This Day in Sports History: February 25
On Feb. 25th, the NBA set a few records. There were also some iconic hockey moments, with a few legendary fights.
NBA Records and Other Basketball Streaks
This day has seen unforgettable moments from legends of the game:
- 1924: Marie Boyd scores 156 points in a Maryland High School basketball game (163-3).
- 1961: Niagara ends Saint Bonaventure’s 99-game home college basketball win streak.
- 1962: Philadelphia Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain scores 67 points against the New York Knicks at the Philadelphia Civic Center for the second successive year. However, the Warriors still lost to the Knicks 149-135.
- 1977: New Orleans’ Pete Maravich sets an NBA record for a guard with 68 points in a game.
- 2019: James Harden’s scoring streak of games with at least 30 points ends at 32, as he scores 28 in the Rockets’ 119-111 win over Atlanta in Houston. It was the second-longest mark in NBA history.
- 2019: Caitlin Clark sets the Class 5A state tournament single-game scoring record with 42 points in a game for Dowling Catholic High School against Waukee High School.
Hockey Moments
This day featured historic moments in hockey and an interesting business transaction:
- 1940: The first televised hockey game in the United States aired on this date in 1940. The New York Rangers defeated the visiting Montreal Canadiens 6-2 at Madison Square Garden. The W2XBS broadcasted up to 300 receivers in NYC.
- 1991: Businessman Bruce McNall, hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, and actor John Candy bought the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts.
- 2018: The Russian national team, competing under the name of Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR), won the Olympic ice hockey gold medal in Pyeongchang. They beat Germany, 4-3 in overtime, in the final.
Boxing Legends
This day saw some boxing legends go toe to toe in the ring:
- 1964: Muhammad Ali won his first world heavyweight boxing title when Sonny Liston failed to come out for round seven at the Convention Center, in Miami Beach.
- 1989: The heavyweight boxing title fight was between Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno. Tyson TKO’s Bruno in five rounds.
Looking back on February 25, the theme is clearly video game-like scoring streaks and records in basketball. Marie Boyd scored all but six points in that high school game, an impressive accomplishment. For Caitlin Clark, it marked the start of her legacy. She’s now a household name among NBA and WNBA fans and a strong ambassador for the game. As for Wilt Chamberlain, the 1961-62 season was the final year of the Philadelphia Warriors before their move to the Bay Area.
James Harden’s streak of consecutive games with at least 30 points remains the second longest in history, while Chamberlain holds the record with 65 straight games of 30 or more points. Finally, Kobe Bryant surpassed Pete Maravich’s single-game scoring record for a guard with his legendary 81-point performance.
