Sports are an integral part of human history.
Boxing champion Muhammad Ali relinquished his 'slave name' of Cassius Clay and joined Islam.
Athlete Tom O'Hara smashed a world record by running 1 mile in just 3 minutes and 56.4 seconds.
Chile and Italy played one of the most violent soccer games in history.
Sabena Flight 458 crashed, killing the entire US Figure Skating team.
Boston Red Sox player Ted Williams was fined $250 for spitting on fans.
The first issue of Sports Illustrated magazine is published.
British man, Roger Bannister, became the first athlete to run one mile in less than four minutes.
American boxer Jersey Joe Walcott became the oldest heavyweight champion aged 37.
The Big Cat, aka Earl Lloyd, became the first African-American to play in the NBA.
Babe Ruth Day was commemorated for the first time to celebrate one of baseball's greatest players of all time.
Jackie Robinson signed the first Major League Baseball contract for a Black ballplayer.
Finnish long-distance runner Taisto Mäki broke the 10,000-meter world record in 29:52:06.
The first televised baseball game was broadcasted on NBC, featuring Princeton defeating Colombia 2-1.
Bradman scored his 1000th cricket run of the English season, becoming the earliest to do so.
Lou Thesz beat Everett Marshall in St Louis, making him the youngest to win the National Wrestling Association World heavyweight title.
Jack Fingleton, an Australian cricketer, became the first batsman to score 100 runs in four consecutive test matches.
New York Yankee, Joe DiMaggio, made his major-league debut.
With a record time of 2:52:29, Armas Toivonen was the first European to win gold for a marathon at the European Athletics Championships.
Host nation Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in Montevideo to win the first FIFA World Cup.
Legendary baseballer Babe Ruth became the first member of the 500 home run club.
Violet Stewart Piercy, a long-distance runner from England, set the first recorded marathon win for women at 3:40:22.
Paavo Nurmi ran a world record time of 3000 meters in 8 minutes and 25 seconds.
Ty Cobb, a future Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder, was the first to gain 1,000 extra-base hits.
The first Winter Olympics medal was awarded to American Skater Charles Jewtraw after skating 5,000 meters in just 44 seconds.
The first-ever Le Mans endurance race began.
Robert L. Douglas, the Father of Black Professional Basketball, set up the first pro-black basketball team called Renaissance.
The world's first international women's sporting event began in Monaco.
The first game of the Negro National League was played at Washington Park in Indianapolis.
The ban on Sunday baseball was lifted in Washington, D.C., making it the 3rd city to do so.
Baseball and war hero Hank Gowdy became the first player to enlist in the US Army during World War II.
American baseball catcher Wilbert Robinson tried to claim a record by catching a ball dropped from a plane 525 feet above him.
Legendary baseballer Babe Ruth made his Major League Baseball debut for the Boston Red Sox.
The British runner, Henry Barrett, ran a world record marathon at 2 hours, 42 minutes, and 31 seconds in the Polytechnic Marathon in London.
Jack Johnson became the first African American to win the world heavyweight boxing title.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game was copyrighted.
Frank Gotch won the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship after a 2-hour match.
The quickest boxing match in history took place.
The International Federation of Association Football was founded in Paris.
The first international rugby league took place in Wigan, England.
New Zealand's All Blacks played their first international test against Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground.
Maurice-François Garin won the first Tour de France.
American baseball player Joe McGinnity was suspended after a brawl in which he punched and spat at umpire Tom Connolly.
Henri Desgrange made the world's first world record for a bicycle, reaching a speed of 21.95 miles per hour.
Pudge Heffelfinger played his first paid game, making him the first professional American Football player.
The world's first weightlifting championship took place in London, England.
The first-ever cricket County Championship started, finishing with Yorkshire beating Gloucestershire.
General Laborer Thomas Stevens started his first bicycle trip around the world.
When Cubs' player Billy Sunday played his first game, he struck out four times.
The first-ever inaugural US National Championship for tennis occurred in Newport, Rhode Island, USA.
The world's first black international football player, Andrew Watson, played his first of three matches in Scotland.
