Timeline

776 B.C.: Greece's first recorded Olympic Games. Only Greeks are allowed to compete, and the games are limited to foot races of approximately 200 yards.
490 B.C.: According to Greek satirist Lucian, a courier named Pheidippides runs from the plains of Marathon to Athens, a distance of about 22 miles, with news of a Greek victory over the Persians. This becomes the inspiration for modern-day "marathon" races.
1457: Scotland's Parliament forbids "futeball and golfe" as their popularity is distracting men from practicing archery which is required for military training.
1552: Scotland's Royal Golf Club of St. Andrews begins. Its official founding comes 200 years later in 1754.
1702: Queen Anne of England gives approval for horseracing and introduces the idea of sweepstakes.
1744: First recorded cricket match in England. Rules of the game are codified in 1788.
1842: Alexander Cartwright invents baseball. Although the game has been played for many years, Cartwright writes down rules of play.
1863: The official rules for soccer are established by the Football Association in England.
1869: Princeton and Rutgers play the first college football game. Rutgers wins 6-4.
1874: British sportsman Walter Clopton Wingfield codifies the rules for lawn tennis.
1875: First running of the Kentucky Derby, won by Aristides.
1876: The National League (NL) is formed. The NL becomes the first stable baseball major league.
1877: The first Wimbledon tennis championship is won by Spencer Gore.
1891: Basketball invented by James Naismith, a physical education instructor at Springfield Men's Christian Association Training School. Naismith wrote the first 13 rules for the sport.
1892: "Gentleman Jim" Corbett defeats John L. Sullivan to win the first boxing championship fought with padded gloves and under the Marquis of Queensberry Rules.
1896: First of the "modern" Olympics are held in Athens, Greece. Competing are 311 athletes from 13 countries.
1900: The American League (AL) is formed. It soon joins the National League as a baseball major league.; Britain's Charlotte Cooper wins the first women's Olympic gold medal in women's tennis. Margaret Abbott wins the nine-hole golf competition, becoming the first American woman to win Olympic gold.
1903: The National Agreement calls an end to the war between the American and National baseball leagues. The agreement calls for each league to be considered major leagues, the same alignment as today.

The first World Series is played. It features the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League and the Boston Pilgrims of the American League. Boston wins the series 5-3.
1908: Jack Johnson defeats Tommy Burns to become the first African American to hold the world heavyweight boxing championship.
1911: First Indianapolis 500 is run.; Cy Young retires with a career record 511 wins. The trophy given annually to the best pitcher in each league is named after Young.
1912: Jim Thorpe wins three Olympic medals, one of them a gold medal in the decathlon. The medals are stripped from him in 1913 when it is discovered that he accepted a token sum of money to play baseball. The medals are restored and returned to his family in 1982.
1917: The National Hockey League (NHL) is formed. The new league contains only four teams.
1919: The Chicago "Black Sox" throw the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in the biggest sports gambling incident of all-time. Eight players, including the great "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, are banned from baseball by commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis.
1920: The New York Yankees purchase the contract of Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox. "The Curse of the Bambino" prevents the Red Sox from winning a World Series since.; The National Football League (NFL) forms in Canton, Ohio. The original league has 14 teams.
1926: Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel. Her time is nearly five hours faster than the previous five men who made the crossing.
1927: Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees hits 60 home runs in one season, breaking his own single-season record. His total is more than 12 teams hit during the season. Ruth retires with 714 career home runs, also a record at the time.
1928: Ty Cobb retires from baseball with a lifetime .366 average that still stands as a record today. Cobb also retired with the career record for hits (4,189) and runs (2,246).
1930: Uruguay hosts and wins the first soccer World Cup. The event has been held every four years since.; Bobby Jones wins "Grand Slam" of golf by capturing the U.S. and British Opens and Amateurs.
1931: Knute Rockne dies in a plane crash. He finishes with a 121-12-5 record, a winning percentage of .881. Rockne led Notre Dame to five unbeaten and untied seasons.
