14th

  • Born on this day in 1873 was American track and field athlete Ray Ewry, who won ten gold medals at  Olympic Games between 1900 and 1908, for the ‘standing’ long jump, high jump and triple jump events, putting him among the most successful Olympians of all time. In 190o Games he won gold medals in all three standing jumps. Incidentally, all three finals were held on the same day (July 16). All this is made even more remarkable because as a child he contracted polio and was confined to a wheelchair and it was feared he would be paralysed for life. Ewry did his own exercises and overcame the illness.
  • Today in 1881 Bob Ferguson retained his British Open title with a 3 stroke win over Jamie Anderson in shocking weather conditions, at Prestwick.
  • The first football match to be played under floodlights was staged on the day in 1878 at Bramhall Lane, Sheffield, between two local teams. Two portable generators provided power for four beams which gave out light equivalent to 30,000 candles.
  • On this day in 1916  the 1st PGA Championship took place. The tournament was played at  Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, New York. The British golfer  Jim Barnes defeated Jock Hutchison by 1 hole in the 36-hole final to take the title
  • Today in 1949 Ezzard Charles scored an 8th round technical knock-out against  Pat Valentino to claim the world heavyweight boxing title
  • A crowd of 2000 watched the game. Steve Cram, the British middle-distance runner, was born in 1960. He set world records at 2000m and one mile. He was the first man to run 1500 m under 3 minutes and 30 seconds His mile record of 3 minutes 46.32 seconds set at Oslo in 1985 stood for eight years.
  • Today in 1961 on the final day of the Ryder Cup at Royal Lytham & St Annes, Jerry Barber captained the US to 14½-9½ win
  • On this day at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo:  American swimmer Dick Roth set a new 400m IM world record of  4:45.4 to beat team mate Roy Saari and win the gold medal.  Mary Rand of Great Britain leapt a world record 6.76m to win the women’s long jump. Back in the pool, the US 4 x 100m freestyle relay team of Steve Clark, Mike Austin, Gary Ilman & Don Schollander swam another world record time [3:33.2] beating Germany by 4.0s and claiming the title.  Another American swimmer,  Cathy Ferguson. also set a world record, while winning 100m backstroke gold [1:07.7]  Little known American distance runner Billy Mills scored a major upset by winning the 10,000m, beating Mohammed Gammoudi of Tunisia by 0.4s; the only American to ever win the event
  • Matt Le Tisser, English footballer was born on this day in 1968. 
  • Viorica Viscopoleanu of Romania set a world record 6.82m whilst winning the women’s long jump at the Mexico City Olympics, beating Sheila Sherwood of Great Britain today in 1968. On the same day as American sprinter Jim Hines ran a world record of 9.95s beating Lennox Miller of Jamaica and Charles Greene of the US, to win the 100m Olympic gold
  • In 1986, The IOC decides to stagger the Winter and Summer Olympic schedule.
  • Today in 2001 German Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher won his 4th F1 World Drivers Championship by 58 points from David Coulthard, at the Japanese GP at Suzuka, which was his 9th win of the season
  • On this day in 2018, Afghan batsman Hazratullah Zazai beaome only the 6th player in cricket history (3rd in T20) to hit 6-sixes in an over. When he scored 62 in 17 balls in the match between Kabul Zwanan  and Balkh Legends in Afghanistan Premier League

