On April 25, 1950, the Boston Celtics made Chuck
Cooper an All-American forward from Duquesne
University, the first African American picked in
the NBA draft.      

     
With the selection, the first pick in the second round,
Cooper breaks the NBA’s color barrier and changes
the league for the better. Cooper died of cancer on 
February 5, 1984,

Cooper was inducted into the Naismith Memorial
Basketball Hall of Fame on September 9, 2019.

Charles Henry Cooper (September 29, 1926 – February 5, 1984)    
    
      

Basketball giant Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dominated the NBA in the
1970s and ’80s with his signature sky hook. Led the L.A. Lakers
to five championships. He’s 78 years old today.

              
MIKE  GRACIA    

   
Douglas MacArthur (26 January 1880 – 5 April 1964)

MacArthur died in Walter Reed Army Medical Center after
surgery on 5 April 1964, of primary biliary cholangitis at
age 84.

On March 29, 1982, A 19-year-old North Carolina freshman Michael Jordan makes a 16-foot jump shot with 15 seconds left to give the
Tar Heels a 63-62 win over Georgetown for the NCAA Tournament championship. "To tell the truth," Jordan tells reporters in New
Orleans afterward, "I didn’t see it go in. I didn’t want to look."

The winning shot cements Jordan in the national consciousness,
and he goes on to become one of the greatest basketball players
in history, winning six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls.

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (MJ) turned 62 in February.

On March 22, 1893, the first women’s college basketball game 
was played at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

The winning team earned a gold and white banner.