On this date

1876: The National League forms, consisting of teams in Philadelphia, Hartford, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis and New York.

1954: Bevo Francis of Rio Grande College scores 113 points in a 134-91 victory over Hillsdale. Francis breaks his own record for small colleges (84), set two weeks earlier against Alliance College.

1962: Using a fiberglass pole, John Uelses becomes the first man to vault more than 16 feet, indoors or out. Uelses, a Marine Corps corporal, clears 16\ during the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in New York.

1967: The American Basketball Association begins operation with George Mikan as commissioner. The league has 10 teams in two divisions, with franchises in New York, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Oakland and Anaheim.

1977: Toronto’s Ian Turnbull scores five goals to set an NHL record for defensemen as the Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings 9-1.

1991: New Hampshire’s men’s basketball team snaps its 32-game losing streak at home with a 72-56 win over Holy Cross. The NCAA-record streak started on Feb. 9, 1988.

2001: Stacy Dragila takes center stage at the Millrose Games in New York, breaking her world indoor pole vault record by half-an-inch with a 15-2 1⁄4 vault.

2003: Atlanta Thrashers star Dany Heatley joins hockey greats such as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux by scoring a record-tying four goals in the NHL’s All-Star game. However, his Eastern Conference team loses the first All-Star game shootout, 6-5.

2009: Kobe Bryant breaks the current Madison Square Garden record with 61 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 126-117 victory over New York.

2012: Sam Gagner has four goals and four assists in the NHL’s first eight-point game in 23 years, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Chicago Blackhawks 8-4.

2013: California Institute of Technology’s baseball team ends a 228-game losing streak with a 9-7 victory against Pacifica, the Beavers’ first win in nearly 10 years. Caltech hadn’t won since Feb. 15, 2003, 5-4 against Cal State-Monterey Bay.

2014: The Seattle Seahawks win their first Super Bowl title, crushing the favored Denver Broncos 43-8.

2017: Patrick Marleau scores his 500th career goal, Chris Tierney tallies twice and San Jose beat Vancouver 4-1.