Sports

Presidential first pitches. Wacky stunts. Parades and banner raising. Every spring, baseball opens a fresh season with plenty of fanfare.

In 1954, the Giants' Willie Mays made a catch that wowed the nation—and became a legendary moment in baseball history.

The true story of British track stars Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell winning gold at the 1924 Paris Olympics inspired the Oscar-winning film.

Margaret Abbott spent her life unaware that a golf tournament she won was part of the 1900 Summer Olympics.

Skateboarding began among California surfers who were looking for a challenge when ocean waves were flat.

You won’t see hot air balloon racing, tug of war or painting contests at the 2024 Paris Games.

The ritual of the Olympic torch relay originated not in ancient Greece, but in Nazi Germany in 1936.

The 1,000-mile Italian road race came to a tragic end after a Ferrari spun out of control, killing nine spectators.

During the war, the Dick, Kerr Ladies soccer team drew huge crowds —until they were banned from stadiums.

From illegal betting to performance-enhancing drugs to outright cheating, see how MLB players, owners and coaches have found themselves in hot water.

Their backstories may surprise you.

Its true origins are murky. But Canada, beginning in the 19th century, gets credit for modernizing—and popularizing—the game we know today.

The game's rules were formally written down in 1744, but people had already been playing for centuries.

From soldiers shooting at balloons to skiers towed by horses, these strange and sometimes dangerous sports were once part of the Winter Olympics.

Olympic organizers through history have hired snow dancers, called in the military and helicoptered in snow to ensure the Games go on.

The balletic sport developed in Europe thousands of years ago. But an American turned it into the spectacle we know today.

The Georgia governor ignited a national controversy over the participation of the University of Pittsburgh's only Black player in the 1956 Sugar Bowl.

In the very first event at the first Games in 1924, an American sparked controversy with a speedskating gold medal. In 1994, the Harding-Kerrigan showdown was TV ratings gold.

Critics said its introduction in 1906 would doom the game by making it less physical. Instead, it made the sport more popular than ever.

During a career that concluded in the early 20th century, William Hoy earned the respect of players and management. In the 21st century, he merited Hall of Fame consideration.

"I have never seen a greater performance," a legendary coach said of Notre Dame's stunning win over Texas at the 1971 Cotton Bowl.

Philadelphia's Steve Van Buren took public transportation to get to the 1948 NFL Championship Game against the Chicago Cardinals.

First awardee Jay Berwanger passed on an NFL career, Michigan's Tom Harmon played himself in a movie and LSU's Billy Cannon was imprisoned for counterfeiting.

The hirings of Woody Hayes at Ohio State, Bear Bryant at Alabama and Ara Parseghian at Notre Dame produced major headlines—and eventually national championships.

From a disastrous 'Battle of New Orleans' and a 3-D glasses experiment to the comical 'Left Shark,' the entertainment has captured the public's imagination.

Gold medalists such as Sonja Henie, Dorothy Hamill and Tara Lipinski have used the worldwide platform to launch lucrative post-Games careers.

In 1932, the Chicago Bears beat Portsmouth in a championship contest that featured a 60-yard field, a punt that plunked an organist and circus 'leftovers.'

In 1972, Pittsburgh Steelers' rookie Franco Harris—backed by an 'army' that included Frank Sinatra—made a miraculous touchdown catch that jump-started a dynasty.

The Native American was an Olympic medalist, NFL standout and a MLB player — he even won a ballroom dancing championship.

At the highest levels, college basketball has produced some of the game’s most transformative and innovative men’s and women’s coaches. Here are eight who left lasting legacies.

In 1964, Masanori 'Mashi' Murakami debuted with the San Francisco Giants. But two years later, the pipeline of big-league talent from his country was closed.

Dick Plasman, who played for the Chicago Bears and Cardinals in the 1930s and 1940s, suffered a gruesome injury when he slammed into a wall headfirst during a game.

'Bear' Bryant, who became a legend at Alabama, and future Pro Football Hall of Famers were among the all-star collection of talent.

In 1962, Detroit's trouncing of the eventual champion Green Bay Packers prompted boasts from the Lions. 'We kicked the hell out of them,' said defensive lineman Alex Karras.

