18 January in Sports History

Celebrating the milestones in sports history made on January 18 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.

5 - 21 - 18 - 44 - 21 - 16 - 66 - 88 - 00 - 35 - 30 - 7

January 18, 1896 - First college basketball game with 5 players on each side is conducted by the University of Iowa; invites student athletes from University of Chicago for an experimental game; Chicago beats Iowa 15-12

January 18, 1938 - Pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander was elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

January 18, 1947 - Hank Greenberg was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates from the Detroit Tigers. The righthanded batting first baseman, garnered $35,000 in cash for the Tigers. Greenberg wore Number 5 for both clubs. In his one season for the Buccos he hit 25 Homeruns and had 74 RBIs with the lowest batting average of his career at .249.

January 18, 1951 -Kyle Rote Number 44 of the SMU Mustangs was the first overall pick by New York Giants in the 1951 NFL Draft.

January 18, 1951 - NFL takes control of failing Baltimore Colts

January 18, 1955 - Bill Sharman, Number 21 is voted as the MVP of the NBA All-Star game as the Celtics Guard helped the East claim a 100-91 victory over their West counterparts.

19 Jan 1955, Wed Delaware County Daily Times (Chester, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com

January 18, 1958 - The NHL's first African-American skater, Willie ORee makes his debut with the Boston Bruins as then blanked the host Montreal Canadiens 3-0. O'Ree wore the Number 18 sweater in the game.

January 18, 1967 - 20th NHL All-Star Game, Montreal Forum, Montreal, QC: Montreal Canadiens beat All-Stars, 3-0. Montreal Canadiens, Center, Number 16, Henri Richard.

January 18, 1970 - 20th NFL Pro Bowl, LA Memorial Coliseum: West beats East, 16-13; MVPs were on offense Chicago Bears, HB, Number 40, Gale Sayers Dallas Cowboys, DE, Number 66, George Andrie for the defensive side.

January 18, 1972 - 22nd NBA All Star Game, The Forum, Inglewood, Ca: West beats East, 112-110: MVP: LA Lakers, G, Number 44, Jerry West, hits a last-second, 20-foot game-winning jumper

January 18, 1976 - Super Bowl X, Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, FL: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Dallas Cowboys, 21-17; MVP was Pittsburgh, Wide Receiver, Number 88, Lynn Swann.

January 18, 1992 - 43rd NHL All-Star Game, Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA: Campbell beats Wales, 10-6. St. Louis, RW, Number 16, Brett Hull was selected as the game's MVP.

January 18, 1998 - Boston Celtics retire Robert Parrish's Number 00

January 18, 2001 - New York Rangers G, Number 35, Mike Richter picks up his 267th career NHL win to become the winningest goaltender in team history; passes Ed Giacomin; Rangers beat the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1 in overtime

January 18, 2017 - Baseball Hall of Fame adds Jeff Bagwell (Number 5), Tim Raines (Number 30), and Ivan Rodriguez (Number 7)

January 18, 2022 - Boston Bruins retire Willie O'Ree's Number 22 jersey, on the 64th anniversary of his becoming the NHL's first Black player

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