Feb. 23

1935 — George "The Iceman" Woolf makes history, riding Azucar to victory in the inaugural Santa Anita Handicap. Azucar beats such greats as Equipoise and Twenty Grand in the first $100,000 horse race.

1960 — Carol Heiss captures the first gold medal for the United States in the Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, California, winning the figure skating event.

1968 — Wilt Chamberlain becomes first player to score 25,000 points in the NBA.

1980 — Eric Heiden wins his fifth gold medal and shatters the world record by six seconds in 10,000-meter speed skating at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York His time is 14:28.13.

1985 — Indiana coach Bob Knight is ejected five minutes into the Hoosiers' 72-63 loss to Purdue when he throws a chair across the court. While Purdue was shooting the technical, Knight picks up a chair from the bench area and throws it across the court, earning his second technical.

1987 — Seattle's Nate McMillan sets an NBA rookie record with 25 assists to lead the SuperSonics over the Los Angeles Clippers 124-112.

1991 — North Carolina becomes the first team in NCAA basketball history to win 1,500 games with a 73-57 victory over Clemson.

2000 — Boston's Marty McSorley is suspended for the rest of the season (23 games) for hitting Vancouver's Donald Brashear in the head with his stick, on Feb. 21.

2002 — The Americans end nearly a half-century of Olympic frustration for the U.S. men's bobsled team, driving to the silver and bronze medals in the four-man race.

2006 — Japan's Shizuka Arakawa, the 2004 world champion, stuns favorites Sasha Cohen of the United States and Irina Slutskaya of Russia to claim the women's figure skating gold medal at the Winter Olympics.

2007 — Tiger Woods' winning streak on the PGA Tour, which began in July, comes to a shocking end. Woods fails to notice a ball mark in the line of his 4-foot birdie putt that would have won his third-round match against Nick O'Hern. Woods misses, then loses in 20 holes when O'Hern saves par with a 12-foot putt at the Accenture Match Play Championship.

2014 — Canada defends its Olympic men's hockey title with a 3-0 victory over Sweden. Canada becomes the only repeat Olympic champ in the NHL era and the first team to go unbeaten through the Olympic tournament since the Soviet Union in Sarajevo in 1984.

2014 — Jason Collins becomes the first openly gay athlete in the United States four major pro leagues, playing 10 scoreless minutes with two rebounds and five fouls in the New Jersey's 108-102 victory of the Los Angeles Lakers.

2014 — Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins a rain-delayed Daytona 500, a decade after his first victory in the "Great American Race." Earnhardt snaps a 55-race winless stretch that dated to 2012.

2019 — Germany's Francesco Friedrich finishes off the first perfect two-man season in World Cup bobsled history, driving to his eighth victory of the eight-race season held in Calgary, Alberta.

2019 — Arkansas' Danielle Gibson becomes the sixth NCAA Division I softball player to hit four home runs in a game when she accomplished the feat in 15-3 rout of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

Feb. 24

1960 — Bill Cleary's four goals lead the United States to a 9-1 victory over West Germany in the hockey championship round of the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California.

1978 — Kevin Porter of the New Jersey Nets sets an NBA record with 29 assists in a 126-112 victory over the Houston Rockets.

1980 — The United States hockey team wins the gold medal with a 4-2 victory over Finland at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.

1985 — Jim Kelly of the Houston Gamblers passes for a USFL-record 574 yards and five touchdowns in a 34-33 comeback-win over the Los Angeles Express. Kelly, completes 35 of 54 passes, including three for touchdowns in the final 10 minutes.

1993 — Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings scores his 1,000th career point with a goal and three assists in a 10-7 loss to Buffalo Sabres.

1994 — Lipscomb's John Pierce becomes college basketball's career scoring leader with 33 points in his regular-season finale, a 119-102 win over Cumberland. Pierce's 4,110 points break former roommate Phil Hutcheson's record of 4,106.