15th

  • Heavyweight boxing champion John L Sullivan, known as ‘The Boston Strong Boy’, was born in 1858. The world bare-knuckle champion from 1882 to 1892, he failed in his attempt to become the first heavyweight champion under Queensberry rules, losing to James J Corbett by a knockout in the 21st round at New Orleans in 1892.
  • On this day in 1887 Preston North End established the highest score in senior English soccer when they beat Hyde United 26-0 in a first round FA Cup tie. Centre-forward Jimmy Ross scored with goals.
  • In 1951, Roscoe Tanner, American tennis player and Wimbledon finalist of 1979 was born. Tanner was famous for his big left-handed serve, which was clocked at 153 mph at Palm Springs in 1978 during the final against Raúl Ramírez. He is also known for winning the men’s singles title at the first of two Australian Open tournaments held in 1977.
  • At the 1961 LPGA Championship, held at Stardust Country Club, Mickey Wright convincingly won her 3rd LPGA title by 9 strokes from Louise Suggs
  • Medals won today at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics include: American Al Oerter, who won his third of 4 consecutive Olympic discus.  His team mate Bob Hayes equalled the world 100m record, beating Cuba’s Enrique Figuerola. In the swimming pool Don Schollander swam a world 400m freestyle record, to take gold, his second of 4 golds at the Games. Australian Ian O’Brien won 200m breaststroke gold in a world record time of 2:27.8 and the US women’s 4x100m freestyle team beat the Australians by over 3 seconds in another world record [4:03.8]. The Soviet rower Vyacheslav Ivanov won his third consecutive Olympic single sculls gold, he was also the reigning World and European champion at that time
  • Millions of British TV viewers watched David Hemery win the Olympic 400m hurdles title to the strains of an excited David Coleman on this day in 1968. Other performances today in Mexico came from American Al Oerter in the discus, an unprecedented 4th consecutive Olympic discus title. Australian Ralph Doubell ran a world record 1:44.40 to beat Kenyan Wilson Kiprugut and win the 800m gold.  American sprinter Wyomia Tyus took her second consecutive Olympic 100m title with a world record 11.08s, beating team mate Barbara Ferrell into second place.
  • Today in 1972, 17 year old American tennis prodigy Chris Evert won the inaugural WTA Tour Championship at Boca Raton in Florida. She beat Australian Kerry Melville Reid 7-5, 6-4.
  • Born today in 1980 was Belgian cyclist Tom Boonen.
  • Nelson Piquet takes the 34th Formula 1 championship by two points in 1983. 
  • Nick Faldo beat Ian Woosnam by one hole to win the Suntory World Matchplay championship at Wentworth in 1990. Faldo gave his £100,000 winnings, the largest prize in a British gold tournament, to a children’s charity.
  • On the same day on 1990, UEFA announced that Wrexham had to set off 24 hours before their Cup-winners’ Cup tie with Manchester United to comply with UEFA rules, although the journey up the M56 would take about 45 mins by coach!
  • Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam wins the LPGA World Championship of Women’s Golf today in 1995
  • Marco Campos, Brazilian racing driver, died in an accident in a Formula 3000 race at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, making him the only driver ever killed in the International Formula 3000 series. His death would be the last at the top level of feeder series racing until the fatal accident of Anthoine Hubert in Formula 2 in 2019.

 

16th

  • Jack Johnson knocked out Stanley Ketchel in the 12th to take the world heavyweight boxing title on this day in 1909.
  • Jockey Gordon Richards has his first ride, at Linfield Park in 1920. In a 21,843-race career that lasted until 1954, he won a record 4870 races, 14 of them Classics, and was champion jockey a record 26 times.
  • Popular Welsh snooker player Terry Griffiths was born in 1947. He beat his great friend and rival Dennis Taylor to win the world championship in 1979. Griffiths remained near the top of the world rankings since that surprise win at the time was one of the biggest money-winners in the sport.
  • Today at the 1964 Olympics the US men’s 4 × 100m medley relay team of Thompson Mann, Bill Craig, Fred Schmidt & Steve Clark swam a world record of 3:58.4 to beat the German team to win gold.  In an incredibly close 100m final, American sprinter Wyomia Tyus  beat team mate Edith McGuire by 0.2s to the gold medal while Ewa Kłobukowska of Poland took bronze with the same time as McGuire. American swimmer  Sharon Strouder won the 100m butterfly title.
  • It was quite a day in the track and field events at the 1968 Olympics: Britain’s Lillian Board was pipped by the France’s Colette Besson in the 400m final: US sprinters Tommy Smith and John Carlos gave their ‘Black Power’ salute on the winners rostrum: and in the most thrilling pole vault contest seen at the Olympics, the three medallists – Bob Seagreen of the US and the Germans Claus Schilprowski and Wolfgang Nordwig – all registered the same height, 5.40m (17 feet 7 inches)
  • Born today in 1973, David Unsworth English footballer.
  • On this day in 1978, Indian cricketer Kapil Dev made his Test debut against Pakistan at Faisalabad. Dev would go on to captain the Indian cricket team which won the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Named by Wisden as the Indian Cricketer of the Century in 2002, Kapil Dev is one of the greatest all-rounders of all time. He was also India’s national cricket coach for 10 months between October 1999 and August 2000.
  • Frederic Michalak, French Rugby star and British sprinter Craig Pickering were born today in 1973 and 1986 respectively.
  • On this day in 2004, a 17 year old Lionel Messi makes his league debut for Barcelona against Espanyol.
  • In 2005 Renault driver Fernando Alonso won the season-ending Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit, becoming the first Spanish Formula 1 World Drivers champion,  winning by 21 points from Kimi Räikkönen
  • On this day in 2016,  85 year old Ed Whitlock became the oldest person to complete a marathon in under 4 hours, at Toronto Waterfront Marathon, his time was 3 hours 56 minutes

