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Most Significant Sports History on December 21st
Learn about December 21st's most significant sports history including the very 1st basketball game, legendary coaches, Brady's #1 WR, & more!
The New York Times
The day of December 21st brings back sports history all the way to the very first basketball game ever played during the 1800s. More recently, the NFL’s GOAT officially had a new go-to receiver while another all-time NFL reception streak finally concluded. Some significant coaches in the history of the game will remember this day forever while plenty of fan bases can look back on 12/21 and be impressed at the impressive events that have taken place.
See what happened on this day in: 2020 | 2019
Thank you, Dr. James Naismith! 126 years ago today (Dec. 21, 1891): The FIRST "basket ball" game was played, 9 vs. 9. Final score: 1-0 (Springfield, Mass.). “I blew a whistle, and the first game of basketball began." - James Naismith, WOR-AM radio (Jan. 31, 1939) pic.twitter.com/VCKrm3kwtt
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) December 21, 2017
YEAR: 1891
SIGNIFICANCE: The very 1st basketball game based on Dr. James Naismith’s rules was played by 18 students in Springfield, MA
Building off the momentum from Dr. James Naismith conceptualizing the game of basketball six days prior, December 21st, 1891 was the first time a real basketball game was played. The brand-new game was played at what is now Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts amongst physical educator Naismith’s class. The eccentric game was created as an alternative to calisthenics — which Naismith’s class dreaded — and basketball served far beyond that purpose. Dr. Naismith retrieved a pair of peach baskets and nailed them up on the lower rail of the balcony, ten feet high on opposing sides of the gym.
Being in the early stages of development, the game had merely 13 rules that were put on the bulletin board and two men were captains who chose teams. Once the “school-yard pick’em” style draft was complete, Naismith gave his 18 students a soccer ball to tip-off what has become one of the most popular sports worldwide today. Basketball spread at rapid rates with cylindrical wire baskets replacing the peach boxes, and actual basketballs coming to form in 1894. It was in 1897 when teams were capped at five people each and the six-team National Basketball League — the first professional league — was created.
ON THIS DAY in 1959 — Tom Landry accepted the head coaching position for the Dallas Cowboys
— 𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗬 𝗛𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗘𝗦 (@TommySledge) December 21, 2018
In led the team to 22 consecutive winning seasons in his 29 years as coach #DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/sPfJaSHKO3
YEAR: 1959 & 1969
SIGNIFICANCE: Tom Landry became HC of the Dallas Cowboys AND Vince Lombardi coached his very last NFL game
During the mid-1950’s, the New York Giants employed arguably the greatest coaching staff of all time. Hired in 1954 to replace the legendary Steve Owen after 24 years at the helm, new HC Jim Lee Howell brought in two young, innovative coordinators who would create their own distinctive legacies after helping lead New York to three championship games over a four-year span. In 1959, both would leave Howell’s staff to run their own teams as Vince Lombardi (OC) went to Green Bay and Tom Landry (DC) took over the NFL’s brand-new expansion franchise in Dallas exactly 61 years ago.
An All-Pro DB while serving as player-assistant in 1954, Tom Landry — inventor of the 4-3 defense — totaled 32 INTs in just 84 career games but transitioned to coaching full-time in 1956. After turning the Giants into a powerhouse, he departed from New York and was named the Dallas Cowboys’ very first HC on December 21st, 1959. A tumultuous start in 1960 (0-11-1), he would right the ship by the middle of the decade as Dallas fell one score short of representing the NFL in the first two Super Bowls. By the end of his 29-year tenure in ’88, Landry had led the Cowboys to five Super Bowl appearances, winning two (1971, ’77) despite those early shortcomings.
On the offensive side of the ball was Vince Lombardi, whose Packers defeated Landry in the 1966 and ’67 NFL Championship Games and won the first two Super Bowls. A five-time NFL Champion during his nine years in Green Bay, Lombardi resigned after their Super Bowl II victory but retained his GM responsibilities. The following year, he left to become HC and GM in Washington, but was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer after his first season and passed away shortly thereafter. Coaching the final game of his HOF career on this date in 1969, Lombardi fell 20-10 to none other than Tom Landry on the tenth anniversary of the latter’s hiring.
