21 January in Sports History

Celebrating the milestones in sports history made on January 21 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.

7 - 14 - 9 - 89 - 12 -13 - 45 - 27 - 32 - 26 - 12 - 21 - 5 - 4 - 66

January 21,  1930 - Cooney Weiland who put on the Number 7 sweater for the Boston Bruins, scored the franchises 100th goal of the season in a 5-1 thwarting of the Chicago Blackhawks, to help the Bruins become the first NHL franchise in history to post 100 goals in one season.

January 21,  1954 - Bob Cousy of the Boston Celtics leads his East All-Star team to victory 98-93 over the West by scoring 10 points in Overtime! Cousy wearing Number 14 was handed the MVP award for the game. If you remember back to January 15 post, the great Guard would later win the NBA All-Star game Most Vaulable Player award for the 1957 game as well. 

January 21,  1958 - Bob Pettit wearing the Number 9 for the NBA West All-Star squad became the first member of the losing team to be selected as the annual game's Most Valuable Player. Pettit who normally played with the St Louis Hawks that season hauled in 26 rebounds and scored 28 points to keep the West in the game during the 118-130 loss. The athletic Center would go on to win the All-Star game MVP honor 4 times in his career.

January 21, 1968 - 18th NFL Pro Bowl, LA Memorial Coliseum: West beats East, 38-20; MVPs: Chicago Bears, HB, Number 40, Gale Sayers, and on defense it was Green Bay Packers, DT, Number 89, Dave Robinson

January 21, 1968 - 7th AFL All Star Game, Gator Bowl, Jacksonville: Eastern Division beats Western Division, 25-24; MVPs: the duo of New York Jets, Number 12, Quarterback Joe Namath, his flanker partner, Number 13, Don Maynard, and Los Angles Charger returner/Defensive Back Speedy Duncan, Number 45

January 21, 1969 - 22nd NHL All-Star Game, Montreal Forum: Western Division ties Eastern Division, 3-3; MVP: Frank Mahovlich (Number 27), Detroit, LW

January 21, 1973 - 23rd NFL Pro Bowl, Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas: AFC beats NFC, 33-28; MVP was Buffalo Bills, RB, Number 32, O J Simpson,

January 21, 1975 - 28th NHL All-Star Game, Montreal Forum: Wales Conference beats Campbell Conference, 7-1; MVP: Syl Apps Jr., Number 26, Pittsburgh, C

January 21, 1979 - Super Bowl XIII, Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, FL: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Dallas Cowboys, 35-31; MVP:  was Pittsburgh, QB, Number 12, Terry Bradshaw

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January 21, 1980 - The longest shot in the history of college basketball, and probably the sport in general occurred at Tully Gym as Virginia Tech's Les Henson Number 21 sunk a shotof 89 foot and 3 inches long to carry VT over Florida 79-77. Remember that this was worth only two points at that time because the three-point shot did not arrive in the NCAA rule book until 1986. At 1st the shot was recorded as 93 feet but later was adjusted, needless to say it was long enough to earn Henson a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. The record has since been surpassed but those that follow the Virginia Tech basketball program will always remember the shot that became known as "The Henson Heave."

January 21, 1985 - New York Islanders great, Number 5, Dennis Potvin tied, legendary Number 4, Bobby Orr's career record of 270 NHL goals

January 21, 1990 - 41st NHL All-Star Game, Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, PA: Wales beats Campbell, 12-7; MVP: Pittsburgh Penguins, C , Number 66, Mario Lemieux

January 21, 2007 - History was made when the first black head coach to lead their team to a Super Bowl was accomplished. In fact two of them as Tony Dungy and his Indianapolis Colts earned the right to face Lovie Smith and the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Almost a year today the feat was repeated when Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers took his team into the Big Game and later won it all. This Colts/Bears game would be played on Feb 4, 2007 with Dungy and the Colts lifting the Lombardi. Sounds like the story of the day for February 4!

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