Author: Allison Jacobs

August 2, 1998 U.S. Professional Golfer Brandie Burton wins the du Maurier Classic with a score of 18 under par, one stroke less than the runner-up, 10-time major winner Annika Sorenstam. This performance broke Betsy King’s previous record for the lowest score at a women’s major: 17 under par in the 1992 LPGA Championship.

Before this historic accomplishment, Burton won the 1989 U.S. Girls’ Junior and was runner-up in the 1989 U.S. Women’s Amateur. The California native went professional in 1990 and was named the LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year. Throughout her career, she won the LPGA Tour five times and earned 88 top-10 finishes, including places in the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.

This collection of winnings made her the first female golfer to earn more than a million dollars.

In 2019, Burton was inducted into the Southern California Golf Association Hall of Fame for her success in the sport.

https://iecn.com/scga-hall-of-fame-welcomes-eisenhower-alum-brandie-burton/

https://www.recordonline.com/story/sports/2019/08/02/this-date-in-sports-history/4583023007/

August 1, 1928 The United States wins all three medals in the men’s pole vault at the Amsterdam Olympics.

Sabin William Carr took gold and set an Olympic record with a vault of 4.2 meters followed by William Herbert Droegemueller with a 4.1-meter vault. Charles English Mcginnis received the bronze medal for his 3.95-meter vault.

Carr’s win was particularly significant because he had beat his long-time rival, fellow American Lee Barnes. Barnes had recently broken Carr’s world outdoor pole-vaulting record, but Carr got his revenge with this Olympic win while Barnes did not even get on the podium.

None of these men returned to the Olympics, but the United States’ dominance in pole vaulting continued when they once again took the top three spots at the 1932 Olympics.

https://olympics.com/en/olympic-games/amsterdam-1928/results/athletics/pole-vault-men

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabin_Carr

https://olympics.com/en/olympic-games/los-angeles-1932/results/athletics

July 31st, 1930 NY Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig drives in 8 runs with a grand slam and 2 doubles in a 14-13 win over the rival Boston Red Sox.

Today Gehrig is best remembered for his emotional farewell from baseball at age 36, when he was stricken with ALS, now often called Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He gave a speech to a packed Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, which famously included the lines “…today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.”  (Video of Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech.) ALS claimed his life just two years later.

Over a 15-season span from 1925 through 1939, Gehrig played in 2,130 consecutive games, leading to his being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. In 1969, he was voted the greatest first baseman of all time by the Baseball Writer’s Association and was the leading vote-getter on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, chosen by fans in 1999.

https://www.braininstitute.pitt.edu/centers-institutes-and-departments/live-lou-center-als-research/about-lou-gehrig