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November Classic Moments "Classic Moments," the biggest sports news event of the day in the 20th century, is archived daily in this area.
Nov. 1 As agile as a cat and as restless as a jumping jack, the All-American quarterback gains an unheard of 243 yards through the air, completing 14-of-17 passes against a confused Army team in Notre Dame's shocking 35-13 victory at West Point. The main target in the Irish aerial circus is end Knute Rockne, who catches the first of Dorais' two touchdown passes. Bill Roper, former coach at Princeton who is one of the game's officials, says he had always believed that such playing was possible under the rules, but that he had never seen the forward pass developed to such a state of perfection.
Pro football It's no home run, but neither is it a strikeout. The 1985 Heisman Trophy winner at Auburn has an ordinary debut, rushing eight times for 37 yards in the Raiders' last-second 26-23 loss to the New England Patriots in Foxboro, Mass.
A few weeks later, Eric Dickerson will say, "Bo is good, really a great back, but
I don't think he's of my caliber. I have better moves than Bo."
Nov. 2 A contract squabble between Carlton and St. Louis owner Gussie Busch led to the Cardinals trading Carlton for pitcher Rick Wise during spring training.
Carlton responded by leading the National League in victories, earned run average (1.97), starts (41), complete games (30), innings pitched (346 1/3) and strikeouts (310). In the 10 games Carlton lost, the Phillies scored 16 runs.
Nov. 3 The New York Yankees' 22-year-old centerfielder had previously been turned down for the military draft because of a history of osteomyelitis of the left leg. However, under a new ruling, men with osteomyelitis may now be accepted provided there have been no recurrences for two years.
After a slow start in 1952, Mantle finished third in the American League in batting at .311 and hit 23 homes. He had a better World Series this year than last, hitting .345 with two homers and five RBI in the Yankees' seven-game victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers. Mantle's solo homer broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning of the Yankees' 4-2 win in Game 7.
Nov. 4 The Chicago Bears' founder, who had a brief career with the New York Yankees as an outfielder, sets an NFL record which will last for 49 years when he returns a fumble 98 yards for a touchdown. It comes in the Chicago Bears' 26-0 victory over the Oorang Indians at Cubs Park in Chicago. The player who fumbled is none other than Jim Thorpe.
Besides playing end and owning the team, the 28-year-old Halas also coaches the Bears with Ed Sternaman.
Nov. 5 Hagen reduces his deficit to one hole with nine remaining and then takes the lead by winning the 12th and 14th holes. He maintains it the rest of the way to record a one-up victory.
Besides setting a record of four straight PGA titles, it also is Hagen's fifth overall PGA triumph. Nobody will better than mark, though Jack Nicklaus will tie it 53 years later.
Nov. 6 Chesbro's best pitch was a spitball, saying it was the "most effective ball that possibly could be used." The 5-foot-9 righthander said he could make the ball drop two or three inches or a foot and a half. Chesbro, nicknamed Happy Jack, had a 197-128 record in 11 seasons. His best season came in 1904, when he won 41 games with the New York Highlanders, now known as the Yankees. However, in going for his 42nd victory on the season's regularly scheduled final day with New York needing a sweep of Boston to take over first place, he threw a wild pitch with two outs in the ninth inning that allowed the winning run to score. This enabled the Red Sox to clinch the pennant.
That season Chesbro completed 48 games in 51 starts, both 20th-century records, and pitched 454 2/3 innings.
Nov. 7 Johnson 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 immune system. Johnson, 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."
College football Cannon outgains the 13th-ranked Vols, rushing for 122 yards while Tennessee has only 112 yards in total offense. But the Vols score their first touchdown on a 59-yard interception return to tie the game 7-7 in the third quarter and then take a 14-7 lead later in the period on a 14-yard run following an LSU fumble. Until those touchdowns, LSU has not allowed a point across its goal line in nine games. After the two-point conversion fails, LSU has one more scoring opportunity, but Cannon loses a fumble at the Tennessee 20.
