From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

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

• January 21 - Super Bowl XIII – Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 35-31.

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 (soccer)

• 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
  • 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.
• 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

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, Nevada, 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 -France
• World Cycling Championship – 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.

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
• 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 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

• Asia Volleyball Championship: men's and women's tournaments both won by China
• European Volleyball Championship held in France: men's and women's tournaments 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