January 22
From Hoopedia
- 1901 - Hall of Famer Fred Zollner, a pioneer in professional basketball who played a key role in the merger of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA) into the National Basketball Association, is born in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.
- 1933 - Lennie Rosenbluth, the first superstar from the University of North Carolina, is born in the Bronx, New York.
- 1968 - The NBA grants expansion franchises to Milwaukee (who will be named the Bucks, above) and Phoenix (the Suns, right).
- 1972 - The Indoor Stadium at Duke University, home of the Blue Devils basketball team, is renamed Cameron Indoor Stadium after coach Eddie Cameron, who drew up the original plans for the stadium. The unranked Blue Devils commemorate the event by upseting third-ranked North Carolina, 76-74.
- 1983 - The Portland Trail Blazers outscore the Houston Rockets, 17-0, in overtime to win, 113-96. Houston becomes the first NBA team ever to be held scoreless in overtime.
- 1988 - Greg Oden, first pick of the 2007 NBA Draft, is born in Buffalo, New York.
- 1992 - Philadelphia Sixer Charles Barkley (right) pulls down a game-high 14 rebounds to help lead the 76ers to a 119-109 win over New York at the Spectrum. Those 14 boards bring Barkley's career rebound total to 6,442, which sets a new 76ers record, surpassing former leaders Billy Cunningham and Wilt Chamberlain.
- 1997 - The WNBA makes its initial assignment of the first 16 players to eight teams. Anong the players are Ruthie Bolton, Cynthia Cooper, Lisa Leslie, and Sheryl Swoopes.
- 2005 - Kobe Bryant scores 81 points in a 122-104 Lakers victory against the Toronto Raptors. In addition to breaking the previous franchise record of 71 set by Elgin Baylor, his point total in that game is the second-highest in NBA history, behind only Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962.
