1980 in sports - Definition and Overview

See also: 1979 in sports, other events of 1980, 1981 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'.

Auto Racing

• Stock car racing:
  • NASCAR Championship - Dale Earnhardt
  • Buddy Baker won the Daytona 500
• CART Racing - Johnny Rutherford won the season championship
  • Indianapolis 500 - Johnny Rutherford
• Formula One Champion - Alan Jones of Australia
• 24 hours of Le Mans: the team of Jean Rondeau / Jean-Pierre Jaussaud won, driving a Rondeau M379B
• Rally racing - Walter Rohrl in a Fiat won the World Rally Championship
  • the team of Walter Rohrl / Christian Geistdorfer won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Fiat 131 Abarth
• Drag racing - Shirley Muldowney won the NHRA Top Fuel championship.

Baseball

• September 18: Outfielder Gary Ward become the sixth Minnesota Twins player to hit for the cycle. The Twins lose 98 to the Milwaukee Brewers, wasting Ward's effort. On May 26, 2004 his son, Daryle Ward, will repeat the feat guiding the Pirates' 11-8 victory over the Cardinals. Ward joined his father to become the first father-son combination in major league history to hit for the cycle.

• Rollie Fingers breaks Hoyt Wilhelm's major league record of 227 career saves.

• World Series: The Philadelphia Phillies of the National League end 97 years of frustration by defeating the American League champion Kansas City Royals.

• Japan's Sadaharu Oh retires from the Yomiuri Giants as the all time professional baseball home run king.

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship:
  • Louisville wins 59-54 over UCLA

• NBA Finals:
  • Los Angeles Lakers won 4 games to 2 over the Philadelphia 76ers

Boxing

• March 14 - 22 members of the United States Olympic boxing team died in a plane crash near Warsaw, Poland
• June 20- Roberto Duran defeats Sugar Ray Leonard by a 15 round decision to win boxing's WBC world Welterweight title.
• August 2- Thomas Hearns defeats Jose Pipino Cuevas by a knockout in round 2 to win boxing's WBA world Welterweight title and Yasutsune Uehara knocks out Samuel Serrano in round six to win the WBA's world Jr. Lightweight title in Detroit
• In Cincinnati, Aaron Pryor defeats Antonio Kid Pambele Cervantes by a knockout in round four to win the WBA's world Jr. Welterweight title.
• October 2- Larry Holmes defeats Muhammad Ali by a knockout in round eleven to retain boxing's WBC world Heavyweight title, in what would be Ali's last world title bout.
• November 25- In The No Más Fight, in Montreal, Quebec, Sugar Ray Leonard recovers the WBC's world Welterweight championship with an eight round technical knockout of Roberto Duran.

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Bernard Hinault of France
• Tour de France - Joop Zoetemelk of the Netherlands
• World Cycling Championship: Bernard Hinault of France

Field Hockey

• January 3 - 11 - 2nd Champions Trophy held in Lahore, Pakistan won by Pakistan.
• March 8 - In an international women's field hockey match at Wembley Stadium,England. England beat Scotland 2-0.
• August - In the first ever Olympic women's Field Hockey Final,Zimbabwe are the Olympic champions.

Figure Skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Jan Hoffmann, Germany
  • Women's champion: Anett Pötzsch, Germany
  • Pairs champions: Marina Tscherkasowa & Sergej Schachrai, Soviet Union

Football (American)

• Super Bowl XIV: Pittsburgh Steelers won 31-19 over the Los Angeles Rams

Football (Australian Rules)

• Victorian Football League
  • Richmond wins the 84th VFL Premiership (Richmond 23.21 (159) d Collingwood 9.24 (78))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Kelvin Templeton (Footscray)

Football (Canadian)

• Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos win 48-10 over the Hamilton Tigercats
• Vanier Cup: Alberta Golden Bears win 40-21 over the Ottawa Gee Gees

Football (Soccer)

• European Championship: West Germany 2-1 Belgium
• Champions' Cup: Nottingham Forest 1-0 Hamburger SV
• UEFA Cup: 2 legs, Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-2 Eintracht Frankfurt; Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 Borussia Moenchengladbach, 3-3 on aggregate, Frankfurt win on away goals rule
• Cup Winners' Cup: Valencia 0-0 Arsenal (AET), Valencia won 5-4 on penalties
• England - FA Cup: West Ham United won 1-0 over Arsenal

Golf

Men's Golf

• January - the Senior PGA Tour (Champions Tour) is founded.

