Bobby Fischer, The World Chess Champ
Sep 1 American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer beats Russian champion Boris Spassky 12.5-8.5 in Reykjavik, Iceland; most publicised world title match ever played; Fischer 1st American to win title
- Sep 1 An American sweep of the medals in the women's 200m butterfly at the Munich Olympics; Karen Moe takes gold in world record 2:15.57 ahead of teammates Lynn Colella and Ellie Daniel
World Record
Sep 1 Australian swimmer Shane Gould wins the 200m freestyle in world record 2:03.56 at the Munich Olympics; her 3rd gold medal & 3rd world record of the Games
- Sep 1 Egypt & Libya form federation
- Sep 1 Japanese gymnast Sawao Kato wins the parallel bars gold medal at the Munich Olympics, his 3rd gold of the Games including team & individual all-round victories
- Sep 1 Polish shooter Józef Zapędzki successfully defends his Olympic 25m rapid fire pistol title at the Munich Games with an Olympic record 595 points
- Sep 1 Valeriy Borzov of the Soviet Union runs 10.14 to beat American Robert Miller and Lennox Miller of Jamaica in the coveted men's 100m final at the Munich Olympics
- Sep 1 Welshman Richard Meade representing Great Britain and riding Laurieston grabs the equestrian individual and team 3-day event gold medals at the Munich Olympics
- Sep 2 American breaststroker Cathy Carr swims a world record 1:13.58 to win the 100m gold medal at the Munich Olympics
- Sep 2 American breaststroker John Hencken beats David Wilkie of Great Britain to win the 200m gold medal in world record 2:21.55 at the Munich Olympic Games
- Sep 2 Chicago Cubs pitcher Milt Pappas no-hits San Diego Padres, 8-0
- Sep 2 East German sprinter Renate Stecher sets world record 11.07 to beat Raelene Boyle of Australia for the women's 100m gold medal at the Munich Olympics
- Sep 2 East German swimmer Roland Matthes wraps up the Olympic backstroke double with a world record 2:02.82 in the 200m in Munich, having already won the 100m in Olympic record time
- Sep 2 For the first time since the advent of the Modern Olympics in 1896, a non-American wins the pole vault gold medal; East German Wolfgang Nordwig clears 5.5m at the Munich Games
- Sep 2 French track cyclist Daniel Morelon successfully defends his Olympic sprint title beating Australian John Nicholson for the gold medal in Munich
- Sep 2 John Akii-Bua of Uganda with a world record 47.82 wins the 400m hurdles gold medal at the Munich Olympics
#1 in the Charts
Sep 2 Rod Stewart's 1st #1 hit single in the UK, "You Wear it Well"
- Sep 2 The headquarters of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in Belfast is severely damaged by an IRA bomb
- Sep 2 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- Sep 3 American swimmer Keena Rothhammer has to swim world record 8:53.68 to beat Australian wonder-kid Shane Gould in the 800m at the Munich Olympics
World Record
Sep 3 American swimmer Mark Spitz wins coveted 100m gold medal in world record 51.22 at the Munich Olympics; completes the freestyle sprint double having already won 200m in world record 1:52.78
- Sep 3 American women's 4 x 100m medley relay team of Melissa Belote, Cathy Carr, Deena Deardurff & Sandy Neilson swim world record 4:20.75 to beat East Germany for gold at the Munich Olympics
Baseball Record
Sep 3 Atlanta Braves slugger Hank Aaron earns his 6,135th total base to break Stan Musial’s MLB record in an 8-0 home defeat to the Philadelphia Phillies
- Sep 3 Finnish runner Lasse Virén scores a famous victory in the 10,000m at the Munich Olympics in world record 27:38.35
- Sep 3 Great Britain's Mary Peters sets a new world record of 4801 points to win the Munich Olympics pentathlon gold by just 10 points from Heide Rosendahl of West Germany
- Sep 3 Jerry Grant runs the first official 200mph qualifying lap in Champ Car history, posting a lap of 201.414mph around Ontario Motor Speedway
- Sep 3 Swedish swimmer Gunnar Larsson wraps up the Olympic medley double when he sets world record 2:07.17 in the 200m I/M in Munich, having already won the 400m I/M
- Sep 4 "The Price is Right" - US's longest running games show debuts on CBS
- Sep 4 16-year-old Ulrike Meyfarth of West Germany with a world record equalling 1.92m, wins the women's high jump gold medal at the Munich Olympics; youngest winner of individual athletics event in Olympic history
- Sep 4 American swimmer Melissa Belote with a world record 2:19.19 takes the 200m backstroke gold medal at the Munich Olympics; wraps up backstroke double having won the 100m in Olympic record time
- Sep 4 American swimmer Mike Burton sets a world record 15:52.58 to win the 1,500m gold medal at the Munich Olympics
- Sep 4 Italian diver Klaus Dibiasi wins his 2nd of 3 consecutive 10m platform gold medals the Munich Olympics
Telethon