Nov. 8 The righthanded slugger, who had won the National League MVP in 1961 with the Reds, had a Triple Crown season with the Orioles, batting .316 average with 49 homers and 122 runs batted in. His performance sparked Baltimore to its first pennant and a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. The 31-year-old outfielder leads a 1-2-3 Orioles sweep in the voting as Brooks Robinson finishes second and Boog Powell third. For the first time since the writers began voting in 1931, no Yankee finishes in the top 10.
Football "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 by Denver's Jason Elam, who will kick a 63-yard field goal in 1998.
Nov. 9 It is not the thrilling offensive spectacle that had been predicted despite the presence of four past and future Heisman Trophy winners (Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard for Army, Johnny Lujack and Leon Hart for Notre Dame). Neither the slick, fast Cadets nor the deeper Irish can cross the goal line as the game ends in a scoreless tie. It is the fourth straight time Army has failed to score against Notre Dame coach Frank Leahy, who is back after having served in the Navy the previous two years. While Army will retain the No. 1 ranking in next week's poll, Notre Dame will be ranked first when the season ends.
NFL It looks as if Montana's never been gone, as he connects with Jerry Rice for three touchdown passes, of 45, 40 and 44 yards. Given outstanding protection by his offensive line, Montana completes 13-of-19 passes for 270 yards in a 43-17 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals.
"We've gone to an awful lot of places with Joe," says right guard Randy Cross. "Armies fight hard for Lancelot; they fight even harder for King Arthur."
Nov. 10 Rockne does. But more than his speech, it is a substitution that turns the game in Notre Dame's favor before some 85,000 fans at Yankee Stadium. With the game tied 6-6 in the fourth quarter and the Irish facing a fourth down on Army's 32-yard line, Rockne inserts Johnny O'Brien into the game. O'Brien goes long and when Johnny Niemiec hurls the pass, O'Brien catches it and falls into the end zone to give Notre Dame a 12-6 lead.
But Army isn't through, and All-American Chris Cagle leads the Cadets to the Notre Dame one-yard line with time running out. But the Irish, perhaps bolstered by the spirit of Gipp, hold the line, preserving the 12-6 upset. From somewhere up high, it is presumed that the Gipper nods his head in approval.
Nov. 11 Billy Sims, the unbeaten Sooners' 6-foot, 205-pound running back, will win the Heisman Trophy later this year, but this is not one of his better games even though he rushes for 153 yards and scores touchdowns on runs of 44 and 30 yards. After Nebraska's Billy Todd kicks a tie-breaking 24-yard field goal with 11:51 left in the game, Sims, the nation's leading rusher, fumbles twice in Nebraska territory in the final 8 1/2 minutes. The second lost fumble is at the three-yard line with 3:27 remaining. Nebraska, which had scored both its touchdowns following Oklahoma fumbles, runs out the clock to preserve its 17-14 victory.
Hockey The Flyers continue their excellent play against the Oilers, halting their 15-game unbeaten streak with a 7-5 victory tonight at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Wayne Gretzky scores two goals for Edmonton, but it's a goal by Mark Howe that breaks a 4-4 tie and propels the Flyers to victory.
The Oilers will finally find a way to defeat the Flyers six months later, when they whip Philadelphia in five games in the Stanley Cup finals.
Nov. 12 In Chicago, Landis receives a seven-year contract to be the Supreme Court of baseball, with an annual salary of $42,500. Landis also will retain his district judgeship and its $7,500 salary. After getting his new job, Landis, who was named for Kenesaw Mountain, near Atlanta, where his father was wounded in the Civil War, meets alone with Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith, a personal friend. He points to the kids playing in the street. "Grif, we've got to keep baseball on a high standard for the sake of the youngsters," Landis says. "That's why I took the job, because I want to help."
College football Sanders gains 312 yards on 37 carries, enabling him to become the third player in NCAA history to crack 2,000 yards in a season. He will run for 625 yards in Oklahoma State's next two games, setting an NCAA record of 937 yards in three consecutive games.
