March 12
From Hoopedia
- 1895 - Hall of Fame coach Ed Diddle, the first to coach 1,000 college games at one school (Western Kentucky University), is born in Gradyville, Kentucky.
- 1913 - Hall of Famer Robert "Ace" Gruenig, ten times an AAU first-team All-American in the 1930s and 1940s, is born in Chicago, Illinois.
- 1932 - Hall of Famer Bob Houbregs, who averaged 34.8 PPG in the 1953 NCAA Tourney, is born in Vancouver, Canada.
- 1950 - Philippines wins the gold medal at the first Asian Games. Japan takes silver.
- 1956 - Dick Farley of the Syracuse Nationals collects six personal fouls in five minutes to establish a new NBA record for quickest disqualification. That record would stand until 1997.
- 1970 - Austin Carr (Notre Dame) scores 52 and Dan Issel (Kentucky) scores 44 to establish the NCAA Division I Men's Tournament record for most points scored in one game by two opposing players.
- 1985 - Larry Bird scores a Celtic record 60 points as Boston beats Atlanta, 126-115, in New Orleans.
- 1992 - Golden State Warriors Coach Don Nelson became the first man in NBA history to participate in 2,500 NBA games as a player and coach (regular season and Playoffs), as he leads the Warriors against Detroit at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. The Pistons ruin the occasion by posting a 119-112 over the hosts.
- 1996 - After refusing to stand during the national anthem for the entire season, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf of the Denver Nuggets is suspended by the NBA indefinitely. He is permitted to return when he agrees to stand and pray during the anthem; the flag, he says, is a "symbol of tyranny and oppression" and thus his Muslim faith prevents him from paying respect to it.
- 1998 - Hakeem Olajuwon joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history with at least 24,000 points, 12,000 rebounds and 2,500 assists.
