FLASHBACK: In '66, Wilt Chamberlain played at Muhlenberg's Memorial Hall

FROM THE MORNING CALL

A weekly look back at sports in the Lehigh Valley, in anniversaries of multiples of five.

SEPT. 19

1981 — The Parkettes' Gina Stallone finishes third in all-around at the Women's USA World Championship Gymnastic Trials and earns a spot on the U.S. team that will compete in Moscow in November.

1981 — In its first game under new coach Dave Parsons, Lehighton opens its strike-delayed season with a 13-12 win over Tamaqua when the Indians stop a Raider two-point conversion attempt in the final minute. Parsons remains as Lehighton's coach for 20 years, compiling a 136-84-2 record while winning five league championships and the 1987 District 11 Class 3A title.

1976 — Al Lewis outduels veteran Dick Brubaker, and Stratford, Conn., scores twice in the ninth inning to pull out a 2-0 win over Home Savings & Loan of Aurora, Ill., in the championship game of the 44th ASA National Fastpitch Softball Tournament before 2,000 at Bicentennial Park. Lewis goes 5-0 in the tournament and is named MVP while Aurora finishes second for the third straight year.

1971 — Pocono International Raceway hosts USAC's first 500-mile stock car race but the event is interrupted by rain after 41 laps. Six days later, Butch Hartman, the leader when the race was halted, completes the victory.

SEPT. 20

1996 — Mike Luna and Corey Fritz each score touchdowns and Tamaqua ends its 34-game losing streak, second-longest in the state, with a 12-0 win over Mahanoy Area.

1991 — Tara Minnich and Jenny Miller each score as Northwestern extends its field hockey winning streak to 30 games with a 2-0 non-league win over previously unbeaten Southern Lehigh.

1991 — Glenn Kempa matches Marty Horn's school record with five touchdown passes and throws for 391 yards in Lehigh's 35-19 win at Connecticut.

1986 — Colgate scores 22 fourth-quarter points but Lehigh holds on for a 41-39 victory, giving Engineers coach Hank Small his first career victory.

SEPT. 21

1996 — Damian Poalucci throws a school and PSAC record seven touchdown passes in East Stroudsburg University's 54-28 home-opening win over Southern Connecticut.

1991 — Michael Andretti uses a late rainstorm to hold off Al Unser Jr. in the Texaco-Havoline 200 at Elkhart Lake, Wis., for his third straight win and CART record seventh of the season.

1961 — For the first time in more than 50 years, harness racing is not included on the Big Thursday calendar at the Great Allentown Fair. The Lehigh County Agricultural Society had canceled the racing feature, a fair tradition dating to the days when it was held on a site at Sixth and Liberty streets, over the condition of the track, which had been used for both horse and midget car racing.

SEPT. 22

2001 — Northampton High School graduate Brian Schneider belts his first major league home run, a two-run fifth-inning shot off Scott Elerton, in Montreal's 3-1 National League victory over Colorado. Schneider also doubles and scores the Expos' third run.

2001 — East Stroudsburg High graduate James Mungro runs for 142 yards, becoming the 16th back in Syracuse history to top the 2,000 career mark, and scores three touchdowns in the Orange's 31-14 win over Auburn.

1981 — After helping form the team and coaching it to a 53-20-18 record in its first three years, Willie Ehrlich steps down as head coach and president of the Pennsylvania Stoners of the American Soccer League, citing increased time commitments to his growing bicycle business. Assistant coach Kalman Csapo is named the new coach and general manager.

1966 — Wilt Chamberlain arrives at halftime and plays briefly in the third quarter as the Philadelphia 76ers open their preseason schedule with a 136-109 win over the New York Knicks before a crowd of 2,869 at Muhlenberg's Memorial Hall. Chamberlain had missed the first week of preseason camp but was expected to arrive in time for the game. Rookie Ken Wilburn, who would later return to Allentown to play several seasons with the Jets, scores 13 points for the Sixers, the same total by the Knicks' highly prized rookie Cazzie Russell in his pro debut.

1956 — Gene DeFiore scores on a 1-yard run with 7:16 left and Allentown snaps Patterson Park of Maryland's 18-game winning streak with a 7-0 non-league win before 7,000 at ASD Stadium. It's only the fifth loss in 86 games for Patterson Park. A week later, the Canaries attempt to end a 30-game winning streak by Memorial High of West New York, N.J., but fall 13-0 before 7,772 at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City. It's Memorial's 90th win in 95 games.

SEPT. 23

1961 — A reported crowd of 12,000 watches Jim Hurtubise win the 30-lap (15-mile) Johnny Thomson Memorial sprint race on the final day of the Great Allentown Fair in a record time of 12:32.79. A.J. Foyt, the 1961 Indianapolis 500 winner, pushes Hurtubise to the final lap when Foyt hits the wall and eventually finishes 10th.

1961 — Notre Dame High School opens its new Green Pond Stadium with a 40-0 win over Pottsville Nativity.

SEPT. 24

1976 — Rod Gardner's 1-yard touchdown run and Greg Pierog's extra-point with 56 seconds left lift Lehigh to a 25-24 win over Penn and the Engineers' first victory at Franklin Field. Lehigh had lost its first 12 games at Franklin Field, including a setback to Drexel.

SEPT. 25

1981 — After losing to Easton in its first five football meetings, Northampton finally beats the Red Rovers 9-0 on a field goal and Mike Drexler's late 1-yard TD run to remain unbeaten at 3-0-1.

1971 — Pennsbury hands Allen one of its worst football losses in history, 63-7, while Saucon Valley sets a school scoring record in a 64-0 win over Pocono Mountain.

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