 

17th

  • The first British Golf Open Championship was played at Prestwick in 1860. Eight men contested the event over three rounds of the 12-hole course. The competition, which was completed in one day, was won by Willie Park senior with a total on 174 strokes. The pre-tournament favourite, Old Tom Morris, was runner up.
  • The BBC’s top boxing commentator Harry Carpenter was born in 1925. 
  • American daredevil motorcycle stunt man Evel Knievel and British tennis and table tennis player Ann Jones and were both born today in 1938. As Ann Haydon she won the British table tennis and was twice runner-up in the world championships. She changed sports and in 1967 was beaten by Billie-Jean King in the Wimbledon singles final. Two years later she avenged that defeat, beating King in three sets.
  • In 1956, Donald Byrne and Bobby Fischer played a now famous chess match dubbed ‘The Game of the Century’ in which Fischer beat Bryne and won a Brillancy prize.
  • In the first ever Olympic women’s pentathlon, which came to its end today in 1964,  Irina Press of the Soviet Union set a world record 5,246 points to win the gold medal at the Tokyo Games.  Australian athlete Betty Cuthbert took her 4th career Olympic gold winning the 400m and the US swimmers go 1-2-3 in the 400m individual medley, with Donna de Varona winning gold in an Olympic record of 5:18.7 ahead of team mates Sharon Finneran and Martha Randall
  • Wigan and Great Britain rugby league player Shaun Edwards was born in 1966. He signed for Wigan for a £35,000 signing-on fee on his 17th birthday and in his first season became the youngest person to appear in the Challenge Cup final.
  • English footballer and sports commentator Graeme Le Saux was born today in 1968
  • At the Mexico Olympics today in 1968 Soviet athlete Viktor Saneev set a world record of 17.39m to win the triple jump, the world record was improved 5 times by 3 different athletes during competition. The US men’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay team of Zac Zorn, Stephen Rerych, Ken Walsh & Mark Spitz swam  a new world record of 3:31.7 to outclass the Soviet Union & Australia and win the title, whole Björn Ferm of Sweden beat Hungary’s András Balczó by just 11 points to take the modern pentathlon gold
  • Born today in 1979,  Kimi Raikkonen, Finnish racing-car driver who has been nicknamed ‘the Ice Man’.
  • In 1994, Kapil Dev made his final one-day international appearance against the West Indies.
  • Sadly dying on this day were Micheline Ostermeyer, 2001, French shot putter, discus thrower and concert pianist, Rene Simpson, 2013, Canadian-American tennis player
  • The English footballer and manager Howard Kendall died today in 2015.

