Jan. 24

1939 — Eddie Collins, Wee Willie Keeler and George Sisler are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1956 — Bob Pettit of the St. Louis Hawks captures the first of his NBA record four All-Star MVP awards. Pettit leads the West team with 20 points and 24 rebounds in a 108-94 win over the East.

1981 — Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders scores his 50th goal in the 50th game of the season in a 7-3 victory over the Quebec Nordiques.

1982 — Ray Wersching kicks a Super Bowl record-tying four field goals to help the San Francisco 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21.

1986 — Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders scores his 1,000th career point with an assist in a 7-5 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

1990 — Winston-Salem State basketball coach Clarence “Big House” Gaines wins his 800th career game, 79-70 over Livingstone.

1998 — The Denver Nuggets end their record-tying, single-season losing streak at 23 games, beating the Los Angeles Clippers 99-81.

1999 — David Duval shoots a 59 to match what is then the best round in PGA Tour history. Duval surges from seven strokes off the pace for a one-stroke victory over Steve Pate in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

2010 — Kelly Kulick becomes the first woman to win a PBA Tour title, beating Chris Barnes in the final of the 45th Tournament of Champions. Kulick outscores Barnes 265-195 to take home the $40,000 first prize and a two-year PBA Tour exemption.

2010 — Peyton Manning throws three touchdown passes and the Indianapolis Colts rally from an 11-point, first-half deficit to beat the New York Jets 30-17 in the AFC championship game.

2010 — The New Orleans Saints make it to their first Super Bowl after battering Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings 31-28 in overtime on Garrett Hartley’s 40-yard field goal.

2012 — Playing his 1,000th match, four-time Australian Open champion Roger Federer advances to his ninth straight semifinal at Melbourne Park with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win over Juan Martin del Potro. Federer is the seventh man to reach the 1,000 match milestone.

2014 — Carmelo Anthony scores a career-high and franchise-record 62 points, most at the current Madison Square Garden, and the New York Knicks beat the Charlotte Bobcats 125-96.

2015 — Ashley Wagner wins her third U.S. figure skating title, easily beating defending champ Gracie Gold.

2016 — Denver cornerback Bradley Roby picks off Tom Brady’s pass on a 2-point try with 12 seconds left to preserve a 20-18 victory for the Broncos over the New England Patriots in the AFC title game.

2016 — Cam Newton throws two touchdowns and runs for two others, and Carolina’s big-play defense stifles Arizona’s top-ranked offense in a 49-15 romp for the NFC championship.

2018 — Former US Olympic team doctor Larry Nassar found guilty of molesting over 150 girls, sentenced up to 175 years in prison

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Jan. 25

1894 — Jim Corbett knocks out Charley Mitchell in the third round to retain the world heavyweight title.

1924 — The first Winter Olympics are held in Chamonix, France.

1939 — Joe Louis knocks out John Henry Lewis at 2:39 of the first round to retain the world heavyweight title.

1945 — Larry MacPhail, Dan Topping and Del Webb buy the New York Yankees for $2.8 million.

1960 — Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors sets a record for rookies with 58 points in a 127-117 triumph over the Detroit Pistons. Chamberlain also grabs 42 rebounds.

1968 — Bob Seagren sets an indoor pole vault record in the Millrose Games at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Seagren’s world record leap is 17 feet, 4 1/4 inches.

1972 — Eddie Woods of Oral Roberts grabs 30 rebounds in a 109-95 victory over Louisiana Tech.

1981 — Jim Plunkett’s two first-quarter touchdown passes, including a Super Bowl-record 80-yard strike to running back Kenny King, leads the Oakland Raiders to a 27-10 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

1987 — The New York Giants win the Super Bowl with a 39-20 rout of the Denver Broncos. The Giants, trailing 10-9 at halftime, score 30 points in the second half to set a Super Bowl record. Phil Simms completes a record 10 straight passes and 22 of 25 attempts overall.

1988 — Utah guard Rickey Green scores the NBA’s 5 millionth point when the Jazz beat Cleveland 119-96.

1991 — Brett Hull scores two goals to become the third player in NHL history to score 50 goals in less than 50 games (49). Hull adds two assists to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 9-4 rout of the Detroit Red Wings.

1998 — John Elway and the Denver Broncos win a Super Bowl for themselves and the AFC, by beating the Green Bay Packers 31-24. Terrell Davis, selected the MVP, rushes for 157 yards scores on three 1-yard touchdown runs, including the winner with 1:45 left.

2003 — Serena Williams survives an error-filled match to beat elder sister Venus 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4 to win the Australian Open for her fourth straight major championship.

2014 — Li Na, who turns 32 next month, beats Dominika Cibulkova 7-6 (3), 6-0 in the Australian Open final to become the oldest woman to clinch the title here in the Open era.

2014 — Kate Hansen becomes the first American in nearly 17 years to win a World Cup singles luge race, prevailing at the season finale in Sigulda, Latvia. She’s the first World Cup winner for USA Luge since Cameron Myler won in 1997.

2014 — Tiger Woods shoots a 79 at Torrey Pines to match his worst score on American soil. Woods misses the 54-hole cut for the first time in his career at the Farmers Insurance Open. Woods is an eight-time winner at Torrey Pines, including the 2008 U.S. Open.

2015 — Mike Krzyzewski earns his 1,000th career win, making him the first NCAA Division I men’s coach to reach the milestone, when No. 5 Duke surges past St. John’s for a 77-68 victory at Madison Square Garden.

2022 - Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Keith Yandle becomes NHL’s new “Iron Man” with his 965th consecutive regular-season game, breaking Doug Jarvis’s all-time record, in a 4-3 loss at the New York Islanders

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Jan. 26

1913 — Jim Thorpe gives up his track medals from the 1912 Olympic games as a result of his having been a professional. He had been paid $25 for playing in a semipro baseball game.

1951 — Jimmie Foxx and Mel Ott are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1955 — Joe DiMaggio is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1960 — Pete Rozelle is chosen the new commissioner of the National Football League.

1985 — Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky scores his 50th goal in the 49th game of the season, a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

1986 — The Chicago Bears win their first NFL championship since 1963 by setting a Super Bowl-record for points scored in defeating the New England Patriots 46-10.

1991 — Houston guard Vernon Maxwell joins Wilt Chamberlain, David Thompson and George Gervin as the only players in NBA history to score 30 points or more in a quarter. Maxwell scores 30 of his career-high 51 points in the fourth period to help Houston beat Cleveland 103-97.

1992 — The Washington Redskins win their third Super Bowl in 10 years, beating the Buffalo Bills 37-24, putting the game away with 24 straight points after a scoreless first quarter.

1996 — Three years after she won her last Grand Slam title on the same Center Court, Monica Seles wins her fourth Australian Open crown. Seles beats Germany’s Anke Huber 6-4, 6-1 to claim her ninth major championship.

1997 — The Green Bay Packers, behind big plays, beat the New England Patriots 35-21 in the Super Bowl. Brett Favre finds Andre Rison for a 54-yard touchdown on the Packers’ second offensive play, then throws an 81-yard TD pass to Antonio Freeman in the second quarter. Desmond Howard, the first special teams MVP, scores on a 99-yard kickoff return to put away the Patriots.

2002 — Jennifer Capriati produces the greatest comeback in a Grand Slam final to overcome Martina Hingis and defend her Australian Open title. Capriati saved four match points before clinching a 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 victory over Hingis.

2007 — Mark Recchi scores two goals, including the 500th of his career, in Pittsburgh’s 4-3 shootout win over Dallas.

2008 — Mirai Nagasu becomes the second-youngest woman to win the title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. The 4-foot-11 14-year-old falls on her opening jump, a double axel, but lands six triple jumps, three in combination, in her program.

2013 — Victoria Azarenka wins her second consecutive Australian Open title, beating Li Na 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Mike and Bob Bryan become the most decorated doubles team in Grand Slam history by winning their 13th major title, beating Robin Haase and Igor Sijsling 6-3, 6-4 in 53 minutes.

2013 — Ashley Wagner became the first woman since Michelle Kwan in 2005 to win back-to-back titles in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

2013 — San Jose’s Patrick Marleau becomes the second player in NHL history to open a season with four straight multigoal games, striking twice on the power play in the first period of a 4-0 win over Colorado.

2014 — Stan Wawrinka holds off an injured Rafael Nadal to win his first Grand Slam title with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory in the Australian Open final.

2014 — DeMarco Murray catches a 20-yard pass for a touchdown and Mike Tolbert plunges into the end zone for a 2-point conversion with less than 1 minute to give Jerry Rice team a 22-21 win over Deion Sanders team in the first schoolyard-style Pro Bowl.

2020 - LA Lakers basketball legend Kobe Bryant dies in a helicopter crash in foggy conditions in the hills above Calabasas, southern California; considered one of the greatest players in the game’s history

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