TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY - FEBRUARY 16TH

1950 - Writers fail to elect anyone to Baseball's Hall of Fame.
1952 - Hall of Famer Honus Wagner, 77, retires; Pirates retire his #33.

1953 - Ted Williams safely crash-lands his damaged 

Panther jet, later awarded the Air medal.

1959 - John McEnroe, Wiesbaden, Germany, American tennis great 

(US Open 1979-81, 84 Wimb 1981, 83, 84) is born.

1962 - US Open Tennis: Jimmy Bostwick defeats brother Pete to win.

1967 - Keith Gretzky, former hockey player; brother of Wayne Gretzky is born.

1970 - Joe Frazier TKOs Jimmy Ellis in 5 for Heavyweight boxing title.
1972 - First NBA to score 30,000 points (Wilt Chamberlain in 940 games) 

during a game with Phoenix Suns.

1972 - Jerome Bettis, running back (Pittsburgh Steelers) is born.

1980 - Eric Heiden skates 5k in 7:02.29 (Olympic Record).
1984 - Bill Johnson becomes first American to win Olympic downhill skiing gold.

1985 - Livingston Bramble defeats Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini to win WBA champ.

1992 - LA Lakers retire Magic Johnson's #32 uniform.

2003 - Michael Waltrip wins motor racing's Daytona 500 after 

rain stops the race for a second time at lap 109.

2005 - 2004-05 NHL season is canceled by league commissioner Gary Bettman. 

This was the first time that a North American professional sports league had to 

cancel a season due to a labor dispute.