Feb. 20

1887 — The International Association, the first minor league baseball association, is organized in Pittsburgh.

1971 — En route to a record 76-goal season, Boston's Phil Esposito becomes the first player to score his 50th goal in February, but the Bruins lose to the Los Angeles Kings 5-4.

1972 — Larry Brown of the Denver Rockets set ABA records for assists in a game (23), half (18) and quarter (10) during a 146-123 win over the Pittsburgh Condors at Denver.

1974 — Gordie Howe, the NHL's career scoring leader, comes out of retirement and signs a $1 million, four-year contract to play with the Houston Aeros of the WHA and his two sons, Mark and Marty.

1976 — Muhammad Ali beats Jean-Pierre Coopman with a fifth-round knockout at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Puerto Rico to defend his world heavyweight title.

1988 — In Calgary, Alberta, Brian Boitano of the United States wins the men's Olympic figure skating gold medal on a technical merit tiebreaker and nearly flawless free skating performance.

1993 — Julio Cesar Chavez records a fifth-round TKO over Greg Haugen in a WBC super lightweight title bout before a record crowd of 130,000 at Mexico City's Aztec Stadium.

1994 — After 17 years and 279 races, Sterling Marlin wins his first race, the Daytona 500. Marlin barely holds off Ernie Irvan on the final lap.

1994 — Speedskater Johann Olav Koss earns his third gold medal and sets his third world record in the Winter Olympics at Lillehammer, Norway, by winning the 10,000 meters. He finishes in 13 minutes, 30.55 seconds, breaking the old mark by 12.99 seconds.

1997 — Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia becomes the first man to break the 13-minute barrier in the 5,000 meters indoors, setting a world record of 12 minutes, 59.04 seconds in the DN Games.

1998 — Tara Lipinski, 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating champion in history, jumping over fellow teen and U.S. teammate Michelle Kwan to take the gold. Lipinski is two months younger than Sonja Henie was in her 1928 victory.

1999 — San Jose's 3-1 loss at Washington ends the longest uninterrupted road trip in NHL history. The Sharks, who hadn't played a home game since Feb. 3, finish 4-5-1 and visit all four time zones during the 10-game stretch.

2004 — The St. Louis Cardinals give Albert Pujols a $100 million, seven-year contact.

2005 — Jeff Gordon grabs the lead from Dale Earnhardt Jr., then holds off Kurt Busch and Earnhardt in extra laps to win his third Daytona 500.

2005 — Allen Iverson scores 15 points, has nine assists and five steals to win the MVP of the NBA All-Star game, helping the Eastern Conference to a 125-115 victory.

2006 — Tanith Belbin and partner Ben Agosto snap the U.S. medals drought in ice dancing with a silver. Belbin and Agosto win the first Olympic ice dance medal for the United States since a bronze in 1976 — and the second medal of any kind in the event.

2009 — Lindsey Van of the United States nails a perfect second jump to become the first women's ski jumping world champion. Women's ski jumping makes its debut at this year's Nordic skiing world championships in Liberec, Czech Republic. Todd Lodwick wins the opening Nordic combined event to give the United States two golds in one day. Before Van's victory, the United States had not won a gold at a Nordic skiing worlds since 2003, when Johnny Spillane took a Nordic combined sprint.

2009 — LeBron James scores 55 points, one short of his career high, in Cleveland's 111-103 win at Milwaukee.

2009 — Phoenix becomes the first team in 18 seasons to score at least 140 points in three consecutive games, beating Oklahoma City 140-118. The Portland Trail Blazers did it from Nov. 13-17 in 1990.