Dec. 26
1908 — Jack Johnson becomes the first black man to win the world heavyweight boxing title, with a 14th-round knockout of Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.
1917 — Toronto’s Harry Cameron becomes the first defenseman to score four goals in a game as the Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens 7-5.
1943 — Sid Luckman throws five touchdown passes to lead the Chicago Bears to a 41-21 victory over the Washington Redskins for the NFL championship.
1946 — The United States wins the Davis Cup with a 5-0 sweep of Australia, the worst defeat for a defending champion.
1954 — Otto Graham scores three touchdowns and passes for three more to lead the Cleveland Browns to a 56-10 rout of the Detroit Lions for the NFL title.
1955 — The Cleveland Browns intercept six passes, one of which is returned 65 yards for a touchdown by Don Paul, in a 38-14 victory over the Los Angeles Rams for the NFL championship.
1960 — The Philadelphia Eagles come from behind twice on a 35-yard pass to Tommy McDonald from Norm Van Brocklin and a 5-yard run by Ted Dean to beat the Green Bay Packers 17-13 for the NFL title.
1964 — Wray Carlton and Jack Kemp each score touchdowns and Pete Gogolak kicks two field goals to give the Buffalo Bills a 20-7 victory over the San Diego Chargers in the AFL championship.
1965 — The Buffalo Bills win their second straight AFL championship with a 27-0 victory over the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers are able to get inside Buffalo’s 25-yard line only once.
1986 — Center Doug Jarvis of the Hartford Whalers plays his 915th consecutive game, setting an NHL record.
1992 – The NHL’s San Jose Sharks end a 13-game losing streak with a 7-2 win over the LA Kings, albeit allowing 59 shots, the most in team history; Jeff Hacket makes 57 saves
1999 — Mike Vanderjagt’s 21-yard field goal with four seconds left gives the Indianapolis Colts a 29-28 win over the Cleveland Browns. Indianapolis, which went 3-13 in 1998, makes NFL history by winning 10 more games than they did the previous season.
2001 — Colorado’s Patrick Roy becomes the first NHL goalie to win 500 games as he records his seventh shutout of the season, a 2-0 win over Dallas.
2004 — Peyton Manning breaks Dan Marino’s single-season touchdown pass record when he throws his 48th and 49th of the season, rallying Indianapolis from a 31-16 fourth-quarter deficit to win 34-31 in overtime over San Diego.
2007 — Chris Summers kicks a 40-yard field goal as time expired in the Motor City Bowl, lifting Purdue to a 51-48 win over Central Michigan. The 99 points ties the second-highest total in a bowl game that ended in regulation, trailing only the 2003 Insight Bowl, where California beat Virginia Tech 52-49.
2011 — Drew Brees sets the NFL record for yards passing in a season, breaking a mark that Dan Marino had held since 1984, and the New Orleans Saints clinch the NFC South title with a 45-16 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night. Brees throws for 307 yards and four touchdown passes, the last a 9-yard strike to Darren Sproles that set the record with 2:51 to go. It was Brees’ final pass of the game and it gave him 5,087 yards passing, to break the record by three yards.
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