The 5-foot-8, 195-pound junior will finish the season with 2,628 rushing yards and 39 touchdowns, both still-standing NCAA records. He also will win the Heisman Trophy in a landslide and then turn pro.
Nov. 13 Today's fight in Las Vegas is a war, with both fighters dishing out incredible punishment. In the 13th round, Mancini unleashes a 39-punch sequence, but Kim finishes the round. Early in the 14th, two thunderous right hands to Kim's head drop the challenger, who somehow gets off the canvas before the count of 10. Referee Richard Greene ends the fight anyway. Moments later, Kim collapses, and he's carried from the Caesars Palace ring on a stretcher. He undergoes 2 1/2 hours of surgery to relieve a blood clot in his brain. He will never regain consciousness and he will die five days later. "It was murderous," says Mancini's manager, Dave Wolf, immediately after the fight, unaware at the time that the comment would soon take on a macabre ring.
Basketball "This is the opportunity of the century, the first time in history," says Woodard, who had joined the Trotters during their tour through Australia. She was first turned on to Globetrotter magic by her cousin, Geese Ausbie, a Trotter star who left the team last spring. She was the captain of the U.S. women's team that won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles.
Woodard will play two years with the Globetrotters before leaving the team because she believed the organization hampered her freedom to pursue outside interests while touring with the team.
Nov. 14 The 25-year-old switch-hitting centerfielder is the first Yankee other than Babe Ruth to hit 50 homers in a season. He also led the AL with 132 runs and a .705 slugging percentage. Mantle's teammate Yogi Berra, a three-time MVP, finishes a distant second in voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
College football Eyewitnesses report the DC-9 struck the top of a hill, skidded down into a valley and exploded.
A memorial service commemorating the disaster will be held every year at Marshall.
Nov. 15 Three days later, Cox will announce he's stepping down as team president and that he plans on selling his share of the Phillies. Five days after this, Landis will bar Cox from baseball for life for making about 15 or 20 bets through a bookmaker of between $25 to $100 per game on the Phillies. Also on this day, Cox will announce the sale of his shares of the Phillies to Robert Carpenter Sr., chairman of the board of Du Pont, for $400,000, with the understanding that Robert Carpenter Jr., 28, will run the Phillies.
Pro basketball In becoming the only NBA forward to ever score more than at least 70 points, Baylor makes 28 field goals and 15 foul shots. He is an unpredictable as he is unstoppable. Scoring a good number of his points on orthodox drives and tap-ins, he also makes quite a few shots from angles that seem impossible.
Football
Nov. 16 But two days later, after reviewing films of the game at Dartmouth's urging, Friesell will admit he made a mistake and that Dartmouth should have taken over on downs after a fourth-down pass was incomplete. Though there are no rules compelling the outcome to be changed, in an unprecedented act of sportsmanship Cornell will relinquish all claims to the win. The game will go into the books as a 3-0 Dartmouth victory, ending Cornell's 18-game unbeaten streak.
Pro football The Tyler Rose will tack on another 200-yard game in the season-finale in December, becoming the only player to ever record four in one year. No other back would run for 200 yards -- not even once -- this season.
Campbell will finish as the AFC's leading rusher with an Oilers' record 1,934 yards, 474 yards more than the NFC's top rusher, Walter Payton.
Nov. 17 The Raiders score two touchdowns in nine seconds to register a 43-32 victory. Thousands of angry fans call NBC, complaining of the decision to abandon the game. The load of calls causes the NBC switchboard to break down. Many callers, unable to reach NBC, call the Police Department and tie up the emergency police number for several hours. "NBC made a mistake," a network spokesman says. "It regrets it deeply."
The game will forever be known as the "Heidi Bowl."
