Early agate
ON THIS DATE
April 23
1958 – Burgettstown Union’s John Riddile strikes out 18, walks only one and throws a no-hitter in a 3-0 win over South Side Beaver.
1962 – After an 0-9 start, the expansion New York Mets win their first game, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1 behind pitcher Jay Hook.
1989 – The Pittsburgh Steelers concentrate on offense in the NFL Draft, selecting Georgia running back Tim Worley with the seventh pick in the first round, then trading linebacker Mike Merriweather to Minnesota for the Vikings’ first-round pick, which the Steelers use to take Pitt offensive lineman Tom Ricketts.
1992 – Mario Lemeiux scores three goals and assists on three others as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeat Washington 6-4 at the Civic Arena, cutting the Capitals’ lead in the NHL playoff series to 2-1.
1992 – Kirk Gibson leads off the game with a home run and Doug Drabek pitches a five-hit shutout as the Pittsburgh Pirates win their ninth consecutive game, 5-0, at Montreal.
1993 – Tom Reiter, an assistant coach at Purdue, signs a contract to become the head men’s basketball coach at Washington & Jefferson.
April 24
1950 – Chuck Cooper, an All-American from Duquesne playing with the Harlem Globetrotters, becomes the first black to be picked in the NBA draft when he’s taken by the Boston Celtics.
1961 – Canon-McMillan High School’s Hank Armstrong wins the 220-yard dash in a meet record 22.3 seconds at the Canonsburg Relays.
1972 – Canon-McMillan’s Dan Corcoran throws a no-hitter, and Ralph Wilson breaks a scoreless tie with a pinch-hit home run in the sixth inning, as Canon-McMillan defeats Chartiers-Houston 2-0 in a Section 3 baseball game. Corcoran strikes out 17 and allows only two baserunners (one walk, one hit batsman).
1974 – Clark Graebner, player-coach of the Cleveland Nets in World Team Tennis, trades his wife, Carole, to the Pittsburgh Traingles in exchange for Laura Dupont.
1974 – The NFL votes to expand to Tampa, Fla.
1980 – Elaine Sobansky of Trinity becomes only the second high school girl in United States history to break the 50-feet barrier outdoors in the shot put. Sobansky makes a throw of 50-1 at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, breaking the meet record for high school girls by more than four feet.
1986 – Trinity hires J.C. Martin, a former Hillers player, to be the school’s head boys soccer coach. Martin replaces Art Richardson, who resigned.
1987 – The San Francisco 49ers acquire quarterback Steve Young in a trade with Tampa Bay. The 49ers send second- and fourth-round draft picks in the upcoming NFL draft and cash to the Buccaneers.
1993 – Pittsburgh’s NHL-record 14-game playoff winning streak and its overall 21-game unbeaten string are snapped as the New Jersey Devils beat the Penguins 4-1.
1994 – The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Colorado wide receiver Charles Johnson with the 17th pick in the NFL Draft.
1996 – Petr Nedved puts a wrist shot past Washington goaltender Olig Kolzig with 44.6 seconds left in the fourth overtime to give the Pittsbrugh Penguins a 3-2 victory over the Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Pittsburgh overcomes the ejection of Mario Lemieux late in the second period, and Penguins goaltender Ken Wregget stops a penalty shot by Washington’s Joe Juneau in the second overtime.
2012 – Yazmin Kotar’s walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning gives Canon-McMillan a 5-1 win over Upper St. Clair in a Section 4-AAAA softball game.