7th

  • Hugh Kirkaldy wins the 31st British Gold Open at St Andrews in 1891, shooting a 166 winning score.
  • In 1916, Georgia Tech defeated Cumberland ‘university 222-0 in the most lopsided college football game in American history.
  • Ludmilla Tourischeva, one of the most elegant of all the great Soviet gymnasts, was born in 1952. Her total of 34 Olympic, World and European Championship medals exceeds by two the number won by the great Czech gymnast Vera Caslavska. Tourescheva won four Olympic goals in 1968, 1972, and 1976.
  • Jayne Torvill, half of the British best-ever ice-dance team, was born in 1957. She and Christopher Dean won the world title four years in succession between 1981 and 1984. They also won a record six British titles between 1978 and 1983 and gold at the 1984 Olympics.
  • On this day in 1973 Scotsman Jackie Stewart won his 3rd Formula 1 World Drivers Championship despite withdrawing from the final race of the season, the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. He  won the title by 16 points from Emerson Fittipaldi
  • Six year later in 1979 Ferrari driver Jody Scheckter retired with tyre trouble in US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen but becomes first South African to claim Formula 1 World Drivers Championship, winning by 4 points from race winner Gilles Villeneuve
  • Today in 1985 Lynette Woodward was chosen as 1st woman in the Harlem Globetrotters
  • In 2000, the last ever competitive football match takes place at Wembley Stadium, a 1-0 defeat of England by Germany and the last goal was scored by Liverpool’s Dietmar Hammann. The match was Tony Adams’ 60th at Wembley setting the record for the most appearances at the stadium
  • On this day in 2012at the ICC Women’s Cricket T20 World Cup, Jess Cameron’s 45 from 34 balls helped Australia beat England 138/9 to win by 4 runs to retain World Cup
  • In 2017 New Zealand clinched their 5th Rugby Championship with 25-24 win over South Africa at Cape Town, the All Blacks were undefeated in all 6 games

 

8th 

  • The modern boxing glove was invented in 1743, the brainchild of Englishman Jack Broughton. But Broughton’s gloves, or mufflers as they were then known, were at the time only used for sparring; It was not until this day in 1818 that Broughton’s style of gloves were used in a competitive fight, between two unnamed English boxers at Aix-la-Chapelle in France. A French newspaper reported: ‘the two champions were built like Hercules…they entered the ring with their hands guarded with huge padded gloves.’ Gloves became mandatory when the Marquis of Queensbury Rules were drafted in 1865, and officially adopted in 1892.
  • Today in 1888 at the British Open held at St Andrews Golf Club, the Scotsman Jack Burns won his only Open title by 1 stroke from Ben Sayers and David Anderson Jr
  • Miss Eileen Joel, daughter of the millionaire racehorse owner Jim Joel, made history at Newmarket in 1925 as the first women jockey to win an ‘open’ race, the Four-mile Town Plate, on Hogier. The race, which dates to 1665, is open to any rider irrespective of sex. Five of the eight jockeys in the 1925 race were women.
  • The former Australian Test cricket captain Neil Harvey was born in 1928. 
  • Welsh snooker player Ray Reardon was born in 1932. Winner of six world titles between 1970 and 1978, Reardon was one of the great personalities of the game and played a major role in developing the sport in the 1970s.
  • On this day in 1961 American Phil Hill’s Ferrari team did not participate in season ending US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen having already clinched the World Drivers Championship. The English driver Innes Ireland won the race – which represented Lotus’ first ever Grand Prix win
  • American swimmer Matt Biondi was born in 1965. Four times holder of the 100m freestyle record and winner of seven medals at the 1988 Olympics including five gold. In three Olympics (1984-1992) he won 11 medals, eight fold, two silver and one bronze.
  • Today in 1972, despite retiring with suspension trouble during the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Emerson Fittipaldi became the first Brazilian to win the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship, winning by 16 points from Jackie Stewart
  • In 1982 the Serbian Racing car driver Milos Pavlovic was born.
  • At the 2000 Solheim Cup, held at Loch Lomond, Europe regained the Cup 14½-11½ – Carin Koch holesd the winning putt, coming back from 3 down to beat Michele Redman
  • Today in 2011 Irish professional darts player Brendan Dolan played the first perfect 9 dart game on TV in his semi-final against James Wade at PDC World Darts Championship in Dublin
  • On this day in 2016 New Zealand thrashed  South Africa, 57-14,  in Durban to win their 4th Rugby Championship. The undefeated All Blacks score 9 tries to 1, 2 each to Israel Dagg, TJ Perenara and Beauden Barrett

