What are the most important events in the history of sports? Events with the greatest lasting impact.
U.S. Olympic hockey victories in 1960 and 1980 were nice stories, but did not have a lasting impact. Four years later, 1964 and 1984, the Soviet Union was back atop the medal stand.
This is very much a U.S.A. list...because that's where we live.
1. 1947 – Jackie Robinson integrates major league baseball. The impact went well beyond sports.
2. 1972 – Congress passes Title IX, giving half the population equal footing in sports, although it was a decade before the NCAA began sponsoring women's sports.
3. 1891 – James Naismith invents the game of basketball.
4. 1896 – The first modern Olympics is held in Athens. Greece was the site of the ancient Olympics.
5. 1966 – The NFL and AFL agree to merge, resulting in the Super Bowl.
6. 1901 – The American League joins the National League as a baseball major league. The first World Series is played two years later.
7. 1869 – Rutgers and Princeton play the first college football game. Rutgers wins. Hasn't won many since.
8. 1968 – The beginning of open tennis, allowing the best players to compete in the most important events.
9. 1930 – The first World Cup of soccer is held in Uruguay. The host country wins.
10. 1906 – The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States is formed to govern collegiate athletics. Four years later the name is change to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
11. 1939 – The dawn of March Madness with the first NCAA basketball tournament. Oregon defeats Ohio State for the championship.
12. 1869 – The Cincinnati Red Stockings become the first professional baseball team.
13. 1936 – The first football poll is established by the AP. Minnesota is National Champion.
14. 1920 – The prodigious slugging of Babe Ruth ushers in baseball's lively ball era, making the long ball a much bigger part of the game, but nobody talks about launch angles.
15. 1902 – The first bowl game is played, with Michigan defeating Stanford 49-0 in the Rose Bowl. There was a time when Michigan won bowl games.
