Do You Remember These Major Moments in Sports History?

In 1988, Steffi Graf became the only woman to earn the coveted “Golden Slam” in tennis by winning the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open, as well as an Olympic gold medal, in the same calendar year. During her 16-year professional career, Graf won 22 Grand Slam titles, just one less than the current record holder, Serena Williams.

Zinedine Zidane is one of the greatest soccer players of all time. Zidane was named FIFA Player of the Year three times (1998, 2000, 2003), and won the 1998 Ballon d’Or. However, he’s also remembered for his final on-field moment. In the 2006 World Cup final, Zidane was provoked by Italy's Marco Materazzi and responded with a headbutt to the chest. Zidane was sent off with a red card and Italy defeated Zidane’s France to win the World Cup. Zidane retired professionally after the game.

Larry Bird was one of the greatest all-time shooters and trash talkers in basketball history, and those qualities worked hand in hand at the inaugural NBA Three-Point Shootout in 1986. Bird sized up his competition in the All-Star locker room, and famously asked, “Man, who’s comin’ in second?” Not only did Bird win the inaugural Three-Point Shootout, but he also won the following two years.

On July 10, 1999, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team won the sport’s biggest prize on their home field. In front of 90,000 fans at the Rose Bowl, the U.S. and China played to a scoreless draw through regular and extra time. Finally, defender Brandi Chastain settled matters with a penalty kick, famously taking off her shirt in celebration. What many people don’t know is that right-footed Chastain took the famous kick with her left foot to trick the goalkeeper.

The only walk-off home run in a decisive game seven came in 1960, when Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski hit a game-, series-, and season-winning home run over the left field wall to eliminate the New York Yankees. The Pirates were massive underdogs in the series, getting outscored 55-27 in the series by the New York juggernaut that had won seven of the last 11 series.

The Montreal Canadiens are the only NHL team to win five straight Stanley Cups. Their first win of the streak was in 1955 against the Detroit Red Wings, and their final win was in 1960 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Sixteen years later, the Canadiens began another winning streak and won four straight Cups from 1976 to 1979. The only American franchise to win four consecutive Cups is the New York Islanders, who won every year from 1980 to 1983.

To this day, the 1972 Miami Dolphins remain the only team to have an undefeated season capped off by a Super Bowl win. During the season, in an unexpected twist of events, starting quarterback Bob Griese was injured in week five and replaced by backup Earl Morrall; Griese didn’t return until the second half of the AFC Championship game on December 31. Just two weeks later, on January 14, 1973, the team finished their perfect season with a 14-7 Super Bowl win over the Washington Redskins.

Going into game six of the 1986 World Series, the Boston Red Sox led the series 3-2. They seem poised for another win that night, too, until the Mets rallied from behind in the bottom of the eighth and forced the game into extra innings. At the bottom of the 10th, Mets outfielder Mookie Wilson hit a slow roller to first baseman Bill Buckner. The ball went through Buckner’s legs, which allowed Ray Knight to score the winning run to tie the series. The Mets clinched the title in game seven.

In 1987, Disney launched their “What’s Next?” campaign. As part of it, the company told the two quarterbacks playing in that year’s Super Bowl — John Elway of the Broncos and Phil Simms of the Giants — that the winning QB would earn $75,000 if he said to the camera after his victory, “I’m going to Disney World,” and, “I’m going to Disneyland.” The Giants beat the Broncos 39-20, and Sims uttered those two phrases, which are still exclaimed to this day.

Babe Ruth had a career like no other during his 22 years playing in the major leagues. The Bambino led the American League in home runs 12 times, including in 1927, when he hit 60 home runs — a single-season record that Roger Maris broke 34 years later in 1961. Ruth amassed a record-setting 714 career home runs before retiring in 1935. He held that record for almost four decades, until Hank Aaron broke it on April 8, 1974.

Muhammad Ali was involved in many of boxing’s most famous (and memorably named) fights, including the "Thrilla in Manila" in the Philippines, the "Fight of the Century" in New York City, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" in Kinshasa, Zaire. The latter took place on October 30, 1974, and pitted Ali, 32, against a then-25-year-old George Foreman. Ali knocked out Foreman in the eighth round to become the heavyweight champion of the world for a second time.

Needing to keep their drive alive on third down, a nearly sacked Eli Manning managed to get the ball out to wide receiver David Tyree, who grasped the ball against his helmet all the way to the ground. While it didn't earn points, the “helmet catch” is commonly recognized as the greatest Super Bowl play of all time. The Giants went on to win the game, defeating the Patriots.

Wilt “the Stilt” Chamberlain is one of the most decorated basketball players in history, thanks in large part to his dominating stature: over 7 feet tall and nearly 300 pounds. While the 100-point game in 1962 may be his best-known achievement, Chamberlain holds many other spots in the history books, including the records for the most rebounds (55) and most consecutive field goals (18) in one game.

The first televised baseball game was organized more to show off the new broadcast technology than to cater to baseball fans. Television was featured at the 1939 World’s Fair, and the organizers thought a baseball game would be the perfect way to display what the technology could do. On August 26, 1939, TV aired a doubleheader between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds, with only two stationary camera angles.

