Dec. 17
1933 — The Chicago Bears win the first NFL championship with a 23-21 victory over the New York Giants. The Bears score the winning touchdown on a 36-yard play that starts with a short pass from Bronko Nagurski to Bill Hewitt, who then laterals to Bill Kerr for the score.
1987 — Chicago’s Michael Jordan scores 52 points to lead the Bulls to a 111-100 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
1991 — The Cleveland Cavaliers turn a 20-point halftime lead over Miami into the most lopsided victory in NBA history, 148-80 over the Heat. The 68-point margin eclipses the mark of 63 set March 19, 1972, when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors 162-99.
1993 — Julio Cesar Chavez secures his place in boxing history, retaining his WBC super lightweight title with a fifth-round victory over Britain’s Andy Holligan. It’s the 27th time Chavez fought for a title without a loss since 1984, breaking Joe Louis’ mark of 26.
1993 — Virgil Hill becomes the most successful light heavyweight in boxing history, winning a record 15th title defense with a unanimous decision over Guy Waters of Australia. Hill, the WBA champion for five of the last six years, had been tied with Bob Foster, who held light heavyweight titles from 1968 to 1974.
2000 — Terrell Owens catches an NFL-record 20 passes for 283 yards and a touchdown in San Francisco’s 17-0 victory over Chicago. Jeff Garcia completes 36 of 44 passes for 402 yards and two touchdowns for the 49ers.
2005 — John Ruiz loses the WBA heavyweight title, dropping a disputed majority decision to 7-foot Nikolay Valuev of Russia in Berlin. Valuev, the first Russian heavyweight champion, also becomes the tallest and heaviest (323 pounds) champion of all-time.
2006 — LaDainian Tomlinson breaks Paul Hornung’s 46-year-old NFL single-season scoring record on a 15-yard run in the first quarter of San Diego’s game against Kansas City. The touchdown run gives him 180 points, breaking Hornung’s record of 176 set with the Green Bay Packers in 1960.
2006 — Gilbert Arenas sets a franchise record with 60 points, 16 of them in overtime, to lead Washington to a 147-141 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
2013 — Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scores 21 points on a career-high seven 3-pointers and No. 1 Connecticut beat second-ranked Duke 83-61. Breanna Stewart has 24 points and 11 rebounds for the Huskies as coach Geno Auriemma earns his 850th career win.
2016 — Donnel Pumphrey breaks the NCAA career rushing record in his college finale, running for 115 yards and a touchdown in San Diego State’s 34-10 victory over Houston in the Las Vegas Bowl. Pumphrey passes former Wisconsin star Ron Dayne’s mark of 6,397 yards on a 15-yard run early in the fourth quarter and wraps up his sensational career in his Nevada hometown with 6,405 yards. Pumphrey’s senior total of 2,133 yards rushing ranks in the top 10 for a FBS player.
2016 — Malik Monk scores a Kentucky freshman record 47 points and hits the go-ahead 3-pointer with 16.7 seconds left to lead the sixth-ranked Wildcats past No. 7 North Carolina 103-100 in a thrilling showdown of traditional powers.
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Dec. 18
1930 — Adolph Rupp coaches his first game at Kentucky, a 67-19 win over Georgetown College in Kentucky. Rupp retires in 1972 after winning 879 games and four national titles.
1949 — The Philadelphia Eagles win the NFL championship with a 14-0 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
1954 — Montreal’s Maurice Richard becomes the first player in NHL history to score 400 goals during the Canadiens’ 4-2 road victory against the Chicago Black Hawks.
1961 — Olympic track star Wilma Rudolph wins The Associated Press’ female athlete of year award for the second consecutive year.
1962 — Wilt Chamberlain of the San Francisco Warriors scores 61 points in a 130-110 over the St. Louis Hawks.
1964 — Oscar Robertson of the Cincinnati Royals scores 56 points, including 18 in the final quarter, in a 111-107 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
1976 — Oakland quarterback Kenny Stabler scores with 14 seconds left to give the Raiders a 24-21 comeback victory over the New England Patriots in the in the AFC divisional playoffs.
1983 — Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky scores his 100th point of the season the Edmonton Oilers’ 34th game, a 7-5 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. Gretzky scores two goals and has two assists to get to 100 points faster than any player in NHL history. He finishes the season with 205 points.
