What Happened in March 2002

Historical Events

  • Mar 1 The Envisat environmental satellite successfully reaches an orbit 800 kilometers (500 miles) above the Earth on its 11th launch, carrying the heaviest payload to date at 8500 kilograms (9.5 tons).
  • Mar 1 The peseta is discontinued as official currency of Spain and is replaced with the euro (€).
  • Mar 1 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan as US special operations forces infiltrate the Shahi-Kot Valley in Eastern Afghanistan
  • Mar 2 40-year old South African boxer ‘Baby Jake’ Matlala ends his 22-year career with a 7th-round TKO win over Columbia’s Juan Herrera to retain his WBU junior flyweight title in Johannesburg
  • Mar 2 US invasion of Afghanistan: US conventional forces first deployed as part of Operation Anaconda
  • Mar 3 33rd NAACP Image Awards: "Ali" wins Outstanding Motion Picture
  • Mar 3 Citizens of Switzerland narrowly vote in favor of their country becoming a member of the United Nations.
  • Mar 4 Canada bans human embryo cloning but permits government-funded scientists to use embryos left over from fertility treatment or abortions.
  • Mar 4 Multinational Force in Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers are killed as they attempt to infiltrate the Shahi Kot Valley on a low-flying helicopter reconnaissance mission.

The Osbournes

Mar 5 American reality TV program "The Osbournes" featuring family of Ozzy Osbourne premieres on MTV

The Suze Orman Show

Mar 9 Financial advice TV show "The Suze Orman Show" starring Suze Orman premieres on CNBC

Sports History

Mar 9 Joe Sakic plays his 1,000th career game

  • Mar 10 43rd SEC Men's Basketball Tournament: Mississippi State beats Alabama, 61-58
  • Mar 10 49th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: #3 Duke beats NC State, 91-61

Ice Age

Mar 12 Animated film "Ice Age" directed by Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha, with voices by Denis Leary and John Leguizamo premieres

  • Mar 12 US crime series "The Shield" starring Michael Chiklis premieres on FX

WrestleMania

Mar 17 WrestleMania XVIII, Skydome, Toronto, ON (68,237): Triple H beats Chris Jericho for the undisputed WWF Heavyweight title

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Mar 18 17th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: Isaac Hayes; Brenda Lee; Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; Gene Pitney; Ramones; Talking Heads; Chet Atkins; and Jim Stewart

  • Mar 19 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 2) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities
  • Mar 21 In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh along with three other suspects are charged with murder for their part in the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
  • Mar 21 Schoolgirl Amanda Dowler is abducted in broad daylight on her way home from Heathside School in Walton-on-Thames, England
  • Mar 23 22nd Golden Raspberry Awards: "Freddy Got Fingered" wins

Academy Awards

Mar 24 74th Academy Awards: "A Beautiful Mind", Denzel Washington and Halle Berry win; Berry is the first woman of colour to win the Best Actress award

  • Mar 24 PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: Unheralded New Zealander Craig Perks chips-in twice on the final 3 holes for his only PGA Tour career win, 2 strokes ahead of Stephen Ames
  • Mar 25 TV reality show "The Bachelor" hosted by Chris Harrison debuts on ABC in the US
  • Mar 27 Passover Massacre: A suicide bomber kills 29 people in Netanya, Israel.
  • Mar 31 21st NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Connecticut beats Oklahoma, 82-70; Huskies conclude perfect season (39-0)

Sports History

Mar 31 Andre Agassi wins his 700th career match and captures his second straight Key Biscayne title with a 6–3, 6–3, 3–6, 6–4 win over Roger Federer at the Nasdaq-100 Open in Florida

Golf Major

Mar 31 Kraft Nabisco Championship Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Defending champion Annika Sörenstam of Sweden shoots a final round 68 to win, 1 stroke ahead of compatriot Liselotte Neumann


2002 History

Famous Weddings

Liza Minnelli

Mar 16 Oscar-winning entertainer Liza Minnelli (56) weds (her 4th) American concert promoter David Gest (48) at the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City; separate in 2003, divorce in 2007

  • Mar 21 King Mohammed VI of Morocco (38) weds information services engineer Salma Bennani (23) in Rabat, Morocco

Famous Divorces

Edward James Olmos

Mar 1 "12 Angry Men" actor Edward James Olmos (55) divorces "Sopranos" actress Lorraine Bracco (47) after 8 years of marriage

