July 26
1859 — The first intercollegiate Regatta is held in Worcester, Mass., with Harvard beating Yale and Brown.
1928 — Gene Tunney beats Tom Heeney on a technical knockout in the 11th round at Yankee Stadium to retain the world heavyweight title.
1952 — Bob Mathias wins his second Olympic decathlon in Helsinki, Finland.
1955 — Doug Ford defeats Cary Middlecoff 4 and 3 in the final round to capture the PGA title.
1981 — Pat Bradley shoots a record 279 total to win the U.S. Women’s Open. Kathy Whitworth, who finishes third, becomes the first million-dollar golfer in LPGA history.
1987 — Stephen Roche of Ireland wins the Tour de France by 40 seconds over Spain’s Pedro Delgado. Jeannie Longo of France wins the women’s race, finishing 2:52 ahead of Italy’s Maria Canins.
1992 — Miguel Indurain of Spain, the holder of the yellow jersey as overall leader for the final nine days, rides in the pack to clinch his second straight victory in the Tour de France.
1996 — American swimmer Amy Van Dyken wins the 50-meter freestyle to become Atlanta’s first quadruple gold medalist and the first U.S. woman to win four in a single Olympics.
1998 — Three spectators are killed — the first fan deaths at a major race in the United States in more than a decade — and six are injured by flying debris from a one-car crash at the U.S. 500 at Michigan Speedway.
2005 — Greg Maddux records his 3,000th career strikeout against San Francisco, striking out Omar Vizquel in the third inning of a 3-2, 11-inning victory for the Giants.
2009 — Alberto Contador wins the Tour de France for a second time. Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, Contador’s biggest rival among title contenders in the mountains, finishes second.
2013 — He Chong wins his record-tying third consecutive world title in the men’s 3-meter springboard at Barcelona, Spain, giving China its seventh gold medal in eight diving events. His victories in 2009, 2011, and 2013, matches Phillip Boggs’ record of three titles from 1973-78.
2015 — Christina Jones and Bill May of the U.S. win the first gold medal in new mixed duet technical synchronized swimming at the world championships in Kazan, Russia. The mixed duet is new to the world championships.
2015 — Kyle Busch’s incredible comeback continues with a weekend sweep at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He wins the Brickyard 400 a day after winning the second-tier Xfinity Series race. Busch, who missed the first 11 races of the season with a broken right leg and broken left foot, wins the fourth of the last five Sprint Cup Series races, including three straight.
