Today’s historic sporting moment:
1937 — The Cleveland Rams play their first NFL game and lose 28-0 to the Detroit Lions.
As of this date:
1933 — Fred Perry wins his first U.S. men’s singles title with a 6-3, 11-13, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory over Australian Jack Crawford.
1962 — Rod Laver becomes the first man since Don Budge in 1938 to win a Grand Slam by beating Roy Emerson 6-2, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 at the US Open. Margaret Smith becomes the first Australian woman to win the US Open by beating Darlene Hard 9-7, 6-4.
1966 — Muhammad Ali knocks out Karl Mildenberger in the 12th round in Frankfurt, Germany, to retain his world heavyweight title.
1967 — John Newcombe defeats Clark Graebner to win the men’s title at the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association Championships. Billie Jean King wins the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles championships.
1972 — The United States men’s basketball team loses its first game in Olympic competition. The Soviet Union wins 51-50 in a controversial ending. Dr. William Jones, secretary general of the International Amateur Basketball Federation, orders the referees to replay the final three seconds of the game, and the Soviets score a basket in the final second. The Americans, who led at the first buzzer, protest in vain. The U.S. team later refuses to accept the silver medal.
1972 — Emerson Fittipaldi wins the Italian Grand Prix, becoming the youngest driver to win a Formula One championship. Fittipaldi, 25, wins his fifth race of the season and secures the title with two races remaining.
1978 — Jimmy Connors becomes the only player to win the U.S. Open on three different surfaces, defeating Bjorn Borg 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. Connors wins the first men’s final played on the Deco Turf II courts at the new USTA National Tennis Center. Connors had won the 1974 U.S. Open on grass and the 1976 U.S. Open on clay.
1983 — Larry Holmes knocks out Scott Frank in 5 fights for the heavyweight boxing title.
1988 — Steffi Graf becomes the third woman to achieve the Grand Slam, defeating Gabriela Sabatini 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 at the US Open.
1989 — Five days after hitting a home run for the Yankees in a 12-2 victory over the Mariners, MLB and NFL player Deion Sanders returns a punt 68 yards for a touchdown, his first.
1989 — Indianapolis running back Eric Dickerson rushes for 106 yards against San Francisco to become the fastest player to pass for 10,000 yards; 91st career game.
1993 — Pernell Whitaker and Julio Cesar Chavez fought to a tie by majority vote. Two judges scored the fight 115-115 and the third judge scored Whitaker 115-113. It was the first blemish on Chavez’s record, which he had before the fight was 87-0.
1995 — Pete Sampras wins his third U.S. Open men’s singles title, defeating No. 1 seed and defending champion Andre Agassi, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
1995 — Fuad Reveiz of the Minnesota Vikings sets an NFL record for consecutive field goals, converting from 32 and 27 yards to make it 30 in a row.
2000 — Arizona’s Randy Johnson becomes the 12th player to reach 3,000 strikeouts, striking out a season-high 14 batters in seven innings as the Diamondbacks lose to Florida 4-3 in 12 innings.
2004 — Zippy Chippy, the lovable underdog of thoroughbred racing, goes 0 for 100 when he finishes last in an eight-horse field at the Three-County Fairgrounds in Northampton, Massachusetts.
2006 — Roger Federer defeats Andy Roddick 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the US Open final to win his third major title this year and ninth of his career. Federer becomes the first man to win back-to-back titles at Wimbledon and the US Open in three consecutive years.
2006 — Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts make fewer mistakes than Eli Manning and the New York Giants in the first NFL game with two brothers starting at quarterback. Big brother Peyton completes 25 of 41 passes for 276 yards and a touchdown, and the Colts score on five of their first seven possessions to beat Eli and the Giants 26-21.
2012 — Andy Murray wins the US Open in five grueling sets to become the first British man since 1936 to win a Grand Slam title. Murray beats defending champion Novak Djokovic 7-6 (10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 in his fifth attempt at a major tournament final.
2017 — Rafael Nadal wins his 16th Grand Slam title, defeating Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in the US Open final.
2017 — The Los Angeles Rams crush the Indianapolis Colts 46-9 in an impressive debut for 31-year-old Sean McVay as the youngest head coach in modern league history.
