1951 in sports
Encyclopedia
1951 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

  • January 14 – The National Football League
    National Football League
    The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

     has its first Pro Bowl
    Pro Bowl
    In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...

     Game (Los Angeles, California
    Los Angeles, California
    Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

    ).
  • September 28 – Norm Van Brocklin
    Norm Van Brocklin
    Norman Mack "Norm" Van Brocklin , nicknamed "The Dutchman", was an American football player and coach. He was also a first rate punter in college and in the NFL...

     sets NFL single game record for most passing yards (554) helping Los Angeles Rams beat New York Yanks
    New York Yanks
    The New York Yanks American football team played in the National Football League under that name in the 1950 and 1951 seasons. In 1949, Boston Yanks owner Ted Collins had requested the NFL to fold his Boston team and give him a new one in New York City...

     48–21.
  • NFL Championship – Los Angeles Rams won 24–17 over the Cleveland Browns
    Cleveland Browns
    The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...


England

  • First Division
    Football League First Division
    The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....

     – Tottenham Hotspur
    Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
    Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....

     win the 1950–51 title.
  • FA Cup
    FA Cup
    The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

     – Newcastle United
    Newcastle United F.C.
    Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...

     beat Blackpool
    Blackpool F.C.
    Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...

     2–0.

Athletics
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...

The athletics vompetition
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...

 at the 1951 Pan American Games
1951 Pan American Games
The 1951 Pan American Games were held in Buenos Aires, Argentina between 25 February-9 March 1951. The Pan American Games' origins were at the Games of the X Olympiad in Los Angeles, United States, where officials representing the National Olympic Committees of the Americas discussed the staging...

 is held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mal Whitfield
Mal Whitfield
Malvin "Mal" Greston Whitfield is a former American athlete, a double winner of 800 m at the Olympic Games...

 of the USA wins gold medals in three events: 400m, 800m and 4x400m relay.

Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

  • Victorian Football League
    Australian Football League
    The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

    • Geelong
      Geelong Football Club
      The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...

       wins the 55th VFL Premiership (Geelong 11.15 (81) d Essendon
      Essendon Football Club
      The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...

       10.10 (70))
    • Brownlow Medal
      Brownlow Medal
      The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...

       is awarded to Bernie Smith
      Bernie Smith
      Bernard Keith "Bernie" Smith was an Australian rules footballer in the South Australian National Football League and VFL, who is perhaps best remembered as one of the greatest back pockets in the history of the game.-SANFL career:Smith commenced his career with West Adelaide in the SANFL as a 16...

       (Geelong)

Baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

  • January 29 – baseball signs a six-year All-Star game
    Major League Baseball All-Star Game
    The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers...

     deal for TV and radio rights for $6 million
  • September 30 – Joe DiMaggio
    Joe DiMaggio
    Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...

     plays in his final career regular season game.
  • October 3 – In one of the most famous finishes in baseball history, Bobby Thomson
    Bobby Thomson
    Robert Brown "Bobby" Thomson was a Scottish-born American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "The Staten Island Scot", he was an outfielder and right-handed batter for the New York Giants , Milwaukee Braves , Chicago Cubs , Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles .His season-ending three-run...

     of the New York Giants
    History of the New York Giants (NL)
    The history of the New York Giants, before the franchise moved to San Francisco, lasted from 1883 to 1957. It featured five of the franchise's six World Series wins and 17 of its 21 National League pennants...

     hits a three-run walk-off home run
    Walk-off home run
    In baseball, a walk-off home run is a home run that ends the game. It must be a home run that gives the home team the lead in the bottom of the final inning of the game—either the ninth inning, or any extra inning, or any other regularly scheduled final inning...

    , immortalized as the Shot Heard 'Round the World
    Shot Heard 'Round the World (baseball)
    In baseball, the "Shot Heard 'round the World" is the term given to the walk-off home run hit by New York Giants outfielder Bobby Thomson off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca at the Polo Grounds to win the National League pennant at 3:58 p.m...

