The 1980s Sports: Chronology

1980:     February 12 to 24 The Winter Olympics are held in Lake Placid, New York.

1980:     June 6 Nineteen-year-old Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers becomes the youngest player ever to win two major NHL awards in the same season.

1980:     July 19 to August 3 The Summer Olympics are held in Moscow, the first games ever staged in a communist nation.

1981:     March 29 Phil Mahre becomes the first American to win the men's over-all World Cup skiing championship.

1981:     April 9 Frank Robinson of the San Francisco Giants becomes the first African American manager in the National League.

1981:     July 31 A forty-nine-day strike by baseball players, the longest in the history of professional sports, ends.

1982:     May 16 The New York Islanders sweep the Vancouver Canucks to become the first U.S.-based NHL team to win three consecutive Stanley Cups.

1982:     June 8 Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers becomes the first player to win an NHL MVP award by a unanimous vote.

1982:     November 17 A fifty-seven-day strike by NFL players ends.

1983:     July 2 Martina Navratilova wins her fourth women's singles tennis championship at Wimbledon.

1983:     September 26 Australia II beats the U.S. yacht Liberty to win the America's Cup, the first American loss in the 132-year history of the yachting competition.

1983:     November 16 Cal Ripken Jr. becomes the first player in baseball history to win Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in consecutive seasons.

1984:     February 8 to 19 The Winter Olympics are held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.

1984:     May 15 Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers sets an NBA playoff-game record by passing for twenty-four assists.

1984:     July 28 to August 12 The Summer Olympics are held in Los Angeles, California.

1985:     February 6 Diann Roffe becomes the first American woman to win a gold medal at the World Alpine Skiing Championship.

1985:     March 6 Heavyweight Mike Tyson knocks out Hector Mercedes in the first round to win his first professional fight.

1985:     May 16 Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls is named the NBA Rookie of the Year.

1986:     May 28 Larry Bird wins his third consecutive NBA MVP award.

1986:     July 23 Greg LeMond wins professional cycling's prestigious Tour de France, the first American to do so.

1986:     November 22 Mike Tyson knocks out WBC champion Trevor Berbick in the second round to become, at twenty, the youngest heavyweight champion in history.

1987:     April 9 Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers breaks the all-time NHL playoff scoring mark of 176 points set by Jean Beliveau.

1987:     May 30 Guard Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons says that if Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics were black instead of white, he would be considered "just another good guy."

1987:     December 6 San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana completes an NFL record twenty-two straight passes against the Green Bay Packers.

1988:     February 13 to 28 The Winter Olympics are held in Calgary, Canada.

1988:     September 17 to October 2 The Summer Olympics are held in Seoul, South Korea.

1988:     September 29 Sisters-in-law Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Florence Griffith Joyner both win gold medals and set world records in their respective Olympic events: Joyner-Kersee in the heptathlon and Griffith Joyner in the 200-meter dash.

1989:     July 23 Greg LeMond wins cycling's Tour de France for the second time.

1989:     August 24 Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose agrees to a lifetime suspension from baseball for gambling.

1989:     October 3 Art Shell is hired as the coach of the Los Angeles Raiders, becoming the first African American NFL coach since Fritz Pollard served as player-coach for the Hammond (Indiana) Pros (1923–25).