Aug 28, 2020 3 min read

ON THIS DATE

Aug. 29

1954 – After three consecutive losses in exhibition games, Joe Bach resigns as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is replaced by Walt Kiesling.

1980 – Quarterback Rick Zabrida scores two touchdowns and Ed Woods rushes for 146 yards as Beth-Center defeats Carmichaels, 13-0, in the season-opening high school football game.

1986 – Bob Strope passes for 186 yards and two scores, and Boyd Wass runs for 114 yards and one touchdown, as McGuffey opens the high school football season with a 27-13 victory over Apollo-Ridge.

1991 – California University’s summer-long search for an athletic director ends with the hiring of Dr. Thomas Pucci, who spent the last four years as AD at South Carolina-Spartanburg. Pucci also was the men’s tennis coach at the University of Arkansas for 10 years.

1995 – Pittsburgh’s Paul Wagner, leading the National League in losses, comes within one strike of pitching perhaps the most unlikely no-hitter in major league history, finishing with a one-hitter as the Pirates beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-0, at Three Rivers Stadium. Only Andres Galarraga’s slow-rolling single on a 3-2, two-out pitch in the ninth inning keeps the league’s least successful starter from baseball immortality.

Aug. 30

1953 – In the opening game of a doubleheader, rookie Jim Pendleton hits three of the Braves’ major-league record eight home runs in a 19-4 win over Pittsburgh. The Braves hit four more homers in the second game, an 11-5 win, to set a major-league record for a doubleheader.

1956 – Mike Pavella of Washington Country Club shoots a final-round 75 to win the Tri-State PGA at Oakmont Country Club and join a select group of three-time winners of the event.

1959 – Pittsburgh relief pitcher Elroy Face wins his 22nd consectuive game over two years, and 17th of the season.

1972 – Alfredo Garza hits a two-run homer to center field in the bottom of the 11th inning to give Monterrey, Mexico, a 3-1 win over Honolulu and the Pony League World Series championship. It’s the only hit of the World Series for Garza.

1976 – James R. Harris, head basketball coach at Washington & Jefferson College, resigns.

1979 – The Pittsburgh Penguins trade goaltender Denis Herron and a second-round draft pick to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for forward Pat Hughes and goaltender Bob Holland.

1980 – John Cohen returns a punt 72 yards for a touchdown as time expires to give Washington High School a 13-12 victory over Trinity before a crowd of 4,000 at Wash High Stadium. Joe Cario scores two touchdowns for Trinity.

1985 – Dave Jamison rushes for 148 yards on 24 carries and scores three touchdowns as Jefferson-Morgan defeats Waynesburg, 27-6, spoiling the head coaching debut of the Raiders’ Jeff Metheny.

1986 – Andy Vore’s 66-yard touchdown runw ith 1:22 remaining caps Trinity’s 16-0 season-opening victory over Washington. Vore also has an 11-yard TD run and rushes for 124 yards on eight carries.

1986 – Quarterback Andy Vore runs for touchdowns of 11 and 66 yards to lead Trinity to a 16-0 season-opening victory over Washington.

1991 – Gary Clark, Eric Guy and Jason Barr combine to rush for 248 yards as McGuffey wins its season-opening football game, 14-0, over host Canon-McMillan.

2001 – California University senior running back Wesley Cates breaks his own school single-game rushing record by gaining 287 yards in the Vulcans’ season-opening 28-7 victory over Geneva at Adamson Stadium. Cates scores all four California touchdowns.