Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

1979 in sports

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Years in sports
  
1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982

1979 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

Contents

Alpine skiing

  • Alpine Skiing World Cup
  • Men's overall season champion: Peter Lüscher, Switzerland
  • Women's overall season champion: Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Austria

    • American football

  • Sugar Bowl (1978 season)
  • Alabama Crimson Tide won 14-7 over the Penn State Nittany Lions to claim AP Poll national championship
  • January 21 – Super Bowl XIII – Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 35-31.
  • August 4 – Opening game of the American Football Bundesliga played between Frankfurter Löwen and Düsseldorf Panther, first-ever league game of American football in Germany.
  • November 10 – German Bowl I – Frankfurter Löwen defeated the Ansbach Grizzlies 14-8.

    • Artistic gymnastics

  • World Artistic Gymnastics Championships –
  • Men's all-around champion: Alexander Dityatin, USSR
  • Women's all-around champion: Nellie Kim, USSR
  • Men's team competition champion: USSR
  • Women's team competition champion: Romania

    • Association football

  • May 12 – England – FA Cup – Arsenal win 3-2 over Manchester United
  • Sport Club Internacional win the Brazilian Championship undefeated

    • Australian rules football

  • Victorian Football League
  • April 28: Collingwood beats a 70-year-old record for the greatest winning margin in VFL football when they beat St. Kilda by 178 points 31.21 (207) to 3.11 (29)
  • July 28: Fitzroy beats Collingwood's three-month-old record when they beat Melbourne 36.22 (238) to 6.12 (48) with Bob Beecroft kicking ten goals
  • Carlton win the 83rd VFL Premiership (Carlton 11.16 (82) d Collingwood 11.11 (77))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Peter Moore (Collingwood)

    • Baseball

  • January 23 – Willie Mays receives 409 of 432 votes in the BBWAA election to earn enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.
  • July 12 – Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers
  • August 2 – death of Thurman Munson, New York Yankees catcher, in an air crash
  • World Series – Pittsburgh Pirates won 4 games to 3 over the Baltimore Orioles. The Series MVP was Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh. The Pirates become the only team in sports history to come back from a three games to one deficit in a championship series twice, having also achieved the comeback in the 1925 World Series.

    • Basketball

  • NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship –
  • Michigan St. wins 75-64 over Indiana St.
  • NBA Finals –
  • Seattle SuperSonics, coached by Lenny Wilkens, won 4 games to 1 over the Washington Bullets for the only finals win in Seattle SuperSonics history.
  • National Basketball League (Australia) –
  • The Australian NBL was founded. The St Kilda Saints became the first champions by defeating the Canberra Cannons 94-93 in the final.

    • Boxing

  • September 28 in Las Vegas, Larry Holmes retains his World Heavyweight title with an 11th-round TKO of Earnie Shavers.
  • November 30 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 world title, beating WBC world Welterweight champion Wilfred Benítez by knockout in round 15.

    • Canadian football

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

    • 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 of France
  • UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race – Jan Raas of Netherlands

    • Dogsled racing

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

    • Field hockey

  • 1979 Pan American Games men's competition held in San Juan, Puerto Rico and won by Argentina
  • August – The 2nd Women's World Field Hockey Championships are held at Vancouver, Canada with the Netherlands as the champions.

    • Figure skating

  • World Figure Skating Championships –
  • Men's champion: Vladimir Kovalev, Soviet Union
  • Ladies' champion: Linda Fratianne, United States
  • Pair skating champions: Tai Babilonia & Randy Gardner, United States
  • Ice dancing champions: Natalia Linichuk & Gennadi Karponossov, Soviet Union

    • Golf

    Men's professional

  • Masters Tournament – Fuzzy Zoeller defeats Ed Sneed and Tom Watson in the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, the first time the Masters used a sudden-death format.
  • U.S. Open – Hale Irwin
  • British Open – Seve Ballesteros becomes the first golfer from Continental Europe to win a major since Arnaud Massy of France won this event in 1907.
  • PGA Championship – David Graham
  • PGA Tour money leader – Tom Watson – $462,636
  • Ryder Cup – United States won 17-11 over Europe in the first Ryder Cup to feature a side representing all of Europe.

