March 21, 1964: The University of California at Los Angeles beat Duke University, 98-83, at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, in the Final of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. It is the 1st National Championship for UCLA. It will not be the last.
UCLA coach John Wooden had been good enough of a player at Purdue University in the early 1930s that he eventually became the 1st person elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame separately as a player and as a coach. He became UCLA's head coach in 1948, and took them to what would later be called the Final Four for the 1st time in 1962.
In 1963-64, with guards Walt Hazzard and Gail Goodrich, forwards Keith Erickson and Jack Hirsch, and center Fred Slaughter, he guided the Bruins to an undefeated season, 30-0. Goodrich and Erickson would star with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Goodrich would join Wooden in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Ironically, considering that Wooden would later have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) and Bill Walton, the '64 UCLA team not only didn't have a dominating center, they had the shortest roster ever to win the NCAA Tournament.
The closest they came to losing in the regular season was a 2-point win away to the main campus of the University of California in Berkeley in February, a 3-point win away to Kansas State early in the season, 4 over Illinois in the L.A. Classic (at the Memorial Sports Arena, not on their own campus), and 5 away to Washington State.
In the tournament, they won their regional games at Oregon State in Corvallis, beating Seattle University, 95-90; and the University of San Francisco, 76-72. In Kansas City, they faced Kansas State again, this time winning, 90-84, before beating a Duke team that featured future Golden State Warriors star Jeff Mullins.
UCLA made it back-to-back titles in 1965. These titles raised enough money that the Bruins could move out of their 2,400-seat Men's Gym, and also stop using the Sports Arena, which they were sharing with their arch-rivals, the University of Southern California (like the next-door Coliseum, it was on USC's campus), and into a large on-campus building, which became Pauley Pavilion. Wooden would eventually lead UCLA to 10 National Championships in 12 seasons. The school won an 11th in 1995, under Jim Harrick.
Duke had reached the Final Four in 1963, and would again in 1966. But they would not do so again until 1978, and then not again until 1986, the 1st of 14 times they would do so under Mike Krzyzewski. "Coach K" finally got them their 1st National Championship in 1991.
By another weird twist of fate, on March 21, 2014, on the 50th Anniversary of the event, Duke lost its first-round NCAA Tournament game -- not to a traditional power like UCLA, but to lightly-regarded Mercer University of Macon, Georgia. "March Madness."
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March 21, 1964 was a Saturday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There was 1 game in the NBA: The St. Louis Hawks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 115-104 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Jerry West scored 35 points in defeat.
There was 1 game in the NHL: The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 5-1 at the Montreal Forum.
And in English soccer, Arsenal crossed from North London to the East End, and played West Ham United to a draw, 1-1 at Upton Park.
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