December 19
Sports
1887 - Jake Kilrain and Jim Smith fought in a bare knuckles fight which lasted 106 rounds and 2 hours and 30 minutes. The fight was ruled a draw and was halted due to darkness.
1917 - The first regular season games of the new National Hockey League (NHL) were played. Five teams made up the league
1948 - The Philadelphia Eagles blanked the Chicago Cardinals, 7-0 to win the NFL title. The Eagles were aided by a fumble recovery by Bucko Kilroy and Steve Van Buren's five yard touchdown a short time later.
1959 - Penn State’s Nittany Lions beat Alabama, 7-0, in the first Liberty Bowl football game.
1964 - ABC used an overhead camera for the first time. The event was the Liberty Bowl.
1979 - ESPN televised its first NHL game. The teams were the Washington Capitals and the Hartford Whales.
1984 - Wayne Gretzky, 23, of the Edmonton Oilers, became only the 18th player in the National Hockey League (NHL) to score more than 1,000 points. He did it in his 424th career game. The previous record was held by Guy Lafleur who did it in 720 games.
1984 - Scotty Bowman became the NHL's all time winningest coach with his 691st victory.
1985 - Jan Stenerud announced his retirement from the NFL. The football kicker held the record for the most career field goals with 373.
1985 - ABC Sports announced that it was severing ties with Howard Cosell and released ‘The Mouth’ from all TV commitments. Cosell continued on ABC Radio for another five years.
1986 - Michael Sergio was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and fined $500. Sergio, a Mets fan, had parachuted into Shea Stadium during Game 6 of the World Series.
1989 - Larry Bird (Boston Celtics) began a NBA free throw streak of 71 games.
1990 - Bo Jackson (Los Angeles Raiders) became the first athlete to be chosen for All Star Games in two sports.
1991 - Pitcher Steve Howe (New York Yankees) was arrested for cocaine possession.
1995 - Orlando Brown (Cleveland Browns) was ejected from a game for pushing referee Jeff Triplette to the ground. Tripletter had accidentally hit Brown in the eye with a weighted penalty flag.
2003 - The baseball that was deflected by a fan in the stands during a Chicago Cubs game was sold for $106,6000 at auction. The foul ball appeared to be headed for the glove of left fielder Moises Alou in Game 6 of the National League Championship series. The Florida Marlins ended up winning the game 8-3. The Cubs then lost Game 7.
World
1154 - Henry II is crowned king of England.
1562 - The French Wars of Religion between the Huguenots and the Catholics begins with the Battle of Dreux.
1777 - With the onset of the bitter winter cold, the Continental Army under General George Washington, still in the field, enters its winter camp at Valley Forge, 22 miles from British-occupied Philadelphia.
1941 - On this day, in a major shake-up of the military high command, Adolf Hitler assumes the position of commander in chief of the German army.
1944 - During the Battle of the Bulge, American troops begin pulling back from the twin Belgian cities of Krinkelt and Rocherath in front of the advancing German Army.
1964 - 1964 - The album "Beatles For Sale" hit #1 in the U.K.
1971 - 1971 - The pilot television movie of "The Waltons" aired. The movie was titled "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story."
1972 - The Apollo lunar-landing program ends on December 19, 1972, when the last three astronauts to travel to the moon splash down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
1984 - In the Hall of the People in Beijing, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang sign an agreement committing Britain to return Hong Kong to China in 1997 in return for terms guaranteeing a 50-year extension of its capitalist system.
1998 - After nearly 14 hours of debate, the House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton, the second president in American history to be impeached, vowed to finish his term.
Happy Birthday
Al Kaline (1934) - MLB
Kevin McHale (1957) - NBA
Jake Plummer (1974) - NFL
Byrant Westbrook (1974) - NFL
Warren Sapp (1972) - NFL
Reggie White (1961) - NFL
Mike Sherman (1954) - NFL
Robert Lang (1970) - NHL
Eric Weinrich (1966) - NHL
Doug Harvey (1924) - NHL