1875 — Harvard beats Yale 4-0 in the first football game between the schools. With 15 players on each side, the game is a mix of rugby and soccer.
1945 — Jim Benton of the Cleveland Rams is the first NFL player to have more than 300 receiving yards in a game. Benton has 10 receptions for 303 yards and a touchdown in a 28-21 victory over the Detroit Lions.
1950 — The Fort Wayne Pistons edge the Minneapolis Lakers 19-18 in the lowest-scoring game in NBA history. John Oldham leads the Pistons with five points and George Mikan has 15 for the Lakers.
1959 — The AFL holds their first player draft. First-round choices are Boston, Gerhard Schwedes; Buffalo, Richie Lucas; Dallas, Don Meredith; Denver, Roger LeClerc; Houston, Billy Cannon; Los Angeles, Monty Stickles; Minneapolis, Dale Hackbart; New York, George Izo.
1965 — Muhammad Ali knocks out Floyd Patterson in the 12th round to retain the world heavyweight title in Las Vegas.
1981 — Kellen Winslow of the San Diego Chargers catches five touchdown passes in a 55-21 rout of the Oakland Raiders.
1986 — Mike Tyson becomes the youngest heavyweight champion when he knocks out Trevor Berbick in the second round to win the WBC heavyweight title in Las Vegas.
1986 — Wayne Gretzky, playing in his 575th NHL game, scores his 500th goal in the Edmonton Oilers’ 5-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
1992 — North Carolina wins its seventh straight Division I women’s soccer title with a 9-1 win over Duke. The Tar Heels also set the record for most goals in a championship game.
1998 — John Elway of the Denver Broncos joins Dan Marino as the only players with 50,000 yards as the Broncos post a 40-14 victory over the Oakland Raiders.
2003 — The Montreal Canadiens beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3, in the NHL’s first outdoor game. The game marking the 86th anniversary of the founding of the league is played in front of a record crowd of 57,167 at a football arena in Edmonton.
2006 — Teemu Selanne scores his 500th career goal in Anaheim’s 3-2 loss to Colorado.
2007 — Brett Favre sets a Green Bay record with 20 consecutive completions and finishes with 381 yards and three touchdowns in the Packers’ 37-26 victory over the Detroit Lions.
2008 — Abilene Christian sets a record for points in an NCAA playoff game, beating West Texas A&M 93-68 in the second round of the Division II playoffs. Bernard Scott rushes for 292 yards and scores seven touchdowns, both playoff records.
2009 — Jimmie Johnson wins a NASCAR record fourth consecutive championship with a fifth-place finish in the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
2009 — Matthew Stafford completes 26 of 43 for 422 yards and five touchdowns in Detroit’s 38-37 win over Cleveland. Stafford sets the record for most yards by a rookie quarterback and becomes the first rookie to throw five TDs in a game since Ray Buivid did it for the Bears in 1937.
2010 — Alex Kovalev records his 1,000th point with a power-play goal midway through the first period of Ottawa’s game against Los Angeles.
2012 — New England embarrasses the New York Jets with a 35-point second quarter in a 49-19 victory to give and Bill Belichick his 200th NFL victory. Belichick is the eighth coach in NFL history with 200 victories, including the playoffs.
2014 — Samaje Perine of Oklahoma sets an FBS record by rushing for 427 yards in the Sooners’ 44-7 in over Kansas. Perine breaks the mark of 408 set by Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon a week earlier.
2014 — Melvin Gordon of Wisconsin surpasses 2,000 yards rushing with 200 yards and two TDs and the Badgers hold off Iowa 26-24.
