June 11 in sports history: Dozens die, but stunningly the race goes on

Firemen fought the blaze while, stunningly, the race continued.

"I believe the race ought to be stopped," British driver Sterling Moss said. "I can't understand how people can go on singing, drinking and having fun at the side of the track while 60 other spectators are lying in the morgue."

The disaster — played on front pages of newspapers across the world — led to significant course improvements and safety changes throughout the auto racing industry.

THE NO-NO GUYS

1938: One down and one to go. 

Eighty-two years ago, Reds lefty Johnny Vander Meer pitched the first of his consecutive no-hitters, beating the Boston Braves, 3-0.

"I just kept pouring them in," Vander Meer told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "I bore down with everything I had as the game wore on."

After the game, news photographers mobbed the 23-year-old — leaving the field, under the shower, in the locker room. "But he was the happiest man in town," the Enquirer noted, "and would have stood on his head if requested to do so."

In his next start, Vander Meer — in his first full season in the big leagues — no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers, 6-0, in the first night game at Ebbets Field. He remains the only pitcher in MLB history to throw consecutive no-hitters.

1990: Nolan Ryan knows a thing or two about no-hitters. He tossed a major league record seven gems during his 27-year career in the bigs.

On this date, the 41-year-old Rangers righty tossed no-no No. 6, beating the reigning World Series champion A's in Oakland, 5-0. "Big Tex," who had been bothered by a sore back, came off the disabled list the previous week.

"Amazing is the only way to describe him," said Oakland's Carney Lansford, who noted Ryan was throwing 93- and 94-mile-an-hour fastballs in the eighth and ninth innings.

Ryan said the key to the game was his good command — and a good change-up. "Oakland is a free-swinging ballclub," he said, "and because of that they were swinging at change-ups even when they were out of the strike zone."

1993: During their Hall of Fame careers, former friends Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley had some epic duels. Chicago's 111-108 win over Barkley's Suns in Game 2 of the NBA Finals was one of them.

In Phoenix, Jordan and Barkley each poured in 42 points — the first time in Finals history that opposing players scored 40 or more points in a game. 

"What else can you ask for as a fan?" Suns coach Paul Westphal told reporters afterward. "I'm in awe of Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan."

Barkley, who also grabbed 13 boards, saved something extra for Phoenix fans afterward. They booed his slumping teammate Kevin Johnson, who was benched down the stretch. "If you're going to boo Kevin Johnson when he struggles," he said, "please don't come to the (expletive) games."

The Bulls went on to win the Finals in six games.

1999: With a 90-82 win over the Pacers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks booked a trip to the NBA Finals — the first No. 8 seed to do so.

"Over all the years, over all the nights in the great basketball place on 33rd, maybe there had not been a night exactly like this, when the Knicks finally came all the way from nowhere, from being a busted nowhere team, to the NBA Finals," New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica wrote.

In the championship round, the Spurs routed the Knicks in five games.

ALSO ...

1978: Twenty-one-year-old rookie sensation Nancy Lopez won the LPGA Championship by six strokes over Amy Alcott. "Great, super, fantastic, every good word I can think of," she told reporters when asked how she felt after the win" — her fourth straight tournament victory.

1982: In a grueling heavyweight title bout in Vegas, 32-year-old Larry Holmes scored a 13th-round TKO against Gerry Cooney. "It seems every time I fight I've got to prove myself. I'm sorry, I can't be Muhammad Ali or Joe Louis or Leon Spinks. But I wasn't born to be them. I was born to be myself — Larry Holmes."  Said Cooney: "I didn't want to stop. I wasn't getting hurt."

2017: In Nashville, the defending champion Penguins shut out the Predators, 2-0, to win the Stanley Cup in six games. The Red Wings in 1997 and 1998 were the last team to win back-to-back titles. 

Happy birthday ...

• Former NFL superstar quarterback Joe Montana, winner of four Super Bowls and three Super Bowl MVPs. The Hall of Famer led the league in passing four times and finished his career with the 49ers and Chiefs with 40,551 passing yards, good for 20th all time. (64)
• WNBA star Maya Moore, who has led the Minnesota Lynx to four championships. Moore is an outspoken advocate of criminal justice reform and took off last season to fight for the release of a man she felt was wrongfully convicted of a crime. (31)
• WNBA all-time leading scorer Diana Taurasi, the first overall pick in the 2004 WNBA Draft by the Phoenix Mercury. Taurasi has won Rookie of the Year, three WNBA titles, a league MVP and four Olympic gold medals. (38)
• Jackie Stewart, one of the greatest drivers in the history of Formula One racing. (81)
• MLB shortstop Jose Reyes, who spent his first 12 years in the league with the New York Mets. The four-time All Star won the 2011 NL batting title and led the league in steals for three consecutive seasons. (37)

R.I.P.

2019: Middle-distance runner Gabriele Grunewald, whose public fight against cancer inspired a generation of runners. Grunewald was champion of the 3,000 meters at the 2014 U.S Indoor Track and Field Championships. Despite her diagnosis of the rare adenoid cystic carcinoma in 2009, she continued competing for eight more years. She was 32.

2015: Dusty Rhodes, member of the WWE Hall of Fame. Born Virgil Runnels, the former professional wrestler won three championships with the NWA. He became famous in the ‘70s and ‘80s and was nicknamed “The American Dream.” He died at age 69.

June 10: 'Scared' 15-year-old makes MLB debut