Dec 17, 2021 5 min read

ON THIS DATE

Dec. 18

1966 – Bill Nelson passes for 344 yards and two touchdowns as the Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the host Atlanta Falcons 57-33 in the season finale for both teams.

1970 – West Greene ends a 30-game basketball losing streak by defeating McGuffey 60-50. Five West Greene players score in doduble figures, led by Alan Riggle and Bob Shields with 12 points each.

1971 – Waynesburg High School sends eight wrestlers to the finals and comes away with five champions to win the team title at the California Invitational wrestling tournament. Winning titles for Waynesburg were defending WPIAL champion Dan Levine (138), Scott Merring (103), Dale Butcher (120), Keith McClure (133) and Alan Wise (heavyweight). Levine scores the only fall of the finals.

1974 – Keith Starr and Kirk Bruce each score 13 points and Pitt upsets seventh-ranked Marquette 65-58 at the Pitt Field House.

1976 – Bob Burns (98), Dave Baker (119), Ken Evans (126), Tom Sams (132), Bob Piatt (145) win their weight classes as Trinity wins the team title at the Western Conference wrestling tournament at Chartiers Valley.

1979 – Sam Maropis makes a 12-foot jump shot with five seconds remaining, giving Burgettstown a 52-51 victory over Washington in the Section 9-AA opener.

1979 – Charleroi erases a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter and defeats Monessen 75-71 in overtime. Robbie Hansen scores 12 points in the fourth quarter for the Cougars and finishes the game with 17.

1985 – Roy Chipman, head basketball coach at Pitt, announces that he will resign at the end of the season, his sixth with the Panthers.

1989 – Four days after a failed attempt to obtain his resignation, the University of Pittsburgh fires head football coach Mike Gottfried and replaces him on an interim basis with offensive coordinator Paul Hackett. Gottfried had a 26-17-2 record in four seasons.

1989 – Pitt makes 29 of 35 free throws to outlast Duquesne, 92-87. The Panthers win despite 23 points and 13 rebounds by Duquesne’s Brian Anselmino.

1993 – McGuffey running back Jason Barr, who rushed for 2,111 yards, is named to the Associated Press Big School All-State Football Team.

2009 – Phil Horensky makes a clutch three-pointer in the second overtime, sending Peters Township to a 75-72 victory over Baldwin.

Dec. 19

1941 – Sammy Angott of Washington dominates Lew Jenkins in a unification bout to win the undisputed world lightweight boxing title at Madison Square Garden.

1948 – The Philadelphia Eagles win the NFL title, beating the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 in a major snowstorm. Philadelphia’s Bucko Kilroy recovers a fumble on the 17-yard line in the fourth quarter, and Steve Van Buren later scores from the 5.

1958 – Waynesburg High School’s wrestling team defeats Washington and Lee 38-13 in Arlington, Va., to extend the Raiders’ winning streak to 33. Jim Husk (167) has Waynebsurg’s only pin in the match.

1969 – Mapletown improves to 7-0 as Bob Clites scores 26 points in a 77-63 win over visiting Beth-Center.

1970 – Gary Skinner’s 15-foot jump shot with one second remaining in the third overtime gives California State a 65-63 victory over Point Park at the Pitt Field House. Cal plays with only one of its regular starters as eight black players on the Vulcans sit out the game after demanding the school hire a black assistant coach and black adviser.

1970 – Chartiers-Houston wins its second consecutive California Invitational wrestling tournament team title by edging runner-up McGuffey. The Bucs, with five individual champions, earned the title when Jim McConnell upset McGuffey’s undefeated Tom Teagarden by judges’ decision in the 112-pound final.

1972 – Iowa State’s Johnny Majors agrees to a five-year contract to become head football coach at Pitt.

1976 – The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Baltimore Colts 40-14 in an AFC playoff game. Ten minutes after the game, Donald Kroner, a former charter pilot, crashes a rented, low-wing, Piper Cherokee into the upper deck of Memorial Stadium. No one is seriously hurt as most of the capacity crowd of 60,020 left the one-sided contest early or were heading down the exit ramps.

1978 – Kevin Clark scores 31 points, including his 1,000th career point, as undefeated Waynesburg College outscores Mercyhurst 110-95 in a run-and-gun game at College Gym.

1978 – Bentworth’s boys basketball team remains undefeated in Section 16-A by defeating Mapletown 80-52. The Bearcats show up with their gold road jerseys, the same color as Mapletoewn’s home jerseys. After a considerable delay, Mapletown’s players each wear black practice jerseys with roman numerals taped on the back. Bentworth’s Kevin Tony scores 27 points.

1986 – Seton La Salle defeats Washington 62-40 to end the Little Prexies’ 41-game boys basketball section winning streak that dated back to December of 1982.

1988 – Tony Petrarca and Clayton Adams each score 15 points and Duquesne ends an 8-year losing streak against Pitt by defeating the Panthers 80-76 at the Palumbo Center.

2005 – Ringgold High School running back Robert Heller, who rushed for 1,586 yards and scored 17 touchdowns, is named Class AAA first team all-state by the Associated Press.

2006 – The Millersville University women’s basketball team overcomes a 14-point second-half deficit and defeats California 55-48 at Hamer Hall. The loss ends Cal’s 23-game winning streak against PSAC opponents.

2007 – New York Islanders forward Chris Simon is banned for 30 games, drawing the longest suspension in NHL history again. Simon’s latest infraction was stepping on Pittsburgh’s Jarkko Ruutu with his skate during a Dec. 15 game. This is the seventh suspension of Simon’s career.

2009 – Ben Roethlisberger completes 29 of 46 passes with three TDs and 503 yards, becoming the first Pittsburgh quarterback to throw for 500 yards in a game during a 37-36 win over Green Bay. He hits rookie Mike Wallace for a 19-yard touchdown on the final play. It’s the first 37-36 game in NFL history.

2011 – The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the host San Francisco 49ers 20-3 in a Monday Night Football game that features two delays because of stadium power outages.