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 all joined the NFL for the 1950 season.
Philadelphia Eagles 14–0 Los Angeles Rams for the NFL championship.
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.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish – college football national championship
England
First Division – Portsmouth win the 1948–49 title.
FA Cup – Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Leicester City 3-1.
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.
On 21 September 1949 at Goodison Park, Liverpool, the home of Everton, England were defeated 2-0 by Ireland in a friendly international.
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)
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.
The New York Yankees won the World Series over the Brooklyn Dodgers four games to one.
December 5 – Hiroshima Carp, officially founded, with paticipate on Central League of Japan.
BAA (NBA) Finals
Minneapolis Lakers win four games to two over the Washington Capitols
NBL Championship
Anderson Packers win three games to none over the Oshkosh All-Stars
Events
On August 3 the NBL merges with the BAA. The BAA also renames itself as the National Basketball Association.
The sixth European basketball championship, Eurobasket 1949, is won by Egypt.
The fourteenth South American Basketball Championship in Asunción is won by Uruguay.
October 27 – death of Marcel Cerdan (33), Algerian–born French world middleweight champion, in an air crash
In the course of playing a Ranji Trophy semi-final at Poona in March, Bombay and Maharashtra set the still-standing record for the highest match aggregate of runs scored in a first-class match – 2,376 runs.
World Figure Skating Championships –
Men's champion: Dick Button, United States
Ladies' champion: Aja Zanova, Czechoslovakia
Pair skating champion: Andrea Kékesy & Ede Király, Hungary
Men's professional
Masters Tournament – Sam Snead
PGA Championship – Sam Snead
U.S. Open – Cary Middlecoff
British Open – Bobby Locke
Men's amateur
British Amateur – Samuel McCready
U.S. Amateur – Charles Coe
Women's professional
Women's Western Open – Louise Suggs
U.S. Women's Open – Louise Suggs
Titleholders Championship – Peggy Kirk
Steeplechases
Cheltenham Gold Cup – Cottage Rake
Grand National – Russian Hero
Hurdle races
Champion Hurdle – Hatton's Grace
Flat races
Australia – Melbourne Cup won by Foxzami
Canada – Queen's Plate won by Epic
France – Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe won by Coronation
Ireland – Irish Derby Stakes won by Hindostan
English Triple Crown Races:
- 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Nimbus
- Epsom Derby – Nimbus
- St. Leger Stakes – Ridge Wood
United States Triple Crown Races:
- Kentucky Derby – Ponder
- Preakness Stakes – Capot
- Belmont Stakes – Capot
Stanley Cup
Toronto Maple Leafs sweep the Detroit Red Wings four games to none.
Sweden
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, Colorado
The first 24 Hours of Le Mans is held since the beginning of World War II. Luigi Chinetti and Peter Mitchell-Thomson win the race in a Ferrari 166M.
30 May – Bill Holland wins the 33rd running of the Indianapolis 500 in the Blue Crown Spark Plug Special Deidt–Offenhauser
The inaugural NASCAR Strictly Stock season takes place. Robert "Red" Byron, driving the #22 Oldsmobile for Raymond Parks, is the series' first champion.
The Boat Race
26 March — Cambridge wins the 95th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race
Australia
1949 NSWRFL season
England
1948–49 Northern Rugby Football League season/1949–50 Northern Rugby Football League season
Five Nations Championship
55th Five Nations Championship series is won by Ireland
3 September – "blackest day" in All Blacks history as two Test matches are lost on the same day: 6–11 at home to the Wallabies; and 3–9 on tour to South Africa.
World Snooker Championship – Fred Davis beats Walter Donaldson 80–65.
Speed Skating World Championships
Men's All-round Champion – Kornél Pajor (Hungary)
Women's All-round Champion – Maria Isakova (USSR)
Australia
Australian Men's Singles Championship – Frank Sedgman (Australia) defeats John Bromwich (Australia) 6–3, 6–2, 6–2
Australian Women's Singles Championship – Doris Hart (USA) defeats Nancye Wynne Bolton (Australia) 6–3, 6–4
England
Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship – Ted Schroeder (USA) defeats Jaroslav Drobný (Czechoslovakia) 3–6, 6–0, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4
Wimbledon Women's Singles Championship – Louise Brough Clapp (USA) defeats Margaret Osborne duPont (USA) 10–8, 1–6, 10–8
France
French Men's Singles Championship –
French Women's Singles Championship –
USA
American Men's Singles Championship –
American Women's Singles Championship –
Davis Cup
1949 Davis Cup – United States 4–1 Australia at West Side Tennis Club (grass) New York City, United States
Men's World Championship in Prague won by the USSR
Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year – Leon Hart, College football
Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year – Marlene Bauer, LPGA golf
