- Mar 1 "Mandy Patinkin in Concert" opens at Lyceum Theater, NYC; runs for 16 performances
- Mar 1 5th annual ESPY Awards shown on TV
Sports History
Mar 1 Canadian Elvis Stojko hits the first quad-triple combination jump in the history of figure-skating competition to win the Championship Series final in Hamilton, Ontario
Sports History
Mar 1 Puerto Rican boxer Héctor Camacho stops Sugar Ray Leonard in 5th round in Atlantic City, NJ to retain IBC middleweight title; only time Leonard's is KO'ed and sends him into permanent retirement
- Mar 2 Australians Greg Blewett (214) and Steve Waugh (160) bat for the entire 3rd day of the 1st cricket Test against South Africa in Johannesburg; set up Australian innings and 196 run victory
- Mar 2 Michael Andretti wins at Homestead in a Swift chassis, marking the first Champ Car victory in an American-built chassis since 1983; first-ever Champ Car start for the Swift
- Mar 2 Saudi Arab billionaire Prince al-Waleed bin Talal acquires 5% of Apple
- Mar 2 Soyuz TM-24 returns to Earth (Russia)
- Mar 3 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Fayetteville, North Carolina on WRCQ 103.5 FM
- Mar 3 The tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, Sky Tower in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, opens after two-and-a-half years of construction.
- Mar 4 Brazil Senate allows women to wear slacks
- Mar 4 Comet Hale-Bopp directly above the Sun (1.04 AU)
Event of Interest
Mar 4 US President Clinton bans federally funded human cloning research
- Mar 4 Zeya Start-1 launched (Russia)
Baseball Hall of Fame
Mar 5 Tommy Lasorda, Nellie Fox and Willie Wells inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame
- Mar 7 5 sue Japanese PM Ryutaro Hashimoto, because his smoking has violated the country's constitution guaranteeing a wholesome life
- Mar 7 Athens, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Rome & Stockholm are finalists for 2004 Olympics site
- Mar 8 11th Soul Train Music Awards: Curtis Mayfield, and Babyface win
- Mar 9 38th SEC Men's Basketball Tournament: Kentucky beats Georgia, 95-68
- Mar 9 44th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: #5 North Carolina beats NC State, 64-54
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Mar 10 "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" created by Joss Whedon and starring Sarah Michelle Geller premieres on WB Television Network
Event of Interest
Mar 10 The PalmPilot, as developed by Jeffrey Hawkins, is released
Knighthood
Mar 11 Beatle Paul McCartney is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
- Mar 11 San Francisco Giant J T Snow suffers a fractured eye socket when hit by a pitch
- Mar 13 India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader
- Mar 13 Phoenix lights seen at night over Phoenix, Arizona by hundreds of people, and by millions on television. Now a hotly debated controversy.
- Mar 14 68 year old Gordie Howe signs AHL contract with Syracuse Crunch
- Mar 14 Iranian military plane crashes, killing 80
- Mar 14 Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson wins 67th James E Sullivan Award
- Mar 14 The Chinese city of Chongqing (formerly Chunking) is upgraded to a centrally administered municipality
- Mar 14 US President Bill Clinton trips and injures his knee requiring surgery
- Mar 15 France beats Scotland, 47-20 at Parc des Princes, Paris to claim an 11th outright Five Nations Rugby Championship and 5th Triple Crown; fly-half Christophe Lamaison lands 6 penalties and 3 conversions
- Mar 15 Pitts Penguins' Joe Mullen, is 1st American to score 500 NHL goals
- Mar 16 NJ Devils' Dave Andreychuk is 26th NHL to score 500 goals
- Mar 16 Sandline affair: On Bougainville Island, soldiers of commander Jerry Singirok arrest Tim Spicer and his mercenaries of the Sandline International.
