Wikipedia:WikiProject University of Pittsburgh/On this day

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January[edit]

  • January 15

  • (1974) The undefeated Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team is ranked for the 1st time in 15 seasons, at number seventeen they will rank for 11 consecutive weeks, 3 in the top 10.
  • (1969) The student organization, the Black Action Society, takes over the university computer center on the eighth floor of the Cathedral of Learning in a non-violent protest that prompts efforts to improve African-American academic resources and increase the number of black students and faculty at Pitt.


  • January 16

  • (1993) A three-point bomb by Pitt basketball freshman Garrick Thomas breaks a 73-73 tie with four seconds remaining, lifting the Panthers to an upset win over seventh ranked Seton Hall 76-73. Thomas finishes with 16 points while teammate Chris McNeal scores 19 points and grabs 11 rebounds.


  • January 20

  • (2001) The Panthers upset undefeated number nine ranked Georgetown 70-66 in D.C.[1]
  • (1977) Two women were killed and several people injured in a gas explosion, later ruled an accident, that destroyed part of Langley Hall.
  • (1934) The Panthers snap Notre Dame's 22 game win streak with a 39-34 win at the Pavilion.[2]


February[edit]





  • February 16

  • (1935) In what may be the longest basketball game in history, the clock stops in the 2nd half at Notre Dame as the Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team use it to rally from 10 behind, scoring the game winner in the last second (after the clock once again was started), prompting Irish coach George Keegan to grab the clock and throw it the length of the court.[4]
  • (1940) The Polish Nationality Room is dedicated.
  • (1974) The Pitt basketball team breaks a 47 year old school record for most consecutive wins with their 21st of the season.
  • (2009) The Pitt campus celebrates the first ever Panthers basketball victory over a #1 team, the UConn Huskies.


  • February 18

    Pitt in 1825
    Pitt in 1825
  • (1978) Conference rival Villanova finally meets the Panthers after having their game postponed due to an outbreak of "Russian Flu" with their players (though Pitt fans suspected it was to rest Villanova star Bradley), though Bradley scores 35 points the Panthers win 97–81 as fans chant "Who's got the Flu?" throughout the game.[5]
  • (1949) The Panthers snap West Virginia's 58 game home win streak with a 1 basket win.[6]
  • (1819) The original 1787 Pittsburgh Academy charter is amended to confer university status and create the Western University of Pennsylvania, the previous name of the University of Pittsburgh.


March[edit]

  • March 5

  • (1939) Legendary Pittsburgh Panthers football head coach Jock Sutherland announces his resignation, prompting student protests, after a series of disagreements with Chancellor John Bowman. It will be 15 seasons until the program recovers with a Bowl Game appearance.


  • March 6

  • (1988) The Pitt men's basketball team clinches its first outright, and second overall, Big East Conference Regular Season Championship with an 85-85 win at Syracuse.
  • (2003) The University of Pittsburgh has the groundbreaking ceremony for the Pittsburgh Biomedical Center III tower.
  • (2004) With a victory at the Peterson Events Center, Pitt's basketball team captures their third straight regular season Big East title.






April[edit]

  • April 1

    WQED's original home
    WQED's original home
  • (1954) WQED PBS channel 13, established by the university in what is now the Music Building, begins broadcasting as the first community-sponsored television station in the United States.


  • April 2

  • (1993) Pitt officially opens the Center for Biotechnology and Bioengineering on the former J&L Steel site.


  • April 10

    Great Fire of 1845
    Great Fire of 1845
  • (1845) The Great Fire of 1845 burns 20 square blocks of Pittsburgh, including the university, destroying much of its early records.
  • (2005) The University of Pittsburgh hosts a celebration of 50 years of the Pitt professor Jonas Salk and his polio vaccine.