1932: The Negro National League is formed. This is the first "major" league set up for African-American players.; Babe Didrikson Zaharias wins three gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. She sets new world records in the javelin throw and 80-meter hurdles.
1936: Sonja Henie wins the Winter Olympics gold medal for women's figure skating for the third consecutive time.; Jesse Owens wins four gold medals in track and field at the Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Owens' feat comes as a shock to German dictator Adolf Hitler.
1937: Don Budge wins tennis's "Grand Slam." He is the first player to win Wimbledon and the Australian, French, and U.S. championships in the same calendar year.
1938: Helen Wills wins the final of her 19 "Grand Slam" singles tennis titles. She wins eight Wimbledons, seven U.S. Opens, and four French Opens.; The great Joe Louis knocks out German fighter Max Schmeling. The victory carries extra meaning as it also marks a win against Nazi Germany.
1939: The first baseball game is televised. The game features Cincinnati and Brooklyn.

On July 4, Lou Gehrig gives his famous farewell speech. He dies soon after from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), now called Lou Gehrig's Disease.
1941: Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox hits .406. He is the last player to hit over .400 for an entire season.; Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees hits safely in 56 consecutive games. He breaks the record of 44 set by Wee Willie Keeler.
1943: The All American Girls Professional Baseball League is formed. At its peak in 1948 the league boasts 10 teams.
1945: Brooklyn Dodgers' executive Branch Rickey signs Jackie Robinson to a minor league contract.
1946: The color line in football is broken. Woody Strode and Kenny Washington play for the Rams and Marion Motley and Bill Willis join the Browns.; The Basketball Association of America is founded. Within three years it becomes the National Basketball Association (NBA).
1947: Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier in baseball. This heroic ballplayer is subjected to harsh treatment from fans, fellow ballplayers, and even teammates.
1949: The Ladies' Professional Golf Association (LPGA) forms. Babe Didrikson Zaharias is a co-founder.
1957: Althea Gibson becomes the first African American to win Wimbledon and U.S. tennis championships. She repeats her feat the next year.
1958: Baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers move to Los Angeles and New York Giants move to San Francisco. The moves devastate long-time fans of each team.; What is now called the "greatest game ever played" is won by the Baltimore Colts in sudden-death overtime over the New York Giants 23-17. The game is widely televised and has much to do with the growth in popularity of football.
1959: Daytona 500 is run for the first time. It now is one of the most watched sporting events in the United States.; The American Football League (AFL) is founded. The league brings professional football to many new markets.
1960: Sugar Ray Robinson retires from boxing. During his career he wins the welterweight title once and holds the middleweight title five times. His lifetime record is 182-19.; Cassius Clay wins a gold medal in the light-heavy-weight class at the Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. Later, Clay throws his medal into the Ohio River as a reaction against the racial prejudice with which he is forced to contend.; Wilma Rudolph becomes the first American woman to win three gold medals in one Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. She wins the 100- and 200-meter dashes and is a part of the winning 4 × 100 relay team.
1961: Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hits a single-season record 61 home runs. His record is tarnished by some observers because Maris plays a 162 game schedule while Babe Ruth, whose record he broke, played only 154 games in 1927.
1962: Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scores 100 points in a single game. He accomplishes this feat on March 2 against the New York Knicks. Chamberlain goes on to set another record when he averages 50.4 points per game during the same season and also leads the NBA in rebounding with 25.7 boards per game.; Oscar Robertson averages a triple double for an entire NBA season. He averages 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 11.4 assists per game.
1964: Cassius Clay scores a technical knockout of Sonny Liston to win the heavyweight championship. The victory is seen as a gigantic upset at the time. The day after his victory over Liston, Clay announces that he is a member of the Nation of Islam. He also announces that he is changing his name to Muhammad Ali.
1965: Star running back of the Cleveland Browns, Jim Brown, retires to pursue an acting career. He leaves the game holding the record for most career rushing yards, 12,312, in only eight seasons.

1966: The Boston Celtics win their eighth consecutive championship. No other major sports franchise has won this many consecutive titles.; Texas Western beats Kentucky 72-65 for the NCAA basketball championship. The champions feature an all-African American starting five while Kentucky starts five white players.
