May

9
Strike the Gold wins the $700,000 Pimlico Special, beating odds-on favorite Best Pal and ending a 12-race losing streak that extended back to his victory in the 1991 Kentucky Derby.

11
Lusia Harris Stewart and Nera White are inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, the first two women to be so honored.

12
Charlotte Hornet Larry Johnson, the top pick in the 1991 NBA draft, is named Rookie of the Year.

15
On the 10th anniversary of the last death at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Jovy Marcelo dies of head injuries sustained when his spinning car hit the wall between Turns 1 and 2 during a practice run for the Indy 500.

They Said It
Steve Hummer, " Atlanta Journal-Constitution" columnist, on the America's Cup: "I prefer my filthy rich sportsmen to hit for power...not lacking to windward."

17
The Orlando Magic win the NBA lottery and the right to select Shaquille O'Neal in the June draft. The Charlotte Hornets get the second choice and the Minnesota Timberwolves the third... Greg LeMond, three-time winner of the Tour de France, wins his first Tour Du Pont, the U.S.'s premier bicycle race.

18
For the second consecutive year and the third time in his career, Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls is named the NBA's Most valuable Player.

19
With its fourth men's tennis championship in five years, Stanford ties a record by winning its fifth NCAA title in one academic year.... New York Giant general manager George Young announces that the team has expanded its medical examinations and has begun testing players for HIV.

20
More than three months before the start of the college football season, Penn State announces that it has agreed to play in the Jan. 1, 1993, Blockbuster Bowl.

21
A bus carrying the California Angels swerves off the New Jersey Turnpike and into a row of trees. Manager Buck Rodgers sustains the most serious injuries: fractures to two ribs, his left knee, his right wrist and right elbow.