The Kentucky Derby is now one of the most famous sporting events worldwide, but at the turn of the 20th century, Churchill Downs was in financial jeopardy. Investor Matt Winn purchased the racetrack and persuaded businessman Harry Payne Whitney to enter his chestnut filly, Regret, in the race. While she earned the unfortunate name because Whitney had been hoping for a colt, she won races from the very start. When she won the Kentucky Derby in 1915, she achieved what 29 previous fillies had been unable to do.

Before she was associated with one of the most dramatic moments in sports history, Tonya Harding was a skating legend. If you were alive in 1991, you may remember witnessing history when Harding landed the first triple axel jump in competition in her sparkly turquoise dress. Harding threw her hands up in the air and then took home the win for women's singles.

There have been only two no-hitters in MLB postseason history: Roy Halladay in 2010’s National League Division Series, and Don Larsen’s 1956 perfect game during the World Series. Larsen was a career 81-91 pitcher coming into game five against a stacked Los Angeles Dodgers lineup featuring Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, and Pee Wee Reese. The New York Yankees star threw 97 pitches, racked up seven strikeouts, and allowed no baserunners. The Yankees went on to win the series and Larsen was named MVP.

In 1976 at the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci became the first person to earn a 10 in the sport with a flawless routine on the uneven bars. At that same Olympics, Comăneci scored six more perfect 10s and won three gold medals. A change to the scoring system in 2006 added an “A” score for difficulty, and a “B” score for artistic impression, and marked the end of the “perfect 10.”

At just 21 years old and playing in his first major tournament, Tiger Woods crushed the competition, winning by a record 12 strokes. The sudden ascendance of a young champion — especially one of mixed race — ushered the sport of golf into a new era.

During the 85th meeting between the historic rivals, Stanford went up by one point after a successful field goal, leaving four seconds in the game. After receiving the kick, Berkeley’s return team executed five lateral passes on the way to an improbable last-minute return for a touchdown to win the game as time expired. Stanford’s band famously began marching on the field early, forcing Cal returner Kevin Moen to run through rival instrumentalists on his way to scoring the most dramatic game-winning touchdown in college football history.

When Buster Douglas met Mike Tyson in the ring on February 11, 1990, Tyson had won every professional match he’d competed in. But in the 10th round of the match against Douglas, Tyson got knocked out, to the shock of everyone watching. Douglas would go on to lose his title to Evander Holyfield.

The 1992 Summer Olympic Games featured the first U.S. Olympic team with active professional NBA players. So it's not surprising that their victories came with a 44-point lead on average. Imagine showing up with hopes of a gold medal in basketball and seeing Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird hanging out on the court. Yikes.

One day after Christmas in Sydney, Australia, in 1908, boxer Jack Johnson made history by knocking out Canadian Tommy Burns in front of 20,000 fans mostly cheering for Burns. Johnson went on to hold the heavyweight title until 1915, defending the belt multiple times.

No one is sure why the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $100,000 after the 1919 season. It wasn’t performance-related: The “Great Bambino” had led the team to championships in 1915, 1916, and 1918. Either way, the Sox languished without a championship for the next 86 years while rival Yankees won 27 titles. The Red Sox finally broke the “curse” in 2004 in dramatic fashion.

In Game 6 of his second consecutive Finals against the Utah Jazz, Michael Jordan got the ball with the Chicago Bulls down by one and less than 20 seconds on the clock. After letting time run down to about eight seconds, Jordan pulled a crossover move on Russell and scored what would be the game-winning jumper, sealing his sixth and final title with the Bulls.

The Soviet squad came into the semifinals of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, as the reigning champs of the last three Olympic Games. Their opponents were a young team of American college kids and semi-professionals. But in front of a home crowd, at a time when Cold War tensions ran high, the U.S. team stunned the Soviets, winning 4-3 on their way to a gold medal.

In 1996, Kerri Strug was on an elite team of Olympic gymnasts called the Magnificent Seven. By the final rotation of the gymnastics competition that year, the U.S. was on top, with just the vault left. But things took a turn for the worse — Dominique Moceanu fell on both her vaults, leaving the team gold up to Kerri Strug. On her first attempt, Strug tore two ligaments and sprained her ankle after a bad landing, but she pushed through the pain and stuck her second vault attempt, earning the win.

Former world No. 1 Bobby Riggs was a self-proclaimed male chauvinist, who boasted that women were inferior and couldn't handle the pressure of the game of tennis. He declared that he could beat any female player, and Billie Jean King stepped up to prove him wrong. Their "Battle of the Sexes" match was watched on TV by more than 50 million people, who saw King defeat Riggs in three straight sets.

The plot, which involved a group of White Sox players letting the opposing Cincinnati Reds win in exchange for a hefty six-figure payout, wasn’t discovered until 1920. An investigation led to the indictment of eight players on the team for conspiracy, and though the charges were eventually dropped, all involved were hit with a lifetime ban from baseball.

During the third round of their 1997 title match, Mike Tyson spit out his mouthpiece and bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s right ear, possibly out of frustration at the ref’s failure to discipline Holyfield’s headbutts. After the fight briefly stopped and resumed, Tyson went after Holyfield’s other ear, earning him a disqualification and temporary suspension of his purse.