- Mar 17 CNN begin Spanish broadcasts
- Mar 18 Russian AN-24 plane crashes in Turkey, 50 die
- Mar 19 Ice Pairs won by Mandy Woetzel & Ingo Steuer (GER)
- Mar 19 Major League Baseball announces 5 year/$50M deal with Pepsi
- Mar 19 US Supreme Court hears Internet indecency arguments
Play On!
Mar 20 Cheryl L. West and Shelden Epp's musical "Play On!", an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" set in 1940s Harlem, featuring music of Duke Ellington, opens at Brooks Atkinson Theatre, NYC; runs for 61 performances
- Mar 20 Liggett admits cigarettes are addictive
- Mar 20 World Mens Figure Skating Championship in Lausanne won by Elvis Stojko of Canada
Selena
Mar 21 Film "Selena" is released based on the life of singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, starring Jennifer Lopez in her breakthrough role, directed by Gregory Nava
- Mar 21 Ice Dance Championship in Lausanne, Switzerland won by Oksana Grishuk & Evgeny Platov (Rus)
Sunset Boulevard
Mar 22 Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black and Christopher Hampton's musical "Sunset Boulevard", based on the film, and starring Glenn Close closes at Minskoff, NYC, after 977 performances and 7 Tony Awards
- Mar 22 Comet Hale-Bopp Closest Approach to Earth (1.315 AU)
- Mar 22 Ladies' Figure Skating Championship in Lausanne won by Tara Lipinski (USA)
- Mar 23 "Mandy Patinkin in Concert" closes at Lyceum Theater NYC
- Mar 23 17th Golden Raspberry Awards: "Striptease" wins
- Mar 23 WrestleMania XIII, Rosemont Horizon, IL: Undertaker beats Sycho Sid for WWF Heavyweight title
Academy Awards
Mar 24 69th Academy Awards: "The English Patient", Geoffrey Rush and Frances McDormand win
- Mar 24 Australian parliament overturns world's 1st & only euthanasia law
- Mar 25 "Barrymore" opens at Music Box Theater NYC for 240 performances
Life After Death
Mar 25 "Life After Death" second studio album by The Notorious B.I.G. is released (Billboard Song of the Year 1997)
- Mar 25 Indians trade Lofton & Embree to Braves for Grissom & Justice
- Mar 26 "Annie" opens at Martin Beck Theater New York City, and runs for 239 performances.
- Mar 26 NHL announces Anaheim Mighty Ducks & Vancouver Canucks to open 1998 season in Japan
- Mar 26 Thirty-nine bodies found in the Heaven's Gate cult suicides
- Mar 27 Horton Foote's stage drama "The Young Man From Atlanta" starring Rip Torn and Shirley Knight opens at Longacre Theatre, NYC; runs for 85 performances
Meeting of Interest
Mar 27 Martin Luther King's son meets James Earl Ray, his father's killer
- Mar 28 "City" soap opera's final episode on ABC-TV
- Mar 29 1st game at Turner Field Atlanta, Braves beats Yanks 2-0 (exhibition)
- Mar 29 PBA National Championship Won by Rick Steelsmith
- Mar 30 16th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Tennessee beats Old Dominion, 68-59; Volunteers 5th national title
Golf Major
Mar 30 Nabisco Dinah Shore Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: 41-year old Betsy King wins her 3rd title in this event, 2 strokes ahead of Kris Tschetter and Amy Fruhwirth; last of her 6 major titles
PGA Players Championship
Mar 30 PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: Steve Elkington of Australia leads wire-to-wire to win his 2nd PC title, a record 7 strokes ahead of runner-up Scott Hoch.
- Mar 30 TV network Channel 5 begins broadcasting in the UK
- Mar 31 "Daytime to Remember" a series showing old soaps premieres on ABC-TV
- Mar 31 59th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Arizona beats Kentucky, 84-79 (OT); Wildcats' first title in first title game
Cricket Debut
Mar 31 West Indies cricketers win 3rd Test at Bridgetown, Barbados by 38 runs after setting India a modest 120 run target; tourists dismissed for 81 in Brian Lara's debut as Windies' captain
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists