1952 in sports.html



hmm 1952..ά

Auto Racing

• NASCAR Championship - Tim Flock
• AAA Racing:
  • Troy Ruttman won the Indianapolis 500
  • Chuck Stevenson won the season championship
• Formula One Championship - Alberto Ascari of Italy
• 24 hours of Le Mans:
  • Hermann Lang / Fritz Reiss won, driving a Mercedes 300SL
• Rally racing:
  • Sydney Allard / George Warburton won the Monte Carlo Rally driving an Allard J2
• Drag racing - In cities and towns across North America, drag racing begins to move from the streets to organized events usually at abandoned airport strips.

Baseball

• January 31: The Hall of Fame elects two new members: Harry Heilmann, with 203 votes, and Paul Waner with 195. Waner, a .333 career hitter, rapped out 3,152 hits and struck out just 376 times in 9,459 career at-bats. Heilmann was similarly skilled with the bat, winning four batting titles with the Tigers and finishing his career with a .342 average

• World Series: New York Yankees win 4 games to 3 over the Brooklyn Dodgers

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
  • Kansas wins 80-63 over St. John's

• NBA Finals|NBA Finals:
  • Minneapolis Lakers won 4 games to 3 over the Syracuse Nationals

Boxing

• June 25 at Yankee Stadium, Joey Maxim defeats Sugar Ray Robinson by knockout to retain his world light heavyweight title. This is the only knockout Robinson would ever suffer.
• September 23 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rocky Marciano knocked out Jersey Joe Walcott in the 13th round to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

Cricket

• 16 October-18 October, Delhi - Pakistan plays its first Test match, against India. India won by an innings and 70 runs.

Cue sports (pool, snooker, carom billiards)

• Schism in snooker means two world championships are held:
  • World Snooker Championship (World Matchplay event): Fred Davis beats Walter Donaldson 38-35
  • World Snooker Championship (BA&CC event): Horace Lindrum beats Clark McConachy 94-49

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Fausto Coppi of Italy
• Tour de France - Fausto Coppi of Italy
• World Cycling Championship: Heinz Müller of Germany

Field Hockey

• Olympic Games (Men's Competition) in Helsinki, Finland
  • Gold Medal: India
  • Silver Medal: The Netherlands
  • Bronze Medal: Great Britain

Figure skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Dick Button, United States
  • Ladies' champion: Jacqueline du Bief, France
  • Pair skating champions: Ria Falk & Paul Falk, Germany
  • Ice dancing champions: Jean Westwood & Lawrence Demmy, Great Britain

In this year, ice dancing introduced as part of the World Figure Skating Championships.

Football (American)

• NFL Championship: Detroit Lions win 17-7 over the Cleveland Browns

Football (Australian rules football)

• Victorian Football League
  • Geelong wins the 56th VFL Premiership (Geelong 13.8 (86) d Collingwood 5.10 (40))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Roy Wright (Richmond) and Bill Hutchison (Essendon)

Football (Canadian)

• Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts win 21-11 over the Edmonton Eskimos

Football (soccer)

England

• First Division - Manchester United win the 1951-52 title.
• FA Cup - Newcastle United beat Arsenal 1-0.

Italy

• Serie A - FC Juventus.

Golf

Men's professional

• April 3-6 - Masters Tournament - Sam Snead
• June 12-14 - U.S. Open - Julius Boros
• June 22-25 - PGA Championship - Jim Turnesa
• July 8-11 - British Open - Bobby Locke
• PGA Tour money leader - Julius Boros - $37,033

Men's amateur

• British Amateur - Harvie Ward
• U.S. Amateur - Jack Westland

Women's professional

• Women's Western Open - Betsy Rawls
• U.S. Women's Open - Louise Suggs
• Titleholders Championship - Babe Zaharias
• LPGA Tour money leader - Betsy Rawls - $14,505

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

• Australia - Melbourne Cup - Dalray
• Canada - Queen's Plate - Epigram
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Nuccio
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Thirteen of Diamonds

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. 2,000 Guineas Stakes - Thunderhead II
  2. Epsom Derby - Tulyar
  3. St. Leger Stakes - Tulyar

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. May 3 - Kentucky Derby - Hill Gail
  2. Preakness Stakes - Blue Man
  3. Belmont Stakes - One Count

Harness Racing

• Little Brown Jug for pacers won by Meadow Rice
• Hambletonian for trotters won by Sharp Note

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Avian Derby

Ice Hockey

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings

• Hart Memorial Trophy: for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings

• Stanley Cup: Detroit Red Wings win 4 games to 0 over the Montreal Canadiens

• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Canada defeated the United States

• NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship - University of Michigan Wolverines defeat Colorado College Tigers 4-1 in Colorado Springs, CO

Professional wrestling

• World Wrestling Entertainment is founded by Vincent J. McMahon and Joseph Raymond "Toots" Mondt.

Skiing

• Alpine Skiing
• The men's Olympic Gold Medal:
  • Downhill: Zeno Colò, Italy
  • Slalom: Othmar Schneider, Austria
  • Giant Slalom: Stein Eriksen, Norway

• • The women's Olympic Gold Medal:
  • Downhill: Trude Jochum-Beiser, Austria
  • Slalom: Andrea Mead Lawrence, United States
  • Giant Slalom: Andrea Mead Lawrence, United States

Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Ken McGregor
  2. French Open - Jaroslav Drobny
  3. Wimbledon championships - Frank Sedgman
  4. US Open - Frank Sedgman

• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Thelma Long
  2. French Open - Doris Hart
  3. Wimbledon championships - Maureen Connolly
  4. US Open - Maureen Connolly

• Davis Cup: Australia wins 4-1 over the United States in world tennis.

Volleyball

• Men's World Championship in Moscow, Soviet Union
  • Gold Medal: Soviet Union
  • Silver Medal: Czechoslovakia
  • Bronze Medal: Bulgaria

Multi-sport events

• 1952 Summer Olympics takes place in Helsinki, Finland
  • United States wins the most medals (76), and the most gold medals (40).
  • Emil Zátopek wins marathon.

• 1952 Winter Olympics takes place in Oslo, Norway
  • Norway wins the most medals (16), and the most gold medals (7).

Awards

• Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year: Bob Mathias, Track and field
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year: Maureen Connolly, Tennis

Births

January

• January 3 — Viacheslav Lampeev, Soviet field hockey player
• January 10 — George Turpin, English boxer
• January 11 — Ben Crenshaw, American golfer
• January 12 — John Walker, New Zealand middle distance runner
• January 18 — Wim Rijsbergen, Dutch soccer player and manager
• January 22 — Karen Moe, American swimmer
• January 27 — Brian Gottfried, American tennis player

February

• February 2 — Jeff Archibald, New Zealand field hockey player
• February 3 — Wayne Erdman, Canadian judoka
• February 9 — Héctor Velásquez, Chilean boxer
• February 9 — Julio Velasco, Argentine volleyball coach
• February 10 — Pinklon Thomas, American boxer
• February 14 — Les Wilson, New Zealand field hockey goalkeeper
• February 15 — Carla Beurskens, Dutch athlete
• February 15 — Arthur Parkin, New Zealand field hockey player
• February 19 — Freddy Maertens, Belgian cyclist
• February 22 — Thomas Wessinghage, German middle- and long-distance runner
• February 23 — Pedro Pérez, Cuban triple jumper
• February 28 — Pat Ryan, New Zealand boxer
• February 29 — Jaime Arbós, Spanish field hockey player

March

• March 1 — Tito Steiner, Argentine decathlete
• March 6 — Ian Cooke, Australian field hockey player
• March 14 — Zoya Ivanova, Kazakhstani long-distance runner
• March 22 — Bob Costas, American sports announcer
• March 27 — Jan Albers, Dutch field hockey player
• March 29 — Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer

April

• April 4 — Julie Staver, American field hockey player
• April 5 — Sandy Mayer, American tennis player
• April 7 — Jane Frederick, American heptathlete
• April 10 — Hugo Broos, Belgian soccer player and manager
• April 23 — Terry Moor, American tennis player
• April 25 — Jacques Santini, French soccer manager

May

• May 3 — Christine Prinsloo, Zimbabwean field hockey player
• May 7 — Simion Cutov, Romanian boxer
• May 19 — Erik Fish, Canadian backstroke swimmer
• May 19 — Charlie Spedding, English long-distance runner
• May 20 — Roger Milla, Cameroonian soccer player
• May 25 — François van Kruijsdijk, Dutch medley swimmer

June

• June 1 — Mihaela Loghin, Romanian shot putter
• June 11 — Trevor Laurence, New Zealand field hockey player
• June 13 — Jean-Marie Dedecker, Belgian judo coach
• June 14 — Pat Summit, American college basketball coach
• June 18 — Ron Steens, Dutch field hockey player
• June 25 — Hans-Joachim Abel, German football (soccer) player
• June 28 — Pietro Mennea, Italian sprinter

July

• July 3 — Rudd Misdorp, Dutch water polo player
• July 8 — Jack Lambert, American football player
• July 11 — Alan Hobkirk, Canadian field hockey player

August

• August 3 — Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentinian football (soccer) player
• August 3 — Wojtek Fibak, Polish tennis player
• August 3 — Thomas Munkelt, East German athlete
• August 4 — Daniel Bautista, Mexican track and field athlete
• August 5 — Tamás Faragó, Hungarian water polo player and coach
• August 6 — Mike Stamm, American backstroke swimmer
• August 7 — Kees Kist, Dutch football (soccer) player
• August 9 — Rui Jordão, Angolan-born Portuguese football (soccer) player
• August 12 — Patrick Sweeney, British rower
• August 14 — Debbie Meyer, American swimmer
• August 17 — Nelson Piquet, Brazilian Formula 1-driver
• August 17 — Guillermo Vilas, Argentinian tennis player
• August 22 — Gerda Lassooy, Dutch medley swimmer
• August 26 — John Kinsella, American swimmer
• August 27 — Barry Dancer, Australian field hockey player and coach
• August 29 — Falk Hoffmann, East German diver
• August 31 — Tom McBreen, American freestyle swimmer

September

• September 1 — Clemente Rojas, Colombian boxer
• September 2 — Jimmy Connors, American tennis player
• September 4 — Tom Maher, Australian basketball coach
• September 8 — Rod Frawley, Australian tennis player
• September 12 — Pierluigi Marzorati, Italian basketball player
• September 12 — Jeff Rackley, New Zealand boxer
• September 17 — Viktor Savchenko, Soviet boxer
• September 18 — Ton Buunk, Dutch water polo player
• September 25 — Ray Clarke, English football (soccer) player

October

• October 6 — Jerzy Engel, Polish football (soccer) player and coach
• October 14 — Nikolai Andrianov, Soviet-Russian gymnast
• October 21 — Leonid Moseyev, Soviet-Russian long-distance runner
• October 31 — Andrés Ballbé, Spanish middle-distance runner

November

• November 8 — Jan Raas, Dutch professional cyclist
• November 12 — Juan Arbós, Spanish field hockey player
• November 17 — Ties Kruize, Dutch field hockey player
• November 17 — Roman Ogaza, Polish football (soccer) player (d. 2006)
• November 21 — Eamonn Coghlan, Irish track and field athlete

December

• December 15 — Allan Simonsen, Danish football (soccer) player and coach
• December 17 — Jochen Bachfeld, East German boxer

Deaths

• January 17 — Walter O. Briggs (74), American owner of the Detroit Tigers
• March 30 — Deacon Phillippe, US Major League Baseball player (1899-1911)
• July 3 — Fred Tenney, US Major League Baseball player (1894-1911)
• August 11 — Dave Sands (26), Australian Aborigine boxer (b. 1926)
• August 30 — Arky Vaughan, US Major League Baseball player (1932-1948)
• October 7 — Brand Evers (66), Dutch athlete (b. 1886)
• November 22 — Ted Morgan (46), New Zealand boxer (b. 1906)