• Grand Slam of golf results:
  1. May - The Masters - Seve Ballesteros
  2. June - US Open - Jack Nicklaus
  3. July - British Open - Tom Watson
  4. August - PGA Championship - Jack Nicklaus

• PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Tom Watson - $530,808
• PGA Champions Tour - In its first year, Don January is the leading money winner with earnings of $44,100.

Women's Golf

• US Women's Open - Amy Alcott
• LPGA Championship - Sally Little
• Beth Daniel: leading money winner on the LPGA tour, earning $231,000.

Horse racing

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

• Australia - Melbourne Cup - Beldale Ball
• Canada - Queen's Plate - Driving Home
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Detroit
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Tyrnavos

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. Two Thousand Guineas Stakes - Known Fact
  2. Epsom Derby - Henbit
  3. St. Leger Stakes - Light Cavalry

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. Kentucky Derby - Genuine Risk
  2. Preakness Stakes - Codex
  3. Belmont Stakes - Temperence Hill

Harness Racing

• Superhorse, Niatross wins the United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
  1. Cane Pace - Niatross
  2. Little Brown Jug - Niatross
  3. Messenger Stakes - Niatross

• United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
  1. Hambletonian - Burgomeister
  2. Yonkers Trot
  3. Kentucky Futurity

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Koala King
  • Trotters: Hano Direct

Ice Hockey

See 1980 in ice hockey

Skiing

• Alpine Skiing
  • The men's overall season champion: Andreas Wenzel, Liechtenstein
  • The women's overall season champion: Hanni Wenzel, Liechtenstein

January 12 - Canada’s Ken Read, the leader of the "Crazy Canucks" ski team, wins the Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbühel, Austria, becoming the first North American to ever win the classic race.

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship: Cliff Thorburn beats Alex Higgins 18-16, becoming the first non-UK player to win the title
• World rankings: Ray Reardon remains world number one for 1980/81

Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Brian Teacher
  2. French Open - Bjorn Borg
  3. Wimbledon championships - Bjorn Borg
  4. US Open - John McEnroe

• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Hana Mandlikova
  2. French Open - Chris Evert
  3. Wimbledon championships - Evonne Goolagong Cawley
  4. US Open - Chris Evert

• Davis Cup World tennis - Czechoslovakia defeated Italy 4-1.

General sporting events

• 1980 Summer Olympics takes place in Moscow, USSR
  • USSR wins the most medals (195), and the most gold medals (80).

• 1980 Winter Olympics takes place in Lake Placid, United States
  • GDR wins the most medals (23), and the USSR wins the most gold medals (10).

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion:
  • Joe May won with lead dogs: Wilbur & Cora Gray

Births

• February 10 - Gordon D'Arcy, Irish international rugby player
• February 12 - Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spanish tennis player
• February 20 - Imanol Harinordoquy, French international rugby player
• March 21 - Ronaldinho, Brazilian international footballer
• May 14 - Joe van Niekerk, South Africa international rugby player
• June 9 - Udonis Haslem, American basketball player
• June 17 - Venus Williams, American tennis player
• June 23 - Ramnaresh Sarwan, Guyanese cricketer
• July 6 - Pau Gasol, Catalan NBA star
• July 8 - Robbie Keane, Irish international footballer
• August 29 - Perdita Felicien, world champion track and field star
• September 1 - Dawn Holden, English cricketer
• September 12 - Yao Ming, Chinese NBA star
• September 30 - Martina Hingis, Swiss tennis player
• October 3 - Sarah Collyer, English cricketer
• October 13 - Scott Parker, English football player
• October 21 - Mike Danton, Canadian ice hockey player, accused of murder

Deaths

• January 25 - Peter Haughton, harness racing driver - auto accident
• March 21 - Marcel Boussac - last of France's horse racing tycoons
• March 31 - Jesse Owens, American athlete
• October 25- Victor Galindez, boxing light heavyweight world champion, in car race accident.