Today in Sports History: April 20th

(Jordan scored 63 against the Celtics. Photo by Dick Raphael, Getty Images)

4/20/1967 - Don King kills Sam Garrett

Long before he represented Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali, boxing promoter Don King was infamous for another reason: killing a pair of people.

In December 1954, King shot Hillary Brown when he and two others attempted to break into one of King's gambling houses. Prior to working in boxing, King associated himself with a lower tier of gambling in the Ohio crime syndicate. The court ruled that King acted out of self-defense and that it was a "justifiable homicide," even though King shot Brown in the back.

On April 20, 1967, Don walked into a bar and ran into Sam Garrett, a former accomplice who still owed him $600 from a bet. There are two variations as to what transpired next, though both involve Sam Garrett dying five days after the transgression. King contended that Garrett initiated the conflict by punching him from behind. However, eyewitnesses told a different story, one that described Garrett as a small man with tuberculosis who wasn’t looking for trouble, and that King saw him as easy prey.

Either way, the end result was the same. King dominated the altercation and forced Garrett to the ground, where he mercilessly beat him until he had ruptured his brain. The latter side was ruled the truth and King was convicted of second-degree murder, which should have led to a life in prison. However, the presiding judge decided to counter the jury and ruled it involuntary manslaughter. The decision was extremely dubious considering that it was made after a private meeting between King’s attorney and the judge, one that occurred away from the prosecutor and stenographer...

King was sentenced to a little over three years in jail. Only in America can man serve time for manslaughter when he's found guilty of murder.

4/20/1986 - Jordan scores 63

It's one thing to score 60 points in a regular season game, but to score 60 points in a postseason game, against the team that would win the NBA championship? Now that's impressive.

That's what Michael Jordan did in Game 2 of a playoff series between his Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics. The 23 year-old sophomore superstar, who missed 64 regular season games due to a broken foot, scored 63 points against one of the greatest basketball teams of all time, a team that had lost only one home game all season. With that, he set the postseason record for points in a game, surpassing Elgin Baylor's 61-point performance from 1962. It remains the most ever scored in a postseason game.

"Michael was doing so much and so well, I found myself just wanting to stop and watch him -- and I was playing," said Bulls teammate John Paxson.

"I didn't think anyone was capable of doing what Michael has done to us the past two games," said Larry Bird, who scored 36 points to lead the Celtics. "He is the most exciting, awesome player in the game today. I think it's just God disguised as Michael Jordan."

"It was just an awesome display of basketball," said Celtics coach K.C. Jones. "I'm glad I wasn't at home or I would have torn the couch apart. I was watching the game and all I could see was this giant Jordan and everyone else is sort of in the background."

Despite one of the greatest performances in postseason history, the Celtics still came out on top, 135-131. Jordan later said that he would have sacrificed all 63 of his points if would have given his team the win. The Celtics then went into Chicago to sweep the series in three games.