Mar 25, 2022 3 min read

ON THIS DATE

March 26

1972 – The ABA’s Pittsburgh Condors play their final game at the Civic Arena, drawing 1,050 to watch a 131-130 victory over the Virginia Squires. The win snaps a 12-game losing streak for the Condors. Julius Erving scores a game-high 41 points for the Squires.

1986 – Paul Evans, who guided Navy to three consecutive 20-win seasons, is named head basketball coach at Pitt, replacing Roy Chipman.

1989 – Imamculate Conception junior forward Matt Jennings, who averaged 25.8 points per game, is named the Observer-Reporter Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

1989 – Jefferson-Morgan freshman and PIAA champion Cary Kolat is named the Observer-Reporter’s Outstanding Wrestler for the 1988-89 season.

1992 – Kenney Toomer scores 35 points and helps California University overcome foul trouble as the Vulcans defeat South Dakota State 84-73 in the NCAA Division II men’s basketball quarterfinals in Springfield, Mass.

1992 – Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is sentenced to six years in prison for rape.

1996 – Mario Lemieux scores five goals and has two assists in his first head-to-head competition against Wayne Gretzky in more than three years to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to an 8-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

2012 – Jim Shiel, who served as 7th-and-8th-grade football coach at Fort Cherry last season, is hired as the Rangers’ varsity head coach.

March 27

1954 – Pitt’s Joe Solomon of Canonsburg wins the 167-pound title at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Norman, Okla. Solomon decisions previously undefeated Ed Fischer of Maryland, 6-2, in the finals.

1958 – The Washington County Soccer League suspends operations for the season and declares Gallatin the league champion. The action was deemed necessary because insurance for the clubs had expired and to renew would be too expensive for the remaining games.

1965 – Iowa State’s Veryl Long, a former Trinity High School standout, defeats Gettysburg’s Joe Bavaro by referee’s decision to win the NCAA 147-pound wrestling championship at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. Long erases a 4-0 deficit after two periods for a 5-5 tie after regulation. Neither wrestler scores during overtime.

1979 – California State College pitcher Jim Robertson throws the Vulcans’ first no-hitter in three years in a 4-0 victory over Robert Morris. Robertson faces only one batter over the minimum. Stan Olesky is nearing as effective in the second game of the doubleheader as he throws a two-hitter in the Vulcans’ 2-0 victory.

1988 – Avella’s Ryan Sella, the PIAA Class AA champion at 98 pounds, is named the Observer-Reporter’s Outstanding Wrestler. Waynesburg’s Joe Ayersman is named Coach of the Year.

1991 – Jaromir Jagr scores two goals and Pittsburgh defeats host Detroit 7-4 as the Penguins clinch the Patrick Division championship. It’s the first division title in Penguins history.

1992 – Bridgeport University overcomes a seven-point deficit in the final minute to defeat California 76-75 in the NCAA Division II men’s basketball semfinals in Springfield, Mass. The Vulcans, who had their 29-game winning streak end, miss two shots in the final four seconds. Cal ends the season with a 31-2 record.

2004 – Megan Storck’s three-pointer with 28.6 seconds remaining gives California a 75-72 victory over Drury in the NCAA Division II women’s basketball national championship game in St. Joseph, Mo. California (35-1) becomes the first PSAC program to win a women’s basketball national title.