50. The Notre Dame basketball team beats UCLA, ending the Bruins 88-game winning streak.
49. The Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding saga captures America's attention.
48. Cal Ripken sets the record for consecutive games played.
47. Greg LeMond overcomes amazing odds to win the 1989 Tour de France.
46. In what some people call the greatest upset in boxing history, unknown Buster Douglas defeats Mike Tyson.
45. Richard Petty wins his 200th career race.
44. In a play that perhaps best exemplifies the Celtic mystique and the legend of Boston Garden, John Havlicek's steal clinches the 1965 Eastern Conference Finals.
43. In 1993, Joe Carter becomes the second man in history to win the World Series with a home run.
42. Willie Mays makes "The Catch" in game 1 of the 1954 World Series. His spectacular, overhead grab sucked the energy out of the Indians, and the Giants would go on to sweep the series.
41. Walter Payton breaks Jim Brown's career rushing record.
40. Bill Buckner's error on a routine grounder in the 1986 World Series continues the Red Sox streak of bad luck and leads many to conclude that the infamous "Curse of the Bambino" lives on.
39. The U.S. Women's Soccer team wins the 1999 World Cup in a shoot-out.
38. Boston College beats Miami on Doug Flutie's Hail Mary.
37. Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's record by collecting hit #4,192.
36. North Carolina State upsets Houston in the 1983 NCAA Championship, beating a "Phi Slamma Jamma" team with Akeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.
35. "The Play": Cal returns a crazy, lateral-filled kickoff as time expires to beat John Elway and arch-rival Stanford. Cal ran the last few yards through members of the Stanford band, who had taken the field, confident that their team had won.
34. Bob Beamon crushes the long jump record.
33. Wayne Gretzky breaks the NHL scoring record.
32. Tiger Woods establishes himself as a sports icon by absolutely dominating the 1997 Masters.
31. In one of the most controversial events in sports history, the Soviet Union defeats the United States in the basketball gold medal game of the 1972 Olympics. While the final buzzer sounded twice with the U.S. in the lead, officials reset the clock each time. On their third attempt, the Soviets managed to score, sending the U.S. to their first ever Olympic defeat. To this day, members of the U.S. team have refused to pick up their silver medals.
30. Muhammad Ali wins the heavyweight championship for an unprecedented third time.
29. Bjorn Borg defeats John McEnroe in a Wimbledon marathon match that is generally considered the best ever played.
28. Duke plays Kentucky in what many call the greatest basketball game ever played. The Regional Final ends when Christian Laettner catches a full court pass from Grant Hill, turns, shoots, and hits as the buzzer sounds.
27. Billy Jean King wins the "Battle of the Sexes."
26. Carlton Fisk waves his World Series home run fair.
25. Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci scores a perfect 10 at the 1976 Summer Games, becoming the first athlete to ever do so in Olympic competition. She would go on to repeat the feat four more times.
24. Wilma Rudolph, who as a child had been told she would never walk, wins Olympic gold.
23. Wilt Chamberlain finishes a NBA game with the inconceivable total of 100 points.
22. Bobby Thomson hits the "Shot Heard 'Round the World," leading the Giants to victory over the rival Dodgers in a one game playoff.
21. "The Catch": Joe Montana's pass to Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone wins the 1982 NFC Championship game. The 49ers would go on to win the first of their five Super Bowls by defeating the Bengals.
20. Bill Mazeroski's homerun wins game 7 of the 1960 World Series.
19. Don Larsen pitches a perfect game in the World Series.
18. Secretariat not only wins the Triple Crown, but dominates each of the three legs.
17. Babe Ruth calls his shot in the 1932 World Series. To this day, the event is surrounded by controversy, as some claim Ruth was merely pointing to the mound, not Wrigley's centerfield.
16. The Green Bay Packers defeat the Dallas Cowboys in the "Ice Bowl." They would go on to win Super Bowl II, capping a decade of dominance.
15. In a game considered by many to be the greatest of all time, Johnny Unitas and the Colts defeat the Giants in the 1958 NFL Championship. It is the first overtime game in NFL history.
14. An injured Willis Reed comes out of the locker room moments before the tip of game 7 of the 1970 NBA finals. The shocked Lakers never recover, and the emotionally charged Knicks roll to victory and the championship.
13. The Magic Johnson-Larry Bird rivalry begins when Magic's Michigan State defeats Bird's Indiana State in the 1979 NCAA finals.
12. Swimmer Mark Spitz wins a record seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics.
11. Golfing legend Jack Nicklaus wins the 1986 Masters at the age of 46.
10. Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, humiliating Adolf Hitler and shattering his myth of Aryan superiority.
9. A terminally ill Lou Gehrig makes an emotional farewell at Yankee stadium, saying he is the luckiest man in the world.
8. Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American player in Major League history.
7. Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth's career home run record.
6. "The Immaculate Reception."
5. Joe Louis knocks out unwilling NAZI poster boy Max Schmeling as tensions between the U.S. and Germany rise.
4. Joe Namath delivers on his guarantee of a victory in Super Bowl III, as the Jets upset the heavily favored Colts.
3. Mark McGwire breaks the homerun record, survives a late surge from Sammy Sosa, and goes on to hit 70.
2. In a scene straight out of Hollywood, an injured Kirk Gibson hits a pinch-hit game-winning home run for the Dodgers in the World Series.
1. "The Miracle on Ice": The U.S. Hockey Team does the impossible and defeats the unbeatable Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics.
Submitted 1/16/01 by Cleveland lawyer Brad Sobolewski.