Historical Events
17th Soul Train Music Awards
Mar 1 17th Soul Train Music Awards: LL Cool J, Mariah Carey & Nelly win
- Mar 1 Legendary Mount St. Mary's basketball head coach Jim Phelan wins final game of 49 year career as Mountaineers win 60-56 over Central Connecticut State; Phelan: 830 wins in NCAA record 1,354 games
- Mar 1 Management of the United States Customs Service and the United States Secret Service move to the United States Department of Homeland Security.
- Mar 1 Nashville's Barry Trotz sets NHL record for most games coached with an expansion team from inception as Predators score a 5-4 OT win over Chicago; his 392nd game, Terry Crisp 391 with Tampa Bay
- Mar 1 World light heavyweight boxing champion Roy Jones Jr. wins a unanimous decision against champion John Ruiz to capture the WBA heavyweight crown in Las Vegas
Alinghi win the America's Cup
Mar 2 America's Cup, Auckland: Swiss yacht Alinghi beats Team New Zealand by 0.44s to sweep series, 5-0; Alinghi's Russell Coutts wins last 14 America's Cup races he's competed in as skipper; most in history
- Mar 2 Fast bowler Andy Bichel takes career best 7 for 20 as Australia beats England by 2 wickets in a Cricket World Cup match in Port Elizabeth, South Africa; Australia unbeaten in record 12 ODI games
- Mar 2 The first International Symposium on Taiwan Sign Language Linguistics is held at Chung Cheng University.
- Mar 5 In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed by a Hamas suicide bomb in the Haifa bus 37 massacre.
- Mar 8 34th NAACP Image Awards: "Antwone Fisher" wins Outstanding Motion Picture
- Mar 10 "My Front Porch Looking In" single released by Lonestar (Billboard Song of the Year 2003)
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Mar 10 18th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: AC/DC; The Clash; Elvis Costello and the Attractions; The Police; The Righteous Brothers; Benny Benjamin; Floyd Cramer; Steve Douglas; and Mo Ostin
- Mar 11 Nicholas Winton (93), former British stockbroker who helped 669 young Jews flee Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Nazi invasion in 1939, receives knighthood from Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace
- Mar 11 The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague.
- Mar 12 Elizabeth Smart found after having been missing for 9 months.
- Mar 12 Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.
- Mar 13 The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old footprints of an upright-walking human have been found in Italy
- Mar 14 Start of weekend of protests against war in Iraq that are attended by millions
- Mar 15 24th Big East Men's Basketball Tournament: Pittsburgh beats Connecticut, 74-56
Election of Interest
Mar 15 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan becomes Prime Minister of Turkey after his political ban is lifted and he enters parliament by winning a by-election
- Mar 16 44th SEC Men's Basketball Tournament: Kentucky beats Mississippi State, 64-57
- Mar 16 50th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: #12 Duke beats NC State, 84-77
- Mar 16 The largest coordinated worldwide vigil takes place, as part of the global protests against Iraq war.
- Mar 17 British Cabinet Minister Robin Cook, resigns over government plans for the war with Iraq.
- Mar 18 British Sign Language is recognised as an official British language
- Mar 18 FBI agents raid the corporate headquarters of HealthSouth Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama on suspicion of massive corporate fraud led by the company's top executives.
Invasion of Iraq
Mar 19 Airstrikes by an American and British-led coalition signal the beginning of the Invasion of Iraq, without United Nations support and in defiance of world opinion
Iraqi History
Mar 20 A US-led coalition launches a ground invasion of Iraq after an ultimatum for Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq expires
- Mar 22 23rd Golden Raspberry Awards: "Swept Away" wins
75th Academy Awards
Mar 23 75th Academy Awards: "Chicago" (Best Picture), Adrien Brody (Best Actor - "The Piano") & Nicole Kidman (Best Actress - "The Hours") win
Cricket World Cup
Mar 23 Cricket World Cup, Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, RSA: Ricky Ponting scores 140 no as defending champions Australia beat India by 125 runs; Sachin Tendulkar, Player of Series
- Mar 23 ICC Men's Cricket ODI World Cup, Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa: Australia retain trophy with 125 run win over India; Player of the Match: Ricky Ponting (AUS) 140 no (121)
- Mar 23 In Nasiriyah, Iraq, 11 soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Company as well as 18 U.S. Marines are killed during the first major conflict of Operation Iraqi Freedom
- Mar 24 The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.
Rules of Travel
Mar 25 Capitol/Nashville Records releases "Rules of Travel", the tenth studio album by singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash; produced by husband John Leventhal, it includes a duet with her father Johnny Cash
- Mar 28 In a "friendly fire" incident, two US A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from the 190th Fighter Squadron attack British tanks participating in the invasion of Iraq, killing British soldier Matty Hull
Sports History
Mar 30 In a final match decider, England beats Ireland 42-6 in Dublin to complete a Grand Slam and win the Six Nations Rugby Championship; Jonny Wilkinson kicks 3 conversions, a penalty and 2 dropped goals for England
Golf Major
Mar 30 Kraft Nabisco Championship Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Patricia Meunier-Lebouc of France wins her only major title, 1 stroke ahead of the 2-time defending champion Annika Sörenstam of Sweden
PGA Players Championship
Mar 30 PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: Davis Love III shoots a final round 64 to win his 2nd Players title, 6 strokes ahead of runners-up Jay Haas and Pádraig Harrington
WrestleMania
Mar 30 WrestleMania XIX, Safeco Field, Seattle, WA (54,097): Brock Lesnar wins WWE Heavyweight Championship against Kurt Angle
Sports History
Mar 31 Cincinnati Reds open their new home, The Great American Ball Park, with a 10-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates; former President George H. W. Bush throws first ceremonial pitch
Famous Birthdays
Famous Weddings
Anthony Hopkins
Mar 1 "The Silence of the Lambs" actor Anthony Hopkins (65) weds actress-producer Stella Arroyave (47) in Malibu, California
Liv Tyler
Mar 25 American "Lord of the Rings' actress Liv Tyler (25) weds English "Spacehog" rock vocalist Royston Langdon (30) at a private villa in St James, Barbados; divorce in 2008
Famous Deaths
- Mar 2 Hank Ballard [John Henry Kendricks], American rocker (The Midnighters - "The Twist" - pre-Chubber Checker), dies at 75
- Mar 2 Malcolm Williamson, Australian composer, dies at 71
- Mar 3 Goffredo Petrassi, Italian composer (Beatitudines), dies at 98
- Mar 3 Horst Buchholz, German actor (Magnificent 7; Raid on Entebbe), dies at 69
- Mar 3 Luis Marden, American photojournalist (b. 1913)
- Mar 3 Peter Smithson, English architect, dies at 79
- Mar 4 Jaba Ioseliani, Georgian bank robber (b. 1926)
- Mar 4 Sébastien Japrisot, French author, screenwriter and film director (b. 1931)
- Mar 5 Gerhard Rosenfeld, German opera and film score composer, dies at 72
- Mar 5 Hardy Amies, English royal dressmaker (Queen Elizabeth II), dies at 93
- Mar 6 John Sanford, American author (b. 1904)
- Mar 7 Adriaan van der Veen, Dutch writer (Sister at Sea), dies at 86
- Mar 8 Adam Faith [Terence Wright], English pop and rock singer ("What Do You Want?"; "Poor Me"), actor (Budgie; Love Hurts), and financial journalist, dies of a heart attack at 62
- Mar 8 Karen Morley, American actress (b. 1909)
- Mar 9 Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (b. 1946)
- Mar 9 Stan Brakhage, American filmmaker (b. 1933)
- Mar 10 Barry Sheene, British motorcycle racer, dies at 52
- Mar 11 Brian Cleeve, Irish author (b. 1921)
- Mar 11 Ivar Hansen, speaker of the Danish Folketing (b. 1938)
- Mar 12 Andrei Kivilev, Kazakh cyclist (b. 1973)
- Mar 12 Howard Fast, American novelist and TV screenwriter (Rachel & the Stranger, Spartacus), dies at 88
- Mar 12 Lynne Thigpen, American actress (b. 1948)
- Mar 12 Zoran Đinđić, 6th Prime Minister of Serbia (2001-03), assassinated at 50
- Mar 13 Enriko Josif, Serbian composer and pedagogue (Lyric Symphony), dies at 78
- Mar 13 Gus Yatron, American boxer and politician (Rep-D-PA, 1969-93), dies at 75
- Mar 13 Ian Samwell, British songwriter and record producer (Cliff Richard; Small Faces; America), dies at 66
- Mar 14 Jack Goldstein, Canadian-born artist (b. 1945)
- Mar 14 Jean-Luc Lagardère, French publisher (b. 1928)
- Mar 15 Dame Thora Hird, British actress, comedian, presenter and writer (Last of the Summer Wine, The Love Match), dies at 91
- Mar 15 Joseph Coors, American CEO of Coors Brewing Company, dies at 83
- Mar 15 Paul Stojanovich, Reality TV pioneer (b. 1956)
- Mar 16 Rachel Corrie, American political activist, killed while trying to block an Israeli armored bulldozer at 23
- Mar 16 Ronald Ferguson, father of Sarah, Duchess of York, dies of cancer at 71
- Mar 17 Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator (b. 1902)
- Mar 18 Adam Osborne, British computer pioneer (b. 1939)
- Mar 18 Karl Kling, German auto racer (11 F1 GP starts, 2 podiums, 17 C'ship points; Mercedes), dies at 92
- Mar 19 Émile Genest, French Canadian actor (The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Les Plouffe), dies at 81
- Mar 19 Michael Mathias Prechtl, German illustrator, dies at 76
- Mar 20 Sailor Art Thomas, American professional wrestler (b. 1924)
- Mar 21 Umar Wirahadikusumah, Fourth Vice President of Indonesia (b. 1924)
- Mar 22 Terry Lloyd, English reporter (b. 1952)
- Mar 23 Fritz Spiegl, Austrian-British classical flautist, broadcaster, composer, and wit, dies at 77
- Mar 24 Dave Dallwitz, South Australian jazz and classical pianist, bandleader, composer, and visual artist, dies at 88
- Mar 24 Hans Hermann Groër, Austrian Catholic archbishop (b. 1919)
- Mar 26 Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American politician (US Senator from New York (D), 1977-2001), and diplomat (US ambassador to UN, 1975-79; US Ambassador to India, 1973-75), dies of complications from a ruptured appendix at 76
- Mar 27 Daniel Ceccaldi, French actor (Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board), dies at 75
- Mar 27 Edwin Carr, New Zealand classical composer, dies at 76
- Mar 27 Paul Zindel, American writer (b. 1936)
- Mar 27 Ricardo Munguia, Salvadoran aid worker
- Mar 28 (Farrell) "Rusty" Draper, American country and pop singer ("The Shifting, Whispering Sands"; "Are You Satisfied?"), dies of pneumonia at 80
- Mar 29 Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (SARS) (b. 1956)
- Mar 30 Michael Jeter, American Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor (The Fisher King; Evening Shade; Assassins), dies epileptic seizure complications at 50
- Mar 30 Valentin Pavlov, Russian politician and Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (1991), dies at 65
- Mar 31 Anne Gwynne [Marguerite Gwynne Trice], American model and actress (Ride 'em Cowboy, House of Frankenstein), dies following a stroke at 84
- Mar 31 Emmanuel Ghent, Canadian-American electronic music composer (Phosphones), dies at 77
- Mar 31 George Conner, American College and Pro Football Hall of Fame tackle / linebacker (Pro Bowl 1950–53; First-team All-Pro 1950–53, 55; Chicago Bears), dies at 78
- Mar 31 H.S.M. Coxeter, English-born geometer (b. 1907)
- Mar 31 Tommy Seebach, Danish rock keyboardist, singer (Sir Henry and His Butlers), and songwriter (Eurovision), dies at 53
