1959 in sports - Definition and Overview

See also: 1958 in sports, other events of 1959, 1960 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'.

Auto Racing

• Stock car racing:
  • Lee Petty won the inaugural Daytona 500
  • NASCAR Championship — Lee Petty
• Indianapolis 500 — Rodger Ward
• USAC Racing — Rodger Ward
• Formula One Champion — Jack Brabham of Australia
• 24 hours of Le Mans: Carroll Shelby / Roy Salvadori won driving an Aston Martin DBR1
• Rally racing — Paul Coltelloni / P Alexandre won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Citroën ID
• Drag racing:
  • Chris the "Greek" Karamesines won the AHRA "Top Fuel"
  • Rodney Singer won Top Eliminator at the NHRA Nationals

Baseball

• March 3 — The San Francisco Giants officially name their new stadium Candlestick Park.
• World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers win 4 games to 2 over the Chicago White Sox. The Series MVP is Larry Sherry, Los Angeles
• The Winnipeg Goldeyes win the Northern League championship.

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
  • California wins 71-70 over West Virginia
• NBA Finals:
  • Boston Celtics win 4 games to 0 over the Minneapolis Lakers

Boxing

• June 26 — in New York City, Ingemar Johansson scored a 3rd round TKO over Floyd Patterson to win the World Heavyweight Championship

Cricket

• West Indies register their biggest test win beating India by an innings and 336 runs at Calcutta.

Curling

Men's World Curling Championship : The first world championship in the sport of curling was held as the "Scotch Cup" in Falkirk and Edinburgh, Scotland. The first ever world title was won by the Canadian team from Regina, Saskatchewan skipped by Ernie Richardson who went through the tournament undefeated.

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia — Charly Gaul of (Luxembourg)
• Tour de France — Federico Bahamontes of Spain
• Vuelta a Espana — Antonio Suarez of (Spain)

Figure Skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: David Jenkins, United States
  • Women's champion: Carol Heiss, United States
  • Pairs champions: Barbara Wagner & Robert Paul, Canada

Football (American)

• NFL Championship: Baltimore Colts won 31-16 over the New York Giants

Football (Australian Rules)

• Victorian Football League
  • Melbourne wins the 63rd VFL Premiership (Melbourne 17.13 (115) d Essendon 11.12 (78))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Bob Skilton (South Melbourne)

Football (Canadian)

• Grey Cup: Winnipeg Blue Bombers win 21-7 over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Football (Soccer)

• England — FA Cup: Nottingham Forest won 2-1 over Luton Town

Golf

Men's Golf

• Grand Slam of golf results:
  1. May — The Masters golf tournament — Art Wall, Jr.
  2. June — US Open — Billy Casper
  3. July — British Open — Gary Player
  4. August — PGA Championship — Bob Rosburg

• PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Art Wall — $53,168

• Ryder Cup: United States 8½ to 3½ over Britain in world team golf

Women's Golf

• US Women's Open — Mickey Wright
• LPGA Championship — Betsy Rawls
• Betsy Rawls: leading money winner on the LPGA tour, earning $26,774.

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

• Australia — Melbourne Cup — Macdougal
• Canada — Queen's Plate — New Providence
• France — Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe — Saint Crespin
• Ireland — Irish Derby Stakes — Fidalgo

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. Two Thousand Guineas Stakes — Taboun
  2. Epsom Derby — Parthia
  3. St. Leger Stakes — Cantelo

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. Kentucky Derby — Tomy Lee
  2. Preakness Stakes — Royal Orbit
  3. Belmont Stakes — Sword Dancer

Harness Racing

• Adios Butler is the first to win the United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
  1. Cane Pace — Adios Butler
  2. Little Brown Jug — Adios Butler
  3. Messenger Stakes — Adios Butler

• United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
  1. Hambletonian — Diller Hanover
  2. Yonkers Trot — John A Hanover
  3. Kentucky Futurity — Diller Hanover

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Young Pedro

Ice Hockey

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Dickie Moore, Montreal Canadiens

• Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Andy Bathgate, New York Rangers

• Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens win 4 games to 1 over the Toronto Maple Leafs

• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Belleville McFarlands from Canada

Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open — Alex Olmedo
  2. French Open — Nicola Pietrangeli
  3. Wimbledon championships — Alex Olmedo
  4. US Open — Neale Fraser

• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
  1. Australian Open — Mary Carter-Reitano
  2. French Open — Christine Truman
  3. Wimbledon championships — Maria Bueno
  4. US Open — Maria Bueno

• Davis Cup: Australia wins 3-2 over the United States in world tennis.

General sporting events

Births

• January 2 — Bettina Blumenberg, German field hockey international
• January 4 — Alison Weir, Scottish field hockey goalkeeper
• February 4 — Lawrence Taylor, American football star
• February 11 — Corinne Shigemoto, US judo coach
• February 16 — John McEnroe, tennis player
• March 17 — Danny Ainge, basketball player, coach, baseball player
• July 4 — Jan Brittin, English women's cricketer
• August 14 — Magic Johnson, basketball legend
• August 21 — Jim McMahon, American football star
• December 16 — Colleen Jones, world's most successful female Curler

Deaths

• War Admiral — thoroughbred race horse
• January 22 — Michael Hawthorn, F1 race driver
• September 28 — Rudolf Caracciola, F1 race driver