23 December in Sports History

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 23. As a bonus, we also place the jersey number worn at the time with the athlete.

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.

19 - 10 - 11 - 9 - 12 - 33 - 31 - 32 - 30 - 8 - 21 - 17

December 23, 1933 - Montreal Canadiens center Howie Morenz scores in 3-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings. For the Montreal stalwart it was his NHL record 249th career goal

December 23, 1953 - Dodgers 2nd baseman Number 19, Jim Gilliam wins NL Rookie of Year

December 23, 1969 - Ballon d'Or: Milan midfielder Number 10, Gianni Rivera won the award for best European football player ahead of Cagliari forward Number 11, Luigi Riva and Bayern Munich striker Number 9, Gerd Müller

December 23, 1972 - "Immaculate Reception" Steelers turns around a 7-6 defeat with a last second touchdown reception against Raiders to win 13-7. It was a pass from Pro Football Hall of Fame Quarterback Number 12, Terry Bradhaw that was deflected off of Number 33 Frenchy Fuqua and Raiders Number 31, Jack Tatum and caught by Hall of Fame running back Number 32, Franco Harris

December 23, 1978 - NY Islanders center Number 19, Bryan Trottier sets NHL record scoring 6 points - 4 goals & 2 assists - in 2nd period of 9-4 win over rival NY Rangers; adds goal & assist for game total 8 points; Islanders undefeated home streak stands at 16 games

December 23, 1987 - Buffalo goaltender Number 30, Tom Barrasso leads the Sabres to a 5-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings to record his 100th NHL victory; makes him the youngest player to reach milestone at just 22 years, 9 months

December 23, 1997 - Ballon d'Or: Barcelona/Inter's Brazilian striker Number 10, Ronaldo wins his first of 2 best football player in Europe awards ahead of Real Madrid forward Number 8, Predrag Mijatović and Juventus midfielder Number 21,  Zinedine Zidane

December 23, 1997 - Colorado Avalanche Number 17, Jari Kurri is 8th NHL skater to score 600 career goals

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 Howie Morenz in a game vs. the New York Rangers, by an unknown photographer in an unknown date.