2002 — Svetlana Feofanova breaks the pole vault indoor world record for the fourth time this month, clearing 15 feet, 6 1/2 inches at the Gaz de France meet.

2002 — Joe Sakic scores two goals, including the game-winner, and two assists, and Jarome Iginla scores twice as Canada beat the United States 5-2 for the gold medal at the Winter Olympics. It's the seventh time Canada has won the gold in its national sport, but the first since 1952.

2006 — Julia Mancuso earns a stunning victory in the giant slalom to salvage a disappointing Olympics for the U.S. women in their final Alpine event of the Turin Games. Mancuso gives the American women their first Olympic Alpine medal since Picabo Street's gold in the super-G at the 1998 Nagano Games.

2008 — Tiger Woods wins the Accenture Match Play Championship, his fifth straight tournament victory. Woods overwhelms Stewart Cink with 14 birdies in 29 holes for an 8-and-7 victory, the largest margin in the final in the 10-year history of this tournament.

2009 — Syracuse beats St. John's 87-58 to give coach Jim Boeheim his record 31st 20-win season. Boeheim breaks the tie with former North Carolina coach Dean Smith for the Division I record for 20-win seasons.

2012 — Missy Parkin becomes the first woman to reach the match play finals in the 69th U.S Open at Brunswick Zone-Carolier. Shafer, a 25-year Professional Bowlers Association Tour veteran, completes the 26-game qualifying portion of the U.S. Open with a total of 5,825 pins - averaging at a 224.04 pace.

2018 — The United States wins the Olympic gold medal in men's curling in a decisive upset of Sweden. John Shuster skips the United States to a 10-7 victory for only the second curling medal in U.S. history.

2018 — Devonte Graham scores 26 points and No. 8 Kansas sets an NCAA record with its 14th straight regular-season conference championship, beating No. 6 Texas Tech 74-72 to clinch at least a tie for the Big 12 title. The NCAA-record 14th straight conference title breaks a tie with UCLA (1967-79).

Feb. 25

1940 — The first telecast of an American hockey game is transmitted over station W2XBS in New York. The viewing audience watches the New York Rangers battle the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden.

1957 — The United States Supreme Court rules that pro football, unlike professional baseball, is subject to the anti-trust laws of the United States. The court decides 6-3 that baseball is only anti-trust exempt pro sport.

1961 — Niagara ends St. Bonaventure's 99-game winning streak at home with an 87-77 victory over the Bonnies. Al Butler leads the Purple Eagles with 25 points and Tom Stith leads the Bonnies with 33 points. Niagara shoots 73 percent from the field to give St. Bonaventure its first loss in 13 years at the Olean Armory.

1962 — Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scores 67 points, but New York's Richie Guerin scores 50 to lead the Knicks to a 149-135 victory.

1964 — Cassius Clay wins the world heavyweight title when Sonny Liston is unable to answer the bell for the seventh round at Convention Hall in Miami Beach, Florida.

1977 — Pete Maravich of the New Orleans Jazz scores 68 points, the most by an NBA guard, in a 124-107 victory over the New York Knicks. Only Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor had scored more points in an NBA game.

1987 — The Southern Methodist football team is suspended for the 1987 season after investigations reveal that players received $61,000 from a booster slush fund.

1993 — Vermont beats Northeastern 50-40 for its 50th straight victory, breaking the women's Division I college basketball record for consecutive regular season wins.

1994 — Oksana Baiul of Ukraine wins the figure skating gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, and Nancy Kerrigan, who was whacked on the knee 2½ months earlier, wins the silver. Tonya Harding, later convicted of hindering prosecution in the Kerrigan attack, finishes eighth.

2001 — In the largest playoff in PGA Tour history, Rert Allenby wins the Nissan Open on the first extra hole against five other players. It's Allenby's third PGA Tour victory, all of them won in playoffs.

2009 — Senior guard A.J. Price scores a career-high 36 points as Connecticut beats Marquette 93-82 to give coach Jim Calhoun his 800th career victory. Calhoun becomes only the seventh coach in Division I history to win 800 or more games.

