Oct. 24
1943 — The Green Bay Packers grab nine interceptions, seven off Frank Sinkwich, in a 27-6 victory over the Detroit Lions.
1948 — Chicago’s Bill Blackburn returns two interceptions for touchdowns to highlight a 35-point third quarter as the Cardinals beat the Boston Yanks 49-27.
1959 — Wilt Chamberlain plays in his first NBA game with the Philadelphia Warriors. Chamberlain plays his entire career — 1,045 consecutive games — without a disqualification.
1965 — Fran Tarkenton of the Minnesota Vikings passes for 407 yards and three touchdowns in a thrilling 42-41 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
1976 — The New York Marathon is run through the streets of the five boroughs for the first time. Bill Rodgers wins the race in 2:10:10, beating Olympic gold and silver medalist Frank Shorter. Miki Gorman wins the women’s division in 2:39:11, the 70th-fastest time over all.
1992 — The Toronto Blue Jays take baseball’s championship outside the United States for the first time, beating the Atlanta Braves 4-3 in 11 innings in Game 6 of the World Series.
1998 — Ricky Williams of Texas becomes the leading scorer in NCAA Division I history with 428 career points, scoring two touchdowns in a 30-20 victory over Baylor.
2003 — Se Ri Pak becomes the first woman to make the two-round cut in a men’s golf tournament since Babe Zaharias in 1945. Pak shoots a 2-over 74 on the Korean tour for a 2-over 146 halfway through the $250,000 SBS Super Tournament. Pak finishes tied for 29th place.
2008 — Make it 9-for-9 for the unstoppable Zenyatta. The 4-year-old filly, ridden by Mike Smith, stays perfect in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at Santa Anita, roaring from last to first around the turn to win the race.
2010 — Washington cornerback DeAngelo Hall ties an NFL single-game record with four interceptions, including a 92-yard interception-return touchdown, in the Redskins’ 17-14 win at Chicago.
2012 — Pablo Sandoval becomes the fourth player to hit three home runs in a World Series game to lead the San Francisco Giants over the Detroit Tigers 8-3 in the series opener.
2013 — A majority-female officiating crew works a college football game in an apparent first. The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference bills it as the first time it’s happened in an NCAA game. Head linesman Yvonda Lewis, line judge Tangela Mitchell, field judge Sebrina Brunson and back judge Krystle Apellaniz are part of the seven-person crew for the Division II game between Miles and Lane. Miles wins 38-26.
2015 — Montreal beats the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 to extend their season-opening winning streak to nine games. The Candiens break the NHL record for most consecutive regulation wins to begin a season, set by Buffalo in 1975-76.
2015 — Lance Austin returns a blocked field goal 78 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the game, giving Georgia Tech a stunning 22-16 upset of No. 9 Florida State.
2021 — Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady becomes the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 600 touchdowns in a 38-3 win over the Chicago Bears.
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Oct. 25
1947 — In front of a capacity crowd of 35,000 at Columbia’s Baker Field in New York, the Lions end Army’s 32-game unbeaten streak in a 21-20 upset. An interception in Army’s final drive seals the win, the first over an Army team that had not surrendered a point all season until the loss to Columbia.
1964 — Cotton Davidson of the Oakland Raiders passes for 427 yards and five touchdowns in a 40-7 rout of the Denver Broncos.
1980 — Mike Weaver knocks out Gerrie Coetzee in the 13th round to retain the WBA heavyweight title in Sun City, Bophuthatswana.
1990 — Evander Holyfield knocks out Buster Douglas in Las Vegas to become the undisputed heavyweight champion.
1998 — Jerry Rice sets an NFL record for receptions in consecutive games with his 12-yard catch from Steve Young on San Francisco’s first offensive play. Rice has caught passes in 184 straight games, breaking the mark set by Art Monk from 1980-95.
1998 — Denver’s Jason Elam kicks a 63-yard field goal, tying Tom Dempsey’s 28-year-old NFL record. Elam’s kick, which came at the end of the first half, matches the record Dempsey set for the New Orleans Saints against Detroit on Nov. 8, 1970.
2003 — Trainer Richard Mandella wins a record four races at the Breeders’ Cup, capping perhaps the greatest day in racing history when Pleasantly Perfect wins the $4 million Classic at Santa Anita. Mandella wins the $1 million Juvenile Fillies with Halfbridled, the $1.5 million Juvenile with long-shot Action This Day and the $2 million Turf with Johar, who dead-heats with High Chaparral.
2003 — Florida’s Josh Beckett throws a shutout to lead the Marlins to a 2-0 victory over the New York Yankees to win the World Series. Pitching on three days rest, Beckett allows five hits in Game 6 and captures MVP honors.
