11 January in Sports History

Celebrating the milestones in sports history made on January 11 throughout history by remembering the athletes and the jersey numbers that they wore.

Sports history is made every day of the year. We will preserve at least a small sampling from at least 3 great athletes every day based on the uniform number they wore.

16 - 81 - 13 - 37 - 10 - 7 - 68 - 5 - 84

January 11, 1959 - At the 9th NFL Pro Bowl, played at the LA Memorial Coliseum: Eastern Conference beats Western Conference, 28-21; MVPs were for the offense New York Giants Halfback, Number 16, Frank Gifford and on the otherside of the ball it was Chicago Bears, DE, Number 81, Doug Atkins.

January 11, 1963 - Wilt Chamberlain in his legendary lucky Number 13 uni scored a remarkable 67 points for the San Francisco Warriors in a 116 -124 loss to the LA Lakers. 

January 11, 1966 - 16th NBA All-Star Game, Cincinnati Gardens, Cincinnati, OH: East beats West, 137-94; MVP was Cincinnati Royals, PG, Number 10, Adrian Smith.

January 11, 1970 - Len Dawson the Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback sported his Number 16 jersey as he not only led the Chiefs to victory in Super Bowl IV over the Minnesota Vikings 27-3 but also win the game's Most Valuable Player Award!

January 11, 1983 - Marcel Dionne also wearing Number 16 posted his 24th career hat trick as the LA Kings skated past the Washington Capitals 9-7 to break a streak of 8 straight road game losses for the Kings. 

January 11, 1983 - Edmonton Oilers Number 16, Pat Hughes sets NHL record for the fastest 2 shorthanded goals by one player at just 25 seconds apart in a 7-5 win at St. Louis; first player to break a Wayne Gretzky record.

January 11, 1987 - AFC Championship, Cleveland Stadium: Denver Broncos beat Cleveland Browns 23-20 (OT). Broncos Number 7, John Elway 

January 11, 1990 - New York Islander Number 16, Pat LaFontaine set a team record of scoring goals in 11 straight games

January 11, 2003 - Washington Capitals right wing Number 68, Jaromir Jagr scores his 10th career hat-trick and adds 4 assists for 7 points and his 1,200th NHL point in a 12-2 win against Florida; Jágr has 20+ goals in each of his 13 NHL seasons

January 11, 2004 - Speaking of the Capitals,  veteran goaltender Olaf Kölzig wearing his Number 37 sweater records his 32nd NHL career shutout in a 1-0 win against the visiting Edmonton Oilers.

January 11, 2004 - "4th and 26", trailing Green Bay Packers by 3 in NFC Divisional Playoff Game, Philadelphia Eagles face 4th and 26 on their final drive, Number 5, Donovan McNabb found an open Number 84, Freddie Mitchell for 29 yards to extend the drive. Eagles tie the game and go on to win in overtime

January 11, 2016 - FIFA Ballon d'Or: Barcelona forward Number 10, Lionel Messi won his record 5th award with 41.33% of the votes; American midfielder Number 10, Carli Lloyd is Women's World Player of the Year

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