January 20
From Hoopedia
- 1892 - The first official basketball game is played at the Springfield (Massachusetts) YMCA (right). Dr. James Naismith's physical education students divide up and play a game of 9-v-9.
- 1937 - Hall of Famer Bailey Howell is born in Middleton, Tennessee.
- 1949 - The Associated Press issues its first-ever college basketball team rankings. The top teams in that poll:
Kentucky won the 1949 NCAA tournament and San Francisco won the NIT.
- 1964 - Ron Harper, Michael Jordan's backcourt partner on the Chicago Bulls, is born in Dayton, Ohio.
- 1968 - (Right) The No. 2-ranked Houston Cougars, led by Elvin Hayes, upset the No. 1-ranked UCLA Bruins, 71-70, before a crowd of 52,693 at the Astrodome and a national television audience. The loss ends UCLA's winning streak at 47 games. Hayes finishes with 39 points and 15 rebounds. UCLA's Lou Alcindor (now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), hampered by an eye injury, finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
- 1970 - Cincinnati’s Tom Van Arsdale and Phoenix’s Dick Van Arsdale become the first brothers to play in the same All-Star Game. Dick scores eight points for the West team, while Tom scores five for the East, which won the game, 142-135, at Philadelphia.
- 1974 - Essex Community College defeats Englewood Cliffs College, 210-67. Essex led at the half, 110-29. Essex makes 97 of 129 field goal attempts, 16 of 22 free throws, and pulls down 89 rebounds. Both schools are located in New Jersey.
- 1995 - Karl Malone reaches 20,000 career points after hitting for a game-high 28 points in Utah’s 94-84 win over visiting Cleveland.
