March 21, 1970: UCLA vs. Jacksonville

Artis Gilmore (left) and Sidney Wicks

March 21, 1970: UCLA defeats Jacksonville University 80-69, at Cole Field House in College Park, on the campus of the University of Maryland, outside Washington, and wins their 4th straight National Championship, their 6th overall.

If anyone thought that the graduation of Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) would halt John Wooden's Bruin juggernaut, they were sorely mistaken. Jacksonville, on the other hand, has only even been to the NCAA Tournament 4 times since, the last in 1986.

The school was founded as Jacksonville Junior College in 1934, became a four-year school named Jacksonville University in 1956, and have remained so ever since. In their 1970 Tournament run, they were led by future pro superstar Artis Gilmore.

This remained the biggest sporting event involving Jacksonville -- ahead of any Florida vs. Georgia football game, a.k.a. "the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party," and ahead of any Jacksonville Jaguars game from 1995 onward -- until Super Bowl XXXIX was held there in 2005.

In 1997, Henry Bibby's son, Mike Bibby, won a National Championship at Arizona. The Bibbys are 1 of 4 father-son pairs to win National Championships, along with Marques and Kris Johnson, Scott and Sean May, and Derek and Nolan Smith.

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March 21, 1970 was a Saturday. Cenk Uygur was born that day, in Istanbul, Turkey, and grew up in East Brunswick, New Jersey. He was a year behind me at East Brunswick High School. I knew him a little bit, because I knew some of the school's football players. He was a decent linebacker. As far as I know, he never talked about politics at the time. We have not kept in touch. He got a law degree from Columbia University, and since 2002 has hosted the nationally-syndicated leftward populist radio show The Young Turks.

Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 2 games in the NBA. The New York Knicks lost to the Cincinnati Royals, 136-120 at Madison Square Garden. Connie Dierking scored 35 points and had 21 rebounds for the Royals. And the Baltimore Bullets beat the San Francisco Warriors, 127-123 at the Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena). Earl "The Pearl" Monroe scored 40 points, Jack Marin scored 30, and Wes Unseld had 15 points but 27 rebounds.

There were 2 games in the American Basketball Association. The Dallas Chaparrals beat the New Orleans Buccaneers, 126-120 at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas. And the Denver Rockets beat the Carolina Cougars, 128-105 at the Denver Auditorium Arena. Spencer Haywood had 37 points and 18 rebounds.

And there were 5 games in the NHL:

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-0 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-3 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Boston Bruins, 5-4 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the St. Louis Blues, 2-0 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And the New York Rangers and the Oakland Seals were not scheduled.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to the South Coast, and beat Southampton, 2-0 at The Dell in Southampton, Hampshire.