The team was heckled and cursed at by Browns fans in Cleveland, where the Cowboys lost 'a game that nobody was interested in playing.'

The Winter Olympics are an international sports competition held every four years. The Games feature cold-weather events on snow (skiing, snowboarding, biathlon) and ice (figure skating, hockey, speed skating, curling, bobsled, luge, skeleton).

In the 1960s, Red Auerbach, Bill Russell, John Havlicek and four other Hall of Famers led the team to nine titles—a decade of dominance unparalleled in major North American pro sports.

Since Detroit traded QB Bobby Layne in 1958, the Lions have endured a lengthy playoff drought. No hex, however, may be as strange as the one involving a fast-food icon.

Denied entry into Major League Baseball, power hitters Buck Leonard, Josh Gibson and five others were later enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James led their new teams to multiple championships. Bill Russell, dealt by St. Louis to Boston in 1956, powered the Celtics' 1960s dynasty.

March Madness is the name commonly used for the NCAA Tournament, held annually in March and April to determine the national champion in Division I men's and women's college basketball. The first March Madness tournament was held in 1939.

A remarkable chain of events links an attempted murder to the Bambino's called shot blast against the Chicago Cubs in 1932.

From 1946-55, Hall of Famer Otto Graham and his Cleveland Browns appeared in 10 straight championship games, winning seven.

Some of the Fall Classic’s most infamous mistakes were committed by MLB stars such as the New York Yankees' Babe Ruth and Mariano Rivera.

In 1956, the New York Yankees' Don Larsen, an 'imperfect man,' pitched a perfect game—the only one in World Series history.

The World Series—or Fall Classic—started in 1903 as a competition that annually pits the pennant winners of the American and National leagues in a best-of-series playoff for the Major League Baseball championship.

On April 2, 1931, minor leaguer Jackie Mitchell fanned the Yankees' sluggers in an exhibition, a feat widely celebrated. But was it a stunt or legit?

The Pittsburgh Pirates' star—the first Latino Hall of Famer in baseball—was a hero for his charity work and social activism prior to his death in a 1972 plane crash.

Colorado's Kordell Stewart called his 64-yard, game-winning touchdown pass against Michigan in 1994 'a gift from God.'

On March 22, 1893, 15 months after Canadian-born James Naismith invented basketball, Senda Berenson pitted Smith College freshmen and sophomore teams against each other.

On Christmas Eve 1950, the Cleveland Browns beat the Los Angeles Rams in an epic matchup featuring 12 future Hall of Fame players. But the game wasn't televised nationally, limiting its legacy.

In the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 of the wild 1960 World Series, Bill Mazeroski of the underdog Pittsburgh Pirates toppled the mighty New York Yankees.

The American tradition might date to President William Howard Taft in 1910, but it could have started in 1869.

Weeks after a foul ball bloodied a teen who lived in Babe Ruth’s former farmhouse, the Boston Red Sox ended an 86-year title drought.

Michigan-Ohio State had a 'Ten-Year War,' and the 1982 Stanford-Cal game was won by one of the craziest plays in sports history.

Hall of Famer John Heisman, one of college football's most successful coaches, introduced the center snap, handoff, scoreboard and other innovations.

Benny Friedman was the league's 'first real quarterback,' and the Los Angeles Rams' Bob Waterfield, who was married to a famous actress, glamorized the position.

From 'Raging Bull' to 'The Blind Side,' here's Hollywood's spin versus the truth.

In the 1981 AFC Championship Game between the San Diego Chargers and Cincinnati Bengals, the teams and fans endured a minus 59-degree wind chill.

In an epic, double-overtime game on Christmas Day 1971, Miami Dolphins kicker Garo Yepremian booted the Kansas City Chiefs from the playoffs.

In 1964, the fighter was up for the music honor for a comedy album. Twelve years later, he was nominated again.

In 1960, Chuck Bednarik's 'perfectly legal' hit on the New York Giants' star resounded beyond the playing field.

The 1966 Notre Dame-Michigan State and 1971 Nebraska-Oklahoma showdown were among those billed as 'Games of the Century.'

From the 'Immaculate Reception' to the 'Minneapolis Miracle,' here are some of the more memorable football plays of all time.

New York's 'traveling rock show' made headlines on and off the field and beat the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

Houston's Colt Stadium was plagued by mosquitoes and brutal heat. Other ballparks, such as Cleveland's cavernous 'Mistake by the Lake,' had bizarre dimensions.

'I haven’t even driven a car in anything like that,' a player said about the conditions at the Philadelphia Eagles-Chicago Bears playoff game in 1988.

From Yale's Walter Camp and Oklahoma's Bud Wilkinson to Miami's Jimmy Johnson and Alabama's Nick Saban, these trailblazers left their marks.

In 1981, the pitcher from rural Mexico helped lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a World Series title—and energized Mexican American fans.

Cards of Hall of Famers Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle have sold for millions.

Sports executive and civil rights champion Effa Manley was a passionate advocate for baseball players from the Negro leagues.

The Americans' controversial defeat—their first in Olympic basketball competition—led to a hit movie in Russia and even CIA interest.

In the league's first-ever night game, the Providence Steam Roller played the Chicago Cardinals with a football painted white, giving it the appearance of a large egg.

'There is a certain criminal element in every aspect of society,' said one coach. 'Apparently, we have it in the NFL, too.'

'Everything we did, we did right. Everything they did, they did wrong.' Bears coach George Halas said following a 73-0 win in 1940.

In a pressure-packed 1961 season, Roger Maris hit 61 home runs, outdueling his more famous New York Yankees teammate, Mickey Mantle.

The Hall of Famer won 511 games, but that's not his only untouchable record.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Deion Sanders, Bo Jackson and others flashed rare skills.

Stars Bill Russell, Muhammad Ali and Billie Jean King have used their platforms to seek change.

Barry Sanders, John Elway, Lawrence Taylor, Vince Lombardi, Joe Namath stood out among groups with remarkable star power.

The miracle connection between the Dallas Cowboys' stars and Pro Football Hall of Famers stunned the Minnesota Vikings in a 1975 playoff game.

On August 5, 1921, Harold Arlin of KDKA in Pittsburgh voiced the first MLB game on radio.

Drafted in 1971 by the New Orleans Saints, the 'other' Manning never had a winning season in the NFL.

Minutes before the 1976 MLB trade deadline, a flurry of sales went down—only to be blocked by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.

The last game, a 24-0 win by the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers in 1976, was played in a 'surreal' deluge.

From superhyped decathlete Dave Johnson's bronze-medal showing to gymnast McKayla Maroney's slip, here's when American performances didn't meet heightened expectations.

Disapproval over wars, invasions, apartheid and doping scandals have all prompted countries to pull out of the Games.

From Athens to Tokyo, the Games have crossed five continents, withstood boycotts and were only canceled three times due to two World Wars. See a timeline of notable moments in Summer Olympic Games history.

From Olga Korbut’s famous flip to Kerri Strug's vault landing to Simone Biles’ multiple golds, see the feats that wowed the world.

The groundbreaking gender equity law made a lasting impact by increasing the participation of girls and women in athletics.

From race-fixing and horse switches to performance-enhancing drugs, some will do whatever it takes to see their horse cross the finish line first.

The African American track star hardly derailed Nazi plans for global disruption, but Jesse Owens did emerge as the standout figure of the Fuhrer's signature Olympic Games.

Only world wars have led to cancellation of the Olympics, but other events, including politics, terrorism—and now pandemics—have encroached upon the games.

The team got their start in Chicago during a time when segregation was pervasive and basketball was not even a well-known game.

While Richard Jewell was an initial suspect, it took collaboration between federal and local investigators to zero-in on the actual bomber, Eric Rudolph.

The Inter-Allied Games featured the best athletes of World War I’s victors.

At HISTORY's 'Evel Live 2,' the motocross athlete rammed through 13 flaming boards.

Trailblazing champion motocross athlete Vicki Golden will go after a fiery world record.

These thrill seekers achieved feats few others would attempt.

Was Dancer’s Image disqualified because his owner supported the civil rights movement?

A government inquest concluded the martial-arts movie icon died from an aspirin allergy. That doesn't fit the facts.

Cars, buses and fountains—oh my!

Three stunts. One night. Two legends. And an old-school motorcycle.

Without the death-defying thrill of jumping, life was boring, he said. But that wasn't the only reason he kept at it.

There have always been daredevils. But never has there been such a variety of creative ways to defy death—and break a few world records along the way.

Knievel’s last leap in the spotlight was a 'Jaws'-inspired gimmick that would help spawn the phrase 'jumping the shark.'

We've always been a nation of risk-takers, from the Yankee Leaper of the 1820s to the 1960s stuntman behind The Great Escape.

The Super Bowl is an enormously popular sporting event that takes place each year to determine the championship team of the National Football League (NFL). Broadcast in more than 170 countries, the Super Bowl is one of the most-watched sporting events in the world, with elaborate halftime shows, celebrity appearances and cutting-edge commercials

The stallion with a chestnut coat, three white “socks” and cocky demeanor not only became the first horse in 25 years to win the Triple Crown in 1973, he did it in a way that left spectators breathless.

The Kentucky Derby, a horse race which annually draws 150,000 fans to Churchill Downs racetrack, is the longest-running sports event in the United States.

In the early 1980s, there was no such thing as a monster truck. This is the story of two friends turned rivals who created a billion-dollar industry by accident.

The last time Russia skipped the Olympics, it was due to a fringe group encouraging mass defections of its athletes.

With elements of surfing and skateboarding the sport has become one of the most popular at the Winter Olympics.

The joint team was a short-lived but powerful symbol of East and West Germany’s common roots.

After North Korea’s bizarre bid to co-host the 1988 Olympics, it tried to disrupt them with a bomb.

But Jackson Haines became the toast of Europe—and made the world fall in love with ice dancing.

Typically the punishment has been levied on countries that start wars or violate human rights.

A killer backhand earned Vere St. Leger Goold a spot in a Wimbledon final.

1. Sam Patch Rhode Island native Sam Patch had a hardscrabble upbringing as a child laborer in a cotton mill, but he later became America’s first celebrity daredevil after he discovered he could draw a paying crowd by staging terrifying leaps off waterfalls, bridges and river dams. Patch made his first high-profile jumps in 1827 […]

Women’s sports are more popular today than they’ve ever been, but this wasn’t always the case.

Here are four surprising stories you might not know about the origins of spring training.

Explore 10 surprising facts about the famous barnstorming basketball team.

A Canadian is to thank for one of America’s favorite pastimes.

Read the bizarre history of the first Olympic marathons.

These athletes didn’t let a disability deter them from going for gold.

Although World War II forced the cancellation of the 1944 Summer Games, an unofficial Olympics took place in a most unlikely setting—a Nazi prisoner of war camp.

Find out more about the legendary first baseman.

The first Olympic competition held in 1,500 years was memorable for many reasons.

The first Super Bowl wasn’t exactly super. Explore ways the hastily arranged first Super Bowl differed from today’s modern-day sporting spectacle.

Check out these facts about one of baseball’s most legendary showmen.

The “American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language” cites the conventional wisdom that the word “southpaw” originated “from the practice in baseball of arranging the diamond with the batter facing east to avoid the afternoon sun. A left-handed pitcher facing west would therefore have his pitching arm toward the south of the diamond.” As the […]

Look back at the NFL’s strange first championship game, played indoors on a 60-yard field squeezed into a hockey rink.

In 1919, Chicago White Sox players allegedly threw the World Series. It remains one of professional baseball’s most notorious scandals.

Look back at the National Football League’s humble origins in an Ohio auto dealership and its inaugural 1920 season.

Explore eight surprising facts about one of weirdest and wildest Summer Games in Olympic history.

As part of the U.S. Open’s third annual Military Appreciation Day, the tennis world remembers Joe Hunt, who won a dramatic victory in the 1943 men’s championship.

On August 7, 1974, New York awoke to find aerialist Philippe Petit walking on a wire between the 110-story World Trade Center towers.

Baseball's biggest icon once served jail time and spent most of his life believing he was a year older than he really was.

Although Brazil is known for having the most World Cup victories of all-time, the defeat they suffered at the hands of Uruguay on their home turf in 1950 still haunts many fans today.

Known to most of the rest of the world as football, or “fútbol,” the beautiful game is almost exclusively referred to as soccer in the United States. Why?

Look back at the day 60 years ago when British medical student Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in less than 4 minutes.

Across the Board In contemporary usage, this phrase indicates the inclusion of everyone or everything in a given scenario—such as across-the-board price cuts or across-the-board layoffs. At the track, an across-the-board bet is a wager on the same horse to win, to place and to show—effectively betting all the way across a single line of […]

Look back at the moment Hank Aaron surpassed the immortal Babe Ruth.

Look back at the 1925 life-or-death mission that inspired the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Explore 10 surprising facts about the elite cold-weather competitions.

The holiday tradition took off in 1934, when the Detroit Lions hosted the unbeaten Chicago Bears in a game broadcast nationally on radio.

The game has ancient origins, but in the late 19th century, Walter Camp helped shape football—the American kind—into the sport we know today.

Billie Jean King’s straight-set victory over self-proclaimed male chauvinist Bobby Riggs reverberated far beyond the world of tennis.

Check out ten surprising facts about the Olympic track and field champion.

The iconic bicycle race was full of feats of endurance and, yes, cheating from its very first race.

When the 1913 U.S. Open came to The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, no competing golfer had more local knowledge than 20-year-old Francis Ouimet. After all, he had grown up across the street from the course and woken up every day for the past 16 years staring out at the 17th hole from his bedroom […]

Get the facts about the iconic thoroughbred racehorse whose name reigns supreme in the history of racing.

The game has ancient roots.

A Civil War hero named Abner Doubleday is often credited with developing the game in 1839, but the real history is older.

A close look at an infamous baseball scandal.

From early Olympians to the Michael Jordan of Roman chariot racing, these seven sportsmen stand among the athletic elite of the ancient world.

Although Olympians pledge to celebrate 'the true spirit of sportsmanship,' here are nine instances when athletes tried to deceive their way to the top.

From a gymnast with a wooden leg to a medalist busted for drinking beer, explore 10 surprising facts about the Summer Olympics.

In 1896, America's first-ever Olympic squad had the look and feel of a pick-up team. Their achievements stunned everyone.

Explore eight surprising facts about the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament.

Explore 10 facts about American horse racing’s ultimate prize.

On the 100th anniversary of the first Major League Baseball game at Fenway Park, explore eight surprising dates from the stadium’s hidden history.

One hundred years ago, Tennis Hall of Famers Dick Williams and Karl Behr survived the most famous shipwreck in history.

Fifty years ago today, basketball Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain achieved one of the most incredible feats in sports history: scoring 100 points in a single NBA game.

With baseball season back in full swing, we take a look at classic ballpark snacks like hot dogs, peanuts and Cracker Jack.

From record-breaking feats to streaking fans, Opening Day has seen its share of memorable moments.

Originally billed as a one-time "Game of the Century," the All-Star Game has become a permanent and much-loved fixture of the baseball season.

Ever since it first took place in Uruguay in 1930, the World Cup has provided a steady stream of memorable moments and astonishing feats.

Joe Louis was the world's heavyweight boxing champion for nearly 12 consecutive years, a period that saw his famed knockout of Germany's Max Schmeling in 1938.

An All-Weather Torch For the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, the National Research Council of Canada developed a special Olympic torch for that year’s relay (a tradition since 1936). It resembled Calgary’s most recognizable landmark, the Calgary Tower, an...

The Olympic Games, which originated in ancient Greece, were revived in the late 19th century. They are now the world’s preeminent sporting competition and are held every two years, alternating between Summer and Winter Games. The Winter 2022 Olympics will take place in Beijing, China.

Women’s tennis great Billie Jean King was born in California in 1943. The first female athlete to earn more than $100,000 in prize money in a single season, King was also the first woman to be chosen Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsperson of the Year.” The ...