Texas and Texans have left indelible marks on golf courses, fields, arenas and racetracks since Texas Co-op Power first landed in mailboxes in July 1944, including:
1945: Golfer Byron Nelson of Waxahachie wins 11 consecutive PGA tournaments, a record that still stands.
1945: Having already earned two 1932 Olympic gold medals in track and field, Port Arthur’s Babe Didrikson Zaharias wins the Texas Women’s Open golf tournament and is named The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year (an accolade she ultimately receives six times).
1948: SMU running back Doak Walker wins the Heisman Trophy.
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1949: Golfer Ben Hogan of Dublin survives a horrific collision with a bus before resuming his Hall of Fame career.
1954: Duke Washington of Washington State University is the first African-American to play in a football game at the University of Texas.
1955: Jockey Willie Shoemaker of Fabens wins the first of his 11 Triple Crown races as he rides Swaps to victory at the Kentucky Derby.
1957: Texas A&M running back John David Crow becomes the first Aggie to win the Heisman Trophy.
1958: Robert Hughes begins his coaching career at Fort Worth Terrell High School. When he retired in 2005 from Fort Worth Dunbar, he had amassed 1,333 victories, most ever by a high school basketball coach in the U.S.
1958: The Wayland Baptist University women’s basketball team loses to Nashville Business College, ending a 131-game winning streak.
1960: The Houston Oilers win the first American Football League championship. They repeated in 1961.
1963: The Texas Longhorns and coach Darrell Royal win the school’s first football national championship.
1964: Track star James Means becomes the first black varsity athlete at the University of Texas.
1965: Houston Astrodome debuts as America’s first indoor sports stadium.
1966: Texas Western plays an all-black starting lineup against all-white Kentucky in the NCAA men’s basketball championship game, winning 72-65.
1968: Americans John Carlos and Tommie Smith, who was born in Clarksville, spark a controversy and create one of the most iconic sports images of the 20th century at the Olympic Games in Mexico City. During the medal ceremony after the 200-meter sprint, Smith, who won gold, and Carlos, who won bronze, raise black-gloved fists in a black power salute.
1970: Julius Whittier becomes the first African-American to letter in football at the University of Texas.
1971: The NBA comes to Texas when the Houston Rockets play their first regular-season game at Hofheinz Pavilion.
1972: The Dallas Cowboys win Super Bowl VI, the first for a Texas team.
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1974: The Super Bowl comes to Texas for the first time—at Houston’s Rice Stadium.
1977: Auto racer A.J. Foyt of Houston wins his fourth and final Indy 500 race.
1977: University of Texas running back Earl Campbell becomes the first Longhorn to win the Heisman Trophy.
Carl Lewis
ABC photo archives | Getty images
1989: Ty Murray, 20, of Stephenville becomes the youngest rider to win the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association all-around world championship.
1989: University of Houston quarterback Andre Ware becomes the first Cougar to win the Heisman Trophy.
1990: Arkansas defeats the University of Texas in women’s basketball, ending the Longhorns’ 183-game winning streak against Southwest Conference teams.
1991: Coach Sandra Meadows and the Duncanville High School girls’ basketball team loses, ending a state-record 134-game winning streak.
1991: Refugio’s Nolan Ryan, pitching for the Texas Rangers, records his seventh and final career no- hitter, a major-league record.
1994: Jerry Jones buys the Dallas Cowboys, fires legendary coach Tom Landry and hires Jimmie Johnson as the new coach.
1995: Brownfield and Texas Tech star Sheryl Swoopes becomes the first female basketball player to be honored with an eponymous shoe, the Nike Air Swoopes.
1996: The Southwest Conference, which included the major universities in Texas, disbands after 82 years.
1996: The Houston Oilers play their final game before owner Bud Adams moves the team to Tennessee.
1997: The Houston Comets win the inaugural WNBA championship.
1999: SMU alum Payne Stewart, the reigning U.S. Open golf champion, and five others are killed when their jet loses cabin pressure, apparently leaving everyone unconscious, and later crashes in South Dakota.
1999: The Dallas Stars win the Stanley Cup.
2011: Baylor University quarterback Robert Griffin III becomes the first Bear to win the Heisman Trophy.
2012: Plano native Lance Armstrong, winner of the Tour de France 1999–2005, is stripped of his titles after accusations of blood doping that he admitted were true.
2013: Simone Biles of Spring wins her first world title. She goes on to become the most decorated gymnast in American history—with 25 combined Olympic and world championship medals.
2014: Leta Andrews retires at Granbury High School with 1,416 career wins, more than any other U.S. high school basketball coach.
2017: The Houston Astros win the World Series.