    , to give the Giants a 5–4 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers
    History of the Brooklyn Dodgers
    -Early Brooklyn baseball:Brooklyn was home to numerous baseball clubs in the mid-1850s. Eight of 16 participants in the first convention were from Brooklyn, including the Atlantic, Eckford, and Excelsior clubs that combined to dominate play for most of the 1860s...

     for the National League
    National League
    The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...

     title.
  • World Series
    1951 World Series
    The 1951 World Series matched the two-time defending champion New York Yankees against the New York Giants, who had won the National League pennant in a thrilling three-game playoff with the Brooklyn Dodgers on the legendary home run by Bobby Thomson .In the Series, the Yankees showed some power of...

     – The New York Yankees
    New York Yankees
    The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...

     win 4 games to 2 over the New York Giants
    History of the New York Giants (NL)
    The history of the New York Giants, before the franchise moved to San Francisco, lasted from 1883 to 1957. It featured five of the franchise's six World Series wins and 17 of its 21 National League pennants...

    .
  • Japan Series
    1951 Japan Series
    -Game 1:Wednesday, October 10, 1951 at Osaka Stadium in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture-Game 2:Thursday, October 11, 1951 at Osaka Stadium in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture-Game 3:Saturday, October 13, 1951 at Korakuen Stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo-Game 4:...

     – The Yomiuri Giants
    Yomiuri Giants
    The are a professional baseball team based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The team competes in the Central League in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top level of professional play in Japan. They play their home games in the Tokyo Dome, opened in 1988. The English-language press occasionally calls the...

     win 4 games to 2 over the Nankai Hawks
    Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
    The are a Japanese baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. The team was bought on January 28, 2005 by the SoftBank Corporation.The team was formerly known as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. In 1988, Daiei bought the team from Osaka's Nankai Electric Railway Co., and its headquarters were...

    .

Basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

  • NCAA Men's Basketball Championship –
    • Kentucky wins 68–58 over Kansas State University
      Kansas State University
      Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...

      .
  • NBA Finals
    National Basketball Association
    The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

     –
    • Rochester Royals
      Sacramento Kings
      The Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are currently members of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...

       win 4 games to 3 over the New York Knicks
      New York Knicks
      The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...

  • The seventh European basketball championship, Eurobasket 1951
    Eurobasket 1951
    The 1951 European Basketball Championship, commonly called Eurobasket 1951, was the seventh regional championship held by FIBA Europe. Eighteen national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation entered the competition, a record number and more than twice the number that had...

    , is won by the Soviet Union
    Soviet Union national basketball team
    The Soviet national basketball team was the basketball side that represented the Soviet Union in international competitions. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the successor countries all set up their own national teams...

    .

Boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

  • July 10 – Randy Turpin
    Randy Turpin
    Randolph Adolphus Turpin known as the Leamington Larruper, was an English boxer who was considered by some to be Europe's best middleweight boxer of the 1940s and 1950s.-Biography:...

     becomes the middleweight boxing
    Boxing
    Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

     champion by defeating Sugar Ray Robinson
    Sugar Ray Robinson
    Sugar Ray Robinson was an African-American professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight...

    .
  • July 18 – Jersey Joe Walcott
    Jersey Joe Walcott
    Arnold Raymond Cream , better known as Jersey Joe Walcott, was a world heavyweight boxing champion. He broke the world's record for the oldest man to win the world's Heavyweight title when he earned it at the age of , a record that would be broken on November 5, 1994, by George Foreman, who...

     knocks out Ezzard Charles
    Ezzard Charles
    Ezzard Mack Charles was an African-American professional boxer and former world heavyweight champion. He holds wins over numerous Hall of Fame fighters in three different weight classes. Charles retired with a record of 93 wins, 25 losses and 1 draw.-Career:He was born in Lawrenceville, Georgia,...

     in round 7 during their bout in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
    Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

    .

Canadian football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...

  • Grey Cup
    Grey Cup
    The Grey Cup is both the name of the championship of the Canadian Football League and the name of the trophy awarded to the victorious team. It is Canada's largest annual sports and television event, regularly drawing a Canadian viewing audience of about 3 to 4 million individuals...