1995 — Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers records the fifth-highest yardage total by a receiver in NFL history with 289 yards, and catches three touchdown passes in a 37-30 win over the Minnesota Vikings.
1997 — Germany’s Katja Seizinger wins her sixth straight race to tie former French star Jean-Claude Killy’s World Cup record for consecutive victories.
2005 — Indianapolis, which won its first 13 games, the fourth team in NFL history to do so, loses 26-17 at home to San Diego.
2006 — Tenth-ranked Arizona State beats Texas Tech 61-45 when the second outdoor game in women’s college basketball history is called on account of rain with 4:18 to play at Chase Field, home of baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks.
2007 — Edmonton sets an NHL record by competing in its fourth straight shootout, but loses to Dallas 2-1. The Oilers, who had won the first three, lose for the second time in their 12 shootout appearances.
2008 — Steve Asmussen is the first North American trainer to win 600 Thoroughbred races in a single year as Storm Trust captures the fifth race at Delta Downs.
2011 — The Green Bay Packers’ 19-game winning streak, second-longest in NFL history, is snapped with a 19-14 loss at Kansas City.
2011 — Brittney Griner scores 12 of her 25 points in the closing run that pushes the top-ranked Baylor Lady Bears past No. 2 UConn 66-61.
2016 — New England defeats Denver 16-3 to clinch the AFC East and earn a first-round bye. It marks the eighth consecutive division title for the Patriots, the longest streak in NFL history, breaking a tie with the 1973-79 Los Angeles Rams (seven). New England is the only team in NFL history to win 13 division titles in a 14-year span.
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Dec. 19
1913 — Heavyweight champion Jack Johnson fights to a 10-round draw with Battling Jim Johnson in Paris.
1917 — The NHL begins play. Joe Malone of the Montreal Canadiens scores five goals in a 9-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators. Harry Hyland of the Montreal Wanderers scores five goals in a 10-9 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
1943 — Harry Lumley, at 17 years and 38 days old, becomes the youngest goaltender in NHL history when he plays for the Detroit Red Wings in a 6-2 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
1948 — The Cleveland Browns complete an undefeated season beating the Buffalo Bills 49-7 in AAFC championship game.
1948 — The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 in a major snowstorm for the NFL title. Philadelphia’s Bucko Kilroy recovers a fumble on the 17-yard line in the fourth period, and Steve Van Buren later scores from the 5.
1976 — The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Baltimore Colts 40-14 in an AFC playoff game. Ten minutes after the game, Donald Kroner, a former charter pilot, crashes a rented, low-wing, Piper Cherokee into the upper deck of Memorial Stadium. No one is seriously hurt as most of the capacity crowd of 60,020 left the one-sided contest early or were heading down the exit ramps.
1987 — Boston and St. Louis combine for the fastest two goals in NHL history. Ken Linseman puts the Bruins ahead 6-5 with 10 seconds left in the third period. Doug Gilmour of Boston wins the faceoff and shoots the puck into an empty net two seconds later to wrap up a 7-5 win over the Blues at Boston Garden.
1990 — Los Angeles Raiders running back Bo Jackson is named to the AFC team, as a reserve, becoming the first athlete chosen for All-Star games in two sports.
2001 — Marshall, led by Byron Leftwich, comes back from a 38-8 halftime deficit to beat East Carolina 64-61 in double-overtime in the GMAC Bowl for the highest scoring bowl game in history.
2007 — New York Islanders forward Chris Simon is banned for 30 games, drawing the longest suspension in NHL history again. Simon’s latest infraction was stepping on Pittsburgh’s Jarkko Ruutu with his skate during a Dec. 15 game. This is the seventh suspension of Simon’s career.
2009 — Michael Phelps helps his American team trounce a group of European all-stars in the Duel in the Pool, anchoring a relay to one of the eight world records the U.S. sets over the two-day meet in Manchester, England.
2010 — Philadelphia’s DeSean Jackson returns a punt 65 yards for a touchdown as time expires in the Eagles’ 38-31 comeback win at the New York Giants. It’s the only game-winning punt-return touchdown in NFL history as the Eagles come back from a 31-10 fourth-quarter deficit. It marks the ninth time in NFL history in which a team trailed by at least 21 points in the fourth quarter and wins the game.
2010 — The Detroit Lions stop their record road skid at 26 games with a 23-20 overtime win at Tampa Bay. It’s the first road win since Oct. 28, 2007, when they beat the Bears 16-7 at Chicago.
2017 — Freshman Trae Young has 26 points and ties an NCAA Division I record with 22 assists as No. 17 Oklahoma rolls past Northwestern State 105-68.
2017 — North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell becomes the third women’s Division I coach to register her 1,000th career victory after the Tar Heels beat Grambling State 79-63.
2017 — Geno Auriemma wins his 1000th game as top-ranked UConn beat Oklahoma 88-64 in the Hall of Fame women’s Holiday Showcase. Auriemma becomes the fourth women’s coach to reach the 1,000-win mark, joining Pat Summitt, Tara VanDerveer and Sylvia Hatchell, who earned her milestone victory earlier in the day.
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Dec. 20
1921 — Baseball Commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis casts the deciding vote to return to best-of-seven World Series from the best-of-nine format. The American League votes to return to best-of-seven World Series, while National League votes for the best-of-nine format. The a best-of-nine series was used in 1903 and 1919 through 1921.
1966 — The NBA grants a franchise to Seattle, expanding the league to 11 teams for the 1967-68 season.
1973 — Henri Richard of the Montreal Canadiens scores his 1,000th point, getting an assist in a 2-2 tie with the Buffalo Sabres.
1980 — NBC experiments by not providing commentators for the national broadcast of the game between New York Jets and Miami Dolphins. The Jets win 24-17.
1981 — Winnipeg’s Doug Smail scores a goal five seconds into the game to set a NHL record for fastest goal from the start of a game. The Jets beat the St. Louis Blues 5-4.
1983 — Montreal’s Guy Lafleur scores his 500th goal as the Canadiens beat the New Jersey Devils 6-0. Lafleur scores the milestone goal at 8:34 of the third, beating Glenn Resch with a rising 30-footer.
1985 — North Carolina sets an NCAA record with 18 blocked shots in an 87-55 rout of Stanford.
1998 — Green Bay’s Brett Favre becomes the first NFL player to throw for more than 30 touchdowns in five different seasons. Favre connects three times with Antonio Freeman in the first half of a 30-22 win over Tennessee to break a tie with Dan Marino.
2003 — St. John’s provides a perfect ending for coach John Gagliardi’s record-breaking season, snapping Mount Union’s NCAA-record 55-game winning streak with a 24-6 victory in the Division III championship game.
2005 — Kobe Bryant scores a career-high 62 points and the Los Angeles Lakers beat Dallas 112-90. Bryant scores a franchise-record 30 points in the third quarter and sits out the fourth after outscoring the Mavericks 62-61 over the three quarters.
2006 — Bode Miller wins the super-giant slalom in Hinterstoder, Austria, 90 minutes after Lindsey Kildow and Julia Mancuso finish 1-2 in a downhill at Val d’Isere, France. Those successes give the U.S. team five wins and an unprecedented nine podium results over six days. It’s the most impressive streak for the American team since 1983.
2009 — Ben Roethlisberger completes 29 of 46 passes with three TDs and 503 yards, becoming the first Pittsburgh quarterback to throw for 500 yards in a game during a 37-36 win over Green Bay. He hits rookie Mike Wallace for a 19-yard touchdown on the final play.
2009 — Cleveland’s Jerome Harrison scores his third touchdown with 44 seconds left for the winning points and rushes for a team-record 286 yards in a 41-34 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Joshua Cribbs of the Browns has two kickoff returns for touchdowns.
2014 — No. 1 Kentucky scores the game’s first 24 points in an 83-44 victory over UCLA. The Wildcats lead 41-7 at the intermission. It’s the lowest point total in a half for UCLA and the fewest by a Kentucky opponent since December 1943.
2015 — New England improve to 12-2 with a 33-16 win over Tennessee, and becomes the second team in NFL history with at least 12 regular-season wins in six consecutive seasons.
2017 — Fletcher Magee scores 27 points to help Wofford stun No. 5 North Carolina 79-75, snapping the reigning national champion’s 23-game home winning streak.
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