1948: The debut of West Indies’ finest captain. It took Frank Worrell 13 years and 37 Tests to get to the summit and, in the meantime, he contented himself with being a top-class batsman. He started against England in Trinidad, with 125 runs for once out, but there was no debut century: Worrell was agonisingly caught behind for 97 in the first innings, and made 28 not out in the second. He soon made up for it, though, with 131 in the next Test. In fact, after two Tests his average was 256, and after seven it was 104. His average never dropped below 50 … until his last Test series, when a poor run (68 runs in seven innings) finally caught up with him and left him stranded on 49.48.
1964: Wilt Chamberlain of the San Francisco Warriors scored 59 points in a 128-118 win over the Detroit Pistons.
1966: SF Giant Willie Mays signs highest contract, $130,000 per year.
1970: The Hawks set the record for most points in the 2nd half with 97, in a 155-131 win over the Rockets.
1982: Moses Malone sets a record for most offensive rebounds in a game with 21, in a win over the SuperSonics.
1990: In a huge upset, James “Buster” Douglas KOs Mike Tyson in 10th round in Tokyo, Japan to win the world heavyweight boxing title
2003: First the bookies, then the nurses… and finally the drugs. On the very morning that Australia launched their successful defence of the World Cup, Shane Warne was flying back home in disgrace, after completing a very unsavoury hat-trick of scandals. Warne, who had made a stunningly rapid recovery from a dislocated shoulder, had tested positive for diuretics, agents that promote rapid weight loss but can also be used to disguise the use of steroids. He protested that he had taken the tablets on the advice of his mother, who wanted him to look good in front of the cameras. That excuse didn’t wash with the Australian board, however, which banned him from all cricket for a year.