Early agate
ON THIS DATE
Feb. 26
1926 – Tiger Flowers dethrones Harry Greb of Pittsburgh in a 15-round split decision to win the world middleweight boxing title at Madison Square Garden.
1935 – Babe Ruth is released by the New York Yankees and signed by the Boston Braves.
1947 – Coach Alton Grover’s East Washington boys basketball team finishes the regular season as the area’s lone unbeaten following a 44-30 victory over Peters Township that puts the Ghosts’ record at 22-0.
1954 – Dick Kurtz scores 28 points and Washington crushes South Union 78-35 in the first round of the WPIAL Class A basketball playoffs at the Pitt Field House.
1966 – Waynesburg wins its 11th consecutive section team title and has 10 champions in the Section 4 wrestling tournament at Beth-Center. The Raiders’ Dale Murdock (95 pounds), Dick Ketchem (120) and Bill Brunofsky (154) are repeat champions.
1969 – Terry Evans scores 22 points, Scott Herz adds 21 and Washington & Jefferson assures itself of at least a tie for the Presidents’ Athletic Conference title with a 93-74 victory over Bethany.
1980 – Guards Lowes Moore and Joe Fryz combine for 51 points as West Virginia upsets Duquesne 95-87 in the first round of the Eastern Eight basketball tournament at the Civic Arena.
1981 – The Boston Bruins beat the Minnesota North Stars 5-1 in a game marred by fights. The teams set an NHL record with 84 penalties worth 392 minutes, and 12 players are ejected.
1982 – Penn State’s Elaine Sobansky, a Trinity graduate, finishes third in the shot put at the USA-Mobil Track Championships at Madison Square Garden. Sobansky’s best throw is 52-6 1/2.
1983 – Canon-McMillan defeats Derry 35-16 to win the Class AAA title and Washington beats Jefferson-Morgan 33-16 in the Class AA final of the WPIAL Wrestling Team Tournament.
1986 – Angie Kelly scores all but one of her team’s total in the first half and finishes with 20 points as Jefferson-Morgan wins its first WPIAL girls basketball playoff game, 46-40, over South Side Beaver at Trinity.
1989 – Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux becomes the third NHL player to have 100 assists in a season, joining Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky. Lemieux gets three assists and a goal in the Penguins’ 8-6 loss to the Hartford Whalers.
1991 – Junior point guard Chris Cook scores 29 points and makes 13 of 16 free throws to lead West Greene to an 81-67 victory over Avella in the WPIAL Class A boys basketball playoffs at Trinity High School. It’s the first WPIAL playoff victory in West Greene’s history.
2006 – Leigh Sulkowski scores a game-high 25 points and Washington & Jefferson overcomes a 10-point deficit in the second half to beat visiting Thomas More, 61-58, in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament championship game.
2008 – Matt Connor gives Peters Township its third consecutive WPIAL Class AAA champion in the 200 individual medley as he wins the gold medal in a career-best time of 1:55.28.
2011 – Trinity’s Kyle McWreath runs his record to 28-0 with a 5-2 decision over Waynebsurg’s Kyle Gray in the 215-pound finals of the Section 4-AAA tournament at Mt. Lebanon.
2011 – Charleroi’s Cody Wiercioch wins the 160-pound title at the WPIAL Class AA Championships with a 2-1 decision over Burell’s Traveis McKillop.
2011 – California University’s Kayla Smith scores a season-high 31 points, including her 2,000th career point, in the Vulcans’ 81-66 win at Lock Haven.