1978: Leon Spinks won a 15-round split decision over Muhammad Ali to take the world heavyweight title at Las Vegas.
1980: Rookie Wayne Gretzky tied the NHL record with seven assists in a game and set a scoring record for first-year players in Edmonton’s 8-2 victory over the Washington Capitals.
1994: Kentucky made one of the greatest comebacks in college basketball history with a 99-95 victory over LSU after trailing by 31 points with 15:30 to play.
1994: Freshman Ila Borders became the first woman to pitch in an NCAA or NAIA game, hurling a complete-game victory for Southern California College. She allowed five hits in a 12-1 win over Claremont-Mudd.
1995: Charlie Standish set a PBA record by rolling three perfect games in the first round of the Peoria Open. Standish rolled the 300s in the second, fourth and sixth games of the six-game round, and at one point had 23 consecutive strikes.
1998: Dale Earnhardt, on the day NASCAR began celebrating its 50th anniversary, won the Daytona 500 on his 20th try, ending an overall 59-race winless streak.
