January 1
From Hoopedia
- 1927 - The Palestra (above), one of the first "Cathedrals of Basketball," opens its doors for the first time. Located on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, the new arena held nearly 10,000 spectators.
- 1938 - Hank Luisetti scores 50 points as his Stanford squad steamrolls Duquesne, 92-27. It is the highest point total by a college player up to that time and it took place in an era when most teams did not score fifty points in a game.
- 1956 - Mike Mitchell, who tallied 15,000 points in ten NBA seasons, is born in Atlanta, Georgia.
- 1959 - Panagiotis Giannakis (above), the only man to win the European Championship both as a player and a coach, is born in Athens, Greece.
- 1975 - Ken Loeffler, who coached the La Salle Explorers to the 1952 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship and 1954 NCAA Division I Men's Tournament championship, passes away at age 72.
- 1986 - Scrappy 5'7" guard Max Friedman, who coached the Cleveland Rosenblums to two American Basketball League championships, passes away at age 96.
