Today’s Sports Highlight in History:
1937 — The Cleveland Rams play their first NFL game and lose 28-0 to the Detroit Lions.
On 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 the Grand Slam beating Roy Emerson 6-2, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, at the U.S. Open. Margaret Smith becomes the first Australian woman to win the U.S. Open with a 9-7, 6-4 win over Darlene Hard.
1966 — Muhammad Ali knocks out Karl Mildenberger in the 12th round in Frankfurt, Germany, to retain his world heavyweight title.
1967 — John Newcombe beats Clark Graebner to win the men’s title in 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 with the help of a controversial ending. Dr. William Jones, secretary general of the International Amateur Basketball Federation, tells the referees to have the players replay the final three seconds and the Soviets score a last-second bucket. The Americans, who had the lead when the buzzer sounded the first time, protest in vain. The U.S. team later refuses to accept the silver medal.
1972 — Emerson Fittipaldi wins the Italian Grand Prix to become the youngest to win a Formula I championship. Fittipaldi, 25, wins his fifth race of the season and clinches the title with two races remaining.
1978 — Jimmy Connors becomes the only player to win the U.S. Open on three different surfaces, with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win over Bjorn Borg. 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 courts.
1983 — Larry Holmes TKOs Scott Frank in 5 for heavyweight boxing title.
1988 — Steffi Graf becomes the third women to complete the Grand Slam, defeating Gabriela Sabatini 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the U.S. Open.
1989 — Five days after hitting a HR for Yankees in a 12-2 win 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 top the 10,000 yard plateau; 91st career game.
1993 — Pernell Whitaker and Julio Cesar Chavez fight to a majority draw. Two judges score the fight 115-115 and the third scores the fight 115-113 for Whitaker. It’s the first blemish on Chavez’s record who was 87-0 entering the bout.
1995 — Pete Sampras wins his third U.S. Open men’s singles title, taking down the 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 give him 30 in a row.
2000 — Arizona’s Randy Johnson becomes the 12th player to reach the 3,000 strikeout plateau, fanning a season-high 14 in seven innings as the Diamondbacks lost to Florida 4-3 in 12 innings.
2004 — Zippy Chippy, thoroughbred racing’s lovable loser, makes it 0-for-100 when he finishes last in an eight-horse field at the Three-County Fairgrounds in Northampton, Mass.
2006 — Roger Federer defeats Andy Roddick 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the U.S. Open final for his third major championship this year and ninth of his career. Federer becomes the first man ever to win back-to-back Wimbledon and U.S. Open crowns for three straight years.
2006 — Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts make fewer mistakes than Eli Manning and the New York Giants in the first NFL game to feature two brothers starting at quarterback. Big brother Peyton is 25-of-41 for 276 yards and a touchdown and the Colts score on five of their first seven possessions to defeat Eli and the Giants 26-21.
2012 — Andy Murray wins the U.S. Open in five grueling sets to become the first British man since 1936 to capture a Grand Slam title. Murray beats defending champion Novak Djokovic 7-6 (10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 in his fifth try in the final of a major tournament.
2017 — Rafael Nadal wins his 16th Grand Slam title by sweeping Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in the U.S. Open final.
2017 — The Los Angeles Rams rout the Indianapolis Colts 46-9 in 31-year-old Sean McVay’s impressive debut as the youngest head coach in modern league history.
