On This Date

Aug. 3

1852 — The first intercollegiate rowing race is held on Lake Winnipesaukee, N.H., where Harvard beats Yale by four lengths on the 2-mile course. 1949 — The National Basketball Association is formed by the merger of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA). 1955 — Scott Frost, driven by Joe O’Brien, wins the Hambletonian at Good Time Park in Goshen, N.Y. He goes on to become the first trotting Triple Crown winner. 1985 — France’s Lutin D’Isigny becomes the first trotter to sweep the International Trot and Challenge Cup in consecutive years with a 3:03.1 time in the 1½-mile test. 1990 — The Professional Golfers Association Tour announces it will not hold tournaments at golf clubs that have all-white memberships or show any other signs of discrimination. 1996 — Andre Agassi, the Dream Team and the U.S. women’s 400-meter relay team win Olympic gold medals, while the American men’s 400 relay settles for silver. With Carl Lewis idled by a coach’s decision and Leroy Burrell injured, the men’s 400 team is shocked by Canada — the first time the U.S. lost the event at the Olympics. 1997 — Colleen Walker wins the du Maurier Classic by two strokes over Liselotte Neumann. 2003 — Annika Sorenstam completes a career Grand Slam at the Women’s British Open, beating Se Ri Pak by a stroke in a thrilling head-to-head showdown. 2006 — Champ Car driver Cristiano da Matta needs surgery to remove a ruptured blood vessel in his head after his race car collides with a deer that wandered onto the track during a test session at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. 2010 — In Rakvere, Estonia, former Olympic champion Justin Gatlin wins a 100-meter race in 10.24 seconds in his first competition after a fouryear doping ban. The 28-year-old American finishes 0.07 seconds ahead of countryman J-Mee Samuels. 2012 — Michael Phelps rallies to win the 100-meter butterfly for his third gold of the London Games and No. 17 of his career. The American, next-to-last at the turn, closes strong to finish in 51.21 seconds, just ahead of Chad le Clos of South Africa and Evgeny Korotyshkin of Russia. It’s Phelps’ third consecutive win in the event at the Olympics, and his 21st career medal. Missy Franklin sets a world record in the 200 backstroke for the 17-year-old’s third gold in London. Also, 15-year-old Katie Ledecky — the youngest member of the U.S. team — nearly breaks the world record while winning the 800 freestyle, denying Britain’s Rebecca Adlington a repeat before her home fans. 2013 — Sixteen-year-old Katie Ledecky wraps up a brilliant performance at the world swimming championships with her fourth gold medal and second world record. The youngster turns it on over the final four laps of the 800 freestyle to win in 8 minutes, 13.86 seconds and take down the mark of 8:14.10 set by Britain’s Rebecca Adlington at the 2008 Olympics.