     – Ottawa Rough Riders
    Ottawa Rough Riders
    The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. One of the oldest and longest lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine times. Their most dominant era was the 1960s and 1970s, a...

     wins 21–14 over the Saskatchewan Roughriders
    Saskatchewan Roughriders
    The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a Canadian Football League team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. They were founded in 1910. They play their home games at 2940 10th Avenue in Regina, which has been the team's home base for its entire history, even prior to the construction of Mosaic Stadium at Taylor...


Cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...

  • Giro d'Italia
    Giro d'Italia
    The Giro d'Italia , also simply known as The Giro, is a long distance road bicycle racing stage race for professional cyclists held over three weeks in May/early June in and around Italy. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours , and is part of the UCI World Ranking calendar...

     is won by Fiorenzo Magni
    Fiorenzo Magni
    Fiorenzo Magni is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist.He was born in Vaiano, province of Prato . He was the "third man" of the golden age of Italian cycling, at the time of the great rivalry between Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali...

     of Italy
  • Tour de France
    Tour de France
    The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

     – Hugo Koblet
    Hugo Koblet
    Hugo Koblet was a Swiss champion cyclist. He won the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia as well as competing in six-day and pursuit races on the track. He won 70 races as a professional...

     of Switzerland

Figure skating
Figure skating
Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...

  • World Figure Skating Championships
    World Figure Skating Championships
    The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion...

     –
    • Men's champion: Dick Button
      Dick Button
      Richard Totten "Dick" Button is an American former figure skater and a well-known long-time skating television analyst. He is a two-time Olympic Champion and five-time World Champion...

      , United States
    • Ladies' champion: Jeannette Altwegg
      Jeannette Altwegg
      Jeannette Altwegg CBE is a British figure skater. She is the 1952 Olympic champion in Ladies' Singles, the 1948 Olympic bronze medalist, the 1951 World champion, and the 1951 & 1952 European champion...

      , Great Britain
    • Pair skating champions: Ria Baran
      Ria Baran
      Ria Baran was a German pair skater. She skated together with Paul Falk and became twice World champion and in 1952 Olympic champion....

       & Paul Falk
      Paul Falk
      Paul Falk was a German pair skater. He skated with Ria Baran and became two-time World champion and 1952 Olympic champion.Ria Baran married Paul Falk during their active international figure skating....

      , Germany

Golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

Men's professional
  • Masters Tournament – Ben Hogan
    Ben Hogan
    William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game...

  • U.S. Open
    U.S. Open (golf)
    The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...

     – Ben Hogan
    Ben Hogan
    William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game...

  • PGA Championship
    PGA Championship
    The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...

     – Sam Snead
    Sam Snead
    Samuel Jackson Snead was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for most of four decades. Snead won a record 82 PGA Tour events including seven majors. He failed to win a U.S...

  • British Open
    The Open Championship
    The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...

     – Max Faulkner
    Max Faulkner
    Herbert Gustavus Max Faulkner, OBE was an English professional golfer who won The Open Championship in 1951 and was renowned for his colourful dress sense....

  • PGA Tour
    PGA Tour
    The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

     money leader – Lloyd Mangrum
    Lloyd Mangrum
    Lloyd Eugene Mangrum was an American professional golfer. He was known for his smooth swing and his relaxed demeanour on the course, which earned him the nickname "Mr. Icicle".Mangrum was born in Trenton, Texas...

     – $26,089
  • Ryder Cup
    Ryder Cup
    The Ryder Cup is a biennial golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is jointly administered by the PGA of America and the PGA European Tour, and is contested every two years, the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe...

     – United States team wins 9½ to 2½ over the British team.

Men's amateur
  • British Amateur
    The Amateur Championship
    The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...

     – Dick Chapman
    Dick Chapman
    Richard D. Chapman was an American amateur golfer. Time magazine crowned Chapman "the Ben Hogan of amateur golf"....