Sep 4 John Lennon and Yoko Ono perform three songs ("Imagine"; "Now Or Never"; "Give Peace A Chance") on Jerry Lewis' 7th Muscular Dystrophy telethon at the Americana Hotel, NYC
- Sep 4 Kenyan legend Kipchoge Keino follows his 1,500m gold in Mexico City with an Olympic record 8:23.64 to win the 3,000m steeplechase at the Munich Olympics
- Sep 4 Soviet sprinter Valeriy Borzov runs 20.00 to win the men's 200m gold medal at the Munich Olympics; wraps up the 100/200m double at the Games
- Sep 4 Thieves steal 18 paintings from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in what was at the time the largest art theft in North America
- Sep 4 US 4 x 100m medley relay team of Mike Stamm, Tom Bruce, Mark Spitz & Jerry Heidenreich sets world record 3:48.16 to win gold at the Munich Olympics; Mark Spitz becomes 1st athlete to win 7 Olympic gold medals at a single Games
- Sep 4 USSR performs underground nuclear test
- Sep 4 Willem Ruska of the Netherlands wins gold medals in both the heavyweight & open class Olympic judo competitions in Munich; first judoka to win 2 Olympic gold medals at one Games
- Sep 5 11 Israeli athletes taken hostage and later killed by Palestinian Black September group at the Munich Olympics
- Sep 5 Chemical spill with fog sickens hundreds in Meuse Valley Belgium
- Sep 6 Summer Olympics resume in Munich, Germany after massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by Black September Palestinian terrorist organization
- Sep 7 American athletes Vincent Matthews & Wayne Collett finish 1-2 in 400m at the Munich Olympics; acted casually on the medal stand, did not face the flag during anthem; banned from the Olympics for life
- Sep 7 American Rod Milburn with a world record 13.24 wins the 110m hurdles gold medal at the Munich Olympics; just 0.10 seconds ahead of Frenchman Guy Drut
- Sep 7 East German sprinter Renate Stecher runs a world record equalling 22.40 in the 200m final to repeat her 100m win over Australia's Raelene Boyle at the Munich Olympics
- Sep 7 Future world professional cycling road race champion Hennie Kuiper of the Netherlands wins the road race gold medal at the Munich Olympics in 4:14:37
- Sep 7 Nadezhda Chizhova of the Soviet Union throws a world record 21.03m to win the women's shot put at the Munich Olympics
Sports History
Sep 8 Chic Cub Ferguson Jenkins wins his 20th game for 6th straight year
- Sep 8 East German Annelie Ehrhardt with a world record 12.59 takes the 100m hurdles gold medal at the Munich Olympics; beats Romanian Valeria Bufanu by just 0.25
- Sep 8 Mykola Avilov representing the Soviet Union scores a world record 8454 points to win the decathlon gold medal at the Munich Olympics; beats teammate Leonid Lytvynenko by 419 points
- Sep 8 Runners Jim Ryan (US) and Billy Fordjour (Ghana) collide and fall in qualifying competitions for 1500m finals, ending Ryan's chances for gold
- Sep 9 Connection found between Mammoth Cave Ridge and Flint cave systems in Kentucky, joining 144 miles of passages - making it the world's longest known cave system (later mapped at 420 miles) [1]
- Sep 9 Soviet runner Lyudmila Bragina with a world record 4:01.38 wins the women's 1,500m gold medal at the Munich Olympics
- Sep 9 Soviet Union beats the United States 51-50 in the most controversial game in international basketball history; with US leading 50-49 the final 3 seconds is replayed 3 times until the Soviets finally win
- Sep 9 Terry Anne Meeuwsen (Wisconsin), 23, crowned 45th Miss America 1973
US Open Women's Tennis
Sep 9 US Open Women's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Billie Jean King retains her title; beats Kerry Melville Reid of Australia 6-3, 7-5
- Sep 9 West German equestrian rider Liselott Linsenhoff follows her dressage teams gold in Mexico City with the individual dressage title at her home Olympics in Munich
- Sep 10 3 British soldiers are killed in a land mine attack near Dungannon, County Tyrone
- Sep 10 American freestyle wrestler Dan Gable wins the 68kg division gold medal at the Munich Olympics; only Olympic wrestler not to have a single point scored against him in the competition
- Sep 10 American long distance runner Frank Shorter scores a famous win in the men's marathon in 2:12:19.8 at the Munich Olympics
- Sep 10 American men's 4 x 100m relay team of Larry Black, Robert Taylor, Gerald Tinker & Eddie Hart combine for a world record 38.19 to beat the Soviet Union for the gold medal at the Munich Olympics
- Sep 10 An American double in the inaugural Olympic archery competition in Munich; John Williams wins the men's individual gold medal; Doreen Wilber takes the women's gold
- Sep 10 Cuban boxer Teófilo Stevenson wins first of 3 consecutive Olympic heavyweight gold medals when Munich Games opponent Ion Alexe of Romania withdraws from the final because of a broken thumb
- Sep 10 East v West in a women's 4 x 100m relay at the Munich Olympics; West Germany beats East Germany by 0.13 seconds for the gold medal
- Sep 10 Kazimierz Deyna scores twice as Poland beats Hungary 2-1 in the Olympic football gold medal match; 80,000 at the Munich Olympic Stadium
US Men's Tennis Open
Sep 10 US Open Men's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Ilie Năstase of Romania beats Arthur Ashe 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 for his first Grand Slam title
- Sep 10 West Germany beats Pakistan 1-0 to become first European nation since 1920 to win the field hockey Olympic title; marred by disgraceful behaviour of Pakistani players, fans & officials after losing the Munich final
- Sep 10 WKAR TV channel 23 in East Lansing, MI (PBS) begins broadcasting
- Sep 10 Yugoslavia beats Czechoslovakia, 21-16 in the inaugural Olympic handball final in Munich
- Sep 11 BART begins service with a 26-mi (42-km) line from Oakland to Fremont
- Sep 11 XX Summer Olympic Games close in Munich, German FR
- Sep 12 Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin succeeds Avery Brundage as President International Olympic Committee
Television Premiere
Sep 12 TV sitcom "Maude", a spin-off of "All In The Family", starring Bea Arthur and Bill Macy premieres on CBS
- Sep 14 "The Waltons" TV program premieres on CBS starring Richard Thomas, Ralph Waite, Michael Learned, and Will Geer
- Sep 14 2 people are killed and 1 mortally wounded in a Ulster Volunteer Force bomb attack on the Imperial Hotel, Belfast
- Sep 14 Jason Miller's "That Championship Season," premieres in NYC
- Sep 14 West Germany & Poland establish diplomatic relations
- Sep 15 A magnitude 4.5 earthquake shakes Northern Illinois.
- Sep 15 An SAS domestic flight from Gothenburg to Stockholm was hijacked and flown to Malmö-Bulltofta Airport.
Sometime in NYC
Sep 15 Apple Records releases John Lennon and Yoko Ono's political album "Sometime in NYC" in UK, delayed by publishing rights dispute; includes some live tracks from 1971 concert with Frank Zappa
- Sep 15 WMAO TV channel 23 in Greenwood, MS (PBS) begins broadcasting
The Bob Newhart Show
Sep 16 "The Bob Newhart Show" sitcom (the Chicago one) debuts on CBS-TV, the first episode "Fly Unfriendly Skies" stars Penny Marshall as The Stewardess
- Sep 16 1st TV series about mixed marriage, "Bridget Loves Bernie" premieres
- Sep 17 BART begins passenger service in San Francisco
- Sep 17 Tanzania troops march in to Uganda
M*A*S*H
Sep 17 TV comedy series "M*A*S*H", adapted from the movie, starring Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, Wayne Rogers, and McLean Stevenson debuts on CBS in the US; runs for 11 years garnering 14 Emmy and 1 Peabody Award
Music History
Sep 20 Police find cannabis growing on Paul & Linda McCartney's farm
- Sep 20 The Social Democratic and Labour Party issues a document entitled "Towards a New Ireland", proposing that the British and Irish governments should have joint sovereignty over Northern Ireland
Event of Interest
Sep 21 Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos declares martial law in the Philippines (not publicly announced until 23rd Sep)
- Sep 21 USSR performs underground nuclear test
- Sep 23 Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos announces state of emergency and declares martial law
- Sep 24 Antique F86 Sabrejet fails to takeoff at air show, kills 22
- Sep 24 Jack Tatum, Oakland, sets NFL record with 104-yard fumble return, in a 20-14 win over Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, Green Bay Wisconsin; record tied by Aeneas Williams of the Arizona Cardinals in 2000
Sports History
Sep 24 NY Jet Joe Namath passes for 6 touchdowns vs Baltimore Colts (44-34)
- Sep 25 Dutch air force drives away Russian Tupolev-bomber
- Sep 25 KAVT (now KSMQ) TV channel 15 in Austin, MN (PBS) begins broadcasting
- Sep 25 Norway votes to join European common market
- Sep 26 American Museum of Immigration dedicated
- Sep 26 Norway rejects membership in European Common Market
- Sep 27 1st NHL exhibition game at Nassau Coliseum; NY Rangers beat NY Islanders, 6-4
- Sep 28 Canada defeats the USSR in the eighth and final game of the ice hockey Summit Series
Music Concert
Sep 28 David Bowie sells out his 1st show at NYC's Carnegie Hall
- Sep 28 Japan & Communist China agree to re-establish diplomatic relations
- Sep 29 Japan & People's Republic of China begin diplomatic relations
Artist Assaults McNamara
Sep 29 Robert McNamara, former US Secretary of Defense, is almost thrown overboard on a ferry by an artist wanting to confront him on his role in escalating US involvement in the Vietnam war (no charges pressed)
- Sep 30 Passenger train derails killing 48 (Rust Stasie, South Africa)
Baseball Record
Sep 30 Pittsburgh right fielder Roberto Clemente doubles off Mets' Jon Matlack to become the 11th MLB player to record 3000 hits as Pirates beat NY, 5-0
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists