Magic Vs. Bird In the NCAA Final

Magic Vs. Bird In the NCAA Final — page 1 — www abdopublishing com Published by Abdo Publishing a division of ABDO PO Box 398166 Minneapolis Minnesota 55439 Copyright 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group Inc International copyrights reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher SportsZone is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing Printed in the United States of America North Mankato Minnesota 102014 012015 Cover Photos Brian Horton AP Images left AP Images right Interior Photos Brian Horton AP Images 1 left AP Images 1 right 7 14 17 19 20 25 26 31 32 35 37 Bettmann Corbis 4 23 Lennox McLendon AP Images 8 Charles E Knoblock AP Images 11 Jack Smith AP Images 13 Jose R Lopez AP Images 28 David J Phillip AP Images 38 Amy Sancetta AP Images 43 Editor Chrös McDougall Series Designer Craig Hinton Library of Congress Control Number 2014944208 Cataloging-in-Publication Data Daniel P K Magic vs Bird in the NCAA Final P K Daniel p cm Greatest events in sports history ISBN 978-1-62403-596-8 lib bdg Includes bibliographical references and index 1 Basketball United States History Juvenile literature 2 Basketball players United States Juvenile literature 3 NCAA Basketball Tournament History Juvenile literature I Title 796 323 dc23 2014944208

Magic Vs. Bird In the NCAA Final — page 2 — CONTENTS ONE Before the Madness 5 TWO Practice Makes Perfect 9 THREE Heading to College 15 FOUR Building the Excitement 21 FIVE Game Time 29 SIX Legacy 39 Timeline 44 Glossary 45 For More Information 46 Index 48 About the Author 48

Magic Vs. Bird In the NCAA Final — page 3

Magic Vs. Bird In the NCAA Final — page 4 — 5 CHAPTER Before the Madness Stanford University and Long Island University play a college basketball game in 1935 College basketball had no championship tournament until 1939 1 It was forty years before Larry Bird and Earvin Magic Johnson met for the college basketball national championship March Madness didn’t yet exist College basketball fans weren’t filling out tournament brackets Office pools weren’t commonplace ESPN wasn’t that familiar friend in America’s living rooms The year was 1939 Eight college basketball teams were invited to Northwestern University The school’s central location near Chicago made it easier for teams to attend In Illinois they would play in the first National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA men’s basketball tournament Basketball had been around since 1891 However there was no official college national championship until then The iconic

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