This Day in Sports History: March 28
Sports in March are all about college basketball’s March Madness, NBA and NHL teams battling to clinch playoff spots, and MLB spring training. March 28 has seen notable sporting moments and legendary achievements. Read on to discover some of them.
Unforgettable Games and Remarkable Records
Great moments in sports occurred on March 28 including:
- 1891: Edward Lawrence won the first World Weightlifting Championship in London, England.
- 1922: The Toronto St. Patricks (NHL) beat the Vancouver Millionaires (PCHA) 5-1 for a 3-2 series win and a Stanley Cup title.
- 1953: Tenley Albright won the U.S. Figure Skating Championship for women.
- 1957: The first National Curling Championship was held.
- 1989: New Zealand was awarded the America’s Cup in a New York court after the disqualification of Stars & Stripes.
- 1990: Michael Jordan scored 69 points. It was the fourth time he scored 60 points in a game.
- 1993: At the PGA Players Championship, Nick Price of Zimbabwe set a scoring record of 270 (-18) and finished five strokes ahead of Germany’s Bernhard Langer.
College Basketball Championships
March 28 featured several upsets:
- 1942: Stanford beat Dartmouth 53-38 to win the national title in the fourth NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Howie Dallmar won the Most Outstanding Player award.
- 1944: In the final of the sixth NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Utah defeated Dartmouth 42-40. It was the Utes’ first title, and small forward Arnie Ferrin was named the tournament MOP.
- 1950: In the 12th NCAA men’s basketball championship, City College of New York beat Bradley 71-68. CCNY was the first to win the NCAA and National Invitation Tournaments in the same year.
- 1977: In the 39th NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Marquette won the championship with a 67-59 win over North Carolina. It was the Warriors’ first title, and coach Al McGuire retired.
Sports History
Big names in sports featured on March 28 include:
- 1972: Wilt Chamberlain played his last pro basketball game.
- 1981: Martina Navratilova defeated 16-year-old American tennis prodigy Andrea Jaeger 6-3, 7-6 in the final of the WTA Tour Championships at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
- 1990: U.S. President George H. W. Bush posthumously awarded Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.
- 2023: Chris Sharma completed the first ascent of Sleeping Lion in Siurana, Spain, a 9b+ (5.15c) route.
Looking back on these March 28 events, two names stand out: Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. Both are among the greatest basketball players of all time. Jordan’s 69-point game was the highest-scoring performance of his career.
Chamberlain is famous for his dominance in the NBA. He was nicknamed “Wilt the Stilt” due to his towering height and holds 72 NBA records, including several regular-season records in scoring, rebounding, and durability; however, blocks were not counted during his career. He is best remembered as the only player to score 100 points in a single game, and he once grabbed 55 rebounds without fouling out.
