This Day in Sports History: November 7

Sports in November are all about the NBA and NHL seasons, the end-of-season college football games, the NASCAR Cup Series Championship, ATP World Tour Finals, UFC Fight Nights, and the start of college basketball. Over the years, Nov. 7 has witnessed many notable moments and stories involving sporting legends. Here are some of them.

Unforgettable Games and Remarkable Records

Great moments in sports history from Nov. 7 included:

• 1942: Fausto Coppi set a world hour record cycling 45.798 km.
• 1943: The Detroit Lions and New York Giants played out the last scoreless tie in the NFL.
• 1954: Chet Hanulak set a club record with seven punt returns for the Cleveland Browns, who also achieved their largest margin of victory, defeating Washington 62-3.
• 1957: Phillies pitcher Jack Sanford won the National League Rookie of the Year award.
• 1959: The U.S. golf team won the Ryder Cup.
• 1959: The First Clash of Titans: Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain faced off for the very first time on the NBA hardwood. Russell’s Boston Celtics edged out Chamberlain’s Philadelphia Warriors 115-106.
• 1962: Goalkeeper Glenn Hall set an NHL record of 502 games played consecutively.
• 1963: New York Yankees’ catcher Elston Howard became the first African-American to win the American League’s most valuable player award.
• 1967: Cardinals infielder Orlando Cepeda was the first unanimous National League MVP.
• 1968: St. Louis Blues forward Red Berenson scored an astonishing six goals in a single game during an 8-0 shutout against the Philadelphia Flyers.
• 1970: Carlos Monzon upset the defending champion Nino Benvenuti in a 12th-round knockout to win the WBC and WBA middleweight titles.
• 1978: Boston Red Sox player Jim Rice won the American League MVP award.
• 1979: Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Bruce Sutter won the National League Cy Young Award.
• 1987: Notre Dame defeated Boston College 32-25 in the third college football “Holy War.”
• 1988: Sugar Ray Leonard defeated Donny LaLonde by a technical knockout to win the WBC light heavyweight and inaugural WBC super middleweight titles.
• 1989: Baltimore Orioles player Gregg Olson was the first relief pitcher to win the American League’s Rookie of the Year award.
• 1992: First NBA game at America West Arena, Phoenix Suns beat Clippers 111-105.
• 1999: Dale Jarrett won the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship.
• 2009: Jerry Sloan became the first coach in NBA history to achieve 1,000 wins with one team.
• 2010: Flavia Pennetta beat Coco Vandeweghe 6-1, 6-2 to win the third Federation Cup of Women’s Tennis for Italy.
• 2017: Joseph O’Brien became the youngest trainer to win the Melbourne Cup with Rekindling, ridden by Corey Brown.
• 2021: Kyle Larson won his first NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race.
• 2022: French tennis star Caroline Garcia scored the biggest title win of her career, beating Aryna Sabalenka 7-6, 6-4 in the WTA Finals.

Three athletes who stood out on Nov. 7 were Glenn Hall, Orlando Cepeda, and Jerry Sloan.

Hall was a former ice hockey goalkeeper known for his durability, pioneering style, and numerous accolades. Cepeda was a powerful hitter, an 11-time All-Star, and 1967 National League MVP, which he won with the St. Louis Cardinals during their World Series-winning season. Sloan had a legendary NBA career with the Chicago Bulls and later as the highly successful and long-tenured head coach of the Utah Jazz.