  • U.S. Amateur – Billy Maxwell
    Billy Maxwell
    Billy Joe Maxwell is an American professional golfer.Maxwell was born in Abilene, Texas. He played college golf at North Texas State College and helped them win four consecutive NCAA Division I team championships . Maxwell also won the U.S. Amateur title in 1951...


Women's professional
  • Women's Western Open – Patty Berg
    Patty Berg
    Patricia Jane Berg was an American professional golfer and a founding member and then leading player on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Her 15 major title wins remains the all-time record for most major wins by a female golfer...

  • U.S. Women's Open – Betsy Rawls
    Betsy Rawls
    Elizabeth Earle "Betsy" Rawls is an American professional golfer.Rawls was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina. After attending the University of Texas, Rawls joined the LPGA Tour in its second season in 1951. She won 55 tournaments on the tour, including eight major championships...

  • Titleholders Championship
    Titleholders Championship
    The Titleholders Championship was a women's golf tournament played from in 1937 to 1966 and again in 1972. It was later designated a major championship by the LPGA Tour.It should not be confused with two other LPGA events with similar names:...

     – Pat O'Sullivan
    Pat O'Sullivan
    Pat O'Sullivan Lucey is an American amateur golfer who won the 1950, 1951, and 1953 North and South Women's Amateur. As well, she won the 1951 Titleholders Championship, then one of the LPGA Tour's major championships. She was a member of Race Brook Country Club in Orange, Connecticut...

  • LPGA Tour
    LPGA
    The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...

     money leader – Babe Zaharias
    Babe Zaharias
    Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias was an American athlete who achieved outstanding success in golf, basketball, and track and field...

      – $15,087

Harness racing
Harness racing
Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait . They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, although racing under saddle is also conducted in Europe.-Breeds:...

  • Tar Heel, a standardbred horse driven by Del Cameron, runs the first two–minute mile in harness racing
    Harness racing
    Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait . They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, although racing under saddle is also conducted in Europe.-Breeds:...

     history.
  • Little Brown Jug
    Little Brown Jug (horse racing)
    The Little Brown Jug is a harness race for three-year-old pacing standardbreds hosted by the Delaware County Agricultural Society since 1946 at the County Fairgrounds in Delaware, Ohio. The race takes place every year on the third Thursday after Labor Day. Along with the Hambletonian, a race for...

     for pacers is won by Tar Heel
  • Hambletonian for trotters is won by Mainliner
  • Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship –
    • Pacers: Vedette
      Vedette
      The French military term vedette , also spelled vidette, migrated into English and other languages to refer to a mounted sentry or outpost, who has the function of bringing information, giving signals or warnings of danger, etc., to a main body of troops...

    • Trotters: Gay Belwin

Horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

  • July 14 – Citation
    Citation (horse)
    Citation was the eighth American Triple Crown winner, and one of three major North American Thoroughbreds to win at least 16 consecutive races in major stakes race competition...

     winds his 32nd race, the Hollywood Gold Cup
    Hollywood Gold Cup
    The Hollywood Gold Cup is an American Grade I stakes race for thoroughbred horses inaugurated in 1938 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. It was run as a handicap race until 1997 when it was switched to weight-for-age conditions...

    , becoming the first equine millionaire.

Steeplechases
  • Cheltenham Gold Cup
    Cheltenham Gold Cup
    The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt chase in the United Kingdom which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run on the New Course at Cheltenham over a distance of about 3 miles and 2½ furlongs , and during its running there are twenty-two fences to be jumped...

     – Silver Fame
  • Grand National
    Grand National
    The Grand National is a world-famous National Hunt horse race which is held annually at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, England. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of four miles and 856 yards , with horses jumping thirty fences over two circuits of Aintree's National Course...

     – Nickel Coin

Flat races
  • Australia – Melbourne Cup
    Melbourne Cup
    The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...

     is won by Delat
  • Canada – Queen's Plate
    Queen's Plate
    The Queen's Plate is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...

     is won by Major Factor
  • France – Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
    Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
    The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year, usually on the first Sunday in October.Popularly referred to as the...

     is won by Tantieme
    Tantieme
    Tantième was a French Thoroughbred horse racing champion and prominent sire who twice won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, France's most prestigious horse race. He also won several other important conditions races including the Grand Critérium in 1949, the Poule d'Essai des Poulains, Prix Lupin and...

