NOVEMBER S M T W T F S   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30         Other months: October September August July June May April March February January December November October September

November 1
Horce Racing:
1938: War Admiral, the 1937 Triple Crown winner, is the 1-4 favorite over Seabiscuit in their mile and three-sixteenths race for $15,000 in Baltimore. The following is famed sportswriter Grantland Rice's reporting: "A little horse with the heart of a lion and flying feet of a gazelle proved his place as the gamest thoroughbred that ever raced over an American track.

"In one of the greatest match races ever run in the ancient history of the turf, the valiant Seabiscuit not only conquered the great War Admiral but, beyond this, he ran the beaten son of Man o' War into the dirt and dust of Pimlico.

"Head and head around the last turn, Seabiscuit, ably ridden by George Woolf, beat War Admiral by a full three lengths down the last furlong with a dazzling burst of speed that not only cracked the heart of the Admiral but, in addition, broke the track record, set by Pompoon. Seabiscuit took a fifth of a second from the track record, which he now holds at 1:56 3-5."

The five-year-old 'Biscuit, a grandson of Man o' War, pays $6.40 to his backers in the crowd of 40,000.

NFL:
1959: What happens when one team has the best running back in NFL history and the other team has arguably the greatest quarterback?

Baltimore's Johnny Unitas gives a magnificent performance, throwing for four touchdowns and 397 yards. It's not enough.

Cleveland fullback Jim Brown runs for five touchdowns and 178 yards on 32 carries in leading the Browns to a 38-31 upset of the defending NFL champions in Baltimore. His first score is a 70-yard run in which he swivels through Baltimore's highly regarded defensive line and then flattens defensive back Ray Brown. His other touchdowns are from 17, three and two smashes from the one.

"I guess this is my most satisfying day," says the 228-pound bruiser who sports a tiny scratch at the side of his nose as a victory badge. "There's nothing like beating the champs. I do my best all the time, but I just may have been hitting with a little something extra out there today."

After the game, Colts coach Weeb Ewbank tells Brown, "We knew you were quite a runner, but you're even better than we thought."
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November 2
Baseball:
1938: Despite being bothered by an annoying sinus condition throughout the summer that would have had other players sitting out, Boston first baseman Jimmie Foxx had a tremendous season. After batting just .285 a year ago, his lowest average since entering the majors in 1925, Double X rebounded by leading the majors with a .349 average and a remarkable 175 runs batted in. His 50 home runs were second only to Hank Greenberg's 58.

Today, Foxx is rewarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America when he is named the Most Valuable Player of the American League. The 31-year-old Foxx receives 19 of 24 first-place votes in being the first player in either league to win the MVP award three times.

This is the first time the round-faced, popular Foxx is MVP with the Red Sox; he won the award in 1932 and 1933 with the Philadelphia Athletics.
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November 3
Baseball:
1967: Boston's Jim Lonborg goes from ordinary to outstanding, and today he is named the winner of the American League Cy Young Award.

The 6-foot-5 right-hander, who was 19-27 in his first two seasons, went 22-9 with a 3.16 ERA in his third year. His final victory, on the last day of the season, gave the Red Sox its first pennant in 21 years as they went from ninth to first. Lonborg led the league in strikeouts with 264, tied with Detroit's Earl Wilson for the most victories, and was second to Minnesota's Dean Chance in innings with 273.

The first Red Sox pitcher to win the Cy Young, Lonborg receives 18 of the 20 first-place votes.

"This is just one more amazing thing in an amazing season," says the former Stanford student. "I'm pleased, but not surprised."
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November 4
Baseball:
1955: Cy Young, who won - and lost - more games than any player in history, is sitting in his favorite rocking chair at home when he dies at 88. Young, the No. 1 citizen of Newcomerstown and vicinity in Ohio, hadn't been feeling well lately, and he just gradually began slipping.

Young pitched for 22 years in the majors and retired after the 1911 season with a record of 511-316. His 750 complete games (in 815 starts) and 7,356 innings also are records.

Primarily a fastball pitcher, he won more than 30 games five times and was a 20-game winner 15 times. In the first three years of the American League (1901-03), he went 93-30 with Boston. In 1903 he threw the first pitch of the first World Series. He pitched three no-hitters in his career, including a perfect game.

College Football:
1950: SMU was ranked No. 1 in the country, but the Mustangs turn out to be merely No. 2 in their own state. Texas, a seven-point underdog, pulls off a 23-20 upset before 65,498 fans in Austin in this Southwest Conference showdown.

While SMU gains 352 yards in the air, it is minus 68 yards on the ground. Kyle Rote, the Mustangs' All-American halfback, is minus three yards on his seven carries. Rote, though, does score SMU's first two touchdowns.

The difference in the game is an extra point. After a 26-yard touchdown pass from Ben Tompkins to Ben Procter in the third quarter, Tompkins' PAT gives Texas a 21-14 lead. SMU comes back on its next drive, with Ben White making a diving catch in the end zone of Flingin' Freddie Benners' long pass in the fourth period. But Billy Sullivan, who had made 20 consecutive conversions, is wide on this attempt.

The seventh-ranked Longhorns tack on a late safety for the game's final points.
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November 5
Boxing:
1994: In a whopper of an upset, a right hand thrown from two decades ago returns to George Foreman the heavyweight title he had lost 20 years and one week ago in a deflating defeat to Muhammad Ali.

At 45 years and 250 pounds, Foreman is 19 years older and 28 pounds heavier than Michael Moorer, the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation champion. For nine rounds in Las Vegas, it appears Foreman is more interested in returning to the kitchen table to devour another platter of cheeseburgers. Moorer, a southpaw, continually stings him with his right jab.

Foreman is losing on all three cards - two by five rounds - when he lands a hard right in the 10th. He follows up with a left jab and a crunching right that sends Moorer down for the count. "I didn't see the punch coming," says Moorer after his first loss in 36 fights. "It was the best punch George threw all night."

Foreman is 73-4, with 68 knockouts, and is the oldest champion in any weight class. "It's like the song, 'When you wish upon a star your dreams come true.' Well, look at me tonight."

