Mar 31, 2022 3 min read

ON THIS DATE

April 2

1876 – The first official National League baseball game is played with Boston beating Philadelphia 6-5.

1981 – Washington High School’s boys track & field team extends its dual meet winning streak to 38 with a 98-52 victory over host Bethel Park. Wash High’s Bill Miller is the meet’s only double winner, in the 110 and 300 hurdles.

1986 – Washington High School’s Ron Moore is named MVP of the Observer-Reporter’s All-District Boys Basketball Team.

1986 – The NCAA men’s basketball rules committee approves a rules change in which three points will be awarded for shots made 19 feet, nine inches from the basket.

1987 – Dan Conn of Bentworth and Tom Kelly of Immaculate Conception each score 16 points to lead the North to a 105-104 victory over the South in the 5th annual Washington-Greene Boys Basketball All-Star Game.

1997 – For the first time, the salary of one player – Albert Belle – exceeded the payroll of an entire team – the Pittsburgh Pirates. Belle, the game’s highest-paid player for 1997 at $10 million, made $928,333 more than the whole Pirates payroll, which totaled $9,071,667.

2003 – Washington’s Amber Harris is named the Pennsylvania Girls Basketball Class AA Player of the Year by the Associated Press after averaging 17.7 points, 11.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game for the 25-5 Prexies.

2009 – Jamelle Cornley scores 18 points and Penn State uses a big second half to beat Baylor 69-63 and win the NIT title, just the second postseason basketball tournament championship in school history.

2012 – Fort Cherry’s Beka Bellhy, who averaged 19.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, is named the Observer-Reporter Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

2018 – Colin Moran hits a first-inning grand slam off Lance Lynn and the Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the Minnesota Twins 5-4 to give the franchise just its third 4-0 start in 35 years.

April 3

1963 – Pete Mazzaferro resigns as athletic director, head football coach and head basketball coach at Waynesburg College. In four seasons as the Yellow Jackets’ football coach, Mazzaferro had a 12-19-3 record.

1975 – Charles “Buzz” Ridl resigns as basketball coach at Pitt. He led the Panthers to a 97-83 record and a spot in the East Regional final in 1974. Ridl is replaced by 32-year-old Tim Grgurich, who has been an assistant at Pitt for 10 years.

1988 – Fort Cherry’s Wade Timmerson, who averaged 30.5 points per game, is named the Observer-Reporter Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

1989 – Michigan beats Seton Hall 80-79 in overtime to win the NCAA basketball championship. Rumeal Robinson makes two free throws with 3 seconds left for the Wolverines.

2003 – Ben Howland leaves Pitt to become UCLA’s ninth head basketball coach since legendary John Wooden retired in 1975.