBA star Becky Hammon as an assistant coach, making her the first woman to join an NBA coaching staff.
2017 — Justin Gatlin spoils Usain Bolt’s farewell by beating him in the 100 meters at the world track championships in London. Bolt starts slowly and Gatlin holds him off at the line in 9.92 seconds. American sprinter Christian Coleman wins silver in 9.94 seconds and Bolt takes bronze in 9.95 seconds.
2018 — The Springfield Lasers win their first World Team Tennis Championship title, defeating the Philadelphia Freedoms 19-18. The Lasers were 0-5 in WTT Championship finals and were winless in their three meetings with the Freedoms during the 2018 regular season.
2018 — Georgia Hall of England takes on Pornanong Phatlum in a final-round clash at Royal Lytham & St. Annes to win the Women’s British Open and claim her first major title.
