Wearing the same trunks he wore 20 years minus a week earlier, when he lost the title to Muhammad Ali, Big George knocks Michael Moorer out in the 10th round at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. He thus breaks Jersey Joe Walcott's record as oldest Heavyweight Champion. (Walcott was 38 when he lost the title to Rocky Marciano in 1952).
He doesn't hold the title for long, as organizational shenanigans beyond his control forced him to give it up. But he had made his point. Today, who remembers the guys who made George Foreman give up the title (except for Ali)? Ah, but everybody remembers George, and everybody likes George. Which was not the case the first time around: After retiring from boxing for the 1st time in 1977, he totally changed his life, and became a different and better person. His last fight was a loss to Shannon Briggs in 1997. His final record was 76-5 -- 31-3 after his comeback.
*
November 5, 1994 was a Saturday. Among the college football games played that day were these:
* Number 1 Nebraska beat Kansas, 45-17 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska won the Big Eight Conference title.
* Number 2 Penn State beat Indiana, 35-29 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana. Penn State won the Big Ten Conference title, in only their 2nd season in the league.
* Number 3 Auburn beat East Carolina, 38-21 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama.
* Number 4 Florida beat Southern Mississippi, 55-17 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. Florida won the Southeastern Conference title.
* Number 5 Miami beat Number 10 Syracuse, 27-6 at the Carrier Dome (now the JMA Wireless Dome) in Syracuse, New York. Miami won the Big East Conference title, but Nebraska beat them in the Orange Bowl, avenging their 1984 Orange Bowl defeat, and finally winning Coach Tom Osborne his 1st National Championship.
* Number 6 Alabama beat Louisiana State, 35-17 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
* Number 7 Colorado beat Oklahoma State, 17-3 at Folsom Field in the Denver suburb of Boulder, Colorado.
* Number 8 Florida State beat Georgia Tech, 41-10 at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta. Florida State won the Atlantic Coast Conference title. Then, in their last regular-season game, came from 31-3 down to tie, 31-31 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, a game known as the Choke at Doak. A rematch was ordered for the Sugar Bowl, as the SEC Champion always received a bid, while the ACC Champion was not locked into a bowl. Florida State won it, 23-17.
* Number 9 Utah were upset by New Mexico, 23-21 at University Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
* Number 10 Colorado beat Oklahoma State, 45-32 at Lewis Field (now Boone Pickens Stadium) in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Colorado beat Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. Notre Dame had the week of November 5 off.
* Number 11 Texas A&M beat their arch-rivals, Texas, 34-10 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.
* Number 12 Washington were upset by Stanford, 46-28 at the old Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California.
* Number 13 Virginia were upset by Number 23 Duke, 28-25 at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, North Carolina.
* Number 16 Washington State were upset by Number 22 Southern California, 23-10 at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington. USC did not win the Pacific-Ten Conference title, but did receive a bid to the Cotton Bowl, where they beat Texas Tech, the Southwest Conference Champions.
* Number 19 North Carolina were upset by Clemson, 28-17 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
* Number 21 Oregon beat Arizona State, 34-10 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. Oregon won the Pac-10 title, but lost the Rose Bowl to Penn State. Despite finishing undefeated, Penn State finished Number 2 in the last poll, behind Nebraska. They needed to worry less about who was winning the National Championship, and what defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was doing.
* Among the service academies, Air Force beat Army, 10-6 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; and Navy beat Tulane, 17-15 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
* And Rutgers beat Temple, 38-21 at the new Rutgers Stadium (now SHI Stadium) in Piscataway, New Jersey.
The baseball players were on strike, and the season would have been over by this point, anyway. The NHL players were locked out, meaning that 2 of the "Big Four" sports in North America were stopped cold due to management's unfairness to the players.
There were 11 games in the NBA:
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Dallas Mavericks, 112-103 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Charlotte Hornets, 115-107 at the Charlotte Coliseum.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 114-109 in overtime at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Orlando Magic beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 122-107 at the Orlando Arena.
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Boston Celtics, 112-103 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
* The Washington Bullets beat the Chicago Bulls, 100-99 in overtime at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 97-96 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 115-85 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* The Golden State Warriors beat the Denver Nuggets, 108-104 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.
* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 112-95 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. Clyde Drexler scored 41 points.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Utah Jazz, 110-103 at the Tacoma Dome. The Sonics played the 1994-95 season there while the Seattle Center Coliseum was being rebuilt as the KeyArena.

No comments:
Post a Comment