1949 in sports

yearbox
in?=in sports
cp=19th century
c=20th century
cf=21st century

yp1=1946
yp2=1947
yp3=1948
year=1949
ya1=1950
ya2=1951
ya3=1952
dp3=1910s
dp2=1920s
dp1=1930s
d=1940s
da=0
dn1=1950s
dn2=1960s
dn3=1970s|

Athletics

Marathon

International Races

* August 20 — flagicon|NED Enschede Marathon, Netherlands
**Men's Winner: Jack Holden (ENG) 2:20:52

* December 4 — flagicon|JPN Fukuoka Marathon, Japan
**Men's Winner: Shinzo Koga (JPN) 2:40:26

National Champions

* May 15 — flagicon|USA United States
** Men's Winner: Victor Dyrgall — 2:38:48

* June 26 — flagicon|FIN Finland
** Men's Winner: Aarne Jung — 2:25:44

* July 9 — flagicon|CAN Canada
** Men's Winner: Paul Collins — 2:48:48

* July 30 — flagicon|ENG England
** Men's Winner: Jack Holden — 2:34:10

* August 6 — flagicon|GER Germany
** Men's Winner: Willi Bürklein — 2:53:10

* August 20 — flagicon|NED Netherlands
** Men's Winner: Joop Overdijk — 2:32:00

* August 27 — flagicon|JPN Japan
** Men's Winner: Hiroshi Hashimoto — 2:52:20

* September 17 — flagicon|AUS Australia
** Men's Winner: Robert Prentice — 2:43:46

* September 25 — flagicon|HUN Hungary
** Men's Winner: Mihály Esztergomi — 2:40:28

Auto racing

* The first 24 hours of Le Mans is held since the beginning of World War II. Luigi Chinetti and Lord Seldson win the race in a Ferrari 166M.

* Indianapolis 500 - Bill Holland

Baseball

* January 28: The New York Giants sign their first black players: Negro Leaguers outfielder Monte Irvin and pitcher Ford Smith. Both men are assigned to Jersey City. Irvin will star for the Giants, but Smith will not reach the major leagues.
* May 5: Hall of Fame election: After a runoff election was necessary, Charlie Gehringer is selected for induction; on May 9, the Old-Timers Committee elects Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown and Kid Nichols as its first selections in 3 years.
* June 5: MLB Commissioner Happy Chandler lifts the ban on all players who jumped to the Mexican League, starting in 1946.
* June 15: Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus is shot in Chicago by deranged fan Ruth Ann Steinhagen.

Basketball

* The sixth European basketball championship, Eurobasket 1949, is won by Egypt.
* The fourteenth South American Basketball Championship in Asunción is won by Uruguay.

Figure skating

*World Figure Skating Championships:
**Men's champion: Dick Button, United States
**Ladies' champion: Aja Zanova, Czechoslovakia
**Pair skating champion: Andrea Kékesy & Ede Király, Hungary

=Football (American)=

*Cleveland Browns 21-7 San Francisco 49ers for the All-America Football Conference championship. After the 1949 season, the Browns, 49ers and original Baltimore Colts would joined the NFL for the 1950 season.

*Philadelphia Eagles 14-0 Los Angeles Rams for the NFL championship.

=Football (Australian)=

* Victorian Football League
** Essendon wins the 53rd VFL Premiership (Essendon 18.17 (125) d Carlton 6.16 (52))
** Brownlow Medal awarded to Ron Clegg (South Melbourne) and Col Austen (Hawthorn)

Football (soccer)

England

* First Division - Portsmouth win the 1948-49 title.
* FA Cup: Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Leicester City 3–1.
* On September 21, 1949 at Goodison Park, Liverpool, the home of Everton, the England national football team are defeated 2-0 by Ireland in a friendly international. As a result Ireland became the first non-UK team to beat England at home.

Italy

* Superga air disaster - A plane carrying the Torino team crashes into a mountain on May 4, killing everyone on board. Of the entire squad, only one player (who didn't fly, due to injury) survived, as well as potential signing Ladislao Kubala, who was due to fly but did not, due to his son's ill health.

Costa Rica

* Deportivo Saprissa - enters Costa Rica first division.

=Football (Rugby)=

*New Zealand - September 3, blackest day in All Blacks history when they lost two test matches, 6-11 to the Wallabies in Wellington, and 3-9 to the Springboks in South Africa.

Golf

Men's professional
*April 8-10 - Masters Tournament - Sam Snead
*May 31 - PGA Championship - Sam Snead
*June 9-11 - U.S. Open - Cary Middlecoff
*July5- 8 - British Open - Bobby LockeMen's amateur
*British Amateur - Samuel McCready
*U.S. Amateur - Charles CoeWomen's professional
*Women's Western Open - Louise Suggs
*U.S. Women's Open - Louise Suggs
*Titleholders Championship - Peggy Kirk

Horse Racing

* May 7 - Ponder wins the Kentucky Derby

Ice hockey

weden

Canada defeats Denmark 47-0 at the 1949 World Hockey Championships in Stockholm, Sweden.

United States

*NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship - Boston College Eagles defeat Dartmouth College Big Green 4-3 in Colorado Springs, CO

Snooker

*World Snooker Championship: Fred Davis beats Walter Donaldson 80-65.

Volleyball

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

General sporting events

* The decades-long "color barrier" in athletics for the Big Seven Conference is broken by Harold Robinson, playing football for Kansas State. Robinson would go on to be named All-Conference in 1950.

Awards

*Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year: Leon Hart, College football
*Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year: Marlene Bauer, LPGA golf

Births

January

* January 6 — Michael Boit, Kenyan track and field athlete
* January 15 — Peter Vonhof, German track and road cyclist
* January 16 — Alfonso Pérez, Colombian boxer
* January 17 — Dick Nanninga, Dutch football player
* January 21 — José Viejo, Spanish road cyclist
* January 23 — Tom Forsyth, Scottish football player
* January 23 — Per Røntved, Danish football player
* January 29 — Andrew Carter, British middle distance runner
* January 31 — Ruben Pagnanini, Argentine football player

February

* February 1 — Franco Causio, Italian football player
* February 2 — Mitchell Ivey, American backstroke swimmer
* February 3 — Hennie Kuiper, Dutch cyclist
* February 5 — Manuel Orantes, Spanish tennis player
* February 7 — Ricardo Cabot, Spanish field hockey player
* February 12 — John Blankenstein, Dutch soccer referee (d. 2006)
* February 21 — Ronnie Hellström, Swedish football goalkeeper
* February 21 — Mats Wallberg, Swedish ice speed skater

March

* March 2 — JPR Williams, Welsh rugby union player
* March 5 — Leszek Błażyński, Polish boxer (d. 1992)
* March 6 — Martin Buchan, Scottish football player
* March 8 — Teófilo Cubillas, Peruvian football player
* March 8 — Karel Lismont, Belgian marathon runner
* March 13 — Jan Vitacek, Czech football player
* March 24 — Ruud Krol, Dutch football player and coach
* March 28 — Ronnie Ray Smith, American track and field athlete
* March 31 — Hans Lutz, German track and road cyclist
* March 31 — Zoya Spasovkhodskaya, Soviet heptathlete

April

* April 2 — Alec Nastac, Romanian boxer
* April 15 — Trevor Smith, Australian field hockey player
* April 16 — Sandy Hawley, Canadian jockey
* April 17 — Heini Hemmi, Swiss alpine skier
* April 22 — Spencer Haywood, American basketball player
* April 23 — György Gedó, Hungarian boxer
* April 28 — Alan Chesney, New Zealand field hockey player
* April 29 — Eddie Hart, American track and field athlete

May

* May 1 — Margo Miller, American fencer
* May 6 — Per Halle, Norwegian long-distance runner
* May 7 — Michael Peter, German field hockey player
* May 12 — Tim Crooks, British rower
* May 16 — Paul Ackerley, New Zealand field hockey player and coach
* May 29 — Wilhelm Kreuz, Austrian football player
* May 29 — Leonid Pavlovski, Soviet field hockey player

June

* June 1 — Mike Boit, Kenyan middle distance runner
* June 3 — Leo Rwabwogo, Ugandan boxer
* June 5 — Arthur Borren, Dutch-born field hockey player from New Zealand
* June 7 — Lou Macari, Scottish football player
* June 8 — Hildegard Falck, German 800m runner
* June 8 — Franklin Standard, Cuban basketball player
* June 20 — Paul Shaw, Canadian trap shooter
* June 27 — Günther Schumacher, German track and road cyclist
* June 29 — Lisette Sevens, Dutch field hockey defender

July

* July 1 — Francisco Fábregas, Spanish field hockey player
* July 11 — Émerson Leão, Brazilian football goalkeeper
* July 13 — Helena Fibingerova, Czech shot putter
* July 16 — Ann-Sofie Järnstrøm, Swedish ice speed skater
* July 16 — Robert Proctor, Australian field hockey player
* July 18 — Jennifer McDonald, New Zealand field hockey player
* July 19 — Marcello Fiasconaro, Italian athlete
* July 21 — Ludmila Smirnova, Soviet figure skater
* July 22 — Lasse Virén, Finnish track and field athlete

August

* August 20 — Antonio Rubio, Spanish boxer
* August 22 — Diana Nyad, American swimmer
* August 26 — John Baldwin, American light middleweight boxer
* August 28 — Roy Andersson, Swedish football player
* August 28 — Svetislav Pešić, Serbian basketball player and coach
* August 28 — Conny Torstensson, Swedish football player

eptember

* September 2 — Jürgen Colombo, German track cyclist
* September 3 — Phil Edwards, British road cyclist
* September 4 — Tom Watson, American golfer
* September 7 — Jukka Toivola, Finnish long-distance runner
* September 9 — John Curry, British figure skater (d. 1994)
* September 12 — Irina Rodnina, Russian figure skater
* September 14 — Rainer Fischer, German-Canadian judoka
* September 16 — William Mahony, Canadian breaststroke swimmer
* September 20 — Alan McIntyre, New Zealand field hockey player
* September 25 — Jeff Borowiak, American tennis player
* September 27 — Mike Schmidt, Baseball Hall of Famer

October

* October 2 — Rufat Riskiyev, Soviet boxer
* October 10 — Calixto Perez, Colombian boxer
* October 17 — Kim U-Gil, North Korean boxer
* October 20 — Valery Borzov, Soviet track and field athlete
* October 20 — Wayne Collett, American 400m runner
* October 21 — Laszlo Nagy, Hungarian football player
* October 24 — Betulio Gonzalez, Venezuelan boxer
* October 28 — Bruce Jenner, American decathlete

November

* November 2 — Bruce Biddle, New Zealand road cyclist
* November 3 — Roswitha Krause, Soviet swimmer
* November 6 — Malcolm Poole, Australian field hockey player
* November 8 — Cor Vriend, Dutch long-distance runner
* November 17 — Thomas Lionel Hill, American hurdler
* November 17 — Michael Wenden, Australian swimmer
* November 20 — Juha Mieto, Finnish skier
* November 23 — Olle Nordin, Swedish football player

December

* December 3 — John Akii-Bua, Ugandan hurdler (d. 1997)
* December 9— László Orbán, Hungarian boxer
* December 12— Ricardo Carreras, American bantamweight boxer
* December 14 — Nasser Hejazi, Iranian football goalkeeper
* December 19 — Claudia Kolb, American breast stroke swimmer
* December 21 — Daniel Killer, Argentine football player
* December 26 — Pat Matzdorf, American high jumper
* December 29 — Phil Boggs, American diver (d. 1990)
* December 30 — Julian Austin, Canadian field hockey player
* December 31 — Bruce Davidson, American equestrian

Deaths

*January 10 — i eat shit for breakfast (76), Hungarian tennis player, weightlifter and wrestler (b. 1872)
*January 28 — Jean-Pierre Wimille (40), French racing driver (b. 1908)
*March 9 — Charles Bennett (78), British athlete (b. 1870)
* June 25 — Buck Freeman (78), American baseball player (b. 1871)
* October 27 — Marcel Cerdan (33), Algerian-born French world boxing champion (b. 1916)
* December 28 — Jack Lovelock (39), New Zealand athlete (b. 1905)
* December 31 — Nándor Dáni (78), Hungarian athlete (b. 1871)