The 1979 in sports reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

1979 in sports

See also: 1978 in sports, other events of 1979, 1980 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'.

Table of contents

1 Auto Racing 2 Baseball 3 Basketball 4 Boxing 5 Cricket 6 Cycling 7 Field Hockey 8 Figure Skating 9 Football (Soccer) 10 Football (American) 11 Canadian Football League 12 Golf 13 Thoroughbred Horse Racing 14 Harness Racing 15 Ice Hockey 16 Skiing 17 Snooker 18 Tennis 19 General sporting events 20 Births 21 Deaths

Auto Racing

• Stock car racing:
  • NASCAR Championship - Richard Petty
  • Richard Petty won the Daytona 500
• CART Racing (replaced USAC): Rick Mears won the season championship
  • Indianapolis 500 - Rick Mears
• Formula One Champion - Jody Scheckter of South Africa
• 24 hours of Le Mans: the team of Klaus Ludwig / Bill Whittington / Don Whittington win driving a Porsche 935
• Rally racing - the team of Bernard Darniche / Alain Mahe win the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Lancia Stratos HF
• Drag racing:
  • Rob Bruins won the NHRA Top Fuel championship.
  • Don Garlits won Top Fuel at the [NHRA] World Finals

Baseball

• January 23: Willie Mays receives 409 of 432 votes in the BBWAA election to earn enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.

• World Series: Pittsburgh Pirates won 4 games to 3 over the Baltimore Orioles. The Series MVP was Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship:
  • Michigan St. wins 75-64 over Indiana St.

• NBA Finals:
  • Seattle SuperSonics won 4 games to 1 over the Washington Bullets

Boxing

• September 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Larry Holmes retains his World Heavyweight title with an 11th round TKO of Earnie Shavers.

• November 3 also in Las Vegas, dual world championship undercard: Vito Antuofermo retains his world Middleweight title with a 15 round draw (tie) against Marvin Hagler, and Sugar Ray Leonard wins his first word title, beating WBC world Welterweight champion Wilfredo Benitez by knockout in round 15.

Cricket

• Cricket World Cup - West Indies beat England by 92 runs
• World Series Cricket rival competition to official International Cricket Council matches is disbanded.

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Giuseppe Saronni of Italy
• Tour de France - Bernard Hinault -France
• World Cycling Championship: Jan Raas of Netherlands

Field Hockey

• March 10 - In an international women's field hockey match at Wembley Stadium,England.England drew 0-0 with Ireland.
• August - The 2nd Women's World Field Hockey Championships was held at Vancouver,Canada with the Netherlands as the champions.

Figure Skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Wladimir Kowalew, (Soviet Union)
  • Women's champion: Linda Fratianne, (United States)
  • Pairs champions: Tai Babilonia & Randy Gardner, (United States)

Football (Soccer)

• England - FA Cup: Arsenal won 3-2 over Manchester United

Football (American)

• Super Bowl XIII: Pittsburgh Steelers won 35-31 over the Dallas Cowboys

Canadian Football League

• Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos won 17-9 over the Montreal Alouettes
• Vanier Cup: Acadia Axmen won 34-12 over the Western Ontario Mustangs

Golf

Men's Golf

• Grand Slam of golf results:
  1. May - The Masters - Fuzzy Zoeller
  2. June - US Open - Hale Irwin
  3. July - British Open - Seve Ballesteros
  4. August - PGA Championship - David Graham

• PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Tom Watson - $462,636

• Ryder Cup: United States won 17-11 over Europe in the first Ryder Cup to feature a side representing all Europe.

Women's Golf

• US Women's Open - Jerilyn Britz
• LPGA Championship - Donna Caponi
• Nancy Lopez: leading money winner on the LPGA tour, earning $189,213.

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

• Australia - Melbourne Cup - Hyperno
• Canada - Queen's Plate - Steady Growth
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Three Troikas
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Troy

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. Two Thousand Guineas Stakes - Tap On Wood
  2. Epsom Derby - Troy
  3. St. Leger Stakes - Son of Love

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. Kentucky Derby - Spectacular Bid
  2. Preakness Stakes - Spectacular Bid
  3. Belmont Stakes - Coastal

Harness Racing

• United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
  1. Cane Pace - Happy Motoring
  2. Little Brown Jug - Hot Hitter
  3. Messenger Stakes - Hot Hitter

• United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
  1. Hambletonian - Legend Hanover
  2. Yonkers Trot
  3. Kentucky Futurity

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Rondel
  • Trotters: No Response

Ice Hockey

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Bryan Trottier, New York Islanders

• Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Bryan Trottier, New York Islanders

• Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens win 4 games to 1 over the New York Rangers

• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Czechoslovakia
  • Junior Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Sweden

Skiing

• Alpine Skiing
  • The men's overall season champion: Peter Luescher, Switzerland
  • The women's overall season champion: Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Austria

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship: outsider Terry Griffiths beats Dennis Taylor 24-16
• World rankings: Ray Reardon remains world number one for 1979/80

Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Guillermo Vilas
  2. French Open - Bjorn Borg
  3. Wimbledon championships - Bjorn Borg
  4. US Open - John McEnroe

• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Barbara Jordan
  2. French Open - Chris Evert
  3. Wimbledon championships - Martina Navratilova
  4. US Open - Tracy Austin

• Davis Cup: United States wins 5-0 over Italy in world tennis.

General sporting events

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion:
  • Rick Swenson won with lead dogs: Andy & O.B. (Old Buddy)

• September 7 - The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) makes its debut.

Births

• May 24 - Tracy McGrady, NBA star
• May 25 - Jonny Wilkinson, English rugby star
• December 17 - Charlotte Edwards, English cricketer

Deaths

• February 21 - Glendon Gibbs, Australian cricketer
• April 6 - M Marie Widlow, Hall of Fame softball pitcher
• May 31 - Nigel Howard, English cricketer
• June 22 – Louis Chiron, Grand Prix motor racing champion
• July 5 - Elizabeth Ryan, tennis star, won 19 Wimbledon titles
• July 9 - Betty Evans Grayson, Hall of Fame softball pitcher
• July 21 - Sandor Kocsis, Hungarian soccer star
• July 22 - Tony "Two-Ton" Galento, boxer/actor
• August 2 - Thurman Munson, New York Yankees catcher (1969-1979), plane crash
• August 21 - Giuseppe Meazza, Italian, soccer star
• October 22 - Clint Hodgins, Hall of Fame harness-racing driver
• December 15 - Stan Hack, Major League Baseball player (1932-1947)

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