1.
1896 Summer Olympics
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The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee, which had created by Pierre de Coubertin, it was held in Athens, Greece. Winners were given a medal, while runners-up received a copper medal. Retroactively, the IOC has converted these to gold and silver, ten of the 14 participating nations earned medals. The United States won the most gold medals,11, host nation Greece won the most medals overall,46, the highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spyridon Louis. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, the main venue was the Panathenaic Stadium, where athletics and wrestling took place, other venues included the Neo Phaliron Velodrome for cycling, and the Zappeion for fencing. The opening ceremony was held in the Panathenaic Stadium on 6 April, during which most of the athletes were aligned on the infield. After a speech by the president of the committee, Crown Prince Constantine. Afterwards, nine bands and 150 choir singers performed an Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date, the Panathenaic Stadium, the only Olympic stadium used in the 1800s, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, except for the Intercalated Games of 1906, during the 19th century, several small-scale sports festivals across Europe were named after the Ancient Olympic Games. The 1870 Olympics at the Panathenaic stadium, which had been refurbished for the occasion, had an audience of 30,000 people. In 1890, Coubertin wrote an article in La Revue Athletique, Coubertin also took inspiration from the earlier Greek games organised under the name of Olympics by businessman and philanthropist Evangelis Zappas in 1859,1870 and 1875. This the Greek government did despite the fact that the cost of refurbishing the stadium in marble had already been funded in full by Evangelis Zappas forty years earlier. With deep feeling towards Baron de Coubertins courteous petition, I send him, on 18 June 1894, Coubertin organised a congress at the Sorbonne, Paris, to present his plans to representatives of sports societies from 11 countries. Following his proposals acceptance by the congress, a date for the first modern Olympic Games needed to be chosen, Coubertin suggested that the Games be held concurrently with the 1900 Universal Exposition of Paris. Concerned that a waiting period might lessen public interest, congress members opted instead to hold the inaugural Games in 1896. With a date established, members of the congress turned their attention to the selection of a host city and it remains a mystery how Athens was finally chosen to host the inaugural Games
2.
1903 World Series
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The 1903 World Series was the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball. Pittsburg pitcher Sam Leever injured his shoulder while trap-shooting, so his teammate Deacon Phillippe pitched five complete games, Phillippe won three of his games, but it was not enough to overcome the club from the new American League. Boston pitchers Bill Dinneen and Cy Young led Boston to victory, in Game 1, Phillippe struck out ten Boston batters. The next day, Dinneen bettered that mark, striking out eleven Pittsburg batters in Game 2, honus Wagner, bothered by injuries, batted only 6 for 27 in the Series and committed six errors. The shortstop was deeply distraught by his performance, the following spring, Wagner refused to send his portrait to a Hall of Fame for batting champions. I was too bum last year, he wrote, I was a joke in that Boston-Pittsburg Series. What does it profit a man to hammer along and make a few hits when they are not needed only to fall down when it comes to a pinch, I would be ashamed to have my picture up now. Due to overflow crowds at the Exposition Park games in Allegheny City, if a ball rolled under a rope in the outfield that held spectators back. Seventeen ground-rule triples were hit in the four games played at the stadium, in the series, Boston came back from a three games to one deficit, winning the final four games to capture the title. Such a large comeback would not happen again until the Pirates came back to defeat the Washington Senators in the 1925 World Series, much was made of the influence of Bostons Royal Rooters, who traveled to Exposition Park and sang their theme song Tessie to distract the opposing players. Boston wound up winning three out of four games in Allegheny City, Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss added his share of the gate receipts to the players share, so the losing teams players actually finished with a larger individual share than the winning teams. The Series brought the new American League prestige and proved its best could beat the best of the National League, thus strengthening the demand for future World Series competitions. In 1901, Ban Johnson, president of the Western League, Johnson and fellow owners raided the National League and signed away many star players, including Cy Young and Jimmy Collins. Johnson had a list of 46 National Leaguers he targeted for the American League, by 1902, all, the constant raiding, however, scotched the idea of a championship between the two leagues. However, Johnson had spoken of putting a team in Pittsburg and even attempted to raid the Pirates roster in August 1902, which soured Dreyfuss. At the end of the season, however, the Pirates played a group of American League All-Stars in an exhibition series. The leagues finally called a truce in the winter of 1902–03, the following season, the Boston Americans and Pittsburg Pirates had secured their respective championship pennants by September. That August, Dreyfuss challenged the American League to a championship series
3.
