Aug. 2
1864 — The first Travers Stakes at Saratoga is won by Kentucky, a horse that scores 20 consecutive victories.
1912 — John McDermott wins the U.S. Open golf championship for the second straight year with a 294 total.
1952 — Five American boxers win gold medals at the Olympics, marking the first time the U.S. wins the unofficial team title. The five medalists are flyweight Nate Brooks; light welterweight Charley Adkins; middleweight Floyd Patterson; light heavyweight Norvell Lee and heavyweight Eddie Sanders.
1967 — The New Orleans Saints play their first preseason game and lose to the Los Angeles Rams, 77-16.
1979 — New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson is killed in a plane crash practicing takeoffs and landings near his Ohio home.
1986 — Jackie Joyner sets the world record in the heptathlon at the U.S. Olympic Festival in Houston with 7,158 points.
1992 — Vitaly Scherbo of the Unified Team wins gold medals in the vault, rings, pommel horse and parallel bars to give him a total of six gold, the most won by a gymnast in a single Olympic Games.
1996 — Down to her final long jump attempt and fighting an injured hamstring, Jackie Joyner-Kersee leaps out of sixth place and ends her Olympic career with a bronze medal. Joyner Kersee jumps 22 feet, 11 3-4 inches for her sixth Olympic medal.
1998 — Brandie Burton closes with an even-par 72 for a tournament-record 18-under 270 to win the du Maurier Classic by one stroke over Annika Sorenstam. It’s the lowest score in relation to par at a women’s major, breaking Betsy King’s 17-under 267 in the 1992 LPGA Championship.
2005 — In the largest trade in NBA history, Antoine Walker is dealt from Boston to Miami in a transaction involving five teams and 13 players. The Heat acquire point guard Jason Williams and small forward James Posey from Memphis, while the Grizzlies receive guard Eddie Jones from the Heat. The New Orleans Hornets and Utah Jazz also are involved in the deal.
2009 — Catriona Matthew wins the Women’s British Open for her first major title, beating Karrie Webb by three strokes just 10 weeks after giving birth to her second child.
2012 — Carmelo Anthony and the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team rewrite the record books in a 156-73 romp over Nigeria. Anthony scores 37 points, including 10 of 12 3-pointers, to break the U.S. single-game scoring record in less than three quarters. When Andre Iguodala hits a 3-pointer with 4:37 left, the Americans surpass the previous Olympic record of 138 points set by Brazil against Egypt in 1988.
2012 — Gabby Douglas becomes the third straight American to win gymnastics’ biggest prize when she wins the all-around Olympic title.
2012 — Michael Phelps wins his first individual gold medal of the London Games in the 200-meter individual medley. The U.S. star becomes the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three straight Olympics, capturing his 20th career medal — and 16th gold.
2015 — American Pharoah delivers an encore performance in his first race since winning the Triple Crown, by cruising to a 2 1/4-length victory in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.
2015 — Inbee Park rallies to win the Women’s British Open to become the seventh women to win four different major championships.
