March 26

From Hoopedia

• 1939 - The first World Professional Basketball Tournament tips off in Chicago. Sponsored by the Chicago Herald American newspaper, the tournament became an annual event, matching the best teams in America, for ten years.

• 1944 - St. John's, coached by Joe Lapchick, cruises by DePaul, 47-39, to become the first back-to-back winner of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

• 1946 - Hank Iba's Oklahoma A&M team defeat North Carolina, 43-40, for the Aggies' second straight NCAA title. Bob Kurland (right), the first dominant 7-footer in basketball, scores 23 points as A&M became the tournament's first two-time champion.

• 1947 - The New York Rens defeat the Philadelphia SPHAs, 49-36 in the first "inter-racial" basketball game hosted by Madison Square Garden (although the two teams have played on many occasions over the past quarter-century). Sadly, both squads are well past their glory years and on the edge of oblivion.

• 1955 - Hall of Famer Ann Meyers, the first woman offered a full athletic scholarship to an NCAA Division I school (UCLA), is born in San Diego, California.

• 1962 - John Stockton, NBA career assist leader and ten-time NBA All-Star, is born in Spokane, Washington.

• 1972 - The Los Angeles Lakers beat Seattle 124-98 to finish the season at 69-13, the best record in NBA history, until the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls finish at 72-10.

• 1973 - The NCAA Championship game is broadcast live during prime time for the first time ever. The television audience, the largest ever to watch a basketball game to that point, is treated to quite a performance by UCLA's Bill Walton, who records 44 points (21 of 22 from the field) and 13 rebounds. UCLA prevails over Memphis State, 87-66.

• 1974 - Rick Barry of the Golden State Warriors scores 64 points in a 143-120 victory over Portland.

• 1979 - Rival legends Magic Johnson and Larry Bird square off for the first time. In the NCAA Division I Men's Tournament Championship game Magic's Michigan State team faces undefeated Indiana State. The Spartans win, 75-64, and Magic outscores Bird, 24-19. The game remains the most-watched college basketball game in television history.

• 1983 - In-state rivals Kentucky and Louisville meet for the first time in 24 years in the NCAA tournament Mideast Regional finals. Louisville earns the trip to the Final Four with an 80-68 overtime victory.

• 1993 - A group of 22 investors purchased the San Antonio Spurs from Vikings owner Red McCombs for $75 million.

• 1998 - Former Northwestern Wildcats players, Dion Lee and Dewey Williams and Brian Ballerini are arrested in an alleged point-shaving scheme. Lee pleaded guilty to sports bribery.