Today Events in Sports History: November 11th, What Happened On This Day in Sports, Facts, Highlights

Today in Sports, November 12 - Don Shula becomes first NFL coach to win 100 regular-season games in 10 seasons

1892 — William “Pudge” Heffelfinger becomes the first pro football player by getting $500 to play for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Heffelfinger doesn’t disappoint his bosses, returning a fumble for a touchdown to give Allegheny a 4-0 victory.

1911 — Carlisle Indian School of Carlisle, Pa., led by Jim Thorpe, beats nationally ranked Harvard 18-15 before 25,000 in Cambridge, Mass. Thorpe scores all the points for Carlisle, a touchdown, extra point and four field goals.

1920 — Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis is hired as baseball’s first commissioner.

1931 — Maple Leaf Gardens opens in Toronto, with the Chicago Black Hawks winning 2-1 before 13,233 fans.

1939 — Texas Tech and Centenary (La.) play to a 0-0 tie in a torrential downpour in Shreveport, La. There are an NCAA-record 77 punts in the game (39 by Tech and 38 by Centenary).

1944 — The New York Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 to end their NHL record of 25 straight games without a win (0-21-4) over two seasons.

1967 — Travis Williams of Green Bay returns two kickoffs for touchdowns against Cleveland, and the Packers beat the Browns 55-7. The Packers score 45 points in the first half, 35 in the opening quarter.

1972 — Richard Petty wins a record fourth NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National championship after finishing third in the Texas 500.

1972 — Don Shula becomes the first NFL coach to win 100 regular-season games in 10 seasons when the Miami Dolphins beat the New England Patriots 52-0.

1978 — Eddie Lee Ivery rushes for 356 yards to lead Georgia Tech to a 42-21 victory over Air Force.

1981 — The Minnesota North Stars score eight goals in the second period of a 15-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.

1981 — LA Dodgers starter Fernando Valenzuela becomes first MLB rookie to win a Cy Young Award; Milwaukee Brewers’ Rollie Fingers takes AL Award.

1994 — Prairie View loses 52-7 to Jackson State, breaking an NCAA Division I-AA record with 45 straight losses. Columbia lost 44 straight from 1983-88.

1995 — Miami’s Dan Marino breaks Fran Tarkenton’s NFL career record of 47,003 yards passing with a 9-yard pass to Irving Fryar during the Dolphins’ 34-17 loss to the New England Patriots.

2001 — In his sixth career start, Shaun Alexander has 266 yards rushing on 35 carries and an 88-yard touchdown run as Seattle beats AFC West-leading Oakland 34-27.

2002 — The Oakland Raiders, behind record-setting performances, beat the Denver Broncos 34-10. Rich Gannon completes 21 straight passes and Jerry Rice becomes the first player to score 200 career touchdowns.

2004 — Earl Boykins, at 5-foot-5, becomes the smallest player in NBA history to reach 30 points, scoring a career-high 32 in Denver’s 117-109 victory over Detroit.

2006 — Indianapolis edges Buffalo 17-16 to become the first team to have consecutive 9-0 records.

2007 — Top-ranked Roger Federer loses consecutive matches for the first time in 4 1/2 years, falling to No. 7 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 at the Masters Cup.

2007 — Brett Favre joins Dan Marino as the only quarterbacks to throw for 60,000 yards in a career during the second quarter of Green Bay’s 34-0 win over Minnesota.

2010 — Minnesota’s Kevin Love grabs a franchise-record 31 rebounds and scores 31 points, the NBA’s first 30-30 game in 28 years. Love grabs 15 rebounds in the third quarter alone, and the Timberwolves rally from a 21-point, third-quarter deficit to stun the New York Knicks 112-103. Moses Malone was the last player to have a 30-30 game — 32 points, 38 rebounds for Houston against Seattle in 1982.

2012 — Antron Brown becomes the first black champion in any NHRA pro series when he wins the Top Fuel title at the season-ending event.

2012 — Atlanta’s Tony Gonzalez catches the 100th TD pass of his career, a 2-yarder from Matt Ryan in the Falcons 31-27 loss at New Orleans. He adds another score on a 6-yard pass and becomes the first tight end with 100 TD receptions.

2013 — Keith Dawson tips in a miss with less than six seconds left to give No. 2 Michigan State a 78-74 victory over top-ranked Kentucky. It’s the earliest meeting of 1 vs. 2 in AP poll history and the first since 2008.

2013 — Novak Đoković claims back-to-back ATP World Tour Finals tennis titles with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the final in London, England.

2016 — Anthony Moeglin throws a 24-yard touchdown pass to William Woods with 39 seconds left to lift John Carroll to a 31-28 win over Mount Union. The loss ends the Purple Raiders’ NCAA-record 112-game regular-season winning streak. The Division III powerhouse hadn’t lost since Oct. 22, 2005.

2017 — Brittany Force becomes the NHRA’s first female Top Fuel season champion since Shirley Muldowney in 1982 in the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals. Force is the daughter of 16-time Funny Car champion John Force.

2017 — Lamar Jackson accounts for four touchdowns and 342 yards while establishing an NCAA milestone in beating Virginia 38-21. Jackson, the Heisman Trophy winner, becomes the first player in NCAA history to post two seasons with 1,000 yards rushing and 3,000 yards passing.

2017 — Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski becomes the first men’s Division I basketball coach to win 1,000 games at one school, when his top-ranked Blue Devils beat Utah Valley 99-69.

2019 — Former Houston Astros MLB pitcher Mike Fiers reveals the team secretly “stole signs” via camera from visiting teams.

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