1969 - Vince Lombardi coached his last game. His Washington Redskins lost to the Dallas Cowboys 20-10. pic.twitter.com/kRKDBLd8ls
— Todays Sport History (@Sport_History_) December 21, 2013
Today in 1980, Harold Carmichael’s streak of 127 consecutive games with a reception comes to an end. pic.twitter.com/SKIdhh2kzB
— 80s Sports N Stuff (@80sSportsNStuff) December 21, 2018
YEAR: 1980
SIGNIFICANCE: Harold Carmichael’s NFL-record REC streak finally came to an end
A seventh-round pick in 1971, Harold Carmichael was a three-sport athlete at Southern University — football, basketball, track & field — at 6’8″, 225 pounds. While transitioning from WR to TE then back to WR during his first two years in Philly, he made 40 RECs for 564 yards and two TDs but then broke out with 1,116 YDS and nine TDs on 67 RECs in 1973. Beginning with a 21-yard catch in a 1972 loss to Washington, he would go on to catch at least one pass each and every week for 127 games until this date in 1980.
Philadelphia stumbled to the NFC East title with a season-ending loss to Dallas, but Carmichael took a crushing blow in the second quarter before he could register a catch. Though he should have been removed from the game, the Eagles were so depleted at WR that he volunteered himself as a decoy since he could still run straight. The hobbled HOFer couldn’t make any cuts and played just one down in the second half, ultimately ending his NFL-record catch streak after eight whole years.
In addition to setting a then-NFL record with 127 consecutive games with a reception from 1972-1980, Harold Carmichael led all NFL wide receivers in receptions (549), receiving yards (8,414), and receiving TDs (77) from 1973-83.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/nlxGB1RP5z
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 15, 2020
1941 #NFL Championship Game Program - Chicago Bears vs. New York Giants at Wrigley Field (December 21, 1941) Great zippered hoodie on Sid Luckman! @UniWatch @PhilHecken pic.twitter.com/yRxZIwTFkH
— Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile) December 22, 2017
YEAR: 1941
SIGNIFICANCE: The Bears became the 1st team to win back-to-back NFL Championship Games
As the NFL formally began its annual championship matchup in 1933, it took nearly a decade for a repeat champion to emerge. Since the Packers’ three consecutive titles from 1929 to ’31, the reigning champion had made the title game three different times but none could pull off the repeat — that was, until the 1940 and ’41 Bears. After exacting their revenge and walloping Washington in the all-time beatdown that was the 1940 NFL Championship, Chicago was on a mission to make history the following season.
Rolling along to a 10-1 record, Chicago tied with Green Bay atop the Western Division, which resulted in a one-game playoff. After handing a 33-14 loss to their longtime rivals, the Bears welcomed the 8-3 New York Giants to Wrigley Field on December 21st for the third title bout between the teams. A 9-9 struggle halfway through three quarters, the Bears gained control and ran away with it late, scoring four unanswered TDs to become the first team to ever win consecutive NFL Championship games. Their sixth overall, the Bears would return yet again in 1942 but fell to Washington before winning two more in 1943 and ’46.
Julian Edelman (564) passed Wes Welker (563) for the most career receptions from Tom Brady pic.twitter.com/iSmSqBoEFO
— Pro Sports Outlook (@PSO_Sports) December 21, 2019
YEAR: 2019
SIGNIFICANCE: Julian Edelman passed Wes Welker for the most career REC from Tom Brady
Arriving in New England via Miami for a second and seventh round pick in 2007, 5’9″ Wes Welker became a household name while registering three straight 100-REC, 1,000-yard seasons. Of his 672 catches with the Patriots over six seasons, 563 of them came from Tom Brady to rank first among all of the future HOFer’s teammates. The player who Bill Belichick redefined the “slot” receiver position with, Welker’s time in New England preceded the arrival of Danny Amendola and the emergence of Julian Edelman, the latter of which surpassed him on this date.
In a victory over the Bills just one year ago, Edelman’s five RECs for 72 YDS marked the 564th completion between he and Tom Brady to pass Welker as the GOAT’s all-time top target. One of the greatest postseason performers in NFL history, Edelman not only ranks second to Jerry Rice in playoff RECs (118) and YDS (1,442), but was vital to three Super Bowl victories, including his MVP performance in Super Bowl LII. Reaching 100 RECs for the second time in 2019 while cracking 1,000 yards for the third time, the 34-year-old WR has played just six games in his first season without Brady due to a knee surgery and hasn’t looked the same without TB12.
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