  • Ireland – Irish Derby Stakes
    Irish Derby Stakes
    The Irish Derby is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in late June or early July.It is Ireland's equivalent of the Epsom Derby,...

     is won by Fraise du Bois
  • English Triple Crown Races
    Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
    The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...

    :
    1. 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Ki Ming
    2. Epsom Derby
      Epsom Derby
      The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...

       – Arctic Prince
      Arctic Prince
      Arctic Prince was an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire who was trained in England during a brief racing career which lasted from 1950 to 1951 and consisted of only five races...

    3. St. Leger Stakes
      St. Leger Stakes
      The St. Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain which is open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 1 mile, 6 furlongs and 132 yards , and it is scheduled to take place each year in September.Established in 1776, the St. Leger...

       – Talma
  • United States Triple Crown Races
    Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
    The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...

    :
    1. Kentucky Derby
      Kentucky Derby
      The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

       – Count Turf
      Count Turf
      Count Turf was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known as the winner of the 1951 Kentucky Derby. He is one of only two equine families where three generations have won the Kentucky Derby. His grandsire Reigh Count won the 1928 Derby and then his sire Count Fleet won it in 1943. Count Fleet...

    2. Preakness Stakes
      Preakness Stakes
      The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

       – Bold
      Bold (horse)
      Bold was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that is best remembered for winning the 1951 Preakness Stakes in a long shot victory and for being struck by lightning at the age of four while pastured at his Upperville, Virginia farm....

    3. Belmont Stakes
      Belmont Stakes
      The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

       – Counterpoint
      Counterpoint
      In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...


Ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

  • August 26 – Bill Barilko
    Bill Barilko
    William "Bashin' Bill" Barilko was a Canadian ice hockey player who played his entire National Hockey League career for the Toronto Maple Leafs.- Personal life :Barilko was of Ukrainian descent and had a brother, Alex, and sister, Anne....

    , Toronto Maple Leafs
    Toronto Maple Leafs
    The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

     dies in an air crash
  • Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL
    National Hockey League
    The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

    's leading scorer during the regular season: Gordie Howe
    Gordie Howe
    Gordon "Gordie" Howe, OC is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League , and the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association . Howe is often referred to as Mr...

    , Detroit Red Wings
    Detroit Red Wings
    The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...

  • Hart Memorial Trophy
    Hart Memorial Trophy
    The Hart Memorial Trophy, originally known as the Hart Trophy, the "oldest and most prestigious individual award in hockey", is awarded annually to the "player adjudged most valuable to his team" in the National Hockey League . The Hart Memorial Trophy has been awarded 86 times to 53 different...

     – for the NHL
    National Hockey League
    The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

    's Most Valuable Player: Milt Schmidt
    Milt Schmidt
    Milton Conrad Schmidt is a former Canadian professional ice hockey centre, coach and general manager, mostly for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. He is an Honoured Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.-Early years:...

    , Boston Bruins
    Boston Bruins
    The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...

  • Stanley Cup
    Stanley Cup
    The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...

     – Toronto Maple Leafs
    Toronto Maple Leafs
    The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

     win 4 games to 1 over the Montreal Canadiens
    Montreal Canadiens
    The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...

  • World Hockey Championship
    • Men's champion: Canada's Lethbridge Maple Leafs
      Lethbridge Maple Leafs
      The Lethbridge Maple Leafs were, at times, a senior, intermediate, and junior ice hockey team that operated out of Lethbridge, Alberta. They are best known for winning the 1951 World Ice Hockey Championships....

  • NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship
    NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship
    The annual NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship tournament determines the top men's ice hockey team in NCAA Division I and Division III. The semi-finals and finals of the Division I Championship are branded as the Frozen Four, a passing nod to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship - known...

