Bullets top Knicks for first Civic Center win
OCT. 27, 1971: The Orioles rout the Tokyo Giants, 10-1, for their third straight victory on their exhibition tour of Japan. Pat Dobson allows three hits, including a ninth-inning home run by slugger Sadaharu Oh that draws cheers from the crowd of more than 25,000.
OCT. 23, 1963: The Bullets, Baltimore’s new NBA team, earn their first Civic Center (now Royal Farms Arena) win, 115-106, over the New York Knicks before an announced 3,500. Walt Bellamy leads the Bullets with 45 points and 27 rebounds.
OCT, 22, 1950: The Los Angeles Rams set an NFL scoring record in defeating the winless Colts, 70-27, at the Memorial Coliseum. Adrian Burk throws three touchdown passes for Baltimore, which, one month ago, lost a preseason game to the Rams, 70-21.
OCT. 24, 1942: Whirlaway, the 1941 Triple Crown champion, captures the 29th Washington Handicap at Laurel Park in a race to benefit the Army Emergency Relief Fund. More than 20,000 fans see Whirlaway, with George Woolf up, win by one-half length.
OCT. 21, 1939: Challedon, the Maryland-bred colt who won the Preakness five months earlier, takes the 25th Maryland Handicap by five lengths at Laurel. Woolf rides Challedon, who’ll be named Horse of the Year.
OCT. 26, 1929: In an effort to upset Princeton’s football team, Navy starts an offensive line featuring five members of the boxing and wrestling teams. The game ends in a 13-13 tie, though the visiting Midshipmen are penalized nearly 100 yards for roughness.
OCT. 23, 1921: In a postseason exhibition, the International League champion Orioles defeat the last-place Philadelphia A’s of the American League, 2-1, before more than 2,500 fans at Oriole Park. Lefty Grove (Lonaconing, Allegany County) strikes out 13 and gets the win; Eddie Rommel, who grew up in Baltimore, takes the loss.
OCT. 21, 1909: Earl Wilson, Navy’s quarterback who suffered a broken neck in last week’s 11-6 loss to Villanova, receives a bouquet of flowers from the Army football team. Nine days later, an Army tackle, Eugene Byrne, suffers the same injury and dies the following day. Wilson succumbs six months later.
Birthday
OCT. 21, 1942: Bill Curry, two-time Pro Bowl center for the Colts who started on their 1970 Super Bowl championship team.