Today’s Sports Highlight in History:
In 1990, The “Indomitable Lions” of Cameroon pull off one of the greatest upsets in soccer history, 1-0 over defending champion Argentina in the first game of the World Cup.
On this date:
1935 — Omaha, ridden by Willis Saunders, becomes the third horse to win the Triple Crown by capturing the Belmont Stakes with a 1½-length victory over Firethron.
1950 — Boston beats the St. Louis Browns 29-4 at Fenway Park, and the Red Sox set six major league records: most runs scored by one team; most long hits in a game with 17 (nine doubles, one triple and seven homers); most total bases with 60; most extra bases on long hits with 32; most runs for two games with 49 (20 a day earlier); and most hits in two games with 51.
1958 — Mickey Wright beats Fay Crocker by six strokes to win the LPGA Championship.
1980 — Sally Little wins the LPGA Championship by three strokes over Jane Blalock.
1982 — 36th NBA Championship: LA Lakers beat Philadelphia 76ers, 4 games to 2.
1985 — Creme Fraiche, ridden by Eddie Maple, becomes the first gelding to win the Belmont Stakes, beating Stephan’s Odyssey by a half-length.
1986 — Larry Bird scores 29 points to lead the Boston Celtics to a 114-97 victory over the Houston Rockets and their 16th NBA title.
1991 — Warren Schutte, a UNLV sophomore from South Africa, shoots a 5-under 67 to become the first foreign-born player to win the NCAA Division I golf championship.
2000 — Mike Modano deflects Brett Hull’s shot at 6:21 of the third overtime, ending the longest scoreless overtime game in Stanley Cup finals history and helping the Dallas Stars beat the New Jersey Devils 1-0 in Game 5.
2002 — British-Canadian Lennox Lewis retains boxing’s WBC Heavyweight title with eighth-round knockout of American Mike Tyson.
2005 — Freshman Samantha Findlay hits a three-run homer in the 10th inning to lead Michigan to a 4-1 win over UCLA for its first NCAA softball title. Michigan is the first team from east of the Mississippi River to win the national championship.
2008 — Rafael Nadal wins his fourth consecutive French Open title in a rout, again spoiling Roger Federer’s bid to complete a career Grand Slam. Dominating the world’s No. 1 player with astounding ease, Nadal wins in three sets, 6-1, 6-3, 6-0.
2008 — Yani Tseng of Taiwan becomes the first rookie in 10 years to win a major, beating Maria Hjorth on the fourth hole of a playoff with a 5-foot birdie on the 18th hole to win the LPGA Championship.
2012 — I’ll Have Another’s bid for the first Triple Crown in 34 years ends shockingly in the barn and not on the racetrack when the colt is scratched the day before the Belmont Stakes and retires from racing with a swollen tendon.
2013 — Serena Williams wins her 16th Grand Slam title and her first French Open championship since 2002, beating Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-4.
2014 — Rafael Nadal wins the French Open title for the ninth time, and the fifth time in a row, by beating Novak Djokovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4. Nadal improves his record at Roland Garros to 66-1.
2015 — The NCAA approves multiple rule changes to men’s basketball for the 2015-16 season, including a 30-second shot clock and fewer timeouts for each team. The shot clock was last reduced, from 45 to 35 seconds, in 1993-94.
2018 — Golden State romps to its second straight NBA championship, beating Cleveland 108-85 to finish a four-game sweep. Stephen Curry scores 37 points and Kevin Durant, who is named MVP for the second straight finals, has 20 for the Warriors. It’s the first sweep in the NBA Finals since 2007, when James was dismissed by a powerful San Antonio team in his first one.
2019 — Ashleigh Barty, Australia, wins the French Open by defeating Marketa Vondrousoca. The win is Barty’s first Grand Slam singles title.