May[edit]





  • May 7

    Allen Hall
    Allen Hall
  • (1920) The Pitt Aero Team, the University of Pittsburgh's air racing team, finishes fourth at the annual meet of Intercollegiate Flying Association, which also consists of teams from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Williams, Cornell, Rutgers, Penn, Lehigh, and Connecticut Wesleyan.





  • May 10

    Robert Bruce
    Robert Bruce
  • (1822) The first acting chancellor of the university, Robert Bruce, is installed as Principal, a title that is held over from the Academy days.




  • May 12

    George Kirk
    George Kirk
  • (1910) The song "Hail to Pitt", which becomes the university's fight song, is debuted at Pitt by its lyric writer George M. Kirk during the student Cap and Gown Club play Here and There at the Carnegie Music Hall.




  • May 22

  • (2000) The building housing the Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic (WPIC) is officially dedicated as Thomas Detre Hall in honor of Detre, a former WPIC director and university Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences.


  • May 28

  • (1796) The first known prospectus listing a complete catalogue of courses for the Pittsburgh Academy, forerunner of the University of Pittsburgh, is issued in the Pittsburgh Gazette by academy principal Reverend Robert Andrews.


  • May 30

  • (1918) During commencement exercises, Mary O'Hara Darlington and Edith Darlington Ammon present the University with the initial 11,000 volumes of the Darlington Collection, one of the most important library collections on Western Pennsylvania history.


June[edit]

  • June 21

  • (1881) Henry MacCracken becomes Pitt's sixth permanent chancellor.
  • (1957) The University of Pittsburgh announces plans for a new graduate program to train engineers in all phases of air pollution control.


  • June 23

  • (1999) John Peterson, a University of Pittsburgh alumnus, and his wife Gertrude, make the largest individual gift the university up until that point. The gift will be used for the Peterson Events Center.


July[edit]

August[edit]

  • August 3

  • (1927) Charles Lindbergh is welcomed to Pittsburgh in front of a large crowd at the university's Pitt Stadium during his national tour promoting aviation and celebrating his achievement in being the first to fly nonstop from New York to Paris.


  • August 26

  • (1984) Pitt's radio station, WPTS, first broadcasts on FM at 92.1 MHz.


September[edit]

  • September 8

  • (1968) Richard Nixon, Pat and family visit the 10th and last day of Billy Graham's nationally televised second "Pittsburgh Crusade" at Pitt Stadium.
  • (1983) The William Pitt Union reopens after a $13.9 million renovation that added a new Fifth Avenue entrance and functional lower level as well as an award-winning restoration of the original Louis XV-style interiors.


  • September 9

  • (1958) The University of Pittsburgh announces that as part of its expansion plans they will purchase and demolish Forbes Field.


  • September 22

  • (1947) The Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust Fund gave $13.6 million to the University of Pittsburgh to build and operate a Graduate School of Public Health.
  • (2011) Pitt announced that alumnus and board of trustees member William S. Dietrich II had given the school its then largest ever donation; a $125 million gift that resulted in the School of Arts and Sciences being renamed for his Dietrich's father, Kenneth.


  • September 23

  • (1878) The School of Pharmacy, originally known as The Pittsburgh College of Pharmacy, is granted its founding charter by the state of Pennsylvania.


October[edit]

  • October 3

  • (1911) The original Trees Gymnasium, since demolished and replaced by nearby Trees Hall, is dedicated.


  • October 5

  • (1905) The university assumes charge of the Dental Department which is renamed to the School of Dentistry thus becoming an integral part of the university.


  • October 9

  • (1957) All major student activities are moved into the former Schenley Hotel, recently acquired and renovated, and today known as the William Pitt Union.


November[edit]

  • November 16

  • (1909) The Panther is adopted as the official animal and mascot of the university, the first time a panther is adopted as a mascot by any college or university.


December[edit]

  • December 19

  • (1856) John F. McLaren is formally inaugurated as the university's Principal, a title, originating from the school's days as the Pittsburgh Academy, that was used for the head of the university until it was changed in 1872 to Chancellor.


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