18th

  • The rules for American Football were formulated in New York on this day in 1867, included at the meeting were delegates from Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton and Yale universities,
  • At a meeting on this day in 1871, 12 teams agreed to inaugurate the FA Cup competition suggested by FA Secretary Charles Allcock. 
  • M Baudry is the first to fly a dirigible across the English Channel from La Motte-Briel to Wormwood Scrubs on this day in 1910.
  • Martina Navratilova was born on 1956. She won an all-time record none Wimbledon singles between 1978 and 1990. Add to that another none singles titles won in the US, Australian and French championships and 36 Grand Slam doubles and she must rank as one of the all-time greats. In 1993 she surpassed Chris Evert’s record of 157 tournament wins.
  • Boxer Tommy Hearns was born in 1958. The first boxer to win world titles in four different weight divisions, he went on to win a fifth title following the formation of the WBO. He held the WBA welterweight and middleweight titles and the WBO super middleweight title.
  • Today in 1964 Australian swimmer Kevin Berry set a world record time of  2:06.6 to beat American Carl Robie by 0.9s and win the 200m backstroke gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics
  • One of the greatest of all track and field achievements took place on this day in 1968 when American Bob Beamon shattered the world long-jump record by a staggering 21¾in (55.24cm) to set a new mark of 29ft 2½in (8.9m). His record by-passed the 28-foot (8.5m) mark completely and stood for nearly 23 years when in Mike Powell jumped 29ft 4½in (10.2m) at world championships in Tokyo in 1991. Also on the very same day the US Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving the black power salute as a protest during their victory ceremony. A rare Australian 1-2 in track & field saw Maureen Caird in an Olympic record of 10.39s beat team mate Pam Kilborn by 0.07s to win the 80m hurdles
  • Born on this day, also in 1968 was German tennis player and sportscaster Michael Stich.
  • Born today in 1978, Mike Tindall, English rugby player who played outside centre for Bath Rugby and Gloucester Rugby, has captained the England team, and was a member of the 2003 World Cup-winning squad. He is married to Zara Phillips, the daughter of the Princess Royal and the eldest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
  • On this day in 2009 British Mercedes driver Jenson Button finished 5th in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Autódromo José Carlos Pace to clinch his first F1 World Drivers Championship

 

19th

  • In 1933, the Berlin Olympic Committee vote to introduce Basketball to the 1936 Olympics.
  • Born today in 1956 was Soviet ice dancer and coach Elena Garanina. 
  • This day in 1957 is one that supporters of Glasgow Rangers try to forget: their team was trounced 7-1 by rivals Celtic in the final of the Scottish League Cup at Hampden Park. John McPhail was the Celtic hero with a hat-trick.
  • In 1958 Sterling Moss beat Mike Hawthorn in the one and only Moroccan Grand Prix. Second place was enough to give Hawthorn, who drove for Ferrari, the world title by one point and consign Moss to the runner-up slot for the fourth consecutive year. The points system was such that Hawthorn captured the title despite winning only one race all season while Moss won four. In those days only the best six results counted, with eight points for the winner and six for the runner-up and so on. A point was also awarded to the driver of the fastest lap. Hawthorn retired soon after being world champion and was killed on a car crash near his Surrey home a few months later.
  • The former world heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield was born in 1962. He became world cruiserweight champion in 1986 by beating Dwain Qawi. In 1990 he beat James ‘Buster’ Douglas to win the heavyweight title. His first defeat in 29 professional fights was by Riddick Bowe who took the heavyweight crown from him in 1992. Known as ‘The Real Deal’, he famously is missing part of an ear after it was bitten off in 1997 by challenger Mike Tyson.
  • Events today at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics included – a blanket finish in the 80m hurdles, where Germany’s Karin Balzer and Teresa Cieply of Poland both record 10.5s with Pam Kilborn of Australia 10.6, Balzer was awarded the gold medal.  American sprinter Edith McGuire ran an Olympic record of 23.0 to win the 200m gold, the minor place medallists were Irena Szewińska of Poland and Australian Marilyn Black both recording 23.1.  Tamara Press of the Soviet Union won the discus with an Olympic record throw of 57.27m, the first of 2 gold medals at the Games for the athlete, the other being in the shot put
  • In Mexico at the 1968 Olympics today the West German crew beat Australia by just 0.9s to win the eights rowing gold. The American swimmer Jan Henne in 1:00.0 led the American sweep of the 100m freestyle medals with team mates Susan Pedersen and Linda Gustavson both swimming 1:00.3 for minor medals. Australian swimmer Michael Wendon set a world record of 52.2s to win the blue ribband 100m freestyle gold and New Zealand scored an upset victory in the men’s coxed four rowing final, beating the  favoured East German crew by 2.58s, this was the first ever rowing gold medal for the Kiwis
  • Australian tennis star Evonne Goolagong won her first WTA Tour Championship; beating  Chris Evert 6-3, 6-4 in the final at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on this day in 1974 
  • Today in 1986 Australian  Allan Border scored the 1,000,000th run in all test cricket, against India in Bombay
  • Jacqueline Mary du Pré, British cellist, who achieved enduring mainstream popularity at a young age and was regarded as one of the greatest cellists of all time, died today in 1987, at the age of 42 
  • In 2012 the Italian cyclist Fiorenzo Magni sadly passed away, he was born in 1920.
  • Giovanni Steffè, Italian rower, who competed in the 1948 Olympics, taking the silver medal in the coxed pairs died today in 2016. He was born in Trieste in 1928.

 

20th

  • Today in 1899 the American yacht Columbia beats the English entry  Shamrock in 11th America’s Cup
  • On this day in 1912 Hannes Kolehmainen ran a then world record marathon time of 2:29:39.2.  He was the first in a generation of great Finnish long distance runners, often named the “Flying Finns”.
  • Lucien Van Impe, the Belgian cyclist was born on this day in 1946.
  • Claudia Ranieri, Italian football manager and former player and currently manager of English Premiership club Leicester City, was born on this day in 1951.
  •  Liverpool and Wales footballer Ian Rush was born in 1961. The Liverpool manager Bob Paisley had no hesitation in paying £300,000 for the inexperienced youngster, who has only a handful of games for Chester under his belt before he moved to Merseyside. Paisley’s confidence was totally vindicated, Rush played over 400 games for Liverpool and has surpassed Roger Hunt’s goal scoring record for the club. A brief spell with Juventus did not work out and Liverpool were happy to take him back into the Anfield fold. On his 29th birthday, in 1990, he appeared in his 500th senior domestic game, against Norwich at Carrow Road. Unfortunately he did not make it a triple celebration by finding the net.
  • Today at the 1964 Olympics,  British athlete Ann Packer ran  a world record 2:01.1 to win the 800m gold medal,  Tamara Press of the Soviet Union won her second gold medal in 2 days by taking  the shot put title, which was her second consecutive Olympic shot put title
  • On this day in 1968, the Olympic marathon title was won by Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia. Other notable wins at the Mexico Games today include:  Kenyan runner Kip Keino taking the 1,500m title in 3:34.91 despite a severe gall bladder infection. American Dick Fosbury using his unconventional technique to win the high jump gold with 2.24m – the “Fosbury Flop” then became the accepted most efficient technique.  The American sprinter Jim Hines anchored his 4 x 100m relay team to the gold,  his second gold medal of the Games.  The US mens team in the longer 4x400m relay smash the world record, easily beating Kenya & West Germany into the minor medals. not to be outdone the American women set a sprint relay world record in winning the Olympic title. On the shot put field Margitta Gummel of East Germany threw a world record 19.61m to beat team mate Marita Lange by 0.83m to take the title.
  • Born today in 1969 was Greek high jumper Labros Papakostas, his personal best, achieved in Athens in 1992, was 2.36m. He is an eight-time national champion for Greece.
  • In 1979 Paul O’Connell was born, he is Ireland’s third most-capped player (108) and the joint-twelfth most-capped international player in rugby union history. O’Connell has captained Munster, Ireland and the British and Irish Lions.
  • Today in 1982 during the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster
  • On this day in 1990, 21 Arsenal and Manchester United players were involved in a brawl at Old Trafford, which was to eventually cost each club £50,000 in fines. Arsenal were further deducted two league points and United one.
  • Brazilian McLaren driver Ayrton Senna clinched his 2nd straight, and 3rd overall F1 World Drivers Championship by finishing 2nd in the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on this day in 1991.
  • Despite 20-14 final round loss to Ireland in Dublin, England retained the 2001 Six Nations Rugby Championship, setting new records for points scored (229), tries scored (29) and overall points-difference (+149) along the way
  • Today at the 2007 6th Rugby World Cup Final, at the Stade de France, the Springboks fullback Percy Montgomery landed 4 from 4 penalties as South Africa beat England, 15-6 to lift the Webb Ellis Trophy
  • In 2018 the All-England Lawn Tennis Club announced that tie breaks were to be used when scores reached 12-12 in a deciding set at Wimbledon