2010 — In Vancouver, British Columbia, the Canadian women defeat the United States 2-0 for their third straight Olympic hockey title. Americans Billy Demong and Johnny Spillane finish 1-2 in a Nordic combined race. They are the first American medalists in a sport that's been part of the Winter Olympics since 1924.

2014 — Second-ranked Wichita State becomes the first Division I men's basketball team to reach 30-0 in the regular season with a 69-49 victory over Bradley. Wichita State is the 11th team to reach 30-0, the previous 10 all hitting the 30-win mark during postseason play.

2015 — The Miami Hurricanes builds an 18-point lead and survives the late heroics of Florida State's Xavier Rathan-Mayes to win 81-77. Rathan-Mayes scores 30 points in the final 4:38. He shoots 8 for 10 during the stretch, including six 3-pointers, and the freshman finishes with 35 points to tie his career high.

2017 — Kelsey Plum surpasses Jackie Stiles to become the NCAA's all-time scoring leader with a career-best 57 points in the final regular season game of her career, leading No. 11 Washington past Utah 84-77.

2018 — Kirill Kaprizov scores a power-play goal in overtime to lift the Russians to the gold medal in men's hockey with a 4-3 win over Germany at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

2018 — Norway's Marit Bjoergen closes out a remarkable Olympic career, winning the gold medal in the women's 30-kilometer mass start at the Pyeongchang Games. The 37-year-old Bjoergen, the only Olympian to win five medals at these Games, finishes her career with 15 medals. She leaves as the most decorated athlete in Winter Olympic history.

2019 — James Harden scores 28 points, ending his 32-game streak with at least 30 while the Houston Rockets beat the Atlanta Hawks 119-111. Harden returns after missing a Feb. 23 win over Golden State with a neck injury. His run of games with 30 or more points is the second-longest in NBA history behind a 65-game streak by Wilt Chamberlain.

Feb. 26

1935 — Babe Ruth is released by the New York Yankees and signed by the Boston Braves.

1938 — Glenn Cunningham sets a world indoor records in 1500-meter race at the AAU nationals at New York's Madison Square Garden. Cunningham finishes in 3:48.4.

1947 — Brothers Doug and Max Bentley lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a 9-7 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Doug Bentley scores four goals and sets up two more goals. Max Bentley scores three goals and assists on another goal.

1960 — Dave Jenkins of the United States wins the figure skating gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California.

1967 — Mario Andretti, better known for his accomplishments in open-wheel and USAC competition, wins the Daytona 500 pulling away from 1965 champion Fred Lorenzen in the closing laps. It's Andretti's his first and only NASCAR Grand National event. He is the only person born outside the United States to win the Daytona 500.

1968 — Thirty-two African nations agree to boycott the Olympics because of the presence of South Africa.

1987 — Michael Jordan scores 58 points, the most by a Chicago player in a regular-season game, to lead the Bulls over the New Jersey Nets 128-113.

1989 — Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux becomes the third NHL player to have 100 assists in a season, joining Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky. Lemieux gets three assists and a goal in the Penguins' 8-6 loss to the Hartford Whalers at the Civic Center.

1994 — In Lillehammer, Norway, Vreni Schneider of Switzerland wins the slalom for the fifth medal of her career, the most of any woman in Alpine Olympic history.

2006 — Sweden beats Finland 3-2 to win the Olympic men's hockey gold. Germany leaves Turin with the most overall medals with 29, 11 of them gold, while the Americans win 25 medals overall, including nine gold.

2007 — Roger Federer reaches a new milestone breaking Jimmy Connors' 30-year-old mark with his 161st week at the top of the ATP rankings. Connors set his record from July 1974 to August 1977. The ATP rankings began on Aug. 23, 1973. Federer took the No. 1 spot on Feb. 2, 2004.

2007 — Shaquille O'Neal passes the 25,000-point mark for his career midway through the first quarter of Miami's 99-93 loss to New York. O'Neal is the seventh player to reach 25,000 points and 10,000 rebounds.

