SAN DIEGO COUNTY SPORTS IN THE ‘80s : THE GOOD, BAD AND UGLY OF THE DECADE

A quick look at some of the highlights (and lowlights) of San Diego sports in the 1980s:

1980

Jerry Coleman spends one year as Padre manager before returning to the broadcast booth after a last-place finish.

Dave Winfield leaves the Padres and signs as a free agent with the New York Yankees.

San Diego Stadium is renamed San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium after the late sports columnist. The Chargers win their second consecutive AFC West championship but lose to Oakland, 34-27, in the AFC title game.

Brigham Young trails, 45-24, with 3:56 to play, but rallies to beat SMU, 46-45, in the Holiday Bowl.

1981

Tony Gwynn finishes his San Diego State basketball career as the all-time leader in assists and steals.

Donald Sterling buys the Clippers from Irv Levin, plasters his picture all over town and promises to make everyone proud of his team.

The Chargers lose John Jefferson and Fred Dean after protracted contract squabbles.

After one year with nice-guy Frank Howard as manager, the Padres hire grumpy Dick Williams. The Chargers win their third consecutive AFC West championship.

1982

The Padres trade Ozzie Smith for Garry Templeton.

Rolf Benirschke’s field goal gives the Chargers a 41-38 overtime victory over Miami in the National Football League’s Game of the Decade.

Cincinnati beats the Chargers, 27-7, for the AFC title in minus-59-degree windchill at Glacierfront Stadium.

The Sockers win the North American Soccer League indoor championship.

San Diegan Craig Stadler wins The Masters.

The Padres sign Steve Garvey.

1983

Sid Gillman, the former Charger coach, is elected to the National Football League Hall of Fame.

The Sockers win the Major Indoor Soccer League championship.

A dislocated thumb ends Steve Garvey’s consecutive game streak at 1,207.

Dennis Conner, sailing Liberty, loses America’s Cup to Australia II. The U.S. had held the Cup since 1851.

1984

Ray Kroc dies in January.

Michael Cage finishes his San Diego State basketball career the all-time leading scorer with 1,846 points.

USD wins its first West Coast Athletic Assn. basketball championship but loses to Princeton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Tom Watson wins his third Tournament of Champions at La Costa.

San Diego is awarded Super Bowl XXII, set for Jan. 31, 1988.

The Sockers win the North American Soccer League indoor championship.

Donald Sterling moves the Clippers to Los Angeles.

Eugene V. Klein sells the Chargers to Alex G. Spanos.

Tony Gwynn wins the National League batting title with a .351 average.

Steve Garvey’s Game 4 home run keys the Padres’ rally from a two-game deficit in the National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs.

Detroit beats the Padres in the World Series, four games to one.

BYU beats Michigan in the Holiday Bowl, 24-17, to win the national championship.

1985

San Diego State upsets Texas El Paso to win the Western Athletic Conference basketball tournament but loses to UNLV in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Sockers win the Major Indoor Soccer League championship.

1986

Dick Williams quits as Padre manager at the start of spring training.

The Sockers win the Major Indoor Soccer League championship, their fifth consecutive indoor title.

Don Coryell is replaced by Al Saunders as Charger coach.

Joan Kroc announces that the Padres are for sale, reportedly for $65 million.

San Diego State wins the Western Athletic Conference football championship and goes to the Holiday Bowl for the first time, losing, 39-38, to Iowa on a last-second field goal.

1987

Dennis Conner, sailing Stars & Stripes, wins back America’s Cup.

Joan Kroc announces that she has accepted an offer from tight-fisted Seattle Mariner owner George Argyros to buy the Padres, but she later thinks better of it and calls off the deal.

USD’s basketball team gets an invitation to the NCAA Tournament but loses in the first round to Auburn.

The Sockers lose to Tacoma in the Major Indoor Soccer League Western Division finals.

San Diegan Scott Simpson wins the U.S. Open.

Chub Feeney is hired as Padre president.

America’s Cup goes to court.

The Padres’ Benito Santiago sets a rookie record with a 34-game hitting streak.

Tony Gwynn wins his second National League batting title with a .370 average.

The Chargers go 3-0 in replacement games during the players’ strike, but 5-7 otherwise.

San Diego State’s Todd Santos sets an NCAA career passing record with 11,425 yards.

1988

Washington routs Denver, 42-10, with a 35-point second quarter in Super Bowl XXII.

Steve Pate sweeps San Diego, winning both the Tournament of Champions and the San Diego Open.

Dan Fouts retires in March.

The Sockers win the Major Indoor Soccer League championship.

Jack McKeon replaces Larry Bowa as Padre manager.

Chub Feeney’s fickle-fingered salute on Fan Appreciation Night costs him his job as Padre president.

Tony Gwynn wins his third National League batting title with a .313 average.

Dennis Conner and Stars & Stripes, this time a catamaran, beat New Zealand to retain America’s Cup.

America’s Cup goes back to court.

The Padres trade for Jack Clark and sign Bruce Hurst.

Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders rushes for 222 yards as Oklahoma State routs Wyoming, 62-14, in the Holiday Bowl.

1989

The Sockers win the Major Indoor Soccer League championship, their seventh indoor title of the 80s.

San Diego is awarded baseball’s 1992 All-Star game.

Tony Gwynn hits .336 and wins his third consecutive National League batting title, his fourth of the ‘80s.

The Chargers trade for Jim McMahon.

Joan Kroc announces that the Padres are for sale, reportedly for $100 million.

The Padres’ Mark Davis wins the National League Cy Young Award.

Jim McMahon blows his nose first and then his job.

The Padres trade with Cleveland to get Joe Carter, but become the first team in the history of free agency to let a Cy Young Award winner get away. Mark Davis goes to Kansas City.

The last major county sports event of the ‘80s is an appropriately wacky Holiday Bowl, in which Penn State defeats Brigham Young, 50-39.

America’s Cup is still in court.