Frank Thomas

Timeline Notable Sports Figures
1966
The Boston Celtics win their eighth consecutive championship.
No other major sports franchise has won this
many consecutive titles.
Texas Western beats Kentucky 72-65 for the NCAA basketball
championship. The champions feature an all-
African American starting five while Kentucky starts
five white players.
1967
First Iditarod dog sledding race held. The race begins as
a 56 mile race, but by 1973 it evolves into a 1,152 mile
trek between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska.
Charlie Sifford becomes the first African American to
win on the PGA golf tour when he captures the Greater
Hartford Open.
The first Super Bowl is played between the Green Bay
Packers and Kansas City Chiefs. It is originally called
the AFL-NFL World Championship Game.
1968
Bill Russell becomes the first African-American coach
in any major sport. He leads the Boston Celtics to two
championships as player-coach.
Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos protest
racism in the U.S. by raising black glove-clad fists on
the medal stand after finishing first and third in the 200meters
at the Mexico City Olympics. The two are suspended
from competition.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver begins the Special Olympics.
The program grows into an international showcase for
mentally challenged athletes.
The “Heidi” game becomes a piece of sports history as
fans in the East miss the Oakland Raiders’s thrilling
comeback against the New York Jets. NBC decides to
leave the game with 50 seconds left to start the movie
Heidi on time at 7:00 p.m. ET. The network is barraged
with calls complaining about the decision.
The American Football League (AFL) and National
Football League (NFL) merge. The league retains the
NFL name and splits teams into American and National
conferences.
1969
Rod Laver of Australia wins the tennis “Grand Slam”
for the second time in his career. He also won the Slam
in 1962 as an amateur.
1970
Pele plays in fourth World Cup for his home country of
Brazil.
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On September 21, ABC’s Monday Night Football debuts.
The game features a contest between the Cleveland
Browns and New York Jets. Howard Cosell and Don
Meredith are the commentators.
1971
Gordie Howe, “Mister Hockey,” retires from the NHL.
At the time he holds career records for goals (801), assists
(1,049), and points (1,850). Howe goes on to play
seven more seasons in the World Hockey Association
(WHA).
1972
Congress passes the Education Amendment Act, which
includes Title IX. Title IX bans sex discrimination in
federally funded schools in academics and athletics. The
new law changes the landscape of college athletics, as
more playing opportunities and scholarships are open to
women.
Secretariat wins horse racing’s Triple Crown, setting
records for every race. He is the only horse to run under
two minutes in the Kentucky Derby and wins the Belmont
Stakes by a record 31 lengths.
Mark Spitz wins seven Olympic swimming gold
medals. He sets the record for most medals won at a single
Olympic Games.
Black September, an Arab terrorist group, kills eleven
Israeli athletes held captive in the Olympic Village. The
Games are suspended the following morning for a
memorial service, after which, with the approval of the
Israelis, they reconvene.
Out of respect to the Native American population, Stanford
University changes its nickname from Indians to
Cardinals. Other schools do the same, but professional
teams do not.
1973
UCLA wins its seventh consecutive NCAA basketball
championship. Coached by the legendary John Wooden,
the Bruins during one stretch win 88 games in a row.
UCLA goes on to win three more titles under Wooden.
Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in a “Battle of
the Sexes” tennis match. Riggs, a self-proclaimed “male
chauvinist,” is 25 years older than King.
Running back O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills becomes
the first NFL player to ever rush for over 2,000
yards in a season. Simpson is the only player to accomplish
this feat in 14 games.
The Miami Dolphins finish the NFL season with a perfect
17-0 record. The Dolphins close out their season
with a 14-7 victory over the Washington Redskins in