In the early 2010s, the Warren County High School boys tennis team was in the midst of building a mini dynasty in District 6AAA. Back on April 17, 2011, the Pioneers were busy clinching their second straight district title by taking down Cumberland County 11-0 in a team match.

Loaded with top players like Seth Grissom, Shunsuke Nakashima and Thomas Locke, the Pioneers won three straight district titles during the run of dominance.

Not to be outdone, April 17 has also been a good day for Lady Pioneer tennis too. In 2011, Peyton Baker was helping the WCHS girls beat Cumberland County. Baker was part of a group of young Lady Pioneers who would later go unbeaten through most of the 2013 season. Tomomi Yago, Susie Brown – now the WCMS tennis coach – and Katie Phillips were also key players on the 2013 squad.

The Lady Pioneers continued their ability to beat Crossville teams in 2015, riding a solid performance by Chelsea Stewart to top Stone Memorial.

In other April 17 editions in the last decade, Caleb Northcutt helped the Pioneer baseball team win a slugfest (2011), Bailey Walker came up clutch for the Lady Pioneers (2013), WCMS baseball clinched a CTC title (2013), Pioneer baseball split a series with White County (2015), Pioneer baseball was riding a three-game winning streak (2016), WCHS softball took down White County at home (2016), Dibrell archery and WCMS softball had good days (2019) and WCHS softball was coming off a good weekend in the Ravenwood Classic (2019).

Famous April 17 birthdays

1820 – Alexander Cartwright, ‘father of baseball’, inducted in MLB Hall of Fame

1906 – Herbie Lewis, NHL Hall of Famer

1956 – Borje Salming, NHL Hall of Famer

1961 – Boomer Esiason, four-time NFL Pro Bowler

1967 – Marquis Grissom, two-time MLB All Star

1972 – Tony Boselli, five-time NFL Pro Bowler

1973 – Theo Ratliff, 2001 NBA All Star

National April 17 headlines (AP)

1939 — Joe Louis knocks out Jack Roper at 2:20 of the first round in Los Angeles to retain the world heavyweight title.

1982 — The Denver Nuggets’ Alex English, Dan Issel and Kiki Vandeweghe each average 20 points a game, the first front court to do so since Bob Pettit, Cliff Hagan and Clyde Lovellette of St. Louis in 1961.

1987 — Julius Erving of the Philadelphia 76ers becomes the third player to score 30,000 points in his pro career. Erving scores 38 points to join Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

1994 — Carl Lewis and his Santa Monica Track Club teammates rewrite their world record in the 800-meter relay at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. Lewis, Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell and Floyd Heard are timed at 1:18.68, breaking the record of 1:19.11 they had set on April 25, 1992.

1995 — Wayne Gretzky reaches 2,500 career points when he sets up a power-play goal by Rob Blake in Los Angeles’ 5-2 loss to Calgary.

1997 — The New Jersey Devils’ Martin Brodeur becomes the second NHL goalie to score in the playoffs. Brodeur’s empty net goal caps a three-goal third period that gives the Devils a 5-2 win and a 1-0 lead in a first-round series against Montreal.

1999 — Quarterbacks go 1-2-3 in the NFL Draft as Tim Couch, Donovan McNabb and Akili Smith go to Cleveland, Philadelphia and Cincinnati — the first quarterback trifecta since 1971.

2001 — Barry Bonds becomes the 17th major leaguer to hit 500 home runs. Bonds’ two-run, eighth-inning drive off Terry Adams leads the San Francisco Giants over the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2.

2006 — Sidney Crosby, scores three assists in Pittsburgh’s 6-1 win over the New York Islanders to become the youngest player in NHL history to score 100 points in a season. The 18-year-old becomes the seventh NHL rookie to reach the 100-point mark.

2010 — Ubaldo Jimenez pitches the first no-hitter in the Colorado Rockies’ 18-year history, dominating the Atlanta Braves in a 4-0 victory.

2018 — Brayden McNabb scores against his former team in the second period, lifting Vegas to a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings that makes the Golden Knights the first expansion team in NHL history to sweep its first playoff series. Marc-Andre Fleury turns in another stellar performance, stopping 31 shots as the Knights finish off their fourth one-goal victory of the series.