The Bergen Record

TODAY IN SPORTS

Jan. 18

1938 – Grover Cleveland Alexander is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. His 90 shutouts is second on the all-time list to Walter Johnson and his 16 shutouts in 1916 is still the major league record. 1958 – Canadian born Willie O’Ree becomes the NHL’s first Black player for the Boston Bruins.

1972 – The Lakers’ Jerry West, hits a last second, 20-foot jumper to lead the West team to a 112-110 NBA All-Star victory over the East, as he garners the MVP award.

1973 – Orlando Cepeda becomes the first player signed specifical­ly to be a designated hitter. He signs with the Boston Red Sox one week after the designated hitter rule is approved. 1976 – Pittsburgh wins the Super Bowl for the second straight year. Terry Bradshaw’s 64-yard touchdown pass to Lynn Swann and Glen Edwards’ intercepti­on on the last play of the game gives the Steelers a 21-17 win over the Dallas Cowboys. Swann, with four receptions for 161 yards, is the game’s MVP.

1992 – Brett Hull scores two goals with the help of linemate Wayne Gretzky to lead the Campbell Conference to a 10-6 victory over the Wales Conference in the NHL All-Star game.

1996 – Baseball owners break with more than a century of tradition by unanimousl­y approving interleagu­e play in 1997.2003 – Michelle Kwan wins her sixth straight title, and seventh overall, at the U.S. Figure Skating Championsh­ips. Michael Weiss, despite splatterin­g on his quad lutz, two-footing a quad toe and not doing a triple axel the entire competitio­n, gets his third U.S. men’s title.

2004 – The New England Patriots earn their second trip to the Super Bowl in three seasons by defeating the Indianapol­is Colts 24-14 in the AFC championsh­ip game. The Philadelph­ia Eagles fall one win short of the Super Bowl for the third straight year as the Carolina Panthers post a 14-3 win. 2005 – Earl Boykins breaks the NBA record for points in an overtime, scoring 15 of Denver’s 21 points in the extra period as the Nuggets beat the Seattle SuperSonic­s 116-110. The 5-foot-5 guard, the league’s smallest player, broke the record of 14 overtime points set by Butch Carter of Indiana against Boston on March 20, 1984.

2011 – Kim Clijsters starts her Australian Open run with a 6-0, 6-0 romp of three-time Grand Slam finalist and former No. 1-ranked player Dinara Safina. It’s the first time a woman who was once the top-ranked player in the world had ever lost by that score.