9th

  • Today in 1915 Woodrow Wilson became the first US President to attend a World Series game
  • Middle-distance.runner Steve Ovett was born in 1955. He and his great rival Sebastian Coe dominated the 800m, 1500m and mile in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Ovett broke the world record for the 1500m three times and the mile record twice.
  • At the 1965 Ryder Cup, held at Royal Birkdale, the US beat Great Britain 19½-12½. Byron Nelson was non-playing American captain and Harry Weetman the GB skipper
  • Jackie Milburn, one of Newcastle United’s best known footballers and the Uncle the Jackie and Bobby Charlton, died in 1988 at the age of 64. Milburn scored both goals in Newcastle’s 2-0 win over Blackpool in the 1951 FA Cup final and he set up Newcastle’s 3-1 win over Manchester City in the 1955 final by scoring the first after a little over a minute.
  • On this day at the 1988 Rugby League World Cup, the 9th edition of the tournament,  Australia beat New Zealand 25-12
  • French swimmer Laure Manaudou was born on this day 1986. Olympic, world and European champion swimmer. She has held the world record in freestyle events between 200 and 1500 meter. She is the daughter of a French father and a Dutch mother, and she is the older sister of Florent Manaudou who is also an Olympic gold medalist swimmer.
  • At the 27th running of the Federation Cup, today in 1989, USA beat Spain in Tokyo Japan (3-0)

10th

  • In 1892 the entire Hong Kong National Cricket Team died in a shipwreck off Taiwan when the SS Bokhara sank in a typhoon, 125 people perished all told. The team had played an Interport cricket match against Shanghai a few days earlier and were returning home aboard the SS Bokhara.
  • On this day in 1899 African-American inventor Issac R. Johnson patented the bicycle frame
  • The English journalist Murray Walker was born today in 1923, well-known as a Formula 1 commentator, his excitable style of commentary and many gaffs have become legendary. 
  • Also born on this day, in 1946, larger than life Wrestling star Giant Haystacks, (real name Martin Austin Ruane), billed as standing 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) tall and weighing 48 stone 13 lb (685 lb; 311 kg) at his heaviest, he was best known for TV fights with Big Daddy and Kendo Nagasaki in the 1970s
  • The 18th Olympics opened in Tokyo in 1964. More than 5000 competitors from 93 nations took part in the Games which ended with the United States and Soviet Union topping the medal table, followed by the host nation in third with 16 golds. It was the first time that sex tests for women athletes were used at the Games.
  • The Arsenal and England defender Tony Adams was born in 1946. He came through the junior ranks at Arsenal, eventually breaking into the first team in the 1980s when the club was re-establishing itself at the top of the first division. He has won FA Cup, League Cup and League Championship honours with the Gunners and in 1987 was picked for England.
  • The inaugural meeting soccer’s newly formed Premier League was held in 1991 with the former first division clubs seeking to formulate its and constitution.
  • Today in 2002 Former cricketer Imran Khan was elected to the Pakistani Parliament after winning the seat of Mianwali-I
  • On this day in 2004, having already clinched his record 7th F1 World Drivers Championship, German Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher won a record 13th race of the season with his victory at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka
  • On this day in 2010 at the Senior Players Championship, held at the  TPC  in Potomac, Mark O’Meara won his only Champions Tour major title with a par on first playoff hole against Michael Allen

11th

  • Born today in 1887, Willie Hoppe, billiards champion. Hoppe won 51 world titles between 1906 and 1952. He was also known for various long-standing high runs, including scoring 2,000 contiguous points in straight rail and a run of 25 points in three-cushion. He once made a tournament average of 1.333, a world record at that time.
  • Sadly in 1917, Harry Trott, Australian cricketer who captained his national side and played in 24 Tests between 1888 and 1898 passed away.
  • On this day in 1902 the first Test Cricket match between South Africa and Australia began.
  • One of England’s most prolific goal scorers, Bobby Charlton was born on this day in 1937. The scorer of 49 goals for England, he played for his country 106 times. Bobby played 644 Football league games for Manchester United and Preston and was the United captain the day they beat Benfica to become the first English winners of the European Cup. At the end of his playing days he became manager of Preston North End.
  • Brazilian born tennis player Maria Bueno was born in 1939. The ‘Darling’ of the centre court in the 1960s, she first won Wimbledon as a 20-year-old in 1959. She retained the title in 1960 and regained it in 1964. She also won the US title four times.
  • British hurdler Alan Pascoe was born on this day in 1947. He was the European 400m hurdles champion in 1974. He won a silver medal in the relay at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
  • Henry Morris of East Fife scored the first goal by a British player in a World Cup match, in 1949. The match, between Scotland and Northern Ireland at Belfast, was a qualifier for the 1950 tournament. Morris completed a hat-trick in the match and yet never played for Scotland again! Scotland won the game 8-2.
  • At the 60th edition of the Davis Cup in 1971 – USA beat Romania in Charlotte (3-2)
  • On this day in 2000 the South African Cricket Board issued former captain Hansie Cronje a life ban as a result of match-fixing allegations
  • María de Villota Comba, Spanish racing driver, died today in 2013.  Born on 13th January 1980, she was the was the daughter of former Formula One driver Emilio de Villota, and sister of Emilio de Villota Jr., who similarly competed in Formula Palmer Audi. Prior to her death, Maria was recovering from serious head and facial injuries, sustained during an accident in straight-line testing as the Marussia Formula One team test driver.

12th

  • On this day in 1925 American long distance runner Albert Michelsen ran a world record marathon time of  2:19:01.8 at the inaugural Port Chester Marathon.  The IAAF records show that Michelsen held this record until Fusashige Suzuki of Japan ran 2:27:49 in Tokyo on 31st March 1935.  Michelsen represented the United States in the marathon at the 1928  Olympics in Amsterdam, where he finished 9th, as well as the 1932 Los Angeles Games where he finished 7th. He won the Port Chester Marathon again in 1927.
  • Czechoslovak-born tennis player Jaroslav Drobny was born in 1921. His first success in sport came in 1948 when he won a silver medal with the Czech ice hockey team at the Winter Olympics. His career as a tennis player flourished after he sought and gained political asylum in Egypt in 1949. He first played at Wimbledon in 1938, was beaten finalist in 1949 and 1952 and, finally, in 1954, won the title. The final, against Australian Ken Rosewall, was a marathon four-setter, 13-11, 4-6, 6-2, 9-7. He also won the French Open title twice, in 1951 and 1952.
  • Today in 1964 American Don Schollander swam an Olympic record 53.4s to beat Briton Robert McGregor by 0.1s and win the 100m freestyle gold medal in Tokyo, this was the first of Schollander’s four gold medals at the Games
  • The 19th Olympic Games opened at Mexico City in 1968, Norma Enriqueta Basilio Satelo became the first woman to light Olympic flame
  • In 1975, Jacqueline Hansen runs a women’s world record marathon time of 2hrs 38mins 19secs at Eugene in Oregon.
  • Born in 1975 disgraced track and field athlete Marian Jones, who was stripped of her 5 Olympic medals from the 2000 Games after admitting to steroid use but she did retain her three gold medals as a world champion from 1997 and 1999.
  • At the Sunrise Gold Club, Las Vegas, in 1991 Chip Beck equalled the US PGA Tour record for 18 holes, set by Al Geiberger 14 years earlier, by shooting 59 in the third round of the Las Vegas Invitational.
  • Michael Schumacher wins the 2003 Formula 1 Championship by two points.
  • At the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California today in 2003, Nia Künzer scored the winner in sudden death extra time as Germany beat Sweden, 2-1
  • In 2008, Anna Kournikova and Andy Roddick beat Martina Navratilova and Jesse Levine in a match for charity, rasing over $400,000 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund.

13th

  • On the day in 1894 Everton and Liverpool played the first ever Merseyside ‘Derby’, at Goodison Park. Everton won the match 3-0.
  • Benny Lynch retained his world flyweight title at Clyde’s Shawfield Stadium in 1937 with a 13th-round knockout of fellow-Briton Peter Kane. The contest is regarded as one of the finest flyweight contests of all time.
  • On this day in 1954 Britain’s Chris Chataway knocked a staggering five seconds off the world 5000m record, clocking a time of 13 minutes 5.6 seconds in beating the great Russian Vladimir Kuts at London’s White City.
  • The 9th LPGA Championship was won by Mickey Wright in 1963. 
  • Today at the 1963 Ryder Cup, held at East Lake, the US beat Great Britain, 23-9, The competition format changed with the addition of 4-ball matches on a 3rd day of play
  • On this day in 1964 Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser won her third consecutive Olympic 100m freestyle gold medal at the Tokyo Games in an Olympic record time of 59.05s
  • Cuban high-jumper Javier Sotomayor was born in 1967. The 1992 Olympic gold medal winner was the first man to clear eight feet (2.44m), in 1989.  He still holds the world record of 2.45 meters (8 ft 0.46 in),  achieved  on the 27th of July 1993 in Salamanca, Spain
  • Nancy Kerrigan, American figure skater, was born today in 1969. She won bronze medals at the 1991 World Championships and the 1992 Winter Olympics, silver medals at the 1992 World Championships and the 1994 Winter Olympics, and she was the 1993 US National Figure Skating Champion. Kerrigan was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2004. In January 1994, an assailant used a police baton to strike Kerrigan on her landing knee, the attacker was hired by the ex-husband of her rival Tonya Harding. The attack injured Kerrigan, but she quickly recovered. Harding and Kerrigan both participated in the 1994 Winter Olympics, but after the Games, Harding was permanently banned from competitive figure skating. At the Olympics, Kerrigan won the silver medal in a controversial showdown with gold medal winner Oksana Baiul. She then started touring and performed with several ice skating troupes that included Champions on Ice and Broadway on Ice. In 2017, she was a contestant on season 24 of Dancing with the Stars.
  • In 1982, the IOC Executive Committee approves the reinstatement of Jim Thorpe’s gold medals from the 1912 Olympics, 30 years after his death. Thorpe became the first Native American to win a gold medal for his home country. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, played American football (collegiate and professional), and also played professional baseball and basketball. He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules that were then in place.
  • John Lowe made the first nine-dart finish in a major championship at Slough during the quarter-finals of the British Open darts championship in 1984, to collect a records prize of £102,000. His score of 501 was achieved with six treble-20s, treble-17, treble-18 and double-18.
  • Today in 1986 the IOC announced that baseball would become a medal sport in 1992
  • The West Indies scored a cricket World Cup record 360-4 against Sri Lanka at Karachi in 1987. In the match Viv Richards scored a World Cup best individual innings of 181.
  • Rene Lacoste, French tennis player, died aged 92 in 1996. He was nicknamed “the Crocodile” by the press after they learned of a wager Lacoste made with the French Davis Cup captain, who promised Lacoste a crocodile-skin handbag if Lacoste won, he is also known worldwide as the creator of the Lacoste tennis shirt, which he introduced in 1929.
  • Mohammad Sarengat, Indonesian sprinter died on this day in 2014. Sarengat became the first Indonesian athlete to win a gold medal at the Asian Games, when he won gold in the 100m at the 1962 Asian Games.