In this edition of the Sports Break, we cover the top events in sports history along with the players and athletes that were a part of them on December 22. As a bonus, we also place the jersey number worn at the time with the athlete.
22 December in Sports History
Article: Sports History » Sports Jersey Memories » December » 22
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Daily Digits December 22
Sports history is made every day of the year. We will preserve at least a small sampling from some great athletes every day based on the uniform number they wore.
97 - 23 - 10 - 9 - 7 - 23 - 77 - 16 - 8 - 21 - 11 - 14 - 3 - 13 - 88 - 30
December 22, 1917 - In the NHL's first official week of play, 3 players score hat tricks in the same game, for the same team; Corb Denneny, Reg Noble, and Harry Meeking each score 3 for the Toronto Arenas in an 11-4 win over the Ottawa Senators
December 22, 1924 - Babe Dye of NHL's Toronto St Patricks scores 5 goals beat Bruins 10-2
December 22, 1941 - 1942 NFL Draft: Bill Dudley, Number 97 from University of Virginia first pick by Pittsburgh Steelers
December 22, 1959 - New York Ranger goalie Number 23, Marcel Paille wears a customized mask
December 22, 1964 - Ballon d'Or: Manchester United striker Number 10, Denis Law won the award for best European football player; beats Inter midfielder Number 9, Luis Suárez and Real Madrid winger Number 7, Amancio Amaro. Law was the first Scotsman to win the award
December 22, 1969 - LSU's Number 23, Pete Maravich sets NCAA record of making 30 of 31 foul shots
December 22, 1974 - Number 7, Phil Esposito, of the Boston Bruins, became 6th NHL skater to score 500 goals
December 22, 1990 - Pittsburgh Penguins Hall of Fame Defenseman, Number 77, Paul Coffey became the second NHL defenseman to record 1000 points, doing so in a record-breaking 770 games
December 22, 1992 - Ballon d'Or: Milan's Dutch striker Number 16, Marco van Basten wins his 3rd title as best soccer player in Europe ahead of Barcelona forward Number 8, Hristo Stoichkov and Ajax forward Number 10, Dennis Bergkamp
December 22, 1996 - St Louis Blues’ right wing Number 16, Brett Hull scored his 26th NHL career hat trick to reach 500 career goals in a 7-4 win over the LA Kings. This was signiificant in another aspect of hockey history as well. Brett with his father, Hockey Hall of Famer, Number 9, Bobby Hull, became the first father/son duo to each record 500 career NHL goals
December 22, 1996 - Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback, Number 10, Kordell Stewart ran for an NFL quarterback record 80 yds for TD
December 22, 1998 - Ballon d'Or: Juventus' French midfielder Number 21, Zinedine Zidane is named best football player in Europe ahead of Real Madrid striker Number 9, Davor Šuker and Inter forward Number 9, Ronaldo
December 22, 2003 - Ballon d'Or: Juventus' Czech midfielder Number 11, Pavel Nedvěd was named best football player in Europe ahead of Arsenal forward Number 14, Thierry Henry and Milan defender Number 3, Paolo Maldini
December 22, 2019 - New Orleans wide receiver Number 13, Michael Thomas sets NFL record for most catches in a season with his 144th as Saints beat Tennessee 38-28; breaks 17-year old record held by Colts legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Number 88, Marvin Harrison (143)
December 22, 2020 - Argentine soccer superstar Number 10, Lionel Messi scored his 644th goal for FC Barcelona during 3-0 win over Real Valladolid to break Pele's record for most goals for one club; Pele, 643 goals for Santos 1956-74. Messi currently wears jersey Number 30 at Paris Saint Germain
Credits
A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com.
Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of
Team photo of the Arena Hockey Club of Toronto, a.k.a Toronto Arenas, O'Brien Cup and Stanley Cup champions for the 1917–18 season.
Top row, left to right: Rusty Crawford, Harry Meeking, Ken Randall, Corbett Denneny, Harry Cameron
Middle row, left to right: coach Dick Carroll, Jack Adams, team manager Charles Querrie, Alf Skinner, trainer Frank Carroll
Bottom row, left to right: Harry Mummery, Hap Holmes, Reg Noble
Topics Related to 22 December in Sports History
Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer
We invite you to take a ride through 1920's sports history in the audio drama that takes the listener through the sounds and legendary events of the era through the eyes of a young newspaper journalist. You will feel like you were there!
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Hut! Hut! Hike! Book
Historian Timothy P. Brown has released another excellent book to help fill our football minds with knowledge. His latest is called Hut! Hut! Hike!: A History of Football Terminology.[/br]more information
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