Early agate
ON THIS DATE
Jan. 6
1956 – Washington High School wins its 70th consecutive section basketball game, edging Waynesburg 45-43. Beanie Gordon scores 23 points for the Little Presidents.
1967 – Malcolm Lomax scores 29 points and Donora takes over first place in Section 4 with an 83-77 victory over Belle Vernon.
1977 – Olympic decathlon champion Bruce Jenner is named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for 1976.
1976 – Eugene Briggs makes 20 field goals and scores 48 points to lead Fort Cherry to an 88-72 victory over Immaculate Conception in a Section 12-AA game. Briggs breaks the FC single-game scoring record of 45 points set by Terry Holder during the Rangers’ 1961 state championship season.
1980 – The Pittsburgh Steelers advance to their fourth Super Bowl by eliminating the Houston Oilers for the second consecutive year with a 27-13 triumph in the AFC title game.
1983 – Tim Walker scores 21 points and grabs 16 rebounds to lead Waynesburg to a 100-80 victory over Alderson-Broaddus at College Gym. The victory is the 209th for Waynesburg’s Rudy Marisa, making him the school’s all-time winningest coach.
1984 – Ray Natili, playing in his hometown, scores 23 points as Waynesburg defeats Wilkes 94-77 in the first round of the W&J College Holiday Tournament. The Presidents defeat Lebanon Valley 78-60 in the other first-round matchup.
1984 – Greg Yorko scores 18 points to lead Jefferson-Morgan to a 47-41 victory at West Greene, ending the Rockets’ 43-game losing streak.
1985 – Dan Marino passes for 421 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Miami Dolphins to a 45-28 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC championship game.
1989 – Tim Cook leads four Waynesburg players in double figures with 24 points as the Raiders defeat Thomas Jefferson 79-68 in a battle for first place in Section 9-AAA.
1992 – The Pittsburgh Pirates fire general manager Larry Doughty and replace him with assistant Cam Bonifay.
1992 – Maria Matalik’s basket with three seconds left in overtime gives visiting Burgettstown High School a 52-51 victory over Bentworth in a battle of the Section 15-AA-A girls basketball leaders.
1995 – Scott Ramsey and Steve Miller each score 17 points as McGuffey ends a 34-game basketball losing streak by defeating visiting Elizabeth Forward 68-54.
1996 – Bam Morris rushes for 106 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns as the Pittsburgh Steelers advance to the AFC championship game with a 40-21 playoff victory over the Buffalo Bills.
2012 – Penn State hires New England patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien as its head football coach, the first change in leadership in the storied program in nearly a half-century.
2012 – Kenyadda Brown makes a jump shot from just inside the foul line as time expires, giving Canon-McMillan a 60-59 win at Baldwin.
2016 – Donora native Ken Griffey Jr. is elected to the baseball Hall of Fame with the highest voting percentage ever, and Mike Piazza makes it in his fourth year on the ballot. Griffey is on 437 of 440 votes in his first appearance on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot. His 99.3 percentage tops Tom Seaver’s 98.84 in 1992.