Today in Sports - Week Ahead, September 15 - September 21
Sept. 15
1899 — Willie Smith wins the U.S. Open golf title, beating George low, Val Fitzjohn and W.H. Way.
1923 — Bill Tilden wins the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association championship, beating William Johnston in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.
1962 — Frank Tripucka of the Denver Broncos passes for 447 yards and two touchdowns in a 23-20 win over the Buffalo Bills.
1971 — Stan Smith wins the U.S. Open title over Jan Khodes and Billie Jean King beats Rosemary Casals for the women’s title. It’s the first time in 16 years both titles were won by U.S. players.
1973 — Three-year-old Secretariat wins the Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap in the then-world record time of 1:45 2-5 for 11/8 miles.
1973 — Archie Griffin of Ohio State starts his NCAA record string of 31 games of rushing for at least 100 yards, leading the Buckeyes to a 56-7 rout of Minnesota in Columbus.
1978 — Muhammad Ali becomes the first three-time heavyweight champion with a unanimous 15-round decision over Leon Spinks at the Superdome in New Orleans.
1991 — The United States women’s gymnastics team makes history with its first team medal — a silver — at the World Championships in Indianapolis.
1995 — Cards shortstop Ozzie Smith sets record of 1,554 double plays.
2002 — Sam Hornish Jr. wins another incredible race at Texas Motor Speedway, and his second straight IRL title. Hornish side-by-side with Helio Castroneves for many of the last 25 laps in the season-ending Chevy 500, crosses the finish line 0.0096 seconds — only a few inches — ahead of the other driver in contention for the season championship. Hornish wins his IRL-record fifth race of the season and becomes the first driver to win two IRL championships.
2002 — Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon begins NFL record-tying (Kurt Warner, Steve Young) streak of 6 consecutive 300-yard passing games, throwing for 403 yards in Raiders’ 30-17 victory at Pittsburgh.
2004 — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announces a lockout of the players union and cessation of operations by the NHL head office.
2012 — LSU beats Idaho 63-14 to give the Tigers an NCAA FBS record 40th-straight non-conference regular season victory. LSU also set a Tiger Stadium mark with 20 straight home wins. Kansas State had 39 straight non-conference regular-season wins from 1993-2003.
2013 — Philip Rivers is 36 of 47 for 419 yards and three touchdown passes to Eddie Royal to lead San Diego to a 33-30 victory at Philadelphia. Michael Vick of the Eagles passes for a career-best 428 yards and two touchdowns and runs for a score.
2017 — The Cleveland has its AL record run stopped at 22 straight games as the Indians are beaten 4-3 by the Kansas City Royals.
2018 — Zlatan Ibrahimovic scores his 500th worldwide goal in the Los Angeles Galaxy’s 5-3 loss to Toronto FC. The 36-year-old Swede joins Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the only active players with 500 goals for in club and international play.
2021 — US gymnasts, including Simone Biles, testify against former team doctor Larry Nassar at a Senate Committee hearing, criticizing a system that allowed it to happen.
2022 — Tennis great Roger Federer announces his retirement from professional tennis at 41 with 20 grand slam wins and 103 ATP titles.
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Sept. 16
1885 — The America’s Cup is successfully defended by U.S. yacht Puritan as it beats Britain’s Genesta in two heats.
1926 — Henri Cochet ends Bill Tilden’s six-year reign as the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association champion as he beats Tilden in the quarterfinals.
1927 — Rene Lacoste wins the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association championship, beating Bill Tilden in three sets.
1951 — Betsy Rawls wins the U.S. Women’s Open golf title by edging Louise Suggs.
1955 — The formation of the United States Auto Club is completed and will oversee four major categories of auto races.
1973 — O.J. Simpson rushes for 250 yards to lead the Buffalo Bills to a 31-13 victory over the New England Patriots.
1989 — No. 1 Notre Dame beats No. 2 Michigan 24-19 in Ann Arbor, Mich. Fighting Irish wide receiver Raghib Ismail steals the show by returning kickoffs 88 and 92 yards for touchdowns. It’s the second time Ismail has two kickoff returns for touchdowns in the same game, accomplishing the feat against Rice in 1988.
1993 — Dave Winfield of the Minnesota Twins becomes the 19th player in major league history to get 3,000 hits, with a single off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley.
1996 — Paul Molitor gets his 3,000th career hit, becoming the 21st major leaguer to reach the mark and the first to do it with a triple.
2000 — Zippy Chippy, a 9-year-old gelding, finishes third in the eighth race at the Three-County Fair in Northampton, Mass., extending his record as the losingest horse in American thoroughbred history to 88 races.
2000 — Sammy Sosa becomes the second player to hit 50 or more home runs in three consecutive years, joining Mark McGwire.
2001 — Jason Bohn shoots a 13-under 58 at Huron Oaks Country Club to win the Canadian Tour’s Bayer Championship by two strokes and go one below the best round ever shot in PGA Tour-sanctioned competition.
2007 — Jim Thome is the 23rd player — and third this season — to reach 500 home runs. The slugger hits a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth inning off reliever Dustin Moseley to give the Chicago White Sox a 9-7 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
2007 — Bengals QB Carson Palmer passes for six TDs and the Browns’ Derek Anderson has five in Cleveland’s 51-45 win over Cincinnati, making it just the third time in NFL history that two QBs threw five TD passes apiece in the same game.
2010 — The Seattle Storm complete their undefeated march through the postseason, beating the Atlanta Dream 87-84 for a three-game sweep in the WNBA finals.
2012 — Eli Manning hits 31 of 51 passes for 510 yards — the second-best passing day in team history — with three touchdown passes and three interceptions as the New York Giants rally for a 41-34 win over Tampa Bay.
2012 — NHL locks out its players after the expiry of the collective bargaining agreement.
2017 — In front of the largest crowd to attend a stand-alone MLS match, Josef Martinez gets his second hat trick in a row and his third of the season to help Atlanta United hold on for a 3-3 draw against Orlando City. Atlanta United sets the record with 70,425 on hand at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
2018 — Scott Dixon has a steady drive to win his fifth IndyCar championship with ease. Dixon, needing an uneventful finale at Sonoma Raceway, finishes second behind winner Ryan Hunter-Reay. His fifth title moves him into second in IndyCar history, two behind A.J. Foyt.
2018 — Patrick Mahomes is 23 for 28 for 326 yards and six touchdown passes in Kansas City’s 42-37 win over Pittsburgh. His 10 touchdown passes through two weeks are the most by a quarterback through two games in NFL history.
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Sept. 17
1897 — England’s Joe Lloyd beats Scotland’s Willie Anderson by one stroke to win the U.S. Open in Wheaton, Ill.
1917 — Honus Wagner, retires at 43, Pirates retire his #33.
1920 — The forerunner of the NFL, the American Professional Football Association, is founded in an automobile showroom in Canton, Ohio. Twelve teams pay a $100 fee to obtain a franchise.
1938 — Don Budge completes the Grand Slam with a four-set victory over Gene Mako in the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association championships.
1947 — Jackie Robinson named Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News.
1953 — Ernie Banks becomes Chicago Cubs 1st black player.
1954 — Rocky Marciano knocks out Ezzard Charles in the eighth round at Yankee Stadium in New York to retain his world heavyweight title.
1955 — In the first color telecast of a football game by NBC, No. 10 Georgia Tech defeats No. 9 Miami 14-6 in Atlanta. The winning score comes in the final minute when linebacker Jimmy Morris returns an interception 25 yards for a touchdown.
1961 — The Minnesota Vikings, the newest NFL franchise, beats the league’s oldest franchise, the Chicago Bears, 37-13 win in the season opener. Minnesota’s Fran Tarkenton, playing his first NFL game, comes off the bench to become the only quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in his first game.
1964 — Mickey Mantle gets career hits #1,999, #2,000, and #2,001 and his 450th home run in a 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
1966 — In his head coaching debut, coach Joe Paterno leads Penn State past Maryland 15-7.
1967 — Johnny Unitas of the Baltimore Colts passes for 401 yards and two touchdowns in a 38-31 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.
1977 — The U.S. wins the Ryder Cup 12½-7½ at Royal Lytham & St Annes England. It’s the last time that a Britain and Ireland team competes for the Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup expands the GB&I to include golfers from all of continental Europe in 1979.
1984 — Reggie Jackson is the 13th player to hit 500 home runs.
1994 — UNLV receiver Randy Gatewood catches 23 passes for 363 yards and a touchdown in a 48-38 loss to Idaho.
2000 — Dan Marino’s #13 jersey is retired by the Miami Dolphins.
2002 — Suzy Whaley becomes the first woman to qualify for a PGA Tour event, earning an exemption to the 2003 Greater Hartford Open by winning a PGA Section Championship. Whaley is also is the first woman to win a Section Championship.
2004 — San Francisco’s Barry Bonds hits his 700th home run, joining Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (755) as the only players to reach the milestone.
2016 — Cam Pedersen kicks a 37-yard field as time expired and North Dakota State of the FC, rallies to beat No. 13 Iowa 23-21 for its sixth straight win over an FBS opponent.
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Sept. 18
1899 — The Cincinnati Open begins. It is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States still played in its original city and is now known as the Cincinnati Masters & Women’s Open.
1938 — The Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers 2-0. Left end Dick Plasman tackles Arnie Herber in the end zone in the fourth quarter for the win.
1946 — Joe Louis knocks out Tami Mauriello in the first round at Yankee Stadium in New York to retain the world heavyweight title.
1960 — Goose Gonsoulin intercepts four passes to lead the Denver Broncos to a 27-21 win over the Buffalo Bills.
1965 — In his first collegiate game, quarterback Billy Stevens of Texas-El Paso gains 483 total yards in a 61-15 rout of North Texas State. Receiver Chuck Hughes has 349 of those yards.
1966 — Baltimore quarterback Johnny Unitas throws 4 touchdown passes in 38-23 win at Minnesota to surpass Y.A. Tittle as NFL’s career leader with 212; finishes career with 290 TD passes.
1967 — U.S. yacht Intrepid beats the Australian yacht Dame Pattie in four straight races to defend the America’s Cup.
1977 — U.S. yacht Courageous beats the challenger Australia in four straight races to defend the America’s Cup.
1982 — In a rare father-son matchup, coach Jack Elway leads San Jose State to its second consecutive upset of quarterback John Elway and Stanford 35-31 in Palo Alto, Calif. John Elway completes 24-of-36 passes for 382 yards and three touchdowns. Spartans quarterback Steve Clarkson, throws for 285 yards, three touchdowns and scores on a three-yard keeper for the win after a Cardinal fumble. Stanford reaches the Spartans’ 26-yard line, but Elway gets sacked on four consecutive plays to end the game.
1996 — Roger Clemens equals his own major league record, fanning 20 batters and pitching a four-hitter to lead Boston over the Detroit Tigers 4-0.
2003 — Atlanta clinches its 12th straight division title when second-place Florida is mathematically eliminated from the NL East race. The record title streak started in 1991, when the Braves won the NL West. They moved to the East Division in 1994 and trailed Montreal by six games when the strike stopped the season in August.
2005 — Green Bay’s Brett Favre joins Dan Marino and John Elway with 50,000 yards passing and also breaks Elway’s single-stadium NFL touchdown record of 180 with a 4-yard toss to Tony Fisher with 4 seconds left of a 26-24 loss to Cleveland at Lambeau Field.
2011 — At 16, Lexi Thompson becomes the youngest player to win an LPGA Tour event. The 16-year-old Floridian closes with a 2-under 70 to win by five strokes over Tiffany Joh at the Navistar LPGA Classic in Prattville, Ala. Thompson shatters the age record for winning a multiple-round tournament held by Paula Creamer, who won in 2005 at 18.
2011 — Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton sets an NFL rookie record by throwing for 432 yards against the Green Bay Packers. Newton, who tied the record by throwing for 422 yards in last week’s loss at Arizona, completes 28 of 46 passes with one touchdown in the 30-23 loss to the Packers. Newton’s 854 yards passing is also the most yards for a player in his first two games.
2013 — American Jordan Burroughs earns another wrestling world title. Burroughs, a gold medalist at the 2012 Olympics, extends his undefeated streak to 65 matches with a 4-0 victory over Iran’s Ezzatollah Akbarizarinkolaei in the 163-pound category at the Laszlo Papp Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary.
2016 — Detroit’s Anquan Boldin has a touchdown catch in the Lions’ 16-15 loss to Tennessee, to join Terrell Owens as the only players in NFL history to have at least 1,000 career receptions and a touchdown catch with four teams.