LI Sports: A Chronology

1664: The first organized sport in America, horse racing, begins when the first English Governor of New York, Richard Nicolls, establishes the Newmarket Course at Hempstead Plains, close to the present site of Roosevelt Raceway. The purpose was to encourage the improvement of horse breeding. Five years later, the first sweepstakes race is held.
May, 1750: A horse race at Newmarket means heavy business to the Brooklyn ferry, which carries more than 1,000 horses in one day.
1802: Horse racing is outlawed in New York.
1803: A sketch shows a game of ten-pin bowling in play in Suffolk County.

1819: Horse racing meets again are held on Long Island. The law is amended to permit the training, pacing, trotting and running of horses upon regulated courses, and upon private property in Queens, but only in May and October.
May 27, 1823: Eclipse, the North's racing champion, wins the first major horse race in the United States, taking two of three heats over Sir Henry from Virginia, the fastest thoroughbred in the South. The race was held before 100,000 spectators on the mile-long oval at Union Course in Jamaica.
1835: Henry Stannard of Connecticut runs a 10-mile race in less than an hour (59:48) before 30,000 people at Union Course to win $1,000.
1838: Long Island's famous trotter, Lady Suffolk of Smithtown, runs a mile in three minutes against the bay gelding Sam Patch in Babylon.
1851: New York Yacht Club hires George Steers of Long Island to build a ship to enter England's Royal Regatta for the first time in history. Steers builds a 95-foot, two-masted schooner called America. The sails are designed by R.H. Wilson in his Port Jefferson loft.
Aug. 22, 1851: America finishes first, sailing the 53 miles around England's Isle of Wight miles ahead of 14 of Britain's fastest yachts. The silver trophy. which cost $500, has since become known as the America's Cup.
July 20, 1858: First admission charge to a baseball game, 50 cents, is paid by 1,500 fans to see N.Y. All-Stars beat Brooklyn, 22-18, at Fashion Race Course, now present-day Corona, Queens.
June 19, 1867: The first Belmont Stakes is won by Ruthless in 3:05 over 1 5/8 miles at Jerome Park in the Bronx.
1877: Meadow Brook Club is formed for hunting and other outdoor sports by a group of men who lease a farmhouse on Hempstead Plains.
1879: Polo is first played on Long Island by members of the Meadow Brook Club in a racetrack infield at Mineola Fair Grounds.
1885: The first black baseball team, the Cuban Giants, is formed by employees of the Argyle Hotel in Babylon to play semipro white teams.
Sept. 17-30, 1887: Captain Harry Coleman Haff of Islip skippers the iron-hulled sloop Volunteer in its successful defense of the America's Cup over the British challenger Thistle.
1891: Golf pro Willie Dunn constructs a 12-hole course at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton. It is America's first private golf club. The labor for the course is done by local Indians. A year later, the clubhouse designed by architect Stanford White opens.
1895: Harry Coleman of Islip, using the first all-American crew in an America's Cup race, skippers The Defender to victory over England's Valkyrie III.
Nov. 9, 1895: First U.S. women's amateur golf championship at the Meadow Brook Club in Westbury is won by Mrs. Charles B. Brown with an 18-hole total of 132 over 12 other participants.
July 18, 1896: James Foulis wins the second U.S. Open with a 36-hole score over 36 holes at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
June 30, 1899: Charles Murphy pedals a mile on his bicycle in 57 4/5 seconds on a three-mile wooden track built by the Long Island Rail Road near Hempstead. The feat earns him the nickname ``Mile-a-Minute'' Murphy.
Oct. 11, 1902: Laurie Auchterlonie wins the U.S. Open at the Garden City Golf Club with a 307 total.
Oct. 8, 1904: First Vanderbilt Cup, an international auto race sponsored by industrialist William K. Vanderbilt Jr., is won by A.L. Campbell, who averaged 30 mph over the 28.4-mile course, lined with 25,000 spectators.
May 4, 1905: Belmont Park in Elmont opens after two years of construction that cost $2.5 million. Races are run clockwise in accordance with English custom.
1906: Burgomaster, ridden by L. Lyne, wins the first Belmont Stakes at the present-day site of Belmont Park.
July 8, 1908: The Ronkonkoma village baseball team, best known throughout Long Island because six of its nine players are the Hawkins brothers, defeats Sayville Village, 7-4.
Oct. 24, 1908: George Robertson becomes the first American to win the Vanderbilt Cup. The fourth edition is run on concrete paving for the first time on the newly completed nine-mile stretch of Motor Parkway. Robertson's American-built Locomobile cost $40,000. He won averaging 64 mph.