Basketball:
1946: Before Chuck Connors made his mark as "The Rifleman" on television, he already played a starring role on the basketball court. Tonight, before the first home game of the Boston Celtics, Connors makes history: He is the first player to shatter a backboard in the NBA (though it was called the Basketball Association of American until 1949).

Connors, a 6-foot-6½ inch center from Seton Hall, doesn't break the glass with a resounding dunk. No, it happens when he takes a two-handed shot in pregame warmup in Boston Arena. The ball catches the front of the rim and the backboard crumbles because a worker hadn't installed a piece of protective rubber between the rim and the backboard.

The game against the Chicago Stags is delayed an hour while a truck is dispatched to pick up another glass backboard in Boston Garden, where Gene Autry's rodeo is playing to a packed house.

In 53 games with the Celtics, Connors will average 4.5 points and shoot 25.2 percent from the field. He will play one game for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949 and 66 for the Chicago Cubs in 1951 - hitting .238 - before going into show business.
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November 6
Boxing:
1993: Boxing has had many bizarre scenes in its history, but perhaps none has been as weird as what occurs during the heavyweight championship fight between Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield. In the seventh round, a 30-year-old prankster paraglider drops from the Las Vegas sky into the parking lot that Caesars Palace turns into a boxing stadium.

Referee Mills Lane stops the fight when James Miller's chute becomes entangled in the canopy ropes. "It kind of scared me a bit," Holyfield says. "I was thinking about the girl tennis player (Monica Seles) who got stabbed in the back and I didn't know what was going on."

Miller is taken to a hospital and treated for injuries before spending the night in jail on charges of dangerous flying. He will be released the next day on $200 bail.

After a 21-minute interruption, the fight continues. Holyfield goes on to win a 12-round majority decision to become only the third fighter to reclaim the heavyweight title.

"Once you lose a fight, people think you're a bum," says Holyfield, who was dethroned by Bowe a year ago. "I wanted to prove I wasn't a bum."

College football:
1976: With a 3-5 record and having lost to Michigan State by 32 points the previous week, Purdue is a four-touchdown underdog to top-ranked Michigan, which has outscored its opponents by 294 points in winning its first eight games.

But the Boilermakers pull off a shocker in West Lafayette, Ind. Tailback Scott Dierking runs for 162 yards and two touchdowns and Rock Supan redeems himself for having an extra point blocked by kicking a 23-yard field goal with a little more than four minutes left to give Purdue a 16-14 lead.

The victory is not assured, though, until Michigan's Bob Wood is wide left on a 37-yard field-goal attempt with nine seconds remaining. This is the Wolverines' first Big 10 loss to a team other than Ohio State in seven years.

After Purdue's upset, Dierking says, "I didn't know whether to cry or jump up and down. I cried."
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November 7
Baseball:
1963: New York Yankees catcher Elston Howard didn't have a monster season, though it was quite respectable - .287 with 28 home runs and 75 RBI in 135 games. But what the statistics don't reveal is that the 34-year-old Howard was the Yankees' glue as they won their fourth straight pennant.

He is rewarded for his effort by being voted the American League's MVP, the first African-American to receive the honor. He receives 15 of the 20 first-place votes to easily beat runner-up Al Kaline. It's the fourth consecutive season a Yankee gains the award. (Roger Maris won in 1960 and 1961, Mickey Mantle in 1962).

"There is no denying Ellie was the solid man of our club," says Ralph Houk, the Yankees manager during the season and now their general manager. "There simply would have been no replacing him had he got hurt.

"With both Mantle and Maris out for long stretches, it was Howard who kept us going with his hitting. And when our pitching started to wobble and we had to make changes, it was Ellie's skillful handling of the young pitchers - (Jim) Bouton and (Al) Downing - that again saved the day for us."

NFL:
1993: More than 4½ years after Tom Landry was fired by new Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, the hatchet is buried. And not in Jones' back, either.

At halftime of the Cowboys' 31-9 victory over the Giants, Landry is inducted into the team's Ring of Honor. Attending a Cowboys game for the first time since his firing in February 1989, he wears one of his trademark fedoras above his typically stoic face during the festivities.

Then he watches as his spot on the ring is unveiled to reveal a silver image of his hat, name and years of service on the blue strip that circles between levels of luxury boxes at Texas Stadium. The first seven inductees are all former players and are identified on the ring by their uniform number, not by headwear.

"That was really something to see," says the 69-year-old Landry, who compiled a 270-178-6 record in the Cowboys' first 29 seasons. "I got a feeling today in my stomach that I normally don't have. But it felt good to feel that way."

NBA:
1991: It's a sad day for basketball and Magic Johnson. The Los Angeles Lakers' versatile point guard, one of the most popular and outstanding players in the game, announces that he is retiring because he has been infected by the virus that causes AIDS.

Johnson, 32, says he learned only yesterday that he tested HIV positive and was advised that though he is healthy now, continued athletic involvement could harm his immunity system. Johnson, a three-time MVP whose uncanny passes and length-of-the-court drives were the focal point of the Lakers' Showtime offense, had led the team to five NBA championships in his 12 seasons.

At a press conference, Johnson says he wants young people "to understand that safe sex is the way to go. Sometimes we think, well, only gay people can get it - 'It's not going to happen to me.' And here I am saying that it can happen to anybody, even me, Magic Johnson."
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November 8
College Football:
1997: Top-ranked Nebraska ties Missouri on the final play of the fourth quarter thanks to a boot. But it's not a normal kick, like a field goal, that stuns the 29-point underdog Tigers in Columbia, Mo.

Trailing by seven points with seven seconds left and the ball on Missouri's 12-yard line, Nebraska quarterback Scott Frost throws into the end zone to wingback Shevin Wiggins. Nickel back Julian Jones closes in and all three - Wiggins, Jones and football - arrive at the same time.

As the ball heads towards the ground, the prone Wiggins keeps the play alive by kicking it. As the ball again tumbles towards the grass, wideout Matt Davison makes a diving reception for the touchdown. "It was just floating in the air like a punt, end over end," Davison says. "It just seemed like forever for the ball to get there."

