20 January in Sports History

Celebrating the milestones in sports history made on January 20 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 4 great athletes every day based on the uniform number they wore.

82 - 99 - 13 - 19 - 5 - 9 - 1 - 12 - 16 - 20 - 66 - 77

January 20, 1950 - Leon Hart, Number 82 from University of Notre Dame first pick by Detroit Lions in the 1950 NFL Draft

January 20, 1952 - George Mikan, who wore Number 99 for the NBA's Minneapolis Lakers proved that he was one of the League's first superstars as he put up 61 points against the Rochester Royals in a Double Overtime thriller 91-81.

January 20, 1967 - Wilt Chamberlain wearing his lucky Number 13 jersey with the Philadelphia 76ers went 15 of 15 from the field, setting an NBA record for consecutive shots made, to lead his Sixers team over the Los Angeles Lakers, 119 -108. The legendary Big man would break this record tow more time in the season of 1966-67.

January 20, 1970 - 20th NBA All-Star Game, Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pa: East beats West, 142-135; MVP: NY Knicks, C , Number 19, Willis Reed. There was another milestone moment at this game as Tom Van Arsdale (Number 5) of the Cincinnati Royals and Dick Van Arsdale (Number 5) of the Phoenix Suns, became the first brothers to play in same NBA All-Star Game

January 20, 1970 - 23rd NHL All-Star Game, St. Louis Arena: East beats West, 4-1; MVP: Chicago, LW, Number 9, Bobby Hull

January 20, 1974 - 24th NFL Pro Bowl, Arrowhead Stadium, KC, Missouri: AFC beats NFC, 15-13; MVP: Garo Yepremian (Number 1), Miami Dolphins, PK

January 20, 1975 - 25th NFL Pro Bowl, Miami Orange Bowl: NFC beats AFC, 17-10; MVP: LA Rams, QB, Number 12, James Harris

January 20, 1976 - 29th NHL All-Star Game, Spectrum, Philadelphia: Wales Conference beats Campbell Conference, 7-5; MVP: Montreal, C , Number 20, Peter Mahovlich

January 20, 1980 - The original TB12, Number 12, QB Terry Bradshaw, led his Pittsburgh Steelers to a record fourth Super Bowl victory as Pittsburgh overcame the LA Rams in SB XIV 31-19 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

January 20, 1985 - San Francisco 49ers star Quarterback, Number 16, Joe Montana,  was selected as the MVP of Super Bowl XIX as the Niners triumphed over Dan Marino and the Miami Doplins 38-16 at Stanford Stadium. 

January 20, 1989 - Pittsburgh Penguins center, Number 66, Mario Lemieux became just the 2nd player in NHL history to score 50 goals in less than 50 games; #50 in 44th game as the Penguins lost 7-3 to the Winnipeg Jets in Winnipeg

January 20, 1996 - 46th NHL All-Star Game, FleetCenter, Boston, MA: East beats West, 5-4; MVP: Boston Bruins, D, Number 77, Ray Bourque.

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