- Mar 1 Landsat 5 & ham satellite Oscar 11 launched into polar orbit
- Mar 1 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR #3931 Batten, #4529 Webern, #4530 Smoluchowski, #4818 Elgar, #5502 Brashear & #5943 Lovi
- Mar 2 Iran offensive against Iraq fails
- Mar 2 John Long (Detroit) begins NBA free throw streak of 51 games
- Mar 3 NY Islanders score their most goals (11) vs Tor Maple Leafs (6)
Election of Interest
Mar 3 Peter Ueberroth elected baseball commissioner (Effective Oct 1)
Peter Ueberroth
- Mar 4 Pee Wee Reese & Rick Ferrell elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame
- Mar 4 Tennis legend Martina Navratilova retains her WTA Tour Championship in NYC; beats Chris Evert 6–3, 7–5, 6–1 for her 5th overall Championship title
- Mar 5 Supreme Court (5-4): city may use public money for Nativity scene
- Mar 5 US accuse Iraq of using poison gas
- Mar 6 Twelve-month-long strike in British coal industry begins.
- Mar 7 The United States attacks San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua.
- Mar 9 Emile Gumbs' Anguilla National Alliance wins elections
- Mar 9 John Lennon single "Borrowed Time" released posthumously
- Mar 9 Philadelphia 76'ers block 20 Seattle shots tying NBA regulation game record
- Mar 9 Tim Witherspoon beats Greg Page in 12 for heavyweight boxing title
- Mar 9 The Competitive Enterprise Institute in founded in Washington, D.C.
- Mar 10 Heavyweight Tim Witherspoon KOs Greg Page
- Mar 10 25th SEC Men's Basketball Tournament: Kentucky beats Auburn, 51-49
- Mar 10 5th Big East Men's Basketball Tournament: Georgetown beats Syracuse, 82-71 (OT)
- Mar 11 Christa Johnson wins LPGA Samaritan Turquoise Golf Classic
- Mar 11 31st ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: Maryland beats Duke, 74-62
- Mar 12 Brtish National Union of Mine Workers headed by Arthur Scargill supports regional strikes, calls for national action
- Mar 13 Last day of 1st-class cricket for G Chappell, R Marsh, B Laird
- Mar 13 WA beat Queensland by four wickets to win the Sheffield Shield
- Mar 14 Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS 41-C mission
- Mar 14 Gerry Adams, head of Sinn Féin, is seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in central Belfast
Film and TV Awards
Mar 15 10th People's Choice Awards: Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds & Meryl Streep win (Motion Picture) and Tom Selleck, Linda Evans win (TV)
- Mar 15 Tanzania adopts constitution
- Mar 16 Gunmen kidnap William Buckley, CIA station chief in Beirut
- Mar 16 South Africa & Mozambique sign non attack treaty
- Mar 18 Christa Johnson wins LPGA Tucson Conquistadores Golf Open
Film Premier
Mar 19 American sitcom "Kate & Allie" premieres on CBS TV starring Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin
Jane Curtin
- Mar 19 John J O'Connor named 8th archbishop of New York
- Mar 19 KSD-AM in St Louis MO changes call letters to KUSA
- Mar 19 Mobil oil tanker spills 200,000 gallons into Columbia River
- Mar 19 Pitcher Denny McLain indicted on charges of racketeering
- Mar 19 STS 41-C vehicle moves to launch pad
- Mar 20 Andy Kaufman & Fred Blassie's "My Breakfast With Blassie" premieres
- Mar 20 Senate rejects amendment to permit spoken prayer in public schools
- Mar 20 Nigerian Major-General Babatunde Idiagbon launches a campaign on ‘National Consciousness and Enlightenment’
- Mar 21 Border scores 100* v WI Trinidad after 98* in 1st cricket innings
- Mar 21 NFL owners passed the infamous anti-celebrating rule
- Mar 21 Part of Central Park is named Strawberry Fields honoring John Lennon
- Mar 21 Soviet sub crashes into USS aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk off Japan
NHL Record
Mar 22 Islander Bryan Trottier ties NHL record scores 5 seconds into game
Bryan Trottier
- Mar 22 Teachers at the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach, California are charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the children in the school. The charges are later dropped as completely unfounded.
- Mar 23 Andrea Schone skates ladies world record 3 km (4:20.91)
- Mar 23 World Ice Dancing Championship won by Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean (GRB) in Ottawa, Canada
- Mar 23 Ice Pairs Championship at Ottawa won by Underhill & Paul Martini (CAN)
- Mar 23 Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Ottawa won by Katarina Witt (GDR)
- Mar 23 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Ottawa won by Scott Hamilton (USA)
- Mar 24 Andrea Schone skates ladies world record 5 km (7:34.52)
- Mar 24 IOC agrees to 6-team exhibition baseball tournament in Olympics
- Mar 24 Igor Malkov skates world record 10 km (14:21.51)
Event of Interest
Mar 27 Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe's "Starlight Express" premieres
Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Mar 27 Beginning of "tanker war": over the next 9 months, 44 ships, including Iranian, Iraqi, Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti tankers, are attacked by Iraqi or Iranian warplanes or damaged by mines
- Mar 29 NFL Baltimore Colts move to Indianapolis
- Mar 29 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- Mar 30 US ends participation in multinational Lebanon peace force
- Mar 30 World's most valuable tip - New York police detective Robert Cunningham offers waitress Phyllis Penzo half of $1 lottery ticket, next day they win $6 million
- Mar 31 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Mar 31 138th Grand National: Neale Doughty aboard Hallo Dandy wins