1967: First Iditarod dog sledding race held. The race begins as a 56 mile race, but by 1973 it evolves into a 1,152 mile trek between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska.; Charlie Sifford becomes the first African American to win on the PGA golf tour when he captures the Greater Hartford Open.; The first Super Bowl is played between the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs. It is originally called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game.
1968: Bill Russell becomes the first African-American coach in any major sport. He leads the Boston Celtics to two championships as player-coach.; Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos protest racism in the U.S. by raising black glove-clad fists on the medal stand after finishing first and third in the 200-meters at the Mexico City Olympics. The two are suspended from competition.; Eunice Kennedy Shriver begins the Special Olympics. The program grows into an international showcase for mentally challenged athletes.; The "Heidi" game becomes a piece of sports history as fans in the East miss the Oakland Raiders's thrilling comeback against the New York Jets. NBC decides to leave the game with 50 seconds left to start the movie Heidi on time at 7:00 p.m. ET. The network is barraged with calls complaining about the decision.; The American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) merge. The league retains the NFL name and splits teams into American and National conferences.
1969: Rod Laver of Australia wins the tennis "Grand Slam" for the second time in his career. He also won the Slam in 1962 as an amateur.
1970: Pele plays in fourth World Cup for his home country of Brazil.; On September 21, ABC's Monday Night Football debuts. The game features a contest between the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets. Howard Cosell and Don Meredith are the commentators.
1971: Gordie Howe, "Mister Hockey," retires from the NHL. At the time he holds career records for goals (801), assists (1,049), and points (1,850). Howe goes on to play seven more seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA).
1972: Congress passes the Education Amendment Act, which includes Title IX. Title IX bans sex discrimination in federally funded schools in academics and athletics. The new law changes the landscape of college athletics, as more playing opportunities and scholarships are open to women.; Secretariat wins horse racing's Triple Crown, setting records for every race. He is the only horse to run under two minutes in the Kentucky Derby and wins the Belmont Stakes by a record 31 lengths.; Mark Spitz wins seven Olympic swimming gold medals. He sets the record for most medals won at a single Olympic Games.; Black September, an Arab terrorist group, kills eleven Israeli athletes held captive in the Olympic Village. The Games are suspended the following morning for a memorial service, after which, with the approval of the Israelis, they reconvene.; Out of respect to the Native American population, Stanford University changes its nickname from Indians to Cardinals. Other schools do the same, but professional teams do not.
1973: UCLA wins its seventh consecutive NCAA basketball championship. Coached by the legendary John Wooden, the Bruins during one stretch win 88 games in a row. UCLA goes on to win three more titles under Wooden.; Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in a "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match. Riggs, a self-proclaimed "male chauvinist," is 25 years older than King.; Running back O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills becomes the first NFL player to ever rush for over 2,000 yards in a season. Simpson is the only player to accomplish this feat in 14 games.; The Miami Dolphins finish the NFL season with a perfect 17-0 record. The Dolphins close out their season with a 14-7 victory over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. No NFL team before or since has finished a season with a perfect record.

1974: Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth's career home run record. Aaron has to overcome not only history but racist attacks as he hits number 715 in Atlanta.; Muhammad Ali stuns the world with his eighth round knockout of George Foreman in "The Rumble in the Jungle." Ali uses the "rope-a-dope" strategy to wear out the much more powerful Foreman.
1975: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in the "Thrilla in Manila." The victory was Ali's second in three fights with Frazier.; Pitchers Dave McNally and Andy Messersmith win their challenge to baseball's "reserve clause." Arbitrator Peter Seitz rules that once a player completes one season without a contract he can become a free agent. This is a landmark decision that opens the door to free agency in professional sports.
1976: Romanian Nadia Comaneci scores perfect 10s seven times in gymnastics competition at the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This marks the first time that a 10 has ever been awarded.; Kornelia Ender of East Germany wins four Olympic gold medals in swimming. Her time in every one of her races breaks a world record.
1977: Janet Guthrie qualifies on the final day for a starting spot in the Indianapolis 500. She becomes the first woman to compete in the Memorial Day classic.; A.J. Foyt wins the Indianapolis 500 for a record-setting fourth time.
1978: Nancy Lopez wins a record-breaking five LPGA tournaments in a row during her rookie season. She goes on to win nine tournaments for the year.
1979: ESPN launches the first all-sports television network. The network now carries all the major professional and college sports.
1980: The U.S. men's Olympic ice hockey team defeats the heavily favored team from the Soviet Union, 4-3, in what becomes known as the "Miracle on Ice." The Americans go on to win the gold medal.; Eric Heiden of the U.S. wins five individual gold medals in speed skating at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. No one before or since has won five individual events in a single Olympic Games. No other skater has ever swept the men's speed skating events.; The U.S. and its allies boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR. The Americans cite the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan as the reason for their action.
1981: Richard Petty wins the Daytona 500. His win is his record-setting seventh victory in the big race.
1982: Louisiana State defeats Cheney State for the title in the first NCAA women's basketball championship.; Wayne Gretzky, the "Great One," scores 92 goals in a season. He adds 120 assists to end the season with 212 points, the first time anyone has scored over 200 points in one season.; Shirley Muldowney wins last of three National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) top fuel championships. Muldowney won 17 NHRA titles during her career.
1983: Australia II defies the odds and wins the America's Cup after 132 years of domination by the U.S. defenders. The New York Yacht Club had won 24 straight competitions.
1984: The Soviet Union and its allies (except Romania) boycott the Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, California. Many believe this is in response to the U.S. boycott of Moscow Games in 1980.; Carl Lewis repeats Jesse Owens's feat of winning four gold medals in track and field at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. Lewis wins the same events as Owens: the 100- and 200-meters, the long jump, and the 4 × 100m relay.; Joan Benoit Samuelson wins the first ever Olympic marathon for women. Her winning time over the 26.2 mile course is 2:24.52.; Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins throws for 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns, both NFL single-season records.
1985: On September 11, Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's record for career hits when he gets his 4,192nd hit. Rose finishes his career with 4,256 hits. Unfortunately, Rose is banned from baseball after allegations of his gambling on the sport come to light.

1986: Nancy Lieberman is the first woman to play in a men's professional league - the United States Basketball League.; Jack Nicklaus wins his record 18th and final major championship at the Masters. During his illustrious career he wins 6 Masters, 4 U.S. Opens, 3 British Opens, and 5 PGA Championships.
1988: Greg Louganis wins gold medals in both platform and springboard diving. He is the first person to win both diving medals in two consecutive Olympics. Louganis wins despite hitting his head on the board during the springboard competition.; Florence Griffith-Joyner sets world records in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes.; Steffi Graf of Germany wins the "Golden Slam" of tennis by winning each of the "Grand Slam" events in addition to the Olympic gold medal. Graf retires with a record 22 victories in "Grand Slam" events.
1992: Jackie Joyner-Kersee establishes herself as the most dominant athlete in the five-event heptathlon, winning her second consecutive Summer Olympics gold medal in the event. Joyner-Kersee had set the world record at 7,291 points and held the next five highest scores.; Cito Gaston becomes the first African-American manager to take his team to the World Series. He is also the first to manage the world champions as his Blue Jays win the title the same year.
1993: Michael Jordan retires from basketball after leading the Bulls to three consecutive NBA championships. He says he is retiring to try to play professional baseball.; Julie Krone becomes the first woman jockey to win a Triple Crown horse race. She rides Colonial Affair to victory in the Belmont Stakes.; The Miami Dolphins defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 1914, giving Dolphins coach Don Shula his 325th win. The victory moved Shula into first place on the all-time list, beating the record held by George Halas of the Chicago Bears.
1994: The husband of figure skater Tonya Harding hires two men to attack Harding's rival, Nancy Kerrigan. The men strike at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, Michigan. Kerrigan is knocked out of the competition, but still qualifies for the Olympic team.; Speedskater Bonnie Blair wins her fifth Winter Olympic gold medal, the most by any American woman. She won the 500-meters in 1988 then won both the 500- and 1000-meters in 1992 and 1994. Blair won a total of seven Olympic medals.; Pole-vaulter Sergei Bubka of the Ukraine sets the world record in the pole vault with a jump of 6.14 meters. Bubka holds the top 14 jumps of all-time in the event.; A baseball player's strike wipes out the end of the regular season and, for the first time since 1904, the World Series. The strike hurts baseball's popularity for years to come.
1995: Michael Jordan returns to the Chicago Bulls. He leads Chicago to three consecutive championships then retires again in 1998. Jordan retires as a five-time winner of the NBA Most Valuable Player Award and six-time winner of the NBA Finals MVP.; Extreme Games (X Games) are held for first time in Rhode Island and Vermont. The X Games and Winter X Games have been held every year since.
1996: Sprinter Michael Johnson wins a rare double at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He wins both the 200- and 400-meter races, the first man ever to accomplish this feat at the Olympics.; Carl Lewis wins the long jump gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the athlete's ninth gold medal, tying him for the most all-time with Finnish track legend Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina.; Jackie Joyner-Kersee wins a bronze medal in the long jump at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. This brings her medal total for three Olympic Games to six, making her the most decorated female track and field athlete in U.S. history.; U.S. women capture the first-ever women's soccer Olympic gold medal.; Dan Marino retires. He leaves the game holding the NFL career record for yards (51,636) and touchdown passes (369).

1997: The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is formed.; Tiger Woods is only 21 when he wins the Masters by a record-shattering 12 strokes. He also sets a record by shooting 18 under par.
1998: Team USA captures the first women's ice hockey gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.; Cal Ripken, Jr. breaks Lou Gehrig's iron man record when he plays in his 2,632nd game on September 19.
1999: Vote-buying scandal rips the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Several IOC members are forced to quit because they took bribes from cities hoping to host the Olympics.; Wayne Gretzky retires with NHL records that may never be broken. He holds or shares 61 single-season and career records including the career records for most goals (894), most assists (1,963) and points (2,857). Gretzky also holds the single-season records for goals (92), assists (163), and points (215).
2000: New York Yankees win their 26th World Series. The win makes the Yankees the winningest organization in sports history.
2001: Tiger Woods becomes the first golfer to hold the championship for all four professional "Grand Slam" events when he wins the Masters. His accomplishment is not called a "Grand Slam" because all his victories do not occur in the same calendar year.; Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic earns the title of "world's greatest athlete" by setting a world record in the 10-event decathlon. His final score is 9,026 points, making him the first man to surpass the 9,000 barrier.; Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hits 73 home runs, a new major league single-season record. The next season he becomes only the fourth major leaguer to hit over 600 career home runs.; Michael Jordan returns to the NBA, this time playing for the Washington Wizards, a team in which he holds partial ownership. His 30.4 career scoring average is the highest of all-time.
2002: Brazil wins record fifth World Cup championship.; Coach Phil Jackson of the Los Angeles Lakers sets a record by coaching his ninth NBA champion. He won six titles as coach of the Chicago Bulls and three with Los Angeles. Jackson also tied Scotty Bowman of the NHL for most professional titles won as coach.; Hockey coach Scotty Bowman retires. He holds career records for most regular season (1,244) and playoff (223) wins.; Lance Armstrong wins the Tour de France cycling race for the fourth straight year. His victory comes only six years after doctors gave him little chance of surviving testicular cancer that had spread to his lymph nodes and brain.; Pete Sampras breaks his own record by winning his 14th Grand Slam tournament, the U.S. Open. He defeats rival Andre Agassi in the final.; Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys sets a new NFL career rushing record with 17,162 yards. Smith passes the great Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears.; Jerry Rice scores the 200th NFL touchdown of his remarkable career, the only man to reach this plateau. He ends the 2002 season holding the records for receptions (1,456), yards receiving (21,597), and touchdowns (202).
2003: Serena Williams wins four "Grand Slam" tennis championships in a row. She defeats her sister, Venus Williams, in the final of every event.