     – University of Michigan
    University of Michigan
    The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

     Wolverines defeat Brown University
    Brown University
    Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

     Bruins 7–1 in Colorado Springs, Colorado
    Colorado Springs, Colorado
    Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located south of the Colorado...


Lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

  • The 50th anniversaries of the donations of both the Mann Cup
    Mann Cup
    The Mann Cup is the trophy awarded to the senior men's lacrosse champions of Canada. The championship series is played between the Western Lacrosse Association champion and the Major Series Lacrosse champion...

     and the Minto Cup
    Minto Cup
    The Minto Cup is awarded annually to the champion junior men's lacrosse team of Canada.It was donated in 1901 by the Governor-General, Lord Minto, and from 1901 until 1909 awarded to the senior men's champion of Canada...

    .
  • The Peterborough Timbermen win the 50th Mann Cup
    Mann Cup
    The Mann Cup is the trophy awarded to the senior men's lacrosse champions of Canada. The championship series is played between the Western Lacrosse Association champion and the Major Series Lacrosse champion...

    .
  • The Mimico Mountaineers win the 50th Minto Cup
    Minto Cup
    The Minto Cup is awarded annually to the champion junior men's lacrosse team of Canada.It was donated in 1901 by the Governor-General, Lord Minto, and from 1901 until 1909 awarded to the senior men's champion of Canada...

    .

Motor racing

  • 30 May – Lee Wallard
    Lee Wallard
    Lee Wallard was an American race car driver. In the 1951 Indianapolis 500 Wallard drove the Number 99 Belanger Special to victory, at age 40. Tony Bettenhausen had passed up the car, because he wanted to drive a newer front-wheel drive vehicle....

     wins the 35th running
    1951 Indianapolis 500
    The 1951 Indianapolis 500 an automobile race which was held on Wednesday, May 30, 1951 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The event was the opening race of the 1951 AAA National Championship Trail and the second race of the 1951 World Championship of Drivers....

     of the Indianapolis 500
    Indianapolis 500
    The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...

     in the Kurtis Kraft
    Kurtis Kraft
    Kurtis Kraft was a designer and builder of race cars. The company was founded by Frank Kurtis.Kurtis Kraft designed and built midget cars, quartermidgets, sports cars, sprint cars and USAC Championship Cars....

    -Offenhauser
    Offenhauser
    Offenhauser was an American racing engine manufacturer that operated from 1933 to 1983.The Offenhauser engine, familiarly known as the "Offy", was developed by Fred Offenhauser and his employer Harry Arminius Miller, after maintaining and repairing a 1913 Peugeot Grand Prix car of the type which...

  • NASCAR Championship – Herb Thomas
    Herb Thomas
    Herbert Watson Thomas was a NASCAR pioneer who was one of the series' most successful drivers in the 1950s.-Background:...

     driving his own #92 Plymouth
    Plymouth (automobile)
    Plymouth was a marque of automobile based in the United States, produced by the Chrysler Corporation and its successor DaimlerChrysler.-Origins:...

  • AAA Racing
    Champ Car
    Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...

     –
    • Tony Bettenhausen
      Tony Bettenhausen
      Melvin E. "Tony" Bettenhausen was an American racing driver, who won the National Championship in 1951 and 1958....

       wins the series championship
  • Formula One
    Formula One
    Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

     – Juan Manuel Fangio
    Juan Manuel Fangio
    Juan Manuel Fangio , nicknamed El Chueco or El Maestro , was a racing car driver from Argentina, who dominated the first decade of Formula One racing...

     (Argentina) is World Drivers' Champion in an Alfa Romeo
    Alfa Romeo in Formula One
    Alfa Romeo participated in Formula One, as both a constructor and engine supplier, from to .-Success, 1950-1951:In 1950 Nino Farina won the inaugural Formula One World Championship in a 158 with supercharger, in 1951 Juan Manuel Fangio won while driving an Alfetta 159...

  • 24 hours of Le Mans
    24 Hours of Le Mans
    The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...

     – Louis Rosier
    Louis Rosier
    Louis Rosier was a racing driver from France.-Career highlights:...

     / Jean-Louis Rosier
    