The catch shocks Missouri fans, who storm the field and appear ready to tear down the goal posts before they realize what happened.

The extra point ties the game and Nebraska extends its unbeaten record to 9-0 when, in the first overtime, Frost scores his fourth touchdown to give the Cornhuskers a stunning 45-38 victory.

NFL:
1970: Tom Dempsey, the New Orleans Saints placekicker, doesn't consider himself handicapped despite being born with half a right foot and a stub for a right hand. Using that half foot, Dempsey kicks an NFL record 63-yard field goal on the game's final play to give the Saints a 19-17 victory over the Detroit Lions in New Orleans.

"I knew I could kick the ball that far, but whether or not I could kick it straight that far kept running through my mind," says the 6-1, 264-pound Dempsey.

Wearing a special kicking shoe approved by the league, Dempsey breaks the previous record of 56 yards set by Baltimore's Bert Rechichar in 1953. Dempsey, who had been 5-of-15 on field goals going into the game, connects on 4-of-5 against Detroit.

Dempsey's record will be tied in 1998 by Denver's Jason Elam.
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November 9
Boxing:
1996: Mike Tyson was supposed to be the baddest man on the planet. Not even a stunning loss to Buster Douglas six years earlier dimmed this perception.

But while other fighters saw fear when they entered the ring against the heavyweight champ, Evander Holyfield sees opportunity.

An 8-1 underdog (down from the opening line of 25-1), Holyfield shows more courage and skill as he dominates the fight in Las Vegas.

Holyfield knocks down Tyson in the sixth round with a left hook and knocks him woozy when the 10th ends. In the 11th, Holyfield comes out firing, and his barrage of punches leaves Tyson so defenseless that referee Mitch Halpern awards Holyfield the TKO 37 seconds into the round.

Two years since he retired after being told his heart was defective - doctors later said it wasn't - the 34-year-old Holyfield (33-3) has his career reborn in winning Tyson's World Boxing Association title.

Tyson's consolation is a purse of $30 million, $19 million more than Holyfield receives.
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November 10
Golf:
1957: By sinking a 10-foot putt for a birdie on the 72nd hole, Charley Sifford gets into a playoff at the $11,500, 54-hole Long Beach Open. When he birdies the third extra hole, Sifford becomes the first African-American to win a "big time" golf tournament. On a material level, the victory is worth $1,700 to the four-time National Negro Open champ - $1,200 for the victory and $500 for shooting the low round of the day, a 64.

Sifford shoots a 203 for the three rounds. On the first playoff hole, Sifford and his opponent, Eric Monti, miss birdie putts - Sifford from 12 feet, Monti from 10. On the second hole, Monti misses a two-foot putt that would have ended the match.

Sifford takes advantage on the next hole, a par-five, when he drains a birdie putt from six feet.

NHL:
1963: In his 18th season in the NHL, Gordie Howe already has more points (1,221) and more assists (676) than anyone in history. Tonight, he seeks to stand alone among goal scorers.

A month ago, Howe suffered a cut to an ankle and it has been affecting his performance. But the 35-year-old right wing doesn't look injured while killing a Detroit penalty in the second period against Montreal tonight.

Teammate Billy McNeill takes the puck inside the Red Wings' blue line and heads up ice, with Howe trailing and yelling at him to keep going. After getting inside Montreal's blue line, McNeill passes to Howe, who immediately fires. His black dart of a shot never gets more than an inch off the ice and whistles through the narrow gap between goalie Charley Hodge and the right post.

Mr. Hockey has his 545th goal, breaking his tie with Maurice "Rocket" Richard. The fans in Detroit's Olympia Stadium give their hero a 20-minute standing ovation. The goal itself leaves Howe, who had been feeling the pressure in his chase to pass The Rocket, feeling more relieved than elated.

"Now I can start enjoying life again," he says after Detroit's 3-0 win, looking at the mob of reporters and photographers who had been chronicling his every move.
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November 11
College Football:
1911: Powerful Harvard is so confident of victory against the Carlisle Indian School that it plays its second string for most of the game in Cambridge. But All-American Jim Thorpe spoils the Crimson's strategy.

Though Thorpe has a bad leg, he shows in pregame warmup that he's ready to play. Besides running and defending, he kicks four field goals to lead Carlisle to an 18-15 upset. Thorpe boots one field goal in each quarter - from 13, 43, 37 and 48 yards.

A touchdown (worth five points) and an extra point by Thorpe give Carlisle a 12-9 lead in the third quarter. Thorpe's final two field goals extend the advantage to 18-9 before the Harvard regulars, who entered the game in the fourth quarter, score when they block a Thorpe punt and return it for a touchdown.
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November 12
NFL:
1995: With a nine-yard toss to Irving Fryar, Dan Marino breaks Fran Tarkenton's record of 47,003 passing yards. The Dolphins quarterback finishes the day with 47,299 yards after completing 27-of-37 passes for 333 yards in a 34-17 loss to the New England Patriots in Miami.

"It's nice to know you're the only guy that has that many yards as a quarterback," Marino says. "It's a good feeling and I was glad to get it over with and to let the fans appreciate it. But the unfortunate thing is you want to win the games when you break a record."

Tarkenton gained his yardage in 18 years and on 6,487 attempts. The 34-year-old Marino is in his 13th season and he already has thrown 6,311 passes.

In the game, Marino also makes his first career reception - for a six-yard loss on fourth down after his pass is deflected by Chris Slade.
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November 13
Baseball:
1995: With his glasses, Greg Maddux may look like Clark Kent, but on the pitcher's mound he performs like Superman. Today, the Atlanta Braves' right-hander becomes the first to win four consecutive Cy Young awards and just the second (Sandy Koufax is the other) to be selected unanimously in back-to-back seasons by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

In going 19-2 in the strike-shortened season, the 29-year-old Maddux tied for the Major League lead in victories with Baltimore's Mike Mussina and became the first pitcher in history to post a .900 winning percentage (.905) with more than 20 decisions. He walked just 23 batters in 209 and two-thirds innings, an average of 0.99 walks per nine innings, best in the majors. In one 51-inning stretch, he didn't issue a walk. Maddux's ERAs of 1.63 this year and 1.56 last season enabled him to be the first pitcher since Walter Johnson (1918-19) to have an ERA of less than 1.80 in consecutive years. His 1.63 ERA is an amazing 2.58 better than the rest of the National League pitchers, who posted a 4.21 mark.

In his four Cy Young seasons - one with the Chicago Cubs and three with the Braves - Maddux had a 1.98 ERA.

NBA:
1977: In his 16th - and final - season, John Havlicek reaches No. 3 on the all-time scoring list. Used sparingly in the first half, the Boston Celtics star gets 14 points, including four in the final 76 seconds of overtime, in the Celtics' 127-119 victory over the Bucks in Milwaukee to boost his total to 25,193 and pass Jerry West by a point.

The only players with more points than the 37-year-old Havlicek are Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) and Oscar Robertson (26,710).

The 6-foot-5 Hondo will retire with 26,395 points - an average of 20.8 - in 1,270 games.

College Football:
1993: Even though Notre Dame is undefeated and playing at home, the second-ranked Irish are seven-point underdogs today. That's because the opposition is No. 1 Florida State.

In a game that looks like a rout at the half and ends up a thriller, Notre Dame holds on to post a 31-24 upset. The Irish's 17th consecutive victory is not secured until the pass from Charlie Ward, who will win the Heisman Trophy, to Warrick Dunn towards the left side of the end zone is knocked down by reserve cornerback Shawn Wooden as time expires.

Florida State, which had yielded only three touchdowns before today, allows that many in the first half as Notre Dame takes a 21-7 lead. Still trailing by 14 points with 2:30 left in the game, the Seminoles cut the margin to 31-24 on Ward's 20-yard touchdown pass to Kez McCorvey.

When Florida State regains possession, it moves to the Notre Dame 14 before Ward's 50th pass of the game is deflected by Wooden.

After Florida State's 16-game winning streak is snapped, McCorvey says, "They were tougher than we thought they would be."
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November 14
NFL:
1993: Not until the game ends does Don Shula smile. But once he does, with the Dolphins a 19-14 winner over the Eagles, the usually stoic Miami coach lights up Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia with his grin. Behind him, nine Miami fans hold up banners reading "D-O-N-3-2-5-Y-E-S!"

Midway through his 31st season, Shula takes over sole possession as the winningest coach in NFL history, breaking his tie with George Halas. Shula has a 325-153-6 record; Halas is 324-151-6.

Guard Keith Sims and tackle Richmond Webb lift their coach onto their shoulders. A gleeful Shula uncharacteristically jabs a boastful finger into the air - I'm No. 1.

"You know the last time I was carried off the field?" Shula says later. "It was 1972 when we went 17-0 to win the Super Bowl. It's been a long time since I've been up on anybody's shoulders."

Shula, who got most of his victories behind the quarterbacking of Johnny Unitas and Dan Marino, gets this one with third-stringer Doug Pederson at the helm in the second half. Pederson, playing because of injuries to Marino and Scott Mitchell, leads the Dolphins to two Pete Stoyanovich field goals as they rally from a 14-13 deficit. "Pretty strange, huh?" says Pederson.

1943: Two of football's greatest quarterbacks put on magnificent performances 250 miles apart.

At the Polo Grounds in New York, the Bears' Sid Luckman sets NFL records of seven touchdown passes and 433 yards through the air in leading Chicago to a 56-7 pasting of the Giants before 56,691 fans.

Luckman expects to be removed in the third quarter after his fifth touchdown pass, but the coaches keep him in when they realize he has a chance to break Sammy Baugh's record of six touchdowns set only two weeks ago. Luckman gets the mark by throwing for two TDs in the fourth quarter.

In completing 23-of-30 aerials, Luckman becomes the first NFL player to pass for more than 400 yards, beating Cecil Isbell's mark by exactly 100.

While Baugh loses his TD record, he has quite a day of his own before 35,540 chilled fans at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. The Redskins star becomes the only player to throw for four touchdown passes and make four interceptions in the same day.

Baugh is the first player to intercept four passes in a game.

He plays all but 95 seconds in the Redskins' 42-20 victory over the Detroit Lions. Besides completing 18-of-30 passes for 180 yards, he also specializes in quick kicking, with one traveling 81 yards.

Auto Racing:
1945: Tony Hulman Jr., who will become famous for coining the phrase, "Gentlemen, start your engines," buys the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from Captain Eddie Rickenbauer, a World War I flying ace and now the president of Eastern Airlines.

Hulman, a sportsman and financier from Terre Haute, Ind., pays $750,000. He will serve as chairman of the board.

The 44-year-old Hulman is president of Hulman & Co., a large wholesale grocery firm, and owner of the Clabber Girl Baking Corp., makers and distributors of Clabber Girl baking powder.

Hulman appoints Wilbur Shaw, three-time Indy 500 winner, president and general manager. Shaw says preparations will begin immediately to resume the Memorial Day race, suspended during World War II, next May 30.
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November 15
Baseball:
1967: The Year of the Yaz comes to its rightful conclusion when Carl Yastrzemski is named the American League's MVP. The only thing that is surprising after Yaz's Triple Crown season is that the vote isn't unanimous. One of the 20 voters among the baseball writers casts his first-place ballot for Minnesota utility player Cesar Tovar and puts Yaz second.

"I was disappointed the vote wasn't unanimous," says the 28-year-old Boston left-fielder.

Yaz batted .326, knocked in 121 runs and his 44 homers tied for the most in the majors with Minnesota slugger Harmon Killebrew, who finished a distant second in the MVP voting. Yaz also led the American League in slugging percentage (.622), total bases (360), hits (189) and runs (112).

In leading the Red Sox from ninth place in 1966 to first this year, Yaz was brilliant down the stretch. He got 10 hits in his final 13 at-bats, including 4-for-4 on the last game of the season when Boston clinched its first pennant in 21 years.
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November 16
College Football:
1957: Oklahomans are in a joyous mood, celebrating the state's 50th anniversary of statehood. They believe the joyride will continue after their treasured Sooners attempt to extend college football's longest winning streak by beating visiting Notre Dame, an 18-point underdog who lost by 28 points to Michigan State last week.

But the Fighting Irish, humiliated 40-0 by the Sooners last year, come prepared to crash the party in Norman, Okla. But while they outplay Oklahoma - and twice get inside Oklahoma's six-yard line the second quarter - the game is still scoreless in the fourth quarter.

Then Notre Dame quarterback Bob Williams moves his team 77 yards, down to the Oklahoma three. On fourth down, coach Terry Brennan decides against a field goal. Instead, right halfback Dick Lynch takes a pitchout and races around right end for a touchdown with 3:50 left.

Notre Dame's 7-0 victory ends the No. 2 Sooners' winning streak at 47 games (Oklahoma's last loss came in the first game of the 1953 season - to the Irish). It also is the first time the Sooners are shutout in 124 games.

After the defeat, Oklahoma tackle Doyle Jennings says, "It's just like death."

NBA:
1962: Last season, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points against the Knicks. Tonight, the Warriors center torches them for 73, a Madison Square Garden record.

In San Francisco's 127-111 victory, he makes 29-of-43 shots, including 14 fallaway jumpers from 20 feet or more, most of them banked in off the backboard. "What can anyone do when he hits like that from out there?" says Knicks coach Eddie Donovan. "He played a much, much better game tonight than in the one he scored 100 against us. Much better. I can't imagine that he ever played better at all."

Wilt says, "Yes, I'm doing more shooting from outside this year. I have to, because they're forcing me out more, individually and by double-teaming."

His scoring by quarters: 17-11-20-25. He scores 21 of the Warriors' last 25 points. Also impressive is that Wilt, after starting 1-for-5 from the foul line, makes his final 14 free throws.

The 73 points ties Wilt's (and the NBA's) third highest scoring game. David Thompson will tie Wilt for the No. 3 spot in 1978 when he scores 73.
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November 17
NFL:
1991: The joy of Erik Kramer's touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter that gives the Detroit Lions a 14-10 lead is tempered by the sight of guard Mike Utley laying on the ground in the Silverdome. Utley can't move.

Utley is blocking the Los Angeles Rams' David Rocker when Rocker leaps to deflect Kramer's pass and comes down on Utley's head and neck. Unable to move his legs, he is down on the field for several minutes, moving only his arms, before he's taken to a hospital.

"When they carried him off on that stretcher," says Lions center Kevin Glover after Detroit's 21-10 victory, "I saw him move his hand. He gave me the thumbs up sign, like he wanted us to win. Can you imagine thinking about the team at a moment like that?"

Utley has a spinal injury that paralyzes his legs and ends his football career. He will launch the "Thumbs Up" campaign, a foundation for spinal-cord research.
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November 18
Baseball:
1966: A retiring man retires. Sandy Koufax, who avoided the limelight except when he was on the mound, announces he's retiring at 30 because of the traumatic arthritis in his left elbow.

"I've had a few too many shots and taken a few too many pills," says the Los Angeles Dodger left-hander at a press conference in Beverly Hills. "I don't want to take the chance of completely disabling myself. It got to the point where I was told I could do permanent damage.

"I decided I had a lot of years left after baseball, and I want to live them with the full use of my body. I had to take a shot every game. That's more than I wanted to do. I had stomach aches from the pain pills. I'd be high half the time in games from the pills. I don't want that.

"The arthritis is going to get worse as I get older. I hope this will slow it down."

Koufax won three Cy Young Awards in the past four years and had a 111-34 record the last five seasons, winning the ERA title each year.

When a reporter asks Dodgers general manager Buzzie Bavasi how he is going to replace Koufax, he replies, "Here is a boy who has pitched four no-hitters, won 27 games last season with arthritis and is Jewish. Now, who can replace him?"

College Football:
1967: It is No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 4 USC battling for the national championship, Pac-8 title, Rose Bowl bid and Heisman Trophy, all on one Saturday. Simpson is already on his way to All-American status in his first season with Southern Cal. While he starts slowly against UCLA, gaining only 11 yards on his first 10 carries, he finishes with 177 yards and two touchdowns.

But only one run will be remembered by history. With a dash that is double his uniform number, No. 32 runs 64 yards and becomes an instant Trojan legend.

UCLA senior quarterback Gary Beban, who will win the Heisman this year, had just thrown his second touchdown pass of the game to give the Bruins a 20-14 lead with 11 minutes remaining before 90,772 fans at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Simpson, despite being hindered by a throbbing right foot inside a special sponge cover, is up to the challenge.

With the ball on USC's own 36, quarterback Toby Page calls an audible - 23-Blast. It looks like a five-yard gain as Simpson runs through the left side of his line. Then he veers to the left sideline and it appears as if he will gain 15 yards. But after receiving a good block, he cuts back to the middle of the field, and runs to daylight.

UCLA can't catch the 9.4 sprinter. Simpson's breath-taking touchdown lifts USC to a 21-20 triumph - and to an eventual national championship.
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November 19
NFL:
1978: All quarterback Joe Pisarcik has to do is take a knee and the New York Giants will have a 17-12 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Pisarcik knows it, his teammates in the huddle know it, the 70,318 fans at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., know it.

The only two people who apparently don't know it are Giants head coach John McVay and offensive coordinator Bob Gibson, who calls the play - a handoff to fullback Larry Csonka. There is a half-minute left and the Eagles have no timeouts left when Pisarcik takes the snap from center Jim Clack.

But Pisarcik doesn't handle it cleanly, and he doesn't have control as he turns to hand the ball to Csonka. It bounces on the AstroTurf and Eagles cornerback Herman Edwards plucks it out of the air, returning the fumble 26 yards for a touchdown with 20 seconds left. It gives the Eagles a stunning 19-17 victory.

"It'd make a good movie," Clack says. "We'd write a good book on how to lose."

