Don Shula, who coached with the Baltimore Colts and the Miami Dolphins, won 347 games in his career. That’s more than any other coach in NFL history. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997.

Jim Brown led the NFL in rushing more times than any other running back in history. He led the league eight times from 1957 to 1965 in his spectacular career.

The Green Bay Packers won the first Super Bowl ever played, which was held in Los Angeles in January 1967.

Emmitt Smith ran for more than 18,000 yards in his 15-year career, more than any other player in history. After his retirement, he went on to win the third Dancing with the Stars competition.

The Grey Cup, awarded to the champion of the Canadian Football League, was introduced in 1909.

Beattie Feathers was the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. He did it in 1934 with the Chicago Bears.

In 1984 the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis and became the Indianapolis Colts. In 1996 the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore to become the Baltimore Ravens. A new Cleveland Browns team debuted in 1999.
Jay Berwanger, the first winner of the Heisman trophy, was the NFL’s first number one pick in the college draft, when it was established in 1936.

The NFL Pro Bowl, pro football’s version of an all-star game, has been played at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii since 1980.

A record 202 countries participated in the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens.

Only four athletes have ever won medals at both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games: Eddie Eagan (United States), Jacob Tullin Thams (Norway), Christa Luding-Rothenburger (East Germany), and Clara Hughes (Canada).

Speed skater Bonnie Blair has won six medals at the Olympic Winter Games.

That’s more than any other American athlete.

Nobody has won more medals at the Winter Games than cross-country skier Bjorn Dählie of Norway, who has 12.

Larrisa Latynina, a gymnast from the former Soviet Union, finished her Summer Olympic Games career with 18 total medals—the most in history.

The United States Olympic Committee established the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983 to recognize outstanding American Olympic athletes, however, a plan to build a hall has been suspended due to lack of funding.

Louisiana Tech won the first NCAA women’s basketball tournament in 1982. Tennessee has won the national title six times since then.

The 1979 Final Four championship game is the highest-rated college basketball game in TV history. Approximately 18 million households were watching. The game featured the first of many meetings between future NBA stars Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

The NCAA first introduced the three-point shot to college basketball in 1987, and the move changed the game for good. The three-pointer has become a major weapon in the sport and has altered the way teams attack and defend.

The 2004 NCAA championship went to the University of Connecticut—for both the men and women! This was the first time a school won both titles.

Since 1998, the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) rankings determine who plays in the four major bowls and most importantly, the national championship game.

Since 1936, the team with the most national championships is Notre Dame with eight. Alabama and Oklahoma are tied for second with seven.

The Rose Bowl is known as the “Granddaddy of all bowls.” The first one was played on Jan. 1, 1902 with Michigan crushing Stanford 49-0. It had always been played between the winner of the Big Ten conference and the winner of the Pac-10 conference until 2002 when it served as the national championship game between Miami and Nebraska.

Division 1 college football is split into two divisions. The larger schools usually play in Division 1-A, while the smaller schools play in Division 1-AA. There is also a Division 2 and Division 3 for even smaller schools.

Grambling St. coach Eddie Robinson retired in 1998 after winning an NCAA record 408 games and losing only 164 in 55 years.

The school with the most Division 1-A victories is Michigan. The school with the most 1-AA victories is Yale.

Oklahoma won 47 games in a row from 1953 to 1957. It is still the longest Division 1 winning streak of all time.

In 1988, Oklahoma St. running back Barry Sanders set the all-time single-season rushing record by running for a whopping 2,628 yards, an average of 238.9 yards per game. He also scored 39 touchdowns, also a record for one season.

The longest field goal ever kicked is 67 yards, done by three players — Steve Little of Arkansas, Russell Erxleben of Texas, and Joe Williams of Wichita St.
In college, Jerry Rice of Mississippi Valley St. had 301 catches for 4,693 yards. Both are Divison 1-AA records.

The College Football Hall of Fame was established in 1955 and is located in South Bend, Indiana. Hundreds of players and coaches have been inducted.

The Heisman Trophy is awarded every year to college football’s top player. The first award went to Chicago half back Jay Berwanger in 1935. Ohio State’s

Archie Griffin is the only player to win two Heisman awards. He did it in 1974 and 1975.

In 1997, Michigan’s Charles Woodson became the first primarily defensive player to win the award.

Baseball stars from the National League and the American League played the first All-Star Game in 1933.

The National League has won 41 of the 80 games. The game ended in a tie twice.

In 1961 rain in Boston prevented extra innings and the game ended in a 1-1 tie.

And in 2002, the game went 11 innings with the score knotted at seven before it was finally called off due to a lack of pitchers.

Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. didn’t miss a game in 16 years. He played in 2,632 consecutive games from April 30, 1982 to Sept. 19, 1998.

Pete Rose, who played for the Cincinnati Reds and then was banned from baseball for life for betting on games while managing the team, holds the all-time record for hits (4,256) and games played (3,562).

In 2001, San Francisco’s Barry Bonds broke the all-time single-season home run record when he hit 73. He broke the mark of 70, set by St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire in 1998.

Fourteen players have hit four home runs in one game: Bobby Lowe, Ed Delahanty, Lou Gehrig, Chuck Klein, Pat Seerey, Gil Hodges, Joe Adcock, Rocky Colavito, Willie Mays, Mike Schmidt, Bob Horner, Mark Whiten, Mike Cameron and Shawn Green.

Pitcher Nolan Ryan played 27 seasons in major league baseball and struck out more batters in his career than any other pitcher.

Barry Bonds won the National League MVP Award seven times—twice with the Pittsburgh Pirates and five times with the San Francisco Giants. That’s four more times than Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, and Mike Schmidt, his closest NL co-winners.

On the American League MVP list are Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, and Mickey Mantle with three awards each.

Philadelphia A’s (now the Oakland Athletics) manager Connie Mack has 3,755 career victories, more than any other manager in history.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum is located in Cooperstown, N.Y. It was created in 1935 to celebrate baseball’s 100th anniversary.