In 1979, Jimmy Carter was President of the United States, Superman was the highest-grossing movie in America, and, for about three weeks in March, Penn men’s basketball was atop the world. After going 13-1 in Ivy League play and clinching the second of five straight conference titles under then-head coach Bob Weinhauer, the Quakers secured a spot in the March Madness tournament. But that was only where the magic began.

The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament looked different then than it does today. There were only 40 teams — compared to this year’s 64 — meaning that the top six seeds in each region received a bye to the second round. Furthermore, the opening two rounds were hosted at the school with the highest seed in that region of the bracket, as opposed to every game taking place at a neutral site, which happens today.

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Penn was not lucky enough to earn either a bye or the home-court advantage of the Palestra. As a nine seed, the Quakers were matched up against Iona for the chance to play top-seeded North Carolina in Raleigh, North Carolina. Penn won that first game versus Iona by four points and rallied to defeat the Tar Heels 72-71, advancing to the Regional Semifinals—now known as the Sweet 16. 

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But the dream wasn’t over. In Greensboro, North Carolina, the following weekend, the Quakers defeated Syracuse by eight points in the Regional Semifinals. Then, Penn emerged victorious in a low-scoring slugfest against St. John’s, 64-62, to earn the East Regional Title and a bid to play for the 1979 men’s basketball national championship in Salt Lake City. 

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In the week leading up to the Final Four — where Penn would play a Michigan State team led by Magic Johnson in the national semifinal — so-called Pennsylmania swept campus. Thousands of students and community members gathered at pep rallies to hear Weinhauer and other members of the team speak. The school organized charter planes to ferry students to Utah. Penn men’s basketball was on top of the world. 

And then, it all came crashing down. Michigan State throttled the Quakers 101-67 on March 24, en route to defeating Larry Bird’s Indiana State for a National Title two days later. Penn, on the other hand, lost by only three points to DePaul during the third-place team and ended the tournament in fourth place.

Despite the disappointment of the season’s ending, 1979 remains the only time the Quakers have made it to men’s college basketball’s biggest stage. And even 45 years later, legend of the 1979 run lives on.