24 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 24. 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.

11 - 20 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 6

December 24, 1921 - Ottawa’s Harry Broadbent scored in 10-0 Senators blowout of the Montreal Canadiens; first in 16-game NHL record goal-scoring streak. Long time LA Kings Number 11, Charlie Simmer’s 13 game streak (1979) is considered modern-day record

December 24, 1961 - AFL Championship, Balboa Stadium, San Diego: Houston Oilers beat San Diego Chargers 10-3; Number 20, Billy Cannon scored the game's only TD

December 24, 1968 - Ballon d'Or: Manchester United's winger Number 7, Number 8, Number 9, and Number 11, George Best wins award for best European football player ahead of teammate Number 9, Bobby Charlton and Red Star Belgrade winger Number 11, Dragan Džajić. Best was the first Northern Irish national to win the award

December 24, 1974 - MLB St Louis Cardinals Number 20, Lou Brock was named as the Sportsman of the Year

December 24, 1985 - Ballon d'Or: Juventus' French midfielder Number 10, Michel Platini was named as Europe's best football player for the 3rd consecutive time; beats Verona striker Number 11, Preben Elkjær and Barcelona midfielder Number 8, Bernd Schuster

December 24, 1991 - Ballon d'Or: Marseille forward Number 9, Jean-Pierre Papin was named as Europe's best football player. Papin was the first from the French League to win the trophy

December 24, 1995 - Ballon d'Or: PSG/Milan's Liberian striker Number 9, George Weah was named Europe's best soccer player. This was the first edition where players born outside Europe permitted to receive votes

December 24, 1996 - Ballon d'Or: Borussia Dortmund's German sweeper Number 6, Matthias Sammer was named as the best football player in Europe ahead of PSV/Barcelona striker Number 9, Ronaldo and Newcastle United striker Number 9, Alan Shearer

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 England's Bobby Charlton (links) in duel met Dick van Dijk on November 5, 1969. Contributed by Eric Koch for Anefo