1951 in sports

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Years in sports:	1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954
Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
Years:	1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954

[edit] Athletics

[edit] Marathon

[edit] International Races

March 6 — Pan American Games Marathon, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Men's Winner: Delfo Cabrera (ARG) 2:35:01

March 11 — Asian Games Marathon, New Delhi, India
- Men's Winner: Chota Singh (IND) 2:42:59

September 1 — Enschede Marathon, Netherlands
- Men's Winner: Veikko Karvonen (FIN) 2:29:02

December 9 — Fukuoka Marathon, Japan
- Men's Winner: Hiromi Haigo (JPN) 2:30:13

[edit] National Champions

March 5 — Australia
- Men's Winner: Gordon Stanley — 2:59:44

May 4 — Canada
- Men's Winner: Walter Fedorick — 2:58:42

May 27 — United States
- Men's Winner: Jesse Van Zant — 2:37:12

July 1 — Finland
- Men's Winner: Veikko Karvonen — 2:28:46

July 21 — England
- Men's Winner: James Peters — 2:31:42

July 28 — Germany
- Men's Winner: Wilfried Hogrefe — 2:46:06

August 5 — Netherlands
- Men's Winner: Joop Overdijk — 2:43:42

September 6 — Hungary
- Men's Winner: István Simon — 2:48:47

October 14 — Japan
- Men's Winner: Kiyoshi Shinozaki — 2:31:26

[edit] Auto Racing

NASCAR Championship - Herb Thomas
AAA Racing:
- Tony Bettenhausen won the series championship
- Lee Wallard won the Indianapolis 500
Formula One Championship - Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina
24 hours of Le Mans:
- Louis Rosier / Jean-Louis Rosier won driving a Talbot-Lago
Rally racing:
- Marcel Becquart / H. Secret won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Hotchkiss
Drag racing - NHRA founded by Wally Parks

[edit] Baseball

January 26: Mel Ott and Jimmie Foxx are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
January 29: Baseball signs a six-year All-Star game pact for TV-radio rights for $6 million. A number of owners criticize lame-duck Commissioner Happy Chandler, believing that in a couple of years, the broadcast rights would be worth much more than $1 million per annum.
April 17: Mickey Mantle makes his Major League debut.
May 7: Johnny Vander Meer pitches in his final Major League game.
May 25: The New York Giants rookie Willie Mays, goes 0-for-5 in his major league debut against the Philadelphia Phillies.
July 10: Alfonso "Chico" Carrasquel became the first Latin American player to participate in an All-Star game, beating out reigning MVP Phil Rizzuto as the American League's starting shortstop. Carrasquel would go on to be selected to the All-Star team a total of four times.
July 14 - St. Louis Browns sign Satchel Paige as a free agent.
August 11: The New York Giants fall 13 games behind in the National League standings. Following this nadir, the Giants go 37-8 over their last 45 games in one of baseball's most famous comebacks. This enables them to tie their crosstown rivals Brooklyn Dodgers for first place and forces a playoff series.
August 19: 3' 7" Eddie Gaedel becomes the only midget to play in a major league game, pinch-hitting and drawing a walk in his lone plate appearance.
August 29 - The New York Yankees trade Lew Burdette and $50,000 cash to the Boston Braves for Johnny Sain.
September 7 - Bobby Doerr plays in his final career game.
September 30 - Joe DiMaggio plays in his final career regular season game.
October 4: National League Playoff: The New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers finished the season tied for first place. The Giants then won a playoff series, 2 games to 1. In the final game, when all seemed lost for the Giants, Bobby Thomson hit a dramatic three run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Giants a 5 to 4 victory and the National League pennant.
World Series: New York Yankees win 4 games to 2 over the New York Giants.
MVP Awards: Roy Campanella (NL) and Yogi Berra (AL)
Rookie of the Year Awards: Willie Mays (NL) and Gil McDougald (AL)
Babe Ruth Award: Phil Rizzuto
Sporting News Major League Player of the Year: Stan Musial
Sporting News Pitcher of the Year: Preacher Roe (NL) and Bob Feller (AL)

[edit] Basketball

NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
- Kentucky wins 68-58 over Kansas State University.

NBA Finals:
- Rochester Royals won 4 games to 3 over the New York Knicks
Amateur Basketball Association:
- Basketball Jones single handedly beats the Harlem Globetrotters

The seventh European basketball championship, Eurobasket 1951, is won by the Soviet Union.

[edit] Boxing

February 25 to March 8 – Pan American Games held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Flyweight (– 51 kg): Alberto Barenghi (Argentina)
- Bantamweight (– 54 kg): Ricardo Gonzales (Argentina)
- Featherweight (– 57 kg): Francisco Nuñez (Argentina)
- Lightweight (– 60 kg): Oscar Galardo (Argentina)
- Welterweight (– 67 kg): Oscar Pietta (Argentina)
- Middleweight (– 75 kg): Ubaldo Pereira (Argentina)
- Light Heavyweight (– 81 kg): Rinaldo Ansaloni (Argentina)
- Heavyweight (+ 81 kg): Jorge Vertone (Argentina)

July 10 – Randy Turpin becomes the middleweight boxing champion after defeating Sugar Ray Robinson.
July 18 – Jersey Joe Walcott knocks out Ezzard Charles in round 7 during their bout in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

[edit] Cycling

Giro d'Italia won by Fiorenzo Magni of Italy
Tour de France - Hugo Koblet of Switzerland

[edit] Figure skating

World Figure Skating Championships:
- Men's champion: Dick Button, United States
- Ladies' champion: Jeanette Altwegg, Great Britain
- Pair skating champions: Ria Baran & Paul Falk, Germany

[edit] Football (American)

January 14 - The National Football League has its first Pro Bowl Game (Los Angeles, California).
September 28 - Norm Van Brocklin sets NFL single game record for most passing yards (554) helping Los Angeles Rams beat New York Yanks 48-21.
NFL Championship: Los Angeles Rams won 24-17 over the Cleveland Browns

[edit] Football (Australian rules football)

Victorian Football League
- Geelong wins the 55th VFL Premiership (Geelong 11.15 (81) d Essendon 10.10 (70))
- Brownlow Medal awarded to Bernie Smith (Geelong)

[edit] Football (Canadian)

Grey Cup: Ottawa Rough Riders won 21-14 over the Saskatchewan Roughriders

[edit] Football (soccer)

[edit] England

First Division - Tottenham Hotspur win the 1950-51 title.
FA Cup - Newcastle United beat Blackpool 2-0.

[edit] Golf

Men's Golf

Grand Slam of golf results:
1. April 5-8 - The Masters - Ben Hogan
2. June 14-16 - US Open - Ben Hogan
3. July 3-6 - British Open - Max Faulkner
4. August - PGA Championship - Sam Snead

PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Lloyd Mangrum - $26,089
Ryder Cup: United States team wins 9 1/2 to 2 1/2 over the British team in world golf.

Women's Golf