THIS WEEKEND IN SPORTS HISTORY
Saturday 1928 Second Winter Olympic Games open in St. Moritz, Switzerland. 1938 Steve Casey beats Lou Thesz in Boston to win National Boxing Association world heavyweight title. 1957 NHL Players Association forms in New York City with Detroit Red Wings’ Ted Lindsay elected president. 1966 San Francisco Giant Willie Mays signs highest contract, $130,000 per year. 1969 Diana Crump becomes first U.S. woman jockey to ride against men, at Hialelah. 1970 John Lennon pays fines for 96 who protested South African rugby team playing in Scotland. 1971 Montreal Canadien John Beliveau scores his 500th NHL goal. 1984 Wayne Gretzky sets NHL short handed season scoring record at 11. 1990 James “Buster” Douglas KOs Mike Tyson in 10 to win heavyweight boxing crown. Sunday 1876 Al Spalding opens his sporting good shop. 1878 Frederick Thayer patents catcher’s mask (pat # 200,358). 1908 New York to Paris auto race (via Alaska and Siberia) begins. George Schuster wins after 88 days behind the wheel. 1909 Robert Fowler runs world record marathon in 2:46:52.6. 1937 Cleveland (now Los Angeles) Rams granted an NFL franchise. 1982 Wayne Gretzky scores his 153rd point of season, breaking NHL record. 1984 Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean skate “Bolero” at Olympics. 1989 50th PGA Seniors Golf Championship: Larry Mowry. 1989 Thursday’s Child sets sailing record, New York-Cape Horn-San Francisco in 80 days, 20 hours. 1996 4th ESPY Awards: Cal Ripken, Rebecca Lobo win. 1997 Fred Goldman says he will settle for a signed murder confession from O.J. Simpson in lieu of his $20.5 million judgement. 1998 Dallas Cowboys sign Chan Gailey as their fourth head coach. 2001 9th ESPY Awards: Tiger Woods, Marion Jones win. 2010 21st Winter Olympic Games open at Vancouver, Canada. 2014 Tatyana Volosozhar and Maksim Trankov win the Olympic gold in pairs figure skating.