2006 — Joe Sakic becomes the 11th player in NHL history to reach 1,500 career points with an assist during the first period of Colorado’s 5-3 loss to Washington.
2008 — Navy doesn’t attempt a pass in a 34-7 victory over Southern Methodist in a game played in a driving rain.
2008 — Raven’s Pass wins the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in an upset, stunning defending champion Curlin on the new synthetic surface at Santa Anita. Raven’s Pass, ridden by Frankie Dettori and sent off at 13-1 odds, posts a 1 3/4-length victory in his first race on such a surface.
2014 — Trevone Boykin throws a school-record seven touchdown passes and No. 10 TCU scored the most points in its history in an 82-27 rout of Texas Tech.
2015 — Kirk Cousins throws three second-half touchdown passes, including the go-ahead score with 24 seconds left, to lead the Washington Redskins to the largest comeback in franchise history, a 31-30 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa Bay was up 24-0 in the second quarter, before Cousins runs for an 8-yard TD to get Washington on the board.
2017 — Houston’s George Springer hits a two-run drive in the 11th inning and the Astros win a thrilling home run derby at Dodger Stadium, beating Los Angeles 7-6 to tie the World Series at one game apiece. The teams combined for a Series record eight homers.
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Oct. 26
1907 — Jim Thorpe makes his Carlisle (Pa.) debut dazzling a crowd of 22,800 in a 26-6 defeat of No. 4 Penn at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field. Thorpe rushes, returns kicks and does all the kicking in putting on a one-man show.
1951 — Joe Louis loses his last fight, an eighth-round TKO to Rocky Marciano at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Marciano knocks Louis down with a left hook in the eighth round. Louis gets to one knee at the count of three and takes an eight-count before getting up. Marciano ends the fight with a right that sends Louis through the ropes and onto the ring apron. Louis’ career record is 66-3 with 52 knockouts.
1968 — Brooks Dawson of Texas-El Paso completes 17 of 24 passes for 304 yards in the final 10:21 of the fourth quarter as the Miners beat Brigham Young 31-25.
1968 — Boxer George Foreman beats Ionas Chepulis of the Soviet Union for the gold medal in the heavyweight division at the Mexico Olympic Games.
1970 — Muhammad Ali returns to the ring after a 2 1/2-year layoff, due to his refusal to be drafted into the United States Army. Fighting in Atlanta, Ali opened a cut over Jerry Quarry’s left eye with a right hand in the third round, causing the fight to be stopped before the start of the fourth round.
1980 — The St. Louis Cardinals sack quarterback Baltimore quarterback Bert Jones 12 times in a 17-10 victory.
1982 — Philadelphia Phillies Steve Carlton became the first pitcher to win 4 Cy Young awards
1990 — Wayne Gretzky becomes the NHL first player to reach the 2,000-point plateau when he helps set up a goal by Tomas Sandstrom at 14:32 of the first period of the Los Angeles Kings’ game at Winnipeg.
2000 — The New York Yankees become the first team in more than a quarter-century to win three straight World Series championships, beating the New York Mets 4-2. The Yankees match the Oakland Athletics’ three in a row from 1972-74, and win their fourth title in five years.
2002 — Volponi, a 43-1 long shot, finds room along the rail and blows past the fading Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner War Emblem to take the Breeders’ Cup Classic by 6½ lengths ahead of Medaglia d’Oro.
2006 — Ryan Miller stops 29 shots as Buffalo beats the New York Islanders 3-0 to win its 10th straight game. The win matches the best start in NHL history, tying the 1993-94 Toronto Maple Leafs.
2012 — The NHL cancels all its games through the end of November because of the labor dispute between owners and players.
2013 — Octavias McKoy runs for 455 yards, setting an NCAA record for all-divisions, as Division III Western Connecticut State beats Worcester State 55-35. McKoy scores five touchdowns in the game and breaks the rushing record previously held by Dante Brown of Marietta College. Brown ran for 441 on Oct. 5, 1996 against Baldwin-Wallace.
2014 — Serena Williams wins the WTA Tour Finals for the third straight year and fifth time overall, beating Simona Halep 6-3, 6-0. Williams joins Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf as the only players to have won five titles in the season-ending championship.
2014 — Ben Roethlisberger is 40 for 49 for 522 yards and six touchdown passes in Pittsburgh’s 51-34 win over Indianapolis. Roethlisberger became the first player in NFL history with two 500-yard passing games — 503 yards vs. Green Bay on Dec. 20, 2009.
2014 — Abby Wambach scores four goals and the World Cup-bound United States beat Costa Rica 6-0 for its fifth CONCACAF Women’s Championship title.
2018 — The longest World Series game by both innings and time; LA Dodgers beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 in the 18th inning (7 hours, 20 minutes) in Game 3 at Dodger Stadium with a Max Muncy walk-off home run.
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