2 January in Sports History

Celebrating the milestones in sports history made on January 2 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 some great athletes every day based on the uniform number they wore.

14 - 22 - 3 - 81

January 2, 1943  - University of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team begins 129 home game winning streak that only ends in 1955. This run also includes NCAA Men's basketball titles in 1948, 1949 and 1951

January 2, 1983 - In a 35-27 win over the Houston Oilers, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Number 14, Ken Anderson completed 20 consecutive passes and finishes the season winning his second consecutive passing title with an NFL record 70.55% completion percentage

January 2, 1986 - New York Islanders future Hall of Fame right wing Number 22, Mike Bossy scored his 499th and 500th career goals in the final 2:22 to lift the New York to a 7-5 victory over the Boston Bruins. Bossy was the 11th player in NHL history to score 500 career goals.

January 2, 2012 - 41st Fiesta Bowl: The #3 Oklahoma State Cowboys defeated the #4 Stanford Cardinal, 41-38 in Over Time. Cowboys Quarterback Number 3, Brandon Weeden Connected on three touchdown passes with Wide Receiver Number 81, Justin Blackmon to aid OSU to victory. The scoring strikes were from 43-yards, 67-yards and 17-yards out for the duo. With the win Oklhoma State finished 3rd in the BCS polls.

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 the jersey honoring Alex Groza hanging in Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky contributed by Acdixon.