Sports and Valentine’s Day have a long history together
Although February may not be the best time of year for sports, Valentine’s Day has provided us memorable sporting events through the years. Let’s take a walk back through history
1936: Norwegian speed skater Ivar Ballangrud sets Olympic record 17:24.3 to win the 10,000m at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Games in Germany. Ballangrud won seven Olympic medals in his life, four of them gold.
1952: Sugar Ray Robinson defeated Jake LoMotta to win the middleweights title. The fight would be dubbed the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.” In his career, Robinson became a world champion a whopping six different times. His first time as a champion was in the Welterweight class, while his next five championships were in the middleweight division.
1952: The VI Winter Olympic Games opened at Oslo, Norway. The host nation, Norway won the game as they finished with 16 total medals, including seven gold medals. The United States finished in second with 11 total medals and four gold medals, while Finland finished in third place with nine total medals and three gold medals.
1966:Wilt Chamberlain broke the NBA career scoring record with 20,884 points. Chamberlain was a monster throughout his career and was not even 30 years old when he broke the scoring. Although Chamberlain has been passed in overall points, his individual scoring efforts in single games and seasons are still standing today.
1973: Muhammed Ali beat British heavyweight boxing champion Joe Bugner by unanimous decision in 12 rounds at Las Vegas Convention Centre. This was the first of two meetings between Ali and Bugner. Ali was also the victor in the rematch.
1995: The Portland Trail Blazers traded Clyde Drexler to the Houston Rockets for Otis Thorpe, Marcelo Nicola and a first-round draft pick. This was a huge trade for the Rockets as it helped propel them to win the NBA title that year. Who knows, without this trade maybe the New York Knicks get a championship or two.
2010: Alexandre Bilodeau won the gold medal in the freestyle skiing men’s mogul event. The win made Bilodeau the first Canadian to win a gold medal during a Canadian-hosted Olympics.
2019: Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook had a triple-double (44 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists) in an NBA record of 11 consecutive games. That 2018-19 season became the second straight year in which Westbrook averaged a triple-double.