The next day, Gibson will be fired. McVay will be canned after the season.
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November 20
NFL:
1977: Suffering the effects of a flu attack, Walter Payton stayed in bed Thursday and most of Friday. By today, the Bears running back is feeling well enough to play against Minnesota, though not 100 percent. By the time the game's over at Chicago's Soldier Field, it is the vaunted Vikings defense that is feeling sick as Payton tears through it to set an NFL rushing record.

He runs for 77 yards in the first quarter and has 144 on 26 carries, including a one-yard touchdown run, by halftime. Forty-eight more yards in the third quarter boost him to 192. He ties his and Gale Sayers' team record of 205 yards in the fourth quarter.

With less than five minutes left, Payton still is 64 yards from breaking O.J. Simpson's single-game record of 273. But then, on Payton's 38th carry, he breaks free for a 58-yard run to the Vikings' nine. A sweep gains him three yards and then, on fourth-and-goal at the six, he wipes out O.J.'s record by gaining four yards, bringing his total to 275 on 40 carries.

"The holes were there, and I just ran," Payton says after Chicago's 10-7 victory. "This was a day when everything went right."

College Football:
1993: A week ago, Notre Dame upset top-ranked Florida State. Today, it's the Fighting Irish who are stunned.

Glenn Foley's fourth touchdown pass gives the Eagles a 38-17 lead with 11:23 left in the game. But Notre Dame roars back with 22 points to take a 39-38 edge with 69 seconds remaining.

Now, it's Boston College's turn to rally. Foley, who thought the Irish rubbed it in last year during a 54-7 pasting, passes for 51 yards on four completions (in seven attempts) to move the Eagles to Notre Dame's 24, setting up a 41-yard field-goal attempt for David Gordon.

Gordon is a walk-on transfer student from the University of Vermont, where he played soccer. Earlier in the season, the son of the owner of the Hartford Whalers had missed a potential game-winning 40-yard field goal in a haunting 22-21 loss to Northwestern. Kicking at the north end of Notre Dame Stadium, which is overlooked by the famous 14-story mosaic of "Touchdown Jesus," Gordon drills a low kick on the game's final play.

When it goes between the uprights, Boston College has a 41-39 upset, its eighth straight victory. And in the process, he ends the Irish's 17-game winning streak and short reign as No. 1.

"Who are they laughing at now?" says BC tackle Pete Kendall, remembering last year's licking. "They're not laughing at us, baby."
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November 21
Baseball:
1934: Though Joe DiMaggio was slowed by a knee injury last season, the New York Yankees think enough of the centerfielder to acquire him from the San Francisco Seals for five players to be named later and cash, reportedly between $25,000 and $50,000.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound DiMaggio, who will be 20 in four days, set a Pacific Coast League record by hitting in 61 consecutive games as an 18-year-old in 1933. Last season, a wrenched knee limited him to 101 games, but he still drove in 69 runs and batted .341.

After remaining with the Seals in 1935, DiMaggio will silence those critics who questioned his knee by hitting .323 with 206 hits, 29 homers, 132 runs and 125 RBI as a rookie with the Yankees in 1936 and helping them win the first of four consecutive World Series.

NFL:
1982: During the players' 57-day strike, Joe Montana was a part-time sports announcer. In the first game since the strike ended, Montana shows he's more comfortable being a fulltime quarterback.

For the first time in his three seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, he passes for more than 400 yards. To counteract the St. Louis Cardinals' blitzes and pass rushes, 49ers coach Bill Walsh has Montana sprint out more than usual. The strategy works, as Montana completes 26-of-39 passes for 408 yards and three second-half touchdowns in a 31-20 victory in St. Louis.

"The sprint-out made it easier for both me and the offensive linemen," Montana says. "It gave me much more time to look for receivers and it helped the linemen because of instead of watching for tricky stunts and blitzes, they just sort of walled off the defenders and I sprinted behind the wall."

Montana gains more than a quarter of his yardage with 55-yard completions to Renaldo Nehemiah and Jeff Moore. His touchdown passes are six yards to Russ Francis, 33 to Dwight Clark and 17 to Earl Cooper.

Montana will pass for at least 400 yards six more times in his career.
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November 22
NBA:
1950: It's the big yawn. Fort Wayne Pistons coach Murray Mendenhall knows his team doesn't have the talent to compete with the Minneapolis Lakers, the defending NBA champions who have won their last 29 home games, and so he orders his team into a stall.

The Pistons lead 8-7 after the first quarter in Minneapolis, but trail 13-11 at the half. They continue to pass the ball around in the second half, while the Lakers sit back. Many in the crowd of 7,021 shout abuse at the Pistons and boo.

The Lakers lead 17-14 after three periods. Despite scoring only one point in the final quarter, they still have an 18-17 advantage late. But with six seconds left, rookie Larry Foust cuts to the basket, takes an in-bounds pass and lays it in over the outstretched arms of George Mikan to give Fort Wayne a 19-18 victory.

Mikan scores 15 of the Lakers' 18 points, and all four of their field goals (in 11 attempts). His teammates shoot 0-for-6 from the field.

After the lowest scoring game in NBA history, Lakers coach Johnny Kundla is boiling. "Play like that will kill professional basketball," he says.

It will not be until four years later, though, that the NBA will institute a 24-second clock.

NFL:
1925: The day after ending his career at Illinois, three-time All-American halfback Red Grange goes against the advice of both his father and his coach and turns professional.

C.C. Pyle, a Champaign theater owner and promoter, has negotiated an elaborate deal with Chicago Bears owner and coach George Halas. The contract will earn Grange more than $100,000. He will play his first game in four days, on Thanksgiving, against the Chicago Cardinals.

It will be the start of a hectic schedule that is part NFL, but mostly barnstorming. The Bears will play 19 games in 17 cities in 67 days; Grange will play in 17 games, missing two because of injury.

Grange's jump to play for pay brings credibility to the pro game and shocks the collegiate world. "I'd have been more popular with the colleges if I had joined Capone's mob in Chicago rather than the Bears," Grange will say.
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November 23
College Football:
1968: For the first time in 59 years, Harvard and Yale enter "The Game" unbeaten and untied. For the first 59 minutes, it appears only Yale, led by quarterback Brian Dowling and halfback Calvin Hill, will leave Cambridge that way.

Leading 29-13, Yale fans chant, "We're No. 1." But second-string Harvard quarterback Frank Champi plays like Frank Merriwell, Yale's fictional superstar. With 42 seconds left, Champi throws a 15-yard touchdown pass to Bruce Freeman, and a two-point conversion run by Gus Crim cuts the deficit to 29-21.

Harvard, which trailed 22-0 in the second quarter before Champi entered the game, recovers the onside kick and Champi continues to play like a champ. On the final regular play of the game, the 5-foot-11 junior scrambles away from three desperate Yale pursuers and throws to Vic Gatto in the end zone for an eight-yard TD pass. Champi, a chunky, moonfaced boy, completes Harvard's incredible comeback by backpedaling to the 15 before throwing a strike to Peter Varney for the game-tying two-point conversion.

Merriwell couldn't have done it any better.

"The Harvard Crimson," the school newspaper, will put the game in perspective with the headline: "Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29."
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November 24
NFL:
1963: Two days after President John F. Kennedy's shocking assassination in Dallas horrifies the nation, the games of the NFL are played as Americans mourn the tragedy of his passing. It is the decision of commissioner Pete Rozelle not to cancel or postpone the games.

Though Rozelle is criticized and later regrets the decision, he stands firm today, believing that Kennedy would have wanted it this way.
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November 25
College football:
1971: The Thanksgiving Day showdown between unbeaten, top-ranked Nebraska and unbeaten, second-ranked Oklahoma is no turkey. This is one "Game of the Century" that lives up to the hype.

Johnny Rodgers starts the fireworks with a scintillating 72-yard punt return to give Nebraska an early 7-0 lead. Twice, the Cornhuskers lead by 11 points, 14-3 in the second quarter and 28-17 in the third.

But each time, the Sooners come back against the nation's No. 1 defense. A 16-yard touchdown pass from Jack Mildren to Jon Harrison midway in the fourth quarter gives them a 31-28 lead. The Cornhuskers, though, are confident they can score again. "We wanted to use up as much of the clock as possible," quarterback Jerry Tagge says. "We didn't want them to have time to score again."

They use 5½ minutes to go 74 yards and the fourth short touchdown run of the game by Jerry Kinney (174 yards on 30 carries) - this one from two yards - enables Nebraska to regain the lead with 98 seconds left. When the defense, led by middle guard Rich Glover (22 tackles), stops Oklahoma's final possession, the Cornhuskers are Big Eight champions with their 35-31 victory. It is the 21st consecutive win and 30th game without a loss for coach Bob Devaney's juggernaut.

NBA:
1961: Bob Cousy is known as the "Houdini of the Hardwood" for his ball-handling skills. But the 6-foot-1 Boston Celtics guard can also shoot.

Early in tonight's 116-96 victory over the New York Knicks in Boston, the Cooz becomes the second player to reach 15,000 points when he hits one of his patented long one-handed push shots. The first player to get to 15,000 was Dolph Schayes of the Syracuse Nationals.

In his 12th season in the league, Cousy has been a consistent scorer. After averaging 15.6 points a game as a rookie, he has averaged between 18 and 21.7 the next 10 years.
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November 26
Baseball:
1975: Fred Lynn found it much easier in the majors than in his two seasons in the minors, where he hit .259 and .282. As Boston's rookie center fielder, Lynn batted .331 (second to Rod Carew's .359) with 21 home runs and 105 RBI. He also led the American League with 103 runs scored, 47 doubles and a .556 slugging percentage in helping the Red Sox win the pennant.

"In a way, it's easier to hit in the majors because the pitchers throw the ball over the plate," he says.

Three weeks ago, the 23-year-old was a near-unanimous choice (23½ of 24 first-place votes) as the American League's Rookie of the Year. Today, he's a runaway winner of the league's Most Valuable Player award, receiving 22 first-place votes (Oakland Athletics reliever Rollie Fingers received the other two).

Lynn is the first player to ever win both awards in the same season.

NHL:
1991: Six months after coaching the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup, Bob Johnson dies at 60 of brain cancer at his home in Colorado Springs, where he had been confined since undergoing an operation in August to remove a tumor.

Johnson was the first American to coach a Stanley Cup champion since World War II, and only the second to ever accomplish the feat (Bill Stewart did it with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1938). Before moving to the NHL, "Badger Bob" led Wisconsin to three NCAA championships. An optimist who lived for the game, he also coached the U.S. Olympic team in 1976 and was selected to coach the team again in 1992.

"Winning the Cup was the one unfinished thing in Bob's life," said Johnson's wife, Martha.
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November 27
Track and field:
1956: The winner of the Olympic 100-meter race three days ago, Bobby Morrow solidifies his status as the world's fastest human by sprinting to the 200 title before a howling throng of 110,000 in Melbourne, Australia. He is the first man to win both sprints since Jesse Owens in 1936.

Morrow is timed in an Olympic record 20.6 seconds for the half-lap race, run around a curve. The Texas flash slices a tenth of a second off the mark set by Owens and tied by Andy Stanfield in 1952. Morrow's time is all the more remarkable because he ran against a stiff wind.

From the time he was six, Morrow could run faster than anyone he knew. "There's no accounting for it," Morrow says about his speed in a rather hesitant and apologetic way. "I just could. Speed is a God-given thing. A sprinter must have it to start with."

College Football:
1926: Not only is Notre Dame unbeaten in its eight games this season, it has allowed just one touchdown. Coach Knute Rockne is so confident of victory against Carnegie Tech that he doesn't even attend today's game in Pittsburgh.

But Carnegie spoils Notre Dame's bid for a national championship with an inspired performance. A 5-1 underdog, the local team outplays the highly-touted visitors both offensively and defensively in a stunning 19-0 upset before 45,000 fans at Forbes Field.

After a scoreless first quarter, Carnegie gets two touchdowns in the second period to take a 13-0 halftime lead and tacks on two field goals in the third quarter. Defensively, Carnegie holds Notre Dame to only six first downs and just five completions in 15 attempts for 58 yards.

And where's Rockne? In Chicago, attending the Army-Navy game, along with 110,000 others.
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November 28
College Football:
1964: It looks as if Notre Dame is on its way to its first national championship in 15 years after the vaunted passing combination of Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte to Jack Snow leads the unbeaten and top-ranked Irish to a 17-0 halftime lead over USC. Irish eyes are smilin' as someone writes on the blackboard in the locker room, "Just 30 Minutes More."

Twenty-eight and the Irish would have been champs.

In front of 83,840 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the 12-point underdog Trojans rally in the second half behind quarterback Craig Fertig, but still trail by four late when they face a fourth-and-eight at the Notre Dame 15. On the sideline, wide receiver Rod Sherman tells coach John McKay he can get open. McKay tells him to call the play.

It's 84-Z delay. Sherman grabs Fertig's pass at the three and scampers into the end zone with 1:33 left to give thrice-beaten USC the 20-17 upset.

A loser for the first time in 10 games this season, Irish eyes are cryin'.

NFL:
1929: The final score is Chicago Bears 6, Ernie Nevers 40. That's right. The 26-year-old Nevers, who had been coaxed out of retirement before the season, gives one of the great performances in NFL history. The 205-pound fullback rushes for six touchdowns and kicks four extra points in leading the Chicago Cardinals to a Thanksgiving Day victory before a crowd estimated at 7,000 at Comiskey Park.

Nevers' 40 points is the NFL's oldest standing record. He is the only NFL player to ever run for six touchdowns in a game, though two others (the Cleveland Browns' Dub Jones in 1951 and the Bears' Gale Sayers in 1965) also will score six touchdowns.

Basketball:
1939: James Naismith, the "Father of Basketball," dies at 78 of a heart ailment following a cerebral hemorrhage in Lawrence, Kan. His death comes three years after basketball became an official Olympic sport and 20 years before he will become the first individual inducted into the Hall of Fame that will bear his name.

As a gym teacher at the Springfield (Mass.) Men's Christian Association Training School in 1891, the Canadian-born Naismith invented basketball when he set out to develop a new indoor game. The result was a game with a large ball and two suspended peach baskets, 10 feet above the court, because that was the height of a balcony at each end of the gym to which the baskets were attached. Naismith envisioned the game as one for the masses, and the first encounter had nine on a side.

In 1898, he joined the faculty at Kansas and also became its first basketball coach. He is the only Kansas coach to post a losing record, 55-60 in nine seasons. He became the director of physical education and continued to teach until 1937.
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November 29
College Basketball:
1975: The first game of the post-John Wooden era is a flop. But then again, UCLA isn't playing a cupcake; it's facing an Indiana team that is ranked No. 1 in preseason polls. The Hoosiers lost just once last season, but it was enough to cost them the NCAA championship, which UCLA won in Wooden's farewell.

With Bobby Knight's team playing suffocating defense and Scott May scoring 33 points, Indiana ruins Gene Bartow's debut by romping to an 84-64 victory over the No. 2 Bruins. Cheers of "We're No. 1!" rock St. Louis Arena, and Bartow agrees.

"Indiana proved they deserve their No. 1 ranking," he says. "They've got four guys out there who will be first-round draft choices, and they're coached superbly."

"It was a lot more satisfying than beating Tennessee Tech," says one of those four guys, center Kent Benson, who scores 17 points and grabs 14 rebounds.

The Hoosiers will get even more satisfaction when they go undefeated and win the NCAA championship. They will be the last team to accomplish that feat in the 20th century.

NFL:
1992: When Jerry Rice joined the 49ers in 1985, some thought the youngster from Mississippi Valley State would never make it. Where are those critics now?

We know where Rice is - standing on center stage. Today, he catches his 100th touchdown pass, tying him for the all-time record with Steve Largent. He breaks free and catches a 22-yard pass from Steve Young in the first quarter of San Francisco's 20-14 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

-"You think, 'How could you see Jerry Rice and not cover him?' " says former 49er star wide receiver Dwight Clark. "In the first few years, I could understand it, when he was establishing his credentials, but now? There's something magical - and that probably sounds corny - about the way he can get himself open."

Rice is playing in his eighth season. It took Largent 14 years to get his 100.
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November 30
Boxing:
1956: They sent out a boy to do a man's job - and he does it.

At 21, Floyd Patterson becomes the youngest man to win the heavyweight title when he knocks out light-heavyweight champ Archie Moore, who is twice his age, in the fifth round in Chicago Stadium.

"The turning point came in the third round," Patterson says after taking the title that was vacated when Rocky Marciano retired in April. "I landed a left to Moore's stomach, and I head him say, 'ugh,' or something like that. I knew then that I could hurt him, and I knew I could beat him."

In the fifth round, Patterson, the 1952 Olympic middleweight champ, sends Moore to the canvas with a powerful left hook. Moore is dazed when he rises at the count of nine, and Patterson puts him away with a hard right.

After supplanting Joe Louis as the youngest heavyweight champ, Patterson flies back to New York to be with his wife Sandra, who only hours before the bout had given birth to a daughter.

NBA:
1990: Larry Bird joins an exclusive club when he becomes the fifth player in NBA history to reach 20,000 points with 5,000 assists. The others are Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, John Havlicek and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Not a bad starting five.

In Boston's 123-95 rout of the Washington Bullets, Bird reaches 20,000 when he hits a foul-line jumper in the third quarter.

Flashbulbs sparkle behind the east basket support in Boston Garden. There is a loud and long ovation, and the Celtics forward is presented with the basketball. He motions as if is going to throw the ball into the crowd. Then he smiles. His reverent fans love it.

"It isn't really that big a deal," Bird says of becoming the 15th player to score 20,000 points. "You want to get it out of the way and go on with it. Hey, if they paid us by the point, I'd have 50,000 by now."
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