This Day in Sports History: August 30
Many sports events happen in August, such as baseball games, the U.S. Open Tennis Championship matches, WWE events, NASCAR races, track and field competitions, and college football games. Over the…
Many sports events happen in August, such as baseball games, the U.S. Open Tennis Championship matches, WWE events, NASCAR races, track and field competitions, and college football games. Over the years, Aug. 30 has seen plenty of notable sports moments and inspiring stories from legends of the game. Continue reading to learn about noteworthy events on this day in sports history.
Unforgettable Games and Remarkable Records
Great moments in sports history from Aug. 30 include:
- 1887: Richard Sears won the U.S. National Championship, winning his seventh straight U.S. singles title.
- 1892: Oliver Campbell won his third straight U.S. singles title in men's tennis.
- 1904: American runner Thomas Hicks won the marathon gold medal with a time of 3:28:53 over a 40 km course at the St. Louis Olympics.
- 1905: Ty Cobb made his MLB debut.
- 1906: Hal Chase hit three triples in a game.
- 1910: New York Highlanders' Tom Hughes pitched 9-1/3 no-hit innings but lost to Cleveland 5-0 in 11 innings; the 1991 rule change removed credit for a no-hitter.
- 1912: Earl Hamilton pitched a no-hitter against the Tigers.
- 1916: Dutch Leonard of the Boston Red Sox pitched a no-hitter against the St Louis Browns.
- 1927:. Helen Wills Moody won her fourth U.S. singles title at the U.S. National Championship for women's tennis.
- 1937: Joe Louis beat Tommy Farr in 15 rounds, winning the heavyweight boxing title.
- 1941: Lon Warneke pitched his first no-hitter against the Reds.
- 1954: The BC Lions played their first Canadian Football League game, losing to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, 17-0.
- 1960: Pete Runnels achieved six hits in an MLB game.
- 1961: Jack Fisher walked 12 batters during an MLB game against the Angels.
- 1969: Steve Melnyk won the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship.
- 1972: Gymnast Ludmilla Tourischeva received her second gold medal at the Munich Olympics.
- 1972: Swimmer Shane Gould set a world-record time of 4:19.04 in the 400-meter freestyle.
- 1972: Japanese breaststroker Nobutaka Taguchi beat Americans Tom Bruce and John Hencken to win the 100 m gold medal in a world record time of 1:04.94.
- 1978: Japanese icon Sadaharu Oh blasted his 800th career home run, cementing his status as one of global baseball's greatest sluggers.
- 1979: John McEnroe dominated Ilie Năstase, achieving the men's singles title at the U.S. Open.
- 1981: Bill Shoemaker became the first jockey to win a million-dollar thoroughbred race.
- 1986: Yuriy Sedykh of the Soviet Union set a new world hammer throw record of 86.74 m.
- 1987: Carl Lewis won the 100-meter race at the World Championships in Athletics.
- 1987: Kirby Puckett got six hits in a single MLB game.
- 1987: Yves Pol ran a complete marathon backwards in 3:57:57.
- 1988: Kent Tekulve became the second pitcher in major league history to appear in 1,000 games.
- 1991: American Mike Powell broke Bob Beamon's 23-year-old world record in the long jump with a leap of 29 feet, 4-1/4 inches at the World Championships in Tokyo.
- 1991: Dan O'Brien set a US decathlon record with 8,812 points.
- 1992: Golfer Justin Leonard won the U.S. Amateur Championship.
- 1997: In the first-ever WNBA Championship, the Houston Comets beat the New York Liberty, 65-51.
- 1997: Greg Rusedski became the first tennis player to serve two 141-mph serves in a U.S. Open tennis match.
- 2006: Greg Maddux won his 330th career MLB game.
- 2012: Tennis player Andy Roddick announced his retirement.
Two athletes who stand out are John McEnroe and Ben Johnson. McEnroe achieved the rare feat of being ranked No. 1 in singles and doubles simultaneously. Johnson is a famous former sprinter known for his incredible speed and his unfortunate doping scandal. Aug. 30 certainly played a major role in sports history.
