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 finishers on the two sides of the league (divisions in the 1960s, conferences from 1971). 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.