1940 in sports
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Years in sports: | 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 |
| Centuries: | 19th century · 20th century · 21st century |
| Decades: | 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s |
| Years: | 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 |
Many sporting events did not take place because of World War II.
Contents |
[edit] Athletics (track and field)
The 1940 Summer Olympics to be held in Helsinki, were cancelled due to outbreak of World War II. The major international athletics event of the year was thus the annual Finland-Sweden athletics international, held at the new Helsinki Olympic Stadium, exceptionally held as a triple international between Finland, Sweden and Germany.
[edit] Baseball
- The Cincinnati Reds defeated the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, 4 games to 3.
- Dom DiMaggio debuted April 16; Pee Wee Reese debuted April 23.
- Final season for Wally Berger.
- Trade: June 12, the Brooklyn Dodgers traded four players and $125,000 cash to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joe Medwick and another player.
[edit] Basketball
- The eighth South American Basketball Championship in Montevideo is won by Uruguay.
[edit] Football (American)
- Minnesota Golden Gophers, Stanford Cardinals, and the Boston College Eagles three way tie for National college football champions.
- Chicago Bears crush the Washington Redskins 73-0 for the NFL championship.
[edit] Football (Australian)
- Victorian Football League
- Melbourne wins the 44th VFL Premiership (Melbourne 15.17 (107) d Richmond 10.8 (68))
- Brownlow Medal awarded to Des Fothergill (Collingwood) and Herbie Matthews (South Melbourne)
[edit] Golf
[edit] Horse racing
- March 2 - In his final race, Seabiscuit wins the $121,000 Santa Anita Handicap to become the top money earner of all time.
[edit] Snooker
- World Snooker Championship: Joe Davis beats Fred Davis 37-36
[edit] Awards
- Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year: Tom Harmon, College football
- Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year: Alice Marble, Tennis
[edit] Births
- January 17 — Kipchoge Keino, Kenyan runner
- January 17 — Leighton Rees, Welsh darts player
- January 20 — Jack Nicklaus, American golfer
- January 31 — Kitch Christie, South African rugby coach (d. 1998)
- February 11 — Calvin Fowler, American basketball player
- February 25 — Ron Santo, American baseball player
- March 6 — Willie Stargell, American baseball player (d. 2001)
- March 8 — Theo Laseroms, Dutch football defender and coach (d. 1991)
- April 11 — Władysław Komar, Polish shot putter (d. 1998)
- April 13 — José Napoles, Cuban-Mexican boxer
- April 15 — Willie Davis, American baseball player
- April 15 — Woody Fryman, American baseball player
- April 21 — Carlos Morocho Hernandez, Venezuelan boxer
- April 25 — Maribel Yerxa Owen, U.S. figure skating champion (d. 1961)
- May 3 — Clemens Westerhof, Dutch football manager
- May 19 — Jan Janssen, Dutch cyclist
- May 20 — Sadaharu Oh, Japanese baseball player
- May 20 — Stan Mikita, Slovak-born Canadian hockey player
- June 14 — Bram Leenards, Dutch water polo player
- June 15 — Ken Fletcher, Australian tennis player (d. 2006)
- June 23 — Wilma Rudolph, American runner (d. 1994)
- July 3 — César Tovar, Venezuelan baseball player
- July 18 — Joe Torre, American baseball player and manager
- July 20 — Tony Oliva, American baseball player
- July 29 — Gerrit Wormgoor, Dutch water polo player
- August 28 — Roger Pingeon, French cyclist
- August 29 — Wim Ruska, Dutch judoka
- September 12 — Mickey Lolich, American baseball player
- October 3 — Michael Troy, American butterfly swimmer
- October 9 — Joe Pepitone, American baseball player
- October 23 — Pelé, Brazilian soccer player
- November 23 — Gösta Pettersson, Swedish road racing cyclist
- November 23 — Luis Tiant, Cuban-born American baseball player
- December 5 — Adrian Street, British wrestler
- December 9 — Eddie Blay, Ghanaian boxer
[edit] Deaths
- March 1 — Martti Marttelin (42), Finnish long-distance runner (b. 1897)
- May 8 — Chick Fraser, US baseball player
- June 21 — Janusz Kusociński (33), Polish athlete (b. 1907)
- July 28 — Gyula Kellner (69), Hungarian athlete (b. 1871)
- October 17 — George Davis, US baseball player
- October 19 — Umberto Caligaris (39), Italian football (soccer) player and coach (b. 1901)
- December 16 — Billy Hamilton, US baseball player