    • Men's amateur

  • British Amateur – Jay Sigel
  • U.S. Amateur – Mark O'Meara

    • Women's professional

  • LPGA Championship – Donna Caponi
  • U.S. Women's Open – Jerilyn Britz
  • Classique Peter Jackson Classic – Amy Alcott
  • LPGA Tour money leader – Nancy Lopez – $197,489

    • Harness racing

  • The Hambletonian is awarded to Meadowlands Racetrack, starting in 1981.
  • 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

    • Horse racing

    Steeplechases

  • Cheltenham Gold Cup – Alverton
  • Grand National – Rubstic

    • Flat races

  • Australia – Melbourne Cup won by Hyperno
  • Canada – Queen's Plate won by Steady Growth
  • France – Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe won by Three Troikas
  • Ireland – Irish Derby Stakes won by Troy
  • English Triple Crown Races:
    1. 2,000 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

    • 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
  • Réal Cloutier of the Quebec Nordiques became the second NHL player to score a hat trick in his debut NHL game.
  • Avco World Trophy – Winnipeg Jets won 4 games to 2 over the Edmonton Oilers

    • Motor racing

  • Stock car racing –
  • NASCAR Championship – Richard Petty
  • February 18 – Richard Petty won the Daytona 500 it was the first Daytona 500 to be televised flag-to-flag by CBS Sports
  • CART Racing (replaced USAC): Rick Mears won the season championship
  • May – 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
  • The first running of the Paris–Dakar Rally is won by Alain Génestier, Joseph Terbiaut, and Cyril Neveu
  • Drag racing –
  • Rob Bruins won the NHRA Top Fuel championship.
  • Don Garlits won Top Fuel at the [NHRA] World Finals
  • Touring car racing – Peter Brock and Jim Richards won their second consecutive Bathurst 1000, driving a Holden Torana

    • Rugby league

  • 1979 Amco Cup
  • 1979 European Rugby League Championship
  • 1979 New Zealand rugby league season
  • 1978–79 Northern Rugby Football League season / 1979–80 Northern Rugby Football League season
  • 1979 NSWRFL season

    • Rugby union

  • 85th Five Nations Championship series is won by Wales

    • Snooker

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

    • Swimming

  • Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • July 23 – West Germany's Klaus Steinbach sets a world record in the 50m freestyle at a swimming meet in Freiburg, shaving off 0.02 of the previous record (23.72) set by Ron Manganiello nearly a year ago: 23.70.

    • Tennis

  • Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
    1. Australian Open – Guillermo Vilas
    2. French Open – Björn Borg
    3. Wimbledon championships – July 7 – Björn 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 – July 7 – Martina Navratilova
    4. US Open – Tracy Austin, youngest US Open Champion at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 28 days defeating 4-time defending champion Chris Evert 6-4, 6-3 in the final after defeating 2nd seeded Martina Navratilova in the semifinal making Evert lose for the first time in 32 matches.
  • Davis Cup – United States wins 5-0 over Italy in world tennis.

    • Volleyball

  • Asian Men's Volleyball Championship: won by China
  • Asian Women's Volleyball Championship: won by China
  • Men and Women's European Volleyball Championship held in France: both won by USSR
  • Volleyball at the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico: men's and women's tournaments both won by Cuba

    • Water polo

  • 1979 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup held in Yugoslavia and won by Hungary
  • 1979 FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup held in Merced, California and won by USA

    • Multi-sport events

  • 8th Pan American Games held in San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • 8th Mediterranean Games held in Split, Yugoslavia
  • Tenth Summer Universiade held in Mexico City, Mexico
  • September 7 – The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) makes its debut.

    • Awards

  • Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year – Willie Stargell, Major League Baseball
  • Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year – Tracy Austin, Tennis
  • ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year: Willie Stargell, Major League Baseball

    • References

    1979 in sports Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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