Pro football On a flea-flicker, the 36-year-old Theismann squirms away from linebacker Harry Carson, but the 243-pound Taylor, the Giants' most feared athlete, leaps and tackles the 198-pound quarterback from the rear. Theismann's right leg twists sideways beneath him as he goes down. "Joe screamed and we got off as fast as we could," says Giants noseguard Jim Burt, who was on top of the pile, after the Redskins' 23-21 victory.
Theismann is taken to Arlington Hospital, where doctors operate on a compound multiple fracture of the right leg. He will never play again.
Nov. 19 No. 1-ranked Notre Dame, behind second-string sophomore quarterback Coley O'Brien, rallies from a 10-point second-quarter deficit. It ties the game on Joe Azzaro's 28-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter. However, a missed 41-yard field goal by Azzaro keeps the game tied. With 1:24 left, Notre Dame gets the ball back on its own 30-yard line. The Irish has completed just 8-of-24 passes and coach Ara Parseghian refuses to test the Bubba Smith-led defense. He plays for the tie and lets the clock expire.
Though Notre Dame doesn't win the game, it will remain first in the
polls and will win the national championship.
Nov. 20 While Gifford lays unconscious on the Yankee Stadium field, Bednarik stands over him and brandishes his fist in an air of triumph. "There's this picture of me like I'm drooling over the guy and Frank is deader than a door nail," Bednarik says years later. The Hall of Famer is proud of the picture and will give away autographed copies, signing it with an expletive and the words "Hello Frank."
Gifford suffers a deep concussion and the Giants' leading runner from 1956-59 will retire from football in 1961. However, he will change his mind in 1962 and return to the Giants, playing wide receiver for the final three years of his career.
Nov. 21 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.
College football But the Trojans rally. Two touchdown runs by Gaius Shaver cut the deficit to 14-13 with four minutes remaining. After getting the ball back, USC completes two long passes for 73 yards -- its only two successes in 11 attempts. With a minute left, John Baker kicks a 33-yard field goal to give the Trojans a 16-14 victory and end Notre Dame's title aspirations before some 52,000 fans.
In losing for the first time in 27 games, the Irish complete only 1-of-10 passes for 25 yards.
Nov. 22 About the champ's second title defense, The Times' Robert Lipsyte writes: "Like a little boy pulling off the wings of a butterfly piecemeal, Cassius Clay mocked and humiliated and punished Floyd Patterson for almost 12 rounds tonight until the referee halted their heavyweight championship bout because the challenger was 'outclassed.' " The 23-year-old champ came into the fight angry with Patterson, who said he was going to snatch the heavyweight title from the unworthy head of this loud-mouthed Black Muslim. During his domination of the fight at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the champion screamed, "No contest, get me a contender." In the 12th round, with Patterson practically out on his feet, the white customers yelled, "Put him away, Clay," while the Black Muslims screamed, "Knock him out, Ali."
Pro football Winslow is on the receiving end of four touchdown passes from quarterback Dan Fouts and one from running back Chuck Muncie on an option play. Fouts, also a future Hall of Famer, finishes with six touchdown passes, one shy of the league record but still a San Diego mark. 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 about $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 said.
Nov. 23 Trailing 45-41 with six seconds left and the ball on Miami's 48-yard line, Flutie calls for "Flood Tip," Boston College's version of everybody go deep. The 5-foot-9 3/4 quarterback scrambles back and to his right, giving four receivers time to reach the end zone. From his own 37-yard line, he plants his left foot and lets it fly, 64 yards in the air. No tip is needed. The ball goes over two Miami defenders and settles poetically into the waiting arms of Flutie's roommate, Gerard Phelan, a yard deep in the end zone. The touchdown gives the Eagles an incredible 47-45 victory over the defending national champions in Miami's Orange Bowl. Earlier in the game, Flutie had become the first to ever pass for more than 10,000 yards in a major-college career. Until today, no two college quarterbacks had ever surpassed 300 yards apiece in one game. Flutie finishes with 472 yards, while Miami's Bernie Kosar throws for 447.