2012 — Pete Weber wins a record fifth U.S. Open bowling championship, throwing a strike on his final ball to beat Mike Fagan 215-214. Weber surpasses his father, Dick Weber, who won the tournament's predecessor four times, as did Don Carter.

2012 — In Bansko, Bulgaria, Lindsey Vonn captures her fourth World Cup super-G race of the year and becomes the career leader in the discipline. By winning her 18th super G the American overtakes Austria's Renate Goetschl for the record.

2013 — C. Vivian Stringer becomes the fourth women's college basketball coach to reach 900 wins as Rutgers cruises past South Florida 68-56.

2018 — The U.S. Open changes to a two-hole aggregate playoff, the last of the four majors to do away with an 18-hole playoff. The U.S. Golf Association also decided to make its other three open championships two-hole playoffs — the U.S. Women's Open, U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Senior Women's Open.

2018 — The top-ranked UConn women's team complete an undefeated regular season for the 10th time in program history with an 82-53 win over No. 20 South Florida.

Feb. 27

1918 — The first neutral site game in NHL history is held in Quebec City. Frank Nighbor scores twice in the first period to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

1955 — Boston beats Milwaukee 62-57 at Providence, R.I. in a game which set records for fewest points scored by one team, and by both teams, since the introduction of the 24-second clock.

1959 — The Boston Celtics beat the Minneapolis Lakers 173-139 as seven NBA records fall. The Celtics set records for most points (179), most points in a half (90), most points in a quarter (52) and most field goals (72). Boston's Tom Heinsohn leads all scorers with 43 points and Bob Cousy adds 31 while setting an NBA record with 28 assists.

1966 — Richard Petty wins the rain-shortened Daytona 500 by more than a lap at a speed of 160.927 mph. Petty holds the lead for the last 212 miles of the scheduled 500-mile event, which is called five miles from the finish. Cale Yarborough finishes second.

1977 — Stan Mikita of the Chicago Black Hawks scores his 500th goal in a 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.

1982 — Florida apprentice Mary Russ becomes the first female jockey to win a Grade I Stakes in North America when she captures the Widener Handicap aboard Lord Darnley at Hialeah (Fla.) Park.

1994 — Sweden wins its first hockey gold medal, defeating Canada 3-2 in the first shootout for a championship at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

1996 — The Chicago Bulls reach 50 victories faster than any team in NBA history, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 120-99. The Bulls (50-6) reach 50 victories in 56 games, one better than the 1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers who started 50-7.

1998 — Indiana's 124-59 victory over Portland marks the first time in the NBA's 51-year history that one team scores more than twice as many points as the other.

2006 — Effa Manley is the first woman elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The former Newark Eagles co-owner is among 17 people from the Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues chosen by a special committee.

2010 — Steven Holcomb drives USA-1 to the Olympic gold medal in four-man bobsledding, ending a 62-year drought for the Americans in the event. Holcomb's four-run time was 3:24.46, with Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz pushing for him.

2013 — The New York Knicks overcome Stephen Curry's NBA season-high 54 points to beat the Golden State Warriors 109-105. Curry is 18 of 28 from the field, finishing one shy of the NBA record with 11 3-pointers. It's the most points by an NBA player in a loss since Kobe Bryant had 58 in a loss to Charlotte on Dec. 29, 2006.

2015 — Travis Kvapil's NASCAR Sprint Cup car is stolen early in the day from a hotel parking lot, forcing him to withdraw from a race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The team didn't have a backup car in Atlanta, so it's forced to drop out when the stolen machine wasn’t located in time for NASCAR's mandatory inspection.

Feb. 28

1922 — In the first formal college conference basketball tournament, North Carolina beats Mercer 40-26 to win the Southern Intercollegiate Conference championship. The 13-team conference keeps standings in its' second season.

1929 — The Chicago Black Hawks are shutout for an NHL-record eighth straight game. It's not a total loss, as the Black Hawks hold the New York Rangers scoreless for a 0-0 tie.

1940 — College basketball is televised for the first time. Station W2XBS transmits a basketball doubleheader from New York's Madison Square Garden. Pittsburgh plays Fordham and New York University competes against Georgetown.

1957 — Johnny Longden becomes the first jockey in history to reach 5,000 victories. Longden, who started his career in 1927, coaxes Bente to a head victory over Flying Finish II in the fourth race at Santa Anita Park.

1960 — The United States hockey team scores six goals in the third period to beat Czechoslovakia 9-4 and win the gold medal in the Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, California. The U.S. is down 4-3 after two periods, but Roger Christian scores three times in the third. Roger's brother, Bill Christian, assists on two of the three goals.

1967 — Wilt Chamberlain misses his first field goal in four games to end his NBA record shooting streak of 35 consecutive field goals, during Philadelphia's 127-107 victory over Cincinnati at Syracuse.

1971 — Jack Nicklaus wins the PGA Championship by beating Billy Casper by three strokes.

1986 — Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth conditionally suspends Dave Parker of the Cincinnati Reds, Keith Hernandez of the New York Mets, Joaquin Andujar of the Oakland Athletics, Lonnie Smith of the Kansas City Royals, Enos Cabell of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jeff Leonard of the San Francisco Giants and Dale Berra of the New York Yankees for one year for drug abuse. After conditions are met the suspensions are reduced.

1987 — Chick Hearn, broadcaster for the Los Angeles Lakers, calls his 2,000th consecutive game for the club, a streak spanning 22 years.

1993 — Winnipeg's Teemu Selanne scores four goals and becomes the third rookie in NHL history to score 50 goals in a season. Selanne scores his 48th of the season in the first period, gets his 49th and 50th goals in the second and scores his 51st goal in the third period to help the Winnipeg Jets defeat the Minnesota North Stars 7-6 at Winnipeg Arena.

1999 — Venus and Serena Williams become the first sisters to win WTA Tour events on the same day. Venus wins the IGA SuperThrift Tennis Classic in Oklahoma City after Serena takes her first title on the WTA Tour at the Gaz de France Open.

2003 — In Val Di Fiemme, Italy, Johnny Spillane wins the Nordic combined sprint to become the first American to win a gold medal at the Nordic world championships.

2010 — Sidney Crosby scores the winning goal in overtime to give Canada a 3-2 victory over the United States in the final event of the Vancouver Olympics.

Feb. 29

1964 — Cincinnati teammates Jerry Lucas and Oscar Robertson combine for a rare 40-40 performance as the Royals defeat the host Philadelphia 76ers 117-114. Rookie of the Year Lucas collects a team-record 40 rebounds and league MVP Robertson tallies 43 points.

1976 — Boston goalie Gilles Gilbert extends his NHL-record winning streak to 17 games, with a 5-3 victory over Vancouver at the Boston Garden.

1980 — Hartford's Gordie Howe scores his 800th NHL goal to help the Whalers beat St. Louis 3-0.

1992 — Ray Bourque has a goal and two assists to give him 1,000 career points in the Bruins' 5-5 tie against Washington. He becomes the third NHL defenseman to score 1,000 points.

1996 — The Dallas Mavericks set NBA records for 3-pointers in a game with 18 and in a half with 12 during a 137-120 victory over Denver.

2000 — Sparky Anderson, the only manager to win World Series titles in both leagues, is elected into the Hall of Fame by the veterans committee.

2004 — Tiger Woods roars past Davis Love III with key putts to win the Match Play Championship for the second straight year, 3 and 2. Woods won for the 40th time on the PGA Tour in his 149th start, the quickest anyone has reached that milestone. Jack Nicklaus played 221 events before he won his 40th tournament.

2012 — In Genoa, Italy, the United States beats Italy in soccer for the first time in 11 games over 78 years, taking a 1-0 exhibition victory on Clint Dempsey's goal in the 55th minute.

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