This Day in Sports History: March 14
Sports in March are all about college basketball’s March Madness, NBA and NHL teams making their final push to clinch a playoff spot, and spring training for MLB. Additionally, there were some other notable sports moments and stories from legends of the game. Let’s take a closer look at these and more:
Unforgettable Games & Remarkable Records
Great moments in sport that happened on March 14th include:
- 1874: English FA Cup Final, Kennington Oval, London. Oxford University beats the Royal Engineers, 2-0.
- 1899: Stanley Cup, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec. The Montreal Shamrocks beat Queens University, 6-2, to clinch a trophy for the CAHL.
- 1936: Wales beats Ireland 3-0, in Cardiff, to clinch the Home Nations Rugby Championship, with a 2-1-0 record.
- 1954: The Milwaukee Braves future home run king Hank Aaron, hits a homer in his debut exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox.
- 1960: Philadelphia center Wilt Chamberlain sets an NBA playoff record of 53 points, in the Warriors’ 132-112 win over the Syracuse Nationals, at the Philadelphia Civic Center.
- 1962: The Red Wings’ forward Gordie Howe becomes the second player in NHL history to score 500 career goals, in Detroit’s 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers.
- 1971: Ken Rosewall of Australia beats the American defending champion Arthur Ashe, 6-1, 7-5, and 6-3. Rosewall was the first man to win an Open era Grand Slam singles title, without dropping a set.
College Basketball Tournaments
March 14th featured a few conference tourney upsets:
- 1993: In the 14th, Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament, Seton Hall beats Syracuse, 103-70.
- 1993: In the 40th, ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, Georgia Tech beats #1 North Carolina, 77-75.
- 2004: In the 51st, ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, Maryland beats #5 Duke, 95-87.
Sports History
Some of the biggest names in sport came up on March 14th:
- 1961: Former New York Yankees general manager George Weiss, becomes the first President of the New York Mets, after an MLB expansion franchise formed.
- 1976: Jockey Bill Shoemaker wins his 7,000th race.
- 1987: New York Met Darryl Strawberry, charges Red Sox pitcher Al Nipper, during a spring training exhibition game. This caused a bench-clearing brawl.
- 1991: The Men’s Figure Skating Championship in Munich is won by Kurt Browning of Canada.
- 2022: Australian Cameron Smith wins 3.6 million at the PGA Players Championship and it was the biggest individual event purse in golf history.
Looking back on these March 14th statistics, the theme was definitely scoring records, featuring legends from the NBA and NHL. Wilt Chamberlain is tied for fourth all-time in playoff points in a game with 56. The GOAT, Michael Jordan, holds the record for the most points in a playoff game with 63.
In hockey, Gordie Howe finished his career third all-time in goals scored with 801. The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, holds the top spot with 894 goals, but that record might soon be broken. The Great Eight, Alexander Ovechkin, is on pace to surpass it and become the first player to reach 900 goals.