Pro football Tarkenton will be voted the league's MVP this season. He will finish his Hall of Fame career in 1978 with 3,686 completions, as well as having the records for attempts (6,467), yards (47,003) and touchdowns (342). The Miami Dolphins' Dan Marino will break all four of Tarkenton's records.
Nov. 24
Though Rozelle is criticized and later regrets the decision, he stands firm today, believing that Kennedy would have wanted it that way.
Nov. 25 His taunting gets under the skin of the fighter known for his "Fists of Stone." The worst humiliation comes in the seventh round when Leonard winds up his right hand, as if to throw a bolo punch, and then surprises the 72-1 Duran by slapping a left jab in his face. With 16 seconds left in the eighth round, Duran, whose professional life had been built upon the precepts of Latin American machismo, has enough. He tells the referee, "No mas, no mas." And the myth of Duran's invincibility is shattered.
After regaining his title, Leonard says, "To make a man quit, to make a Roberto Duran quit, was better than knocking him out."
Nov. 26 "I was scared to change my position in the pit in case the slightest vibration brought it down," says Richards, who emerges from the pit smiling for the first time during the competition. His hands are pointed to heaven in an attitude of prayer. When American teammate Bob Gutowski misses his next vault at 14-feet, 11½ inches, "Parson Bob" becomes the only pole vaulter to win two Olympic gold medals and three overall. Richards' 14-11½ leaps sets a then-Olympic record, breaking the mark of 14-11 he established in winning at Helsinki in 1952. "The Vaulting Vicar" had won a bronze medal at the 1948 Games in London. The wholesome Richards will receive even more fame as the first athlete featured on a Wheaties box.
Hockey 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 Chicago 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 to coach the team again in 1992.
"Winning the Cup was the one unfinished thing in Bob's life," said
Johnson's wife Martha.
Nov. 27 This time, Williams is beaten by one vote. Incredibly, one writer (Mel Webb) does not even list the Boston Red Sox left fielder on his 10-man ballot. Williams (.343, 32 homers and 114 RBI) receives only three of 24 first-place votes.
DiMaggio (.315, 20 homers and 97 RBI) receives eight first-place votes
after helping the Yankees win the pennant by 12 games over second-place
Detroit and 14 games over third-place Boston.
Nov. 28 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 (Cleveland's Dub Jones in 1951 and the Bears' Gale Sayers in 1965) will also score six TDs.
College football This is one order, though, that the third and fourth battalions do not heed. They ignore their assignment and join with the first and second battalions in whooping it up for their underdog team. And they have plenty to be wildly enthusiastic about, too, as Navy pulls off a stunning 14-0 upset before a crowd estimated at 15,000, instead of the usual 100,000-plus in recent years when the games were played in Philadelphia.
Basketball 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.
Nov. 29 The answer, unfortunately, is yes. Byrd suffers a broken neck and he is paralyzed from the waist down.
Byrd will undergo spinal surgery and then will begin a rehabilitation
program. Almost miraculously, Byrd will be walking with the help of two
canes by February 1993. On opening day of the next season, he will
return to the Meadowlands for the first time since his paralyzing
accident, walking unaided onto the field before the game.
Nov. 30 Before some 100,000 fans in Philadelphia's Municipal Stadium, including a hot-dog eating President Harry Truman, the Cadets regroup and their goal-line stand in the final 90 seconds preserves their 21-18 victory. Besides throwing a scare into Army's juggernaut, Navy's gritty performance also gives it one more parcel of satisfaction. It prevents the Cadets from winning their third consecutive national championship, as No. 2 Notre Dame, after crushing Southern California, will leapfrog Army in the polls. Davis will have to be content with concluding his career with the Heisman Trophy, after Blanchard had won it in 1945.
Pro football One of Jackson's 18 carries is a memorable 91-yard touchdown burst that carries him into a Kingdome tunnel. In the Raiders' media guide, when it highlights this game, it ignores Jackson's performance. It says, "Raiders become the first NFL team to win 250 league games since 1960" and "win raises Raiders' Monday Night Football record to league-best 25-5-1."
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