Here's a look back at notable sports news on May 21 through the years:
1966: In 1963, Englishman Henry Cooper became the first boxer to send Muhammad Ali to the canvas. In their rematch, the 32-year-old didn't come close to knocking the champ down before 46,000 fans in London's Arsenal Stadium.
In fact, Ali turned Cooper into a bloody mess — much like he did in a five-round TKO of Cooper in their first match. This bout was ended in the sixth round because a cut over Cooper's left eye started bleeding profusely, staining his royal blue trunks with blood.
"I don't mind admitting I was a bit disturbed by all that blood," Ali said, according to the New York Daily News.
"I didn't want the violence to continue," he added. "I don't really like hurting anyone because it's against my religion." Ali, unmarked except for a slight puffing below the left eye, was Muslim.
Cooper said a head-butt caused the eight-stitch gash above his eye. But he thought he fared as best as he could. "I got in one strong left hook to the chin in the third and was forcing the fight all the time," he said.
The New York Daily News had the fight even going into the sixth round. But Ali left no doubt in the final round. "If he didn't cut so easily," said the champ, "I believe the fight still would have ended in a knockout in nine or 10 rounds."
OLDEN DAYS
2011: In beating 28-year-old Jean Pascal for the light-heavyweight boxing title, 46-year-old Bernard Hopkins became the oldest fighter to win a major world championship. Hopkins (52-5-2) broke the age record set by George Foreman, who was 45 when he beat Michael Moorer for the WBA heavyweight title in 1994.
"I didn't feel like I was 46 years old tonight," Hopkins said, according to the New York Daily News. "I felt more like 36. ... I wasn't going to be denied. You're supposed to win titles when you're in your 20s, not when you're 46."
Two years later, when he was 48, Hopkins broke his own record for oldest to hold a title when he beat Tavoris Cloud.
BASEBALL NUGGETS
1943: The average time for an MLB game last season was three hours, five minutes and 25 seconds. In 2005, it was 2:46. On this date, the White Sox beat the Senators, 1-0, in 1:29 — one of the fastest games in MLB history. Wonder if anyone asked for money back?
A year later, in August, the Boston Braves beat the Reds, 2-0, in 1:15. The shortest game in MLB history, according to the Baseball Almanac, was a 51-minute affair in 1919 won by the Giants over the Athletics, 6-1. Both teams apparently were rushing things to sneak in a double-header.
1952: When your work day gets off to a great start, the rest of the day can be smooth sailing. The Dodgers had one of those days, scoring 15 runs in the first inning en route to a 19-1 win over the Reds at Ebbets Field.
Dodgers fans, however, quickly became bored.
"The crowd of 11,830 fans yelled when the public address system blared forth that their favorite ball club had broken the run-scoring record," The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, "but thereafter seemed to grow satiated and lose interest. They began drifting toward the exits even before it became an official game."
Duke Snider homered in the big inning, and teammates Pee Wee Reese and Billy Cox each had three at-bats. The Dodgers, who had been struggling at the plate, set six MLB records: most batters in an inning (21); most runs after two outs (12); most RBI in one inning (15); most batters to reach safely in a row (19); most runs in an inning; and most runs in the first inning. (The Red Sox, who scored 17 runs in the seventh inning against the Tigers in 1953, broke the record.)
2000: This was one of the "grandest" days in big-league history, with six players jacking grand slams. The big boppers were Garret Anderson (Angels), J.T. Snow (Giants), Brian Hunter (Phillies), Jason Giambi (A's), Adrian Beltre (Dodgers) and Shawn Green (Dodgers). "There is no rest in that lineup," Marlins manager John Boles told the L.A. Times after the Dodgers' 12-3 win. "They come at you with some firepower."
The grand slam mark for a day was smashed in 2017, when seven were hit.
2009: In a 3-1 win over the Cubs, St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols hit an "I"-popping home run. The first-inning blast knocked out the “I″ on the Big Mac Land sign in left field at Busch Stadium. "Be nice if they didn't repair that," Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "That's a signature thing."
UGLY, BUT IT COUNTED
1986: With one second left, Ralph Sampson caught a long inbound pass from Rodney McCray and made an off-balance, turnaround hoop as time expired to give Houston a 114-112 win over the Lakers, sending the Rockets to the NBA Finals. The loss by the defending NBA champions snapped their streak of four straight Western Conference titles.
"My greatest experience in basketball," Sampson called the winning basket. The ugly shot bounced twice on the rim before going through the hoop.
"And he wasn't being graded on form," Rockets coach Bill Fitch said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "There were no gymnastics involved."
Lakers forward James Worthy was stunned by the game-winner. "We had every possible shot covered," he said. "That was the last shot I expected."
The Rockets went on to lose in the NBA Finals to the Celtics in six games.
2014: Wendell Scott was elected posthumously to the NASCAR Hall of Fame -- the first African-American to be honored. Scott, whose lone NASCAR win came in a race in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1963, died in 1990.
Wrote Nate Ryan of USA Today:
"If perseverance is the primary criteria for election to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Wendell Scott is the most deserving candidate in stock car history. As the sport’s first black winner, he deserves immense praise for overcoming death threats, pervasive discrimination and meager funding to race on the highest level of stock car racing from 1961 to 1973."
2012: Bill Stewart, former head football coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers. Stewart took over as interim coach after Rich Rodriguez left in 2007 and led WVU to a Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma. Stewart left the job in 2011 amid controversy. He died of a heart attack at 59.
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!