Famous Deaths

  • Mar 2 Halfdan Rasmussen, Danish poet (wrote about social issues and nonsense verse for children), dies at 87
  • Mar 3 Harlan Howard, American country music songwriter ("I Fall To Pieces"; "Busted"; "Too Many Rivers"), dies at 74
  • Mar 4 Claire Davenport, English actress (The Elephant Man), dies at 68
  • Mar 4 Elyne Mitchell, Australian author (b. 1913)
  • Mar 4 Eric Flynn, British actor and singer (b. 1939)
  • Mar 4 Velibor Vasović, Serbian soccer sweeper (32 caps Yugoslavia; Partizan Belgrade, Ajax) and manager (Partizan, PSG, Red Star Belgrade), dies at 62
  • Mar 6 Alice Bauer, American golfer (co-founder LPGA), dies of colon cancer at 74
  • Mar 6 Bryan Fogarty, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1969)
  • Mar 7 Abdul Mati [Matias Klarwein], French artist known for his works used on music album covers (Santana's Abraxus; Miles Davis' Bitches Brew; Osibisa's Heads; Jon Hassel's Dream Theory), dies at 69
  • Mar 9 Normand Lockwood, American composer (The Closing Doxology; The Hanging Judge), and educator, dies at 95
  • Mar 11 James Tobin, American economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1918)
  • Mar 12 Jean-Paul Riopelle, French-Canadian painter (Vent du nord), sculptor (La Défaite), and Québécois member of Les Automatistes, dies at 78
  • Mar 12 John "Speedy" Keen, British musician, songwriter, producer (Thunderclap Newman - "Something in the Air"), dies of heart failure at 56
  • Mar 12 Spyros Kyprianou, Cypriot politician (b. 1932)
  • Mar 13 Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher (Truth and Method), dies at 102
  • Mar 14 Cherry Wilder [Cherry Barbara Grimm], New Zealand sci-fi author (Nearest Fire), dies at 71
  • Mar 15 Marshall Leib [Leibovitz], American pop singer (Teddy Bears - "To Know Him Is To Love Him"), and record producer, dies of a heart attack at 62
  • Mar 17 Luise Rinser, German writer (Prison Journal), dies at 90
  • Mar 17 Pat Weaver, American broadcast executive (b. 1908)
  • Mar 17 Paul Runyan, American golfer (PGA C'ship 1934, 38; Ryder Cup 1933, 35), dies at 93
  • Mar 17 Rosetta LeNoire, American actress (Family Matters, The Brother from Another Planet), dies from diabetes at 90
  • Mar 18 Gösta Winbergh, Swedish tenor, dies at 58
  • Mar 18 R. A. Lafferty, American sci-fi writer (Devil is Dead), dies at 87
  • Mar 21 Herman Talmadge, American politician (70th Governor of Georgia), dies at 88
  • Mar 21 Hermanus Berserik, Dutch painter and graphic artist, dies at 80
  • Mar 23 Ben Hollioake, English cricketer (b. 1977)
  • Mar 23 Eileen Farrell, American soprano (I Got A Right To Sing The Blues; Metropolitan Opera, 1960-66) and film voice (Interrupted Melody), dies at 82
  • Mar 24 César Milstein, Argentine biochemist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1984), dies at 74
  • Mar 25 Kenneth Wolstenholme, British BBC football commentator, dies at 81
  • Mar 26 (Randolpho) Randy Castillo, American rock and mariachi drummer (Ozzy Osbourne; Mötley Crüe; Azul), dies of cancer at 51
  • Mar 26 Joe Schermie [Schermetzler], American bass player (Three Dog Night - "Joy to the World"), dies of a heart attack at 56

Billy Wilder (1906-2002)

Mar 27 Austrian-American filmmaker (Stalag 17: Some Like It Hot; The Lost Weekend; The Apartment), dies of pneumonia at 95

Dudley Moore (1935-2002)

Mar 27 English comedian, actor (10; Arthur; Bedazzled), jazz pianist, and composer, dies of progressive supranuclear palsy and pneumonia at 66

Milton Berle (1908-2002)

Mar 27 American comedian and TV host (Uncle Miltie, Mr Television), dies at 93

  • Mar 29 Rachel Levy and Ayat al-Akhras, Israeli and Palestinian children
  • Mar 29 Rico Yan, Philippine film & TV actor (Gimik), dies of acute pancreatitis at 27
  • Mar 30 Anand Bakshi, Indian poet and lyricist, dies of multiple organ failure at 72

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (1900-2002)

Mar 30 British consort of King George VI and Queen Mother after his death, dies at 101

  • Mar 31 Barry Took, British comedian (b. 1928)
  • Mar 31 Lucio San Pedro, Filipino composer ("Sa Ugoy ng Duyan"), dies at 89