Music History
Mar 1 Liza Minnelli enters Betty Ford Drug Center
Television Premiere
Mar 3 "Moonlighting" with Cybill Shepard & Bruce Willis premieres on ABC TV in the US
- Mar 3 "My One & Only" closes at St James Theater NYC after 767 performances
Sports History
Mar 3 Bill Shoemaker becomes 1st jockey to win $100 million
- Mar 3 National Union of Mine Workers in Britain ends a 51 week strike
- Mar 4 STS 51-E vehicle rolls back to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida); mission cancelled
- Mar 4 Virtual ban on leaded gas ordered by US Environment Protection Agency
- Mar 4 WWII veterans return to the "Bridge over the River Kwai"
Sports History
Mar 5 NY Islander Mike Bossy is 1st to score 50 goals in 8 straight seasons
Boxing Title Fight
Mar 6 Future undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson KOs Hector Mercedes at 1:47 in round 1 of 4 in Albany, NY in his first professional fight
Film & TV History
Mar 6 Yul Brynner appears in his 4,500th performance of "The King & I"
- Mar 6 Atlantis (OV-104) rollout at Palmdale
- Mar 7 IBM-PC DOS Version 3.1 (update) released
- Mar 8 Ice Dance Championship at Tokyo won by Bestemianova & Bukin (URS)
- Mar 8 6th Big East Men's Basketball Tournament: Georgetown beats St. John's, 92-80
- Mar 9 Ladies' Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo won by Katarina Witt (East Germany)
- Mar 9 26th SEC Men's Basketball Tournament: Auburn beats Alabama, 53-49
- Mar 10 Dallas Maverick coach Dick Motta is 4th NBA coach to win 700 games
- Mar 10 French socialists lose election (National Front 9%)
- Mar 10 Ice Pairs Championship at Tokyo won by Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev (Soviet Union)
- Mar 10 India beat Pakistan to win "World Championship of Cricket"
- Mar 10 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo won by Alexandr Fadeev (URS)
- Mar 10 32nd ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: Georgia Tech beats North Carolina, 57-54
Historic Event
Mar 11 Mikhail Gorbachev replaces Konstantin Chernenko as Soviet leader
Sports History
Mar 12 Larry Bird scores Boston Celtic record 60 points
Film and TV Awards
Mar 12 11th People's Choice Awards: Clint Eastwood & Meryl Streep win (Motion Picture) and Tom Selleck, Joan Collins & Linda Evans win (TV)
Historic Event
Mar 13 Funeral services held for Konstantin Chernenko in Moscow
Boxing Title Fight
Mar 15 Larry Holmes TKOs David Bey in 10 for heavyweight boxing title
Sports History
Mar 16 Two-time Cy Young Award winner Denny McLain is convicted of embezzlement and drug trafficking; sentenced to 25 years but conviction later reversed
Sports History
Mar 18 Commissioner Peter Ueberroth reinstates Willie Mays & Mickey Mantle
Hall of Fame
Mar 21 Arthur Ashe is nominated for the International Tennis Hall of Fame
- Mar 21 Bloodbath at Langa (Uitenhage) South-Africa, 19 killed
- Mar 22 NASA launches Intelsat VA F-10
- Mar 23 Space Shuttle Discovery moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating of STS 51-D mission
- Mar 23 Julian Lennon's 1st concert (San Antonio Texas)
- Mar 23 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Mar 24 5th Golden Raspberry (Razzie) Awards: "Bolero" wins
- Mar 24 Norman Gifford makes cricket ODI debuts at age 44 (v Aust, Sharjah)
Sports History
Mar 24 Third straight WTA Tour Championship for tennis legend Martina Navratilova; beats Helena Suková 6–3, 7–5, 6–4 at Madison Square Garden, NYC
Academy Awards
Mar 25 57th Academy Awards: "Amadeus", F. Murray Abraham & Sally Field win
- Mar 25 Edwin Meese III takes office as US Attorney General
Historic Event
Mar 26 Pope John Paul II proclaims first ever World Youth Day
Film & TV History
Mar 27 Billy Dee Williams receives a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
- Mar 28 International Cometary Explorer measures solar wind ahead of Halley
Theater Premiere
Mar 28 Neil Simon's play "Biloxi Blues" premieres in NYC
NHL Record
Mar 29 Wayne Gretzky breaks own NHL season record with 126th assist
- Mar 30 139th Grand National: Welsh jockey Hywel Davies aboard 11-year old 50/1 outsider Last Suspect wins by 1½ lengths from Mr. Snugfit
- Mar 30 Ireland beats England, 13-10 at Lansdowne Road, Dublin to clinch its 10th outright Five Nations Rugby Championship and 6th triple Crown
- Mar 31 15th Easter Seal Telethon raises $27,400,000
- Mar 31 4th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Old Dominion beats Georgia, 70-65; Monarchs' Tracy Claxton, MOP
- Mar 31 El Salvador's President José Napoleón Duarte' Christian Democratic Party wins election
WrestleMania
Mar 31 WrestleMania I, Madison Square Garden, NYC: Hulk Hogan & Mr T beat Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorf
- Mar 31 PGA Tournament Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: Calvin Peete shoots final round 66 to win by 3 strokes from D. A. Weibring; Peete only player to break par in all 4 rounds