Story of the years

1902 In the first football game for the Tournament of Roses, Michigan defeats Stanford, 49-0, at Tournament Park. The game was replaced by a chariot race the next year. Football would not return until 1916.

1903 The Los Angeles Angels begin more than 50 years of play in the Pacific Coast League.

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1920s

1923 USC defeats Penn State, 14-3, before 43,000 in the first Rose Bowl game played in the Rose Bowl.

* Another first for USC, with the first football game at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. USC defeats Pomona, 23-7.

1926 Red Grange and the barnstorming Chicago Bears defeat the L.A. Tigers at the Coliseum before 65,270, the largest crowd to see a pro football game.

1928 USC wins its first football national championship with a 9-0-1 record.

1929 California center Roy Riegels recovers a fumble but runs 70 yards in the wrong direction, setting up a safety in the Bears' 8-7 Rose Bowl loss to Georgia Tech.

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1930s

1931 USC ends Notre Dame's 26-game unbeaten streak with a 16-14 victory before the first sellout at Notre Dame Stadium. The Trojans are greeted by 300,000 fans on their return to L.A.

1932 USC defeats Tulane, 21-12, in the Rose Bowl to win the national championship.

* The Summer Olympics open at the Coliseum. Babe Didrikson wins gold medals in the javelin and the 80-meter hurdles, and ties for first in the high jump.

1933 USC makes it consecutive national titles and completes a 10-0 season with a 35-0 victory over Pittsburgh in the Rose Bowl.

1934 Santa Anita opens. The Santa Anita Handicap is the first $100,000 race.

1935 USC wins its first of nine consecutive NCAA men's track titles under Coach Dean Cromwell.

1938 They're off and running at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, the second major track in the area.

1939 Duke hadn't been scored on all season until USC backup quarterback Doyle Nave threw a touchdown pass to Al Krueger in the final seconds for a 7-3 Trojan victory in the Rose Bowl.

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1940s

1940 Seabiscuit comes back from injury and wins the Santa Anita Handicap, becoming the highest-earning horse in history. It is the final race for the crowd favorite. Might make a good movie.

1944 USC defeats Washington, 29-0, in the only Rose Bowl that is not intersectional because of wartime restrictions.

1946 The NFL-champion Cleveland Rams become the Los Angeles Rams.

1947 Pasadena's (and UCLA's) Jackie Robinson breaks baseball's color barrier by playing with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1948 Ben Hogan wins the U.S. Open at Riviera Country Club with a record score of 276. It his Hogan's third win in 18 months at the course, which still goes by the nickname "Hogan's Alley."

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1950s

1951 The Rams win their only NFL championship in Los Angeles, beating the Cleveland Browns, 24-17, at the Coliseum on a 73-yard pass from Norm Van Brocklin to Tom Fears in the fourth quarter.

1954 UCLA, under Coach Red Sanders, wins its only national championship in football, scoring a 34-0 victory over USC to finish 9-0.

1956 Sugar Ray Robinson knocks out Carl "Bobo" Olson in the fourth round at Wrigley Field to retain the world middleweight championship.

1957 Brooklyn owner Walter O'Malley officially announces that the Dodgers will move to L.A. in time for the 1958 season.

1958 The Dodgers play their first home game in the L.A. Coliseum against the San Francisco Giants in front of 78,672 fans. The Dodgers win, 6-5.

1959 A baseball record 93,103 fans pack the Coliseum to pay tribute to catcher Roy Campanella, who was paralyzed in a car accident before the Dodgers moved to the West Coast.

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1960s

1960 The expansion Los Angeles Angels join the American League.

1961 Jim Murray writes his first column for The Times.

1962 The Dodgers play their first game at Dodger Stadium, losing to the Reds, 6-3, in front of 52,564.

1962 USC goes 11-0 and wins its first national football title under John McKay.

1964 UCLA goes 30-0 and wins its first NCAA men's basketball title.

1965 Sandy Koufax pitches his fourth no-hitter, and first perfect game, in a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium. He later wins Game 7 of the World Series against Minnesota.

1966 UCLA gets its first Rose Bowl victory by upsetting top-ranked Michigan State, 14-12.

1967 In the first Super Bowl, at the Coliseum, Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs of the upstart American Football League, 35-10.

1968 UCLA's 47-game men's basketball winning streak ends at the Astrodome against Houston, 71-69, before the largest crowd to see a basketball game, 52,693. But the Bruins go on to win the national title.

1969 UCLA wins an unprecedented third consecutive NCAA basketball title. It will win the next four.

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1970s

1970 Ontario Motor Speedway ("the Indy of the West") opens with the California 500. Jim McElreath wins before a crowd of 180,223. The track closes a decade later.