1910: Three people die and 22 are injured among the 300,000 spectators at the sixth Vanderbilt Cup in Levittown. The tragedy prompts the Cup to be moved to Savannah, Ga.
Oct. 30, 1910: Orville and Wilbur Wright supervise the first international air race in the United States before 150,000 spectators at Belmont Park.
1913: West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills hosts the U.S. Championships.
May 30, 1913: Belmont Park reopens after being closed for two years because of anti-betting legislation.
Feb. 24, 1915: At the Westminster Kennel Club, a wire fox terrier owned by George W. Quintard of Bay Shore takes best-in-show.
June 18, 1915: Jerome Travers of Long Island wins U.S. Open golf tournament, the second time it has been won by an amateur.
Aug. 31, 1915: The first national men's tennis singles championship is played at West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills and draws 5,000 fans.
April 7, 1917: Fires cause $1 million in damage to Belmont Park.
Sept. 20, 1919: Jim Barnes wins PGA Championship at Engineers Country Club, Roslyn.
June 11, 1921: Grey Lag wins 11/2-mile Belmont Stakes, the first time the race is run in a counter-clockwise direction.
Aug. 20, 1921: The first U.S. Lawn Tennis Association women's singles
championships played at Forest Hills is won by Molla Bjurstedt Mallory.
Sept 28, 1921: Walter Hagen wins PGA at Inwood Country Club, Far Rockaway.
Aug. 28, 1922: The Walker Cup, the oldest American international team golf match between the U.S. and Britain, is played at the National Golf Links of America in Southampton. The U.S. wins, 8-4.
1923: Bobby Jones, at age 21, wins U.S. Open at Inwood Country Club in a playoff over Scotland's Bobby Cruickshank.
Aug. 10, 1923: The first permanent tennis stadium in the U.S. is built at West Side Tennis Club. It seats 14,000 and costs $250,000.
Oct. 20, 1923: The first international horse race in the U.S. is won by American horse Zev over English Derby winner Papyrus at Belmont Park.
Sept. 2, 1924: Bill Tilden wins the first U.S. national singles final held at West Side Tennis Club.
Sept. 26, 1926: Walter Hagen wins the PGA at Salisbury Golf Club, Westbury.
1928: The U.S. team wins the first polo Cup of the Americas tournament between the U.S. and Argentina at Meadow Brook Club, Westbury, before 100,000 spectators.
Sept. 13, 1930: Tommy Armour wins the PGA at Flushing Meadows Country Club.
Oct. 18, 1930: Lou Gehrig plays on Babe Ruth's barnstorming club, the Babe Ruth All-Stars, which beats the Lindenhurst Athletic Club, 10-4, at Meridale Baseball Park in Lindenhurst before 4,000 fans. Ruth played first base, tripled and scored on a Gehrig single, and pitched two hitless innings.
June 25, 1932: Gene Sarazen wins the U.S. Open at Fresh Meadow Country Club, shooting a 286, the lowest in 20 years.
June 29, 1933: Italy's Primo Carnera stops Jack Sharkey in the sixth round at Long Island City Bowl to win the world heavyweight boxing championship.
May 28, 1934: Barney Ross wins the welterweight boxing title from Jimmy McLarnin in 15 rounds at Long Island City.
Aug. 10, 1935: The clubhouse and three of the four 18-hole golf courses of Bethpage State Park are opened to the public.
1936: Argentina beats the U.S. in polo's Cup of the Americas.
1937: The Rutgers Cup is established for the top high school football team in Nassau County.
1939: The U.S. polo team defeats Great Britain to win the Westchester Cup at Westbury.
Sept. 2, 1940: Roosevelt Raceway is founded on the site of the old Vanderbilt Cup auto races by lawyer George Morton Levy. The raceway is named in memory of Quentin Roosevelt, son of Teddy Roosevelt, who was shot down over France in 1918.
May 3, 1942: Bethpage State Park stadium opens for softball. In the first game the Grumman Bombers defeat Barton's Night Hawks, 3-1.
1946: Bandleader Guy Lombardo of Freeport wins the National Gold Cup Race, a meet for speed boats.
1947: The Rutgers Trophy is established for the top high school football team in Suffolk County.
June 12, 1948: Citation, ridden by Eddie Arcaro, wins the Belmont Stakes to become the eighth Triple Crown winner.
October, 1949: Nassau County Park at Salisbury (now known as Eisenhower Park) is dedicated.
Nov. 26, 1956: Al Oerter of New Hyde Park wins a gold medal in the discus throw in the Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. His winning toss is an Olympic-record 184 feet, 11 inches.
Aug. 1, 1957: Roosevelt Raceway's new grandstand, called the ``Dream Track,'' opens at a cost of $20 million.
1957: Althea Gibson becomes the first African-American woman to win the U.S. Open, defeating Louise Brough, 6-3, 6-2, at Forest Hills.
1958: Post and Hofstra's annual college football rivalry begins.
1959: The Long Island Ducks are formed and join the Eastern Hockey League. They play at the Long Island Arena in Commack.
Aug. 1, 1959: Jamin, a French trotter known for eating artichokes and wearing red earmuffs, wins the inaugural International Trot before a crowd of 48,619 at Roosevelt Raceway.
Aug. 20, 1960: The largest U.S. crowd ever to witness a harness race, 54,861, sees Hairos II, a Dutch horse, win the International Trot at Roosevelt Raceway.
Sept. 6, 1960: Al Oerter of West Babylon wins his second Olympic gold medal in the discus with a Games-record throw of 194-2 in Rome.
June 15, 1961: Sherluck, a 65-1 longshot, wins the Belmont Stakes to pay $132.10, the largest winning payout in history.
April 11, 1962: The Mets, bringing National League baseball back to New York for the first time since 1957, lose their franchise opener, 11-4, to the Cardinals. The Mets finish in last place, losing a record 120 games and winning just 40. The Polo Grounds, former home of the Giants, is the Mets' home for two seasons.
Sept. 10, 1962: Rod Laver becomes the first man since 1938 to win the Grand Slam by beating Roy Emerson in the U.S. Open final at Forest Hills.
March 28, 1963: The New York Titans of the American Football League are sold for $1 million to Sonny Werblin, Leon Hess, Townsend Martin, Donald Lillis and Philip Iselin. Weeb Ewbank is named head coach. The team is renamed ``Jets'' on April 15, 1963.
April 10, 1963: Belmont Park is closed because of structural defects in the grandstand.
April 17, 1964: The Mets play the first game at Shea Stadium, losing to the Pirates, 4-3.
June 21, 1964: Philadelphia's Jim Bunning pitches a perfect game at Shea Stadium on Father's Day to beat the Mets, 6-0.
Sept. 12, 1964: The Jets beat Denver, 30-6, in their first game at Shea before a crowd of 45,665.
Oct. 16, 1964: Despite neck and rib injuries, Al Oerter wins a third straight Olympic gold medal with another Games-record discus throw of 200-1 in Tokyo.
Nov. 8, 1964: A riot, resulting in injuries to 20 people, and a fire break out at Roosevelt Raceway when six of eight trotters are involved in a pileup in the sixth race. Fans who bet the daily double became enraged when the race is declared official.
1965: The Jets select Alabama quarterback Joe Namath with the fourth overall pick of the NFL draft. He signs a then-record $400,000 contract.
1965: The Ducks win their only Eastern Hockey League championship.
May 20, 1968: Belmont reopens, rebuilt at a cost of $30.7 million.
July 15, 1968: The New Jersey Americans of the ABA move to Commack and are renamed the New York Nets. They play their home games at the Long Island Arena.
Sept. 9, 1968: The first U.S. Open in the professional era is won by Arthur Ashe, an amateur, who beats Tom Okker to become the first black to win a Grand Slam.
Oct. 15, 1968: Al Oerter wins his fourth straight Olympic gold medal in the discus, becoming the first Olympian ever to win the same event four consecutive times. His winning toss of 212-6 at Mexico City is his fourth straight Olympic record in the event.
Jan. 12, 1969: The Jets win Super Bowl III, beating the Colts, 16-7. Namath is named MVP. It is the first time the AFL has defeated the NFL in the league's championship game.
May 26, 1969: Arthur Brown sells the Nets to Roy Boe, who moves the team to the Island Garden in West Hempstead.
Oct. 13, 1969: Salisbury Park is re-dedicated as Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Park.
Sept. 24, 1969: The Mets clinch their first-ever NL East title with a 6-0 victory over St. Louis before 54,928 witnesses at Shea Stadium. They go on to defeat Atlanta in the National League Championship Series.
Oct. 16, 1969: The Mets win their first World Series, beating the favored Orioles in five games. Tom Seaver (25-7, 2.21 ERA) wins the Cy Young Award.
April 22, 1970: Seaver ties Steve Carlton's major-league strikeout record with 19, including 10 in a row, at Shea.
Sept. 2, 1970: The Nets acquire Rick Barry from the Virginia Squires.
Nov. 8, 1971: The NHL awards a franchise to Long Island for the 1972-73 season. Roy Boe is the team's owner. The team is named the Islanders.
Feb. 11, 1972: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum opens for the Nets.
Feb. 14, 1972: Bill Torrey is named the Islanders' general manager and becomes the team's first employee.
April 17, 1972: Nina Kuscsik of Huntington is the first official woman finisher at the Boston Marathon in 3:08:58.
Oct. 7, 1972: The Islanders lose their first game, 3-2, to the Atlanta Flames at the Coliseum. Ed Westfall scores the team's first goal.
1973: The Long Island Ducks fold.
March 1, 1973: American Robyn Smith becomes the first woman jockey to win a stakes race, riding North Sea to victory in the Paumonok Handicap at Aqueduct.
June 10, 1973: Secretariat becomes the ninth Triple Crown winner and the first in 25 years with a record-breaking 31-length victory in the Belmont Stakes.
Aug. 1, 1973: Julius Erving, known as Dr. J, is traded to the Nets by the Virginia Squires along with Willie Sojourner for George Carter, the draft rights to Kermit Washington and $800,000.
Oct. 10, 1973: The Mets win the NL pennant, beating the Reds in five games in the NLCS.
Oct. 21, 1973: The Mets lose to the A's in a seven-game World Series.
Sept. 3, 1974: The Jets move into their new training center at Hofstra.
July 6, 1975: Unbeaten filly Ruffian breaks down during a match race against Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure at Belmont. She is humanely destroyed the next day and buried in Belmont Park's infield.
May 13, 1976: League and playoff MVP Julius Erving leads Nets to the ABA championship. The defeat the Denver Nuggets in the last game in ABA history, taking the series, 4-2. In June, the NBA and ABA merge, with the Nets, Denver, Indiana and San Antonio joining the NBA.
June 15, 1976: George Foreman stops Joe Frazier in the fifth round of their heavyweight bout at Nassau Coliseum, the first major fight on Long Island in 89 years. Oct. 21, 1976: The Nets sell Erving to the 76ers for $3 million after a contract dispute.
1977: The Around Long Island Regatta, a 191-mile yacht race, debuts, as does the Newsday Long Island Marathon.
June 11, 1977: Seattle Slew wins the Belmont Stakes to become the first undefeated Triple Crown winner.
Sept. 11, 1977: Guillermo Vilas defeats Jimmy Connors to win the men's singles title in the last U.S. Open match played at Forest Hills.
Sept. 12, 1977: Roy Boe moves the Nets to New Jersey.
October, 1977: Construction begins on the USTA National Tennis Center, which will serve as the new home of the U.S. Open.
June, 10 1978: Affirmed, ridden by 18-year-old Steve Cauthen, becomes the 11th Triple Crown winner, edging Alydar by a head in the Belmont Stakes. There hasn't been a Triple Crown winner since.
Aug. 29, 1978: The U.S. Open moves to Flushing Meadows. Bjorn Borg and Bob Hewitt play the first match before 6,186 on stadium court.
Sept. 9, 1979: John McEnroe of Douglaston defeats Vitas Gerulaitis, raised in Howard Beach, to win an all-Queens men's U.S. Open final.
Jan. 24, 1980: The Joan Payson family sells the Mets to Doubleday Co. for $20.1 million.
May 24, 1980: Bobby Nystrom scores at 7:11 of overtime against Philadelphia as the Islanders win their first Stanley Cup.
March 29, 1981: The N.Y. Arrows win their third straight Major Indoor Soccer League title, beating the St. Louis Steamers, 6-5.
1981: Brian Teacher wins the first-ever four-player exhibition Hamlet Challenge Cup in Jericho, beating Yannick Noah, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
May 21, 1981: The Islanders win their second Stanley Cup, beating Minnesota in five games.
May 16, 1982: The Islanders win their third Stanley Cup, sweeping Vancouver in four games.
June 11, 1982: Huntington's Gerry Cooney (25-0, 23 KO) is knocked out by heavyweight champion Larry Holmes in the 13th round.
Feb. 8, 1983: The 35th NHL All-Star Game is played at Nassau Coliseum. Wayne Gretzky scores four goals as the Campbell Conference wins, 9-3.
May 17, 1983: The Islanders win their fourth straight Stanley Cup, sweeping Edmonton in four games.
Dec. 10, 1983: The Jets lose, 34-7, to Pittsburgh in the final game at Shea Stadium. The team cites poor conditions of the bathrooms at Shea as one reason for moving to Giants Stadium beginning with the 1984 season.
1984: Islip Speedway closes because of complaints about noise, leaving Riverhead Raceway as the only remaining auto racing track on Long Island.
Feb. 9, 1984: Leon Hess becomes the full owner of the Jets.
March 12, 1984: Gulf & Western sells the 174-acre Roosevelt Raceway for $51.4 million.
Aug. 25, 1985: The Mets' Dwight Gooden, 20, becomes the major leagues' youngest 20-game winner, beating the Padres, 9-3. He becomes the youngest Cy Young Award winner as well.
Feb. 6-8, 1986: At Nassau Coliseum, Debi Thomas becomes the first black woman to win a women's title at the U.S. figure skating championships and Brian Boitano wins the men's title.
June 15, 1986: Ray Floyd, at 43 years, 9 months, is the oldest golfer to win the U.S. Open with a 1-under 279 at Shinnecock Hills.
Oct. 27, 1986: The Mets win their second world championship, beating the Red Sox in seven games. In Game 6 at Shea, just one out away from defeat, the Mets stage a four-run rally to win, 6-5, in 10 innings when Mookie Wilson's grounder goes under the glove of first baseman Bill Buckner. The Mets rally to win, 8-5, in Game 7.
Nov. 14, 1986: Doubleday Inc. sells the Mets to Nelson Doubleday Jr. and Fred Wilpon for $80.75 million.
June 21, 1987: Gary Player wins the first-ever Senior PGA Northville Invitational in a playoff over Bruce Crampton at Meadow Brook Club, Jericho.
July 15, 1988: Roosevelt Raceway is closed by its owners, who intend to sell the land to real estate developers.
Aug. 26, 1990: Stefan Edberg defeats Goran Ivanisevic, 7-6, 6-3, to win the Hamlet Cup in its first year at the 5,500-seat stadium at the Hamlet Golf and Country Club in Commack.
Sept. 9, 1990: Pete Sampras, at 19 years and 28 days, becomes the youngest U.S. Open men's champion, beating Andre Agassi, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
June 5, 1991: The Long Island Surf of the USBL makes its debut.
Sept. 28, 1991: Long Island's biggest college football rivalry ends after Hofstra beats Post, 54-24, to capture the series 15-14.
Aug. 17, 1992: Long Island businessmen Robert Rosenthal, Stephen Walsh, Ralph Palleschi and Paul Greenwood acquire managing control of the Islanders from owner John O. Pickett Jr.
Oct. 16, 1992: The New York metropolitan area is selected over Dallas, St. Louis and Miami to host the 1998 Goodwill Games. Nassau Coliseum and other nearby facilities will stage numerous events in the summer of '98.
Jan. 28, 1993: The Women's Sports Foundation, founded in 1974 to promote women in sports, chooses Nassau County over Dallas for its permanent headquarters.
Oct. 5, 1993: The Long Island Rough Riders are formed as an expansion team of the U.S. Interregional Soccer League.
June 1, 1994: Islanders coach Al Arbour resigns as the NHL's all-time leader in games coached (1,601) and runner-up to Scotty Bowman in victories (779).
Sept. 3, 1994: The U.S. Open Polo Championship returns to Long Island for the first time in 40 years, drawing 7,100 for the championship game at Bethpage State Park.
June 18, 1995: Corey Pavin wins the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
Sept. 4, 1995: The Rough Riders (23-1) win the USISL championship, beating the Minnesota Thunder, 2-1.
Aug. 28, 1996: The Black Course at Bethpage State Park is selected to host the 2002 U.S. Open.
Nov. 26, 1996: Dallas businessman John Spano buys the Islanders from John Pickett for $165 million, including cable television rights.
Dec. 15, 1996: St. John's wins its first national championship in any sport, beating Florida International, 4-1, at Richmond (Va.) Stadium to win the NCAA Division I men's soccer championship.
Feb. 24, 1997: NHL approves the sale of the Islanders to John Spano.
June 30, 1997: The league bars Spano from the running of the day-to-day operations of the Islanders because he missed a $17-million payment to John Pickett on April 7.
July 8, 1997: The Justice Department starts a probe into possible fraud by Spano.
July 10, 1997: Spano signs an agreement to give up his claim to the Islanders. In exchange, John Pickett will not sue him.
July 23, 1997: Spano is indicted in Uniondale on wire and bank fraud charges in connection with his failed purchase of the Islanders.
Aug. 23, 1997: Arthur Ashe Stadium is opened at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows. The 23,000-seat stadium and surrounding outer courts cost $254 million.
Sept. 11, 1997: A team of investors, led by Steve Gluckstern, signs letter of intent to buy the Islanders for $195 million.
Jan. 18, 1997: Sale of the Islanders to Gluckstern and partners is approved by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

SOURCES: ``Facts & Dates of American Sports from Colonial Days to the Present''; ``Sports First''; ``Discovering Long Island''; Long Island Forum.