7 Famous Coin Tosses That Changed Sports History

Photo by Vienna Reyes on Unsplash

A coin toss takes about a second. The consequences can last a lifetime — or a championship. Here are seven moments where a flipped coin sat at the center of a major sports story, in the order history wrote them.

1. The 1958 NFL Championship — Football's First Sudden Death

The 1958 NFL Championship Game between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants is often called "The Greatest Game Ever Played." Tied 17-17 at the end of regulation, it became the first NFL Championship decided in sudden-death overtime.

The New York Giants won the overtime coin toss and received the ball, but went three-and-out and punted. The Colts then drove 80 yards in 13 plays, with Alan Ameche scoring the winning touchdown for a 23-17 victory. The drama of that overtime is widely credited with helping launch professional football into national prominence.

2. The 1969 NBA Draft Coin Flip — Lew Alcindor to Milwaukee

Before the NBA introduced the draft lottery in 1985, the #1 overall pick was decided by a coin flip between the worst team in each division. In 1969, the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns flipped for the right to draft Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) out of UCLA.

Milwaukee won the toss, took Alcindor, and won the NBA championship two seasons later. Phoenix selected Neal Walk at #2.

3. The 1970 NFL Draft Coin Toss — Bradshaw and a Dynasty

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears both finished the 1969 season 1-13, tied for the worst record in football. The right to the #1 pick in the 1970 draft came down to a coin toss.

Pittsburgh won, and selected quarterback Terry Bradshaw out of Louisiana Tech. Bradshaw went on to win four Super Bowls with the Steelers and enter the Hall of Fame — and the dynasty of the 1970s can be traced, in part, to a single coin landing the right way up.

4. The 1984 NBA Draft — Houston Wins the Flip, Picks Olajuwon

The 1984 NBA Draft was the last to use the coin-flip system before the lottery era began in 1985. The Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers flipped for the #1 pick. Houston won and selected Hakeem Olajuwon out of Houston (the school).

Portland, picking #2, took Sam Bowie. The Chicago Bulls then selected Michael Jordan at #3. The 1984 coin flip is one of the most consequential in basketball history — it set up a draft whose top three picks are still debated more than four decades later.

5. The 2014 NFL Draft — A Coin Flip Between Cowboys and Ravens

The Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens both finished the 2013 regular season at 8-8 with identical strength-of-schedule. To break the tie for draft order, the NFL used a coin flip.

Dallas won the flip and selected one slot ahead of Baltimore. The Cowboys took guard Zack Martin at #16; the Ravens took linebacker C.J. Mosley at #17. Both became multi-time Pro Bowlers and franchise cornerstones — a reminder that even a single-pick swing decided by a coin can shape a team's roster for a decade.

6. Super Bowl LI — New England's Overtime Coin Toss (2017)

Super Bowl LI between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons went to overtime tied 28-28. Under NFL postseason overtime rules at the time, a touchdown on the first possession would end the game. The Patriots won the overtime coin toss, received the ball, and drove for a James White touchdown to win 34-28 — completing the largest comeback in Super Bowl history.

One coin toss. One drive. One championship.

7. Cricket — Where Every Match Begins With a Toss

In cricket, every match — from village ground to Test match — begins with a coin toss. The winning captain chooses to bat or bowl first, a decision that can shape the entire game depending on pitch condition, weather, and team strengths.

Unlike most sports, where the toss is a small ritual before kickoff, in cricket the toss is treated as part of the strategy of the game. Captains have been second-guessed for decades over toss decisions that "should have" gone the other way.

Postscript: Tennis and the Pre-Match Toss

Major tennis matches begin with a coin toss (or, by tradition, a racket spin) to decide who serves first or which end of the court each player takes. The principle is identical: a random binary outcome assigns a small but real advantage at the start of play.

It's a reminder that across sports, a flipped coin is one of the oldest, simplest, and fairest ways humans have invented to make a decision — and sometimes, history.

Try It Yourself

Curious how a coin flip feels when something is on the line? Flip a virtual coin here — it's the same 50/50 that decided every story above.

References

• "1958 NFL Championship Game." Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org — overtime coin toss won by the Giants; Colts won 23–17.
• "1969 NBA draft." Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org — Milwaukee–Phoenix coin flip for Lew Alcindor.
• "1970 NFL draft." Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org — Steelers–Bears coin toss for the #1 pick used on Terry Bradshaw.
• "1984 NBA draft." Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org — Houston–Portland coin flip; Olajuwon, Bowie, Jordan top three.
• "Cowboys win coin flip, get 16th pick in draft." NFL.com. nfl.com — 2014 draft-order tiebreak between Dallas and Baltimore.
• "Super Bowl LI." Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org — New England won the overtime coin toss and scored the walk-off touchdown.
• "Toss (cricket)." Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org — role of the toss in cricket strategy.