Oct. 14
1945 — The Chicago Cardinals snap the longest losing streak in NFL history at 29 games with a 16-7 victory over the Chicago Bears.
1949 — Ezzard Charles TKOs Pat Valentino in 8 for heavyweight boxing title.
1951 — Detroit’s Jack Christiansen returns two punts for touchdowns, but the Lions still lose, 27-21, to the Los Angeles Rams.
1962 — Houston’s George Blanda throws six touchdown passes to lead the Oilers to a 56-17 rout of the New York Titans.
1967 — The Los Angeles Kings, led by Brain Kilrea, beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 in their NHL debut. The game is held at Long Beach (Calif.) Arena. Kilrea scores two goals, including the first one in Kings history.
1973 — 42 year old future Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder Willie Mays′ last MLB career hit, as NY Mets beat A’s, 10-7 in World Series Game 2 in Oakland.
1978 — Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs gets seven assists in a 10-7 victory over the New York Islanders.
1979 — Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky scores his first NHL goal in a 4-4 tie with the Vancouver Canucks. Gretzky beats goaltender Glen Hanlon with the game-tying power-play goal with 1:09 remaining in the third period.
1990 — Joe Montana passes for career highs of 476 yards and six touchdowns and Jerry Rice ties an NFL record with five scoring receptions as the San Francisco 49ers beat the Atlanta Falcons 45-35.
1991 — New York Rangers right wing Mike Gartner scores his 500th career goal in the first period of a 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals.
2005 — Ryan Newman sets a NASCAR record by winning his fifth consecutive Busch Series race, the Charlotte 300 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
2006 — Mats Sundin scores his 500th career goal, completing a hat trick with a short-handed overtime game-winner and giving Toronto a 5-4 victory over Calgary. The third goal is Sundin’s 15th in overtime — the most in NHL history.
2007 — Tom Brady of New England passes for 388 yards and a career-high five touchdowns in a 48-27 win over previously unbeaten Dallas. The five TDs gives Brady the NFL mark with at least three in each of the first six games of the season.
2011 — Japan’s Kohei Uchimura becomes the first man to win three titles at the world gymnastics championships in Tokyo. Uchimura finishes with 93.631 points in the men’s all-around, more than three points ahead of Germany’s Philipp Boy.
2012 — Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers sets a career high and ties a franchise record with six touchdown passes, three to Jordy Nelson, and the Packers rout the Houston Texans 42-24. Rodgers completes 24 of 37 passes for 338 yards and ties Matt Flynn’s single-game record for TD passes, set in last year’s regular-season finale against Detroit.
2015 — Sylvia Fowles has 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Minnesota Lynx capture their third WNBA title in five years with a 69-52 victory over the Indiana Fever in Game 5.
2018 — Stephen Gostkowski hit a 28-yard field goal as time expires, and the New England Patriots beat the Kansas City Chiefs 43-40 after blowing a big halftime lead. Tom Brady passes for 340 yards and a touchdown and runs for another score in his 200th victory as a starting quarterback, tops in NFL history. With New England leading 24-9 at halftime, Patrick Mahomes directs an impressive rally by Kansas City in the second half. He finishes 23 of 36 for 352 yards in his first loss as a starting quarterback, with three of his four TD passes going to Tyreek Hill.
2020 — The NFL cancels the Pro Bowl scheduled for January, 31, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Oct. 15
1933 — The Philadelphia Eagles play their first NFL game and suffers a 56-0 loss to the New York Giants.
1961 — Mickey Wright wins her third LPGA Championship with a rout, nine strokes ahead of Louise Suggs. Wright shoots a 3-over, 287 at the Stardust Country Club in Las Vegas for her third major title of the year and her tenth tour victory of the season.
1972 — Stan Mikita of the Chicago Blackhawks becomes the sixth NHL player with 1,000 career points. Mikita assists on Cliff Koroll’s goal in a 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues at Chicago Stadium.
1983 — The Chicago Black Hawks and the Toronto Maple Leafs score five goals in 1 minute, 24 seconds to set an NHL record for the fastest five goals by two teams. The Maple Leafs beat the Black Hawks 10-8.
1988 — Oklahoma rushes for an NCAA-record 768 yards, including 123 by quarterback Charles Thompson. Thompson scores three touchdowns and passes for one in the first period of a 70-24 rout of Kansas State.
1988 — Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins scores eight points — two goals and six assists — in a 9-2 win over the St. Louis Blues at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
1989 — Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings passes Gordie Howe as the NHL’s all-time leading scorer in a during a 5-4 overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers. Gretzky flips a backhand shot past Oilers goaltender Bill Ranford with 53 seconds remaining to tie the game and pass Howe with 1,851st point. Gretzky wins the game in overtime.
1995 — The Carolina Panthers beat the New York Jets 26-15 for their first NFL victory.
2005 — Michigan gives up a touchdown to Penn State with 53 seconds left, then marches down the field to score on a TD pass from Chad Henne to Mario Manningham with no time remaining for a 27-25 win over the eighth-ranked Nittany Lions.
2005 — Southern California’s Matt Leinart pushes and spins his way into the end zone with 3 seconds left to cap a chaotic finish to the top-ranked Trojans’ 28th straight victory, a back-and-forth 34-31 win over No. 9 Notre Dame.
2008 — Fabian Brunnstrom scores three goals in his NHL debut to match the league record in Dallas’ 6-4 victory over Nashville.
2009 — Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom becomes the first European defenseman and eighth overall to reach 1,000 points, assisting on two goals in the Red Wings 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
2012 — The Nets bring professional sports back to Brooklyn with a preseason victory, beating the Washington Wizards 98-88 in the first basketball game at the Barclays Center.
2015 — Carey Price makes 25 saves and the Montreal Canadiens make team history by starting a season with a five straight wins, the latest a 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers.
2017 — New England quarterback Tom Brady passes for 257 yards with two touchdowns in the Patriots’ 24-17 win at the New York Jets. Brady, who has 187 regular-season victories, surpasses Hall of Famer Brett Favre (186) and Peyton Manning (186) for the most regular-season victories by a starting quarterback in NFL history.
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Oct. 16
1897 — Michigan beats Ohio State 34-0 at Ann Arbor, the first meeting between theses storied rivals.
1909 — In his 4th title defense Jack Johnson KOs Stanley Ketchel in the 12th round at Mission St Arena, Colma, California to retain his heavyweight boxing crown.
1932 — After a 0-0 tie earlier in the season, the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears 2-0.
1946 — Detroit’s Gordie Howe scores a goal and gets into two fights in his first NHL game. The Red Wings tie the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-3.
1964 — Babe Parilli of the Boston Patriots passes for 422 yards and four touchdowns in a 43-43 tie with the Oakland Raiders.
1968 — Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos give black power salutes during the medal ceremonies of the 200-meter race and are later banned for life from all Olympic competition by the IOC.
1971 — Norm Ullman of the Toronto Maple Leafs records his 1,000th point in a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers. Ullman gets two assists to become the fourth NHL player to reach the milestone.
1976 — Tony Franklin of Texas A&M kicks two field goals over 60 yards for an NCAA record. The distances are 65 and 64 yards as the Aggies beat Baylor 24-0.
1977 — The Denver Broncos intercept seven passes off Ken Stabler of the Oakland Raiders in a 30-7 victory.
1977 — The Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears 16-10 in overtime with the only successful fake field goal in NFL overtime.
1987 — Mike Tyson retains his undisputed heavyweight title with a seven-round knockout of Tyrell Biggs in Atlantic City, N.J.
1999 — Fourth-ranked Virginia Tech hangs a record-setting 62-0 loss on No. 16 Syracuse. It’s the worst shutout loss by a ranked team in the history of The Associated Press poll.
1999 — Mount Union beats Otterbein 44-20 for its 48th consecutive victory, surpassing Oklahoma’s 42-year-old all-division mark of 47 in a row.
2004 — 17-year old Lionel Messi makes his league debut for FC Barcelona in a 1-0 win against cross-town rivals Espanyol.
2004 — Mount Union beats Marietta 57-0 for its 100th consecutive regular-season victory. The Purple Raiders’ last regular-season loss was on Oct. 15, 1994, at home against Baldwin-Wallace.
2011 — Danell Leyva becomes the first American man gymnast to win a gold medal at the World Championships since 2003. Leyva wins the parallel bars title to become the first gold medalist for the U.S. since Paul Hamm claimed the floor exercise and all-around titles in 2003.
2011 — Dan Wheldon, 33, dies in a fiery 15-car wreck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his car flew over another on Lap 13 and smashes into the wall just outside turn 2.
2017 — Louisville’s Athletic Association officially fires coach Rick Pitino nearly three weeks after the school acknowledged that its men’s basketball program is being investigated as part of a federal corruption probe. The association, which oversees Louisville’s sports programs and is composed of trustees, faculty, students and administrators, vote unanimously to oust the longtime Cardinals coach following a board meeting.
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