Today in Sports History: World Football League disbands

Today’s Sports Highlight in History:

1975 — The 10-team World Football League, citing lack of television and season ticket support, disbands before the 12th week of a 20-week season.

On this date:

1933 — Primo Carnera retains the world heavyweight title with a 15-round decision over Paolino Uzcudun in Rome.

1950 — The Los Angeles Rams beat the Baltimore Colts 70-27.

1961 — Erich Barnes of the New York Giants ties an NFL record by returning an interception 102 yards for a touchdown in a 17-16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

1966 — Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins scores his first goal.

1975 — The Cincinnati Reds beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Fenway Park Four games to three to win the World Series.

1976 — Twin brothers Tom and Dick Van Arsdale play together in a game for the Phoenix Suns, becoming the first and only pair of brothers to play for the same NBA club.

1984 — Future Pro Football HOF quarterback Ken Stabler retires after 17 seasons in the NFL with Oakland Raiders, Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints.

1994 — Alcorn State’s Steve McNair becomes the NCAA’s career yardage leader with 15,049, surpassing the old mark set by Brigham Young’s Ty Detmer, who had 14,665. McNair’s 649 yards also breaks his own Division I-AA single-game record as he leads the Braves to a 41-37 win over Southern.

2000 — Bengals running back Corey Dillon rushes for an NFL single-game record 278 yards in a 31-21 victory over the Denver Broncos. Dillon betters Walter Payton’s 27-year-old mark by three yards.

2001 — New York routs Seattle 12-3 in Game 5 to win the AL pennant for the 38th time. The Yankees become the first team since their predecessors in 1960-64 to win four straight pennants.

2005 — Mount Union drops a regular-season game for the first time since 1994, losing 21-14 to Ohio Northern in a Division III matchup. The Purple Raiders, winners of 110 straight regular-season games, had not lost a regular-season game since they were beaten 23-10 by Baldwin-Wallace on Oct. 15, 1994.

2012 — Lance Armstrong is stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life by cycling’s governing body following a report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that accuses him of leading a massive doping program on his teams.

2014 — Serena Williams is routed 6-0, 6-2 by Simona Halep in the WTA Finals round-robin, one of the most one-sided losses in the 18-time Grand Slam champion’s career. The last time Williams managed to win just two games in a WTA Tour or Grand Slam match was in 1998 when she was 16.

2016 — Kyle Hendricks outpitches Clayton Kershaw, Anthony Rizzo and Willson Contreras homers early and the Chicago Cubs won their first pennant since 1945, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0 in Game 6 of the NL Championship Series.

2016 — Baker Mayfield has seven touchdown passes and 545 yards to help No. 16 Oklahoma beat Texas Tech 66-59 in the game that breaks the NCAA record for combined offensive yards with 1,708 yards.

2016 — Leonard Fournette breaks LSU’s single-game rushing record on just his first eight carries as the No. 25 Tigers beat No. 23 Mississippi 38-21. Fournette finishes with 284 yards rushing in his first action since aggravating a left ankle injury on Sept. 24. He averages 17.8 yards on 16 carries and his touchdowns go for 78, 76 and 59 yards.

2017 — The Phoenix Suns fire coach Earl Watson just three games in to the NBA season.

2020 — The National Hockey League announced the annual NHL All Star Game and Skills Competition would be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.