Today is Tuesday, January 4, 2011 Today in
Sports History 1883 - The Ontario Rugby Football Union was formed. The organization was the forerunner of the CFL.
1920 - The National Negro Baseball League was organized.
1957 - The Dodgers bought a 44-passenger twin-engine airplane for $775,000. They were the first team to own their own plane.
1957 - Former heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis appeared on "The Steve Allen Show" to introduce singer Solomon Burke. Burke performed Louis' "You Can Run, but You Can't Hide."
1974 - NBC-TV presented hockey in prime time. The Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers were the teams in the National Hockey League (NHL) game.
1975 - The Montreal Canadiens beat the Washington Capitals 10-0.
1976 - The Dallas Cowboys became the first wild-card team to make it to the Super Bowl. They beat the Los Angeles Ram 37-7 in the NFC title game.
1977 - Mary Shane was hired by the Chicago White Sox as the first woman TV play-by-play announcer.
1982 - Bryant Gumbel moved from NBC Sports to the anchor desk where he joined Jane Pauley as co-host of the "Today" show on NBC.
1983 - The USFL (United States Football League) held its first player draft.
1984 - Wayne ‘The Great One’ Gretzky scored eight points (four goals and four assists) for the second time in his National Hockey League (NHL) career. Edmonton’s Oilers defeated the Minnesota North Stars, 12-8. The game was the highest-scoring NHL game to date.
1992 - Mike Gartner (New York Rangers) scored his 1000th career point.
1996 - Don Shula announced his retirement from coaching the Miami Dolphins after 26 seasons.
1997 - The New York Rangers won their 2,000th game as an NHL franchise. Wayne Gretzky assisted on four second period goals.
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| Jessie Ventura |
1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as Minnesota's 37th governor.
2003 - The Green Bay Packers lost 27-7 to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC wild card game. It was the first time that the Packers had lost a playoff game at home.
