Sophisticated Ladies
Mar 1 Duke Ellington's musical "Sophisticated Ladies" opens at Lunt-Fontanne, NYC; runs for 767 performances
- Mar 1 Houston Rockets guard Calvin Murphy misses a free throw in a 102-86 loss in San Antonio, ending his NBA record consecutive free throw streak at 78
Event of Interest
Mar 1 Republican prisoners in the Maze began a second hunger strike; among them is Bobby Sands
- Mar 2 Aircraft hijacked by 3 Pakistani terrorists
Scientific Discovery
Mar 2 Discovery of minor planet 5020 Asimov, named after sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov
- Mar 2 Howard Stern begins broadcasting on WWDC in Washington, D.C.
Sports History
Mar 3 NHL New York Islanders Mike Bossy 9th & final hat trick of season, in his 4th career 4-goal game, an 8-8 tie with visiting Edmonton Oilers
- Mar 3 NY Islanders & Edmonton Oilers play to an 8-8 tie
Sports History
Mar 5 Ice Dance Championship at Hartford won by Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (Great Britain)
- Mar 5 Ice Pairs Champ at Hartford won by Irina Vorobieva & I Lisovski (URS)
Sports History
Mar 5 Men's Figure Skating Champions in Hartford won by Scott Hamilton (USA)
- Mar 5 Michael Stewart's musical "Bring Back Birdie" opens at Martin Beck Theater, NYC for 4 performances
- Mar 5 US government grants Atlanta $1 million to search for black boy murderer
- Mar 6 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- Mar 6 Soyuz 39 returns to Earth
Film & TV History
Mar 6 Walter Cronkite signs off as anchorman of "CBS Evening News"
- Mar 6 Worlds Ladies' Figure Skating Champ in Hartford won by Denise Biellmann
- Mar 7 22nd SEC Men's Basketball Tournament: Ole Miss beats Georgia, 66-62
- Mar 7 28th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: North Carolina beats Maryland, 61-60
- Mar 7 First homicide at Disneyland, 18-year-old Mel Yorba is stabbed to death during a fight with James O'Driscoll after allegedly pinching his girlfriend’s bottom
- Mar 7 Michael Stewart's musical "Bring Back Birdie" closes at Martin Beck Theater, NYC, after 4 performances
- Mar 8 "Shakespeare's Cabaret" closes at Bijou Theater NYC after 54 performances
Sports History
Mar 8 Dennis Lillee ct by Qld 12th man Dennis Lillie in Shield game
People's Choice Awards
Mar 9 7th People's Choice Awards: Clint Eastwood, Jane Fonda & Goldie Hawn win (Motion Picture) and Alan Alda & Carol Burnett win (TV)
Film & TV History
Mar 9 Dan Rather becomes primary anchorman of CBS-TV News
- Mar 10 "Bette Davis Eyes" single released by Kim Carnes (Billboard Song of the Year 1981)
Event of Interest
Mar 11 Chile constitution takes effect, Augusto Pinochet's second term begins
- Mar 11 Johnny Mize and Rube Foster are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Mar 12 Soyuz T-4 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station
Marry Me a Little
Mar 12 Stephen Sondheim's musical revue "Marry Me a Little" premieres in NYC
- Mar 12 Walter R T Witschey installs world's largest sundial in Richmond, Virginia
- Mar 14 NCAA St Joseph's upsets top seed DePaul 49-48
- Mar 15 "Broadway Follies" opens/closes at Nederlander Theater NYC
- Mar 15 Suriname failed coup under sgt-mjr Wilfred Hawker
- Mar 17 FC Lisse, Dutch soccer team forms
- Mar 18 Buffalo Sabres sets NHL record of 9 goals in 1 period (vs Toronto)
Daytime Emmy Awards
Mar 19 -21] Emmy 8th Daytime Awards - Susan Lucci loses for 2nd time
- Mar 19 2 workers killed in space shuttle Columbia accident
- Mar 19 Buffalo Sabres beat Toronto Maple Leafs 14-4
- Mar 20 Argentine ex-president Isabel Peron sentenced to 8 years
- Mar 20 Jean Harris sentenced 15-to-life for slaying of Scarsdale Diet Dr
- Mar 21 9-time World Grand Prix motorcycle champion Mike Hailwood along with his 9-year-old daughter Michelle are killed when his Rover SD1 collides with a truck near their home in Tanworth-in-Arden in England
- Mar 21 France beats England 16-12 at Twickenham, London for it's 7th outright Five Nations Rugby Championship and 3rd Grand Slam title
- Mar 22 Soyuz 39 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Mongolian) to Salyut 6
- Mar 22 Toshihiko Seko runs world record 25k (1:13:55.8)/30k (1:29:18.8)
- Mar 22 US 1st class postage raised to 18 cents from 15 cents
PGA Players Championship
Mar 23 PGA Tournament Players Championship, Sawgrass CC: Raymond Floyd beats Barry Jaeckel and Curtis Strange on the first hole of a sudden death playoff in a rain affected Monday finish
- Mar 23 US Supreme Court rules states could require, with some exceptions, parental notification when teen-age girls sought abortions
- Mar 23 US Supreme Court upholds law making statutory rape a crime only for men
- Mar 24 Bombay beat Delhi by innings & 46 to win Ranji Cricket Trophy
- Mar 24 Colombia drops diplomatic relations with Cuba
- Mar 26 Police & Albanian demonstrators battle in Kosovo, Yugoslavia
- Mar 26 Soviet space mission Soyuz T-4 lands
Blizzard of Ozz
Mar 27 "Blizzard of Ozz", the debut solo album by English rock musician Ozzy Osbourne, is released in the United States
Watching the Wheels
Mar 27 John Lennon's single "Watching the Wheels" released posthumously in UK
- Mar 28 East German Christa Rothenburger skates ladies' world record 500 m (40.18 sec); she later breaks her own record twice
- Mar 28 France performs nuclear test
- Mar 28 Gabi Schonbrunn skates ladies world record 3 km (4:21.70)
Sports History
Mar 28 Martina Navratilova beats 16-year-old American tennis prodigy Andrea Jaeger 6-3, 7-6 in the final of the WTA Tour Championships at Madison Square Garden, NYC
Sports History
Mar 28 Viv Richards scores century in the 1st Test at his home Antigua
- Mar 28 Yevgeni Kulikov skates world record 500m (36.91 secs)
- Mar 29 AIAW Women's Basketball Championship, Louisiana Tech beat Tennessee 79-59 in Eugene
Event of Interest
Mar 29 Jorge Rafael Videla resigns as President and dictator of Argentina, handing the reins to Roberto Viola
- Mar 29 Peter Stone's musical "Woman of the Year" opens at Palace Theater, NYC; runs for 770 performances
- Mar 29 Tiina Lehtola ski jumps female record 110m
- Mar 29 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- Mar 30 "Chariots of Fire" directed by Hugh Hudson and starring Ben Cross and Ian Charleson premieres at a Royal Command Film Performance (Best Picture 1982)
Sports History
Mar 30 43rd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Indiana beats North Carolina, 63-50; Hoosiers' future Hall of Fame point guard Isiah Thomas is named Tournament Most Outstanding Player
Ronald Reagan is Shot
Mar 30 US President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, three others are also wounded
- Mar 31 1st Golden Raspberry Awards: "Can't Stop the Music" wins
Academy Awards
Mar 31 53rd Academy Awards: "Ordinary People", Robert De Niro & Sissy Spacek win
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists