Today in Sports – Former WHBC Muhammad Ali’s 61st and last fight; loses to Trevor Berbick

Dec. 11

1938 — New York Giants beats the Green Bay Packers 23-17 to win the NFL championship.

1946 — The Chicago Stags and Cleveland Rebels play an experimental game featuring 15-minute quarters, instead of the usual 12-minute quarters. The Stags beat the Rebels 88-70.

1949 — Johnny Lujack of the Chicago Bears passes for 468 yards and six touchdowns in a 52-21 rout of the Chicago Cardinals.

1951 — Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement from baseball.

1959 — Richie Guerin scores 57 points, at the time the most ever by a Knick, as New York defeats Syracuse 152-121. His team record was broken by Bernard King 25 years later.

1971 — The Los Angeles Lakers set an NBA record with 21 straight wins by beating the Atlanta Hawks 104-95, breaking the record of 20 set by the Milwaukee Bucks the previous year.

1972 — Joe Namath of the New York Jets passes for 403 yards and Don Maynard sets an NFL record for career receptions in a 24-16 loss to the Oakland Raiders. Maynard, with seven catches, breaks Raymond Berry’s record of 631 by one catch.

1977 — Philadelphia’s Tom Bladon scores four goals and collects four assists to set a record for defensemen with eight points in the Flyers’ 11-1 victory over the Cleveland Barons.

1981 — Former world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali’s 61st and last fight; loses to Trevor Berbick by unanimous decision in 10 rounds at Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre, Nassau, Bahamas.

1982 — Dan Fouts the San Diego Chargers passes for 444 yards and five touchdowns in a 41-37 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. San Francisco’s Joe Montana passes for 356 yards to set an NFL record with five consecutive games of 300 yards or more passing.

1983 — John Henry becomes the first racehorse to surpass $4 million in career earnings when he wins the Hollywood Turf Cup with jockey Chris McCarron at Hollywood Park.

1985 — Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers registers seven assists in a 12-9 victory over the Chicago Black Hawks. The teams tie the NHL record for most total goals in a game.

1992 — Gary Bettman, the NBA’s senior vice president and general counsel, is named the NHL’s first commissioner.

1999 — Rowan ends Mount Union’s NCAA-record 54-game winning streak, beating the Purple Raiders 24-17 in overtime in a Division III semifinal game.

2002 — Danielle Dube becomes the third female goalie to start in a men’s professional hockey game, stopping 18 shots in the Long Beach Ice Dogs’ 4-1 loss to San Diego in the West Coast Hockey League.

2002 — Colorado’s Joe Sakic scores his 500th career goal in a 3-1 loss at Vancouver. Sakic is the 31st player in NHL history to reach the milestone.

2006 — Jerry Sloan becomes the fifth coach in NBA history to win 1,000 games after Utah defeats Dallas 101-79.

2009 — Tiger Woods announces an indefinite leave from professional golf to focus on his marriage.

2010 — Carl Hagelin scores two goals in the Michigan’s 5-0 victory over Michigan State at Michigan Stadium. The announced attendance of 113,411 crowd sets a world attendance record for a hockey game.

2015 — The Golden State Warriors need two overtimes to remain perfect on a very imperfect night and improved to 24-0 this season by outlasting the Boston Celtics 124-119.

2021 – 87th Heisman Trophy Award: Bryce Young, Alabama (QB)

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