1920 APFA season
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The 1920 APFA season was the inaugural season of the American Professional Football Association—renamed the National Football League in 1922. The league was formed on August 20,1920, by independent professional American football teams from Ohio, at the meeting, they first called their new league the American Professional Football Conference. A second organizational meeting was held in Canton on September 17, at the meeting, the name of the league became the American Professional Football Association. Four other teams joined the Association during the year. Meanwhile, Jim Thorpe of the Canton Bulldogs was named the APFAs first president, scheduling was left up to each team. There were wide variations, both in the number of games played and in the number played against other Association members. Thus, no standings were maintained. In addition, football teams in the APFA also faced independent football teams not associated with the league, for instance, the Rochester Jeffersons played a schedule consisting mostly of local teams from their local sandlot circuit and the NYPFL, not the APFA. The Akron Pros ended the season as the undefeated team in the Association. Despite this, two one-loss teams—the Decatur Staleys and Buffalo All-Americans—who both tied Akron that year made cases for a co-championship. At the league meetings in Akron on April 30,1921, the Pros were awarded the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup for the 1920 season, according to modern NFL tie-breaking rules, the 1920 Buffalo All-Americans would be co-champions. They would be tied with the Akron Pros in win percentage,9.5 wins to 1.5 losses, both teams beating out the Staleys, who would have a season that counted 11 wins to 2 losses. Prior to the APFA, there were several other loose, professional organizations, the representatives then contacted other major professional teams and invited them to a meeting for September 17. Representatives of the Buffalo All-Americans and Rochester Jeffersons could not attend the meeting, under the new league structure, teams created their schedules dynamically as the season progressed, so there were no minimum or maximum number of games needed to be played. Also, representatives of each team voted to determine the winner of the APFA trophy, the regular-season schedule was not fixed but was created dynamically by each team as the season progressed. The following table was formed by NFL History, which used contemporary newspapers, the first game involving an APFA team occurred on September 26, when the Rock Island Independents beat the St. Paul Ideals 48–0. The first official game between APFA members occurred on October 3, when the Dayton Triangles beat the Columbus Panhandles 14-0, the Triangles Lou Partlow scored the leagues first touchdown and George Hobby Kinderline kicked the first extra point. An historic marker placed by the Ohio Historical Society at Triangle Park in Dayton marks the location of that first ever game, the final game of the season was a 14–14 tie between the Racine Cardinals and the Chicago Staleys on December 19,1920
4.
1930 FIFA World Cup
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The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for mens national association football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 July to 30 July 1930, all matches were played in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, the majority at the Estadio Centenario, which was built for the tournament. Few European teams chose to participate because of the difficulty of travelling to South America, the teams were divided into four groups, with the winner of each group progressing to the semi-finals. The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously, and were won by France and the United States, Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal in World Cup history, while American goalkeeper Jimmy Douglas posted the first official clean sheet in the tournament. Argentina, Uruguay, the United States and Yugoslavia each won their groups to qualify for the semi-finals. In the final, hosts and pre-tournament favourites Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people, italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary and Uruguay all lodged applications to host the event. Uruguays bid became the clear selection after all the other countries withdrew their bids, the first World Cup was the only one without qualification. Every country affiliated with FIFA was invited to compete, and given a deadline of 28 February 1930 to accept, plenty of interest was shown by nations in the Americas, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and the United States all entered. A total of seven South American teams participated, more than in any subsequent World Cup Finals. However, because of the long and costly trip by ship across the Atlantic Ocean, some refused to countenance travel to South America in any circumstances, and no European entries were received before the February deadline. This was rejected by the FA Committee on 18 November 1929, two months before the start of the tournament, no team from Europe had officially entered. FIFA president Jules Rimet intervened, and eventually four European teams made the trip by sea, Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia. The Romanians, managed by Constantin Rădulescu and coached by their captain Rudolf Wetzer and Octav Luchide and he selected the squad personally, and negotiated with employers to ensure that the players would still have jobs upon their return. The French entered at the intervention of Rimet, but neither Frances star defender Manuel Anatol nor the teams regular coach Gaston Barreau could be persuaded to make the trip. The Belgians participated at the instigation of German-Belgian FIFA vice-president Rodolphe Seeldrayers, the Romanians boarded the SS Conte Verde at Genoa, the French were picked up at Villefranche-sur-Mer on 21 June 1930, and the Belgians embarked at Barcelona. The Conte Verde carried Rimet, the trophy and the three designated European referees, the Belgians Jean Langenus and Henri Christophe, along with Thomas Balway, a Parisian who may have been English. The Brazilian team were picked up when the boat docked in Rio de Janeiro on 29 June before arriving in Uruguay on 4 July, Yugoslavia travelled via the mail steamship Florida from Marseille. In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia there were doubts about their participation at first, since the Croatians decided to boycott the national team, King Alexander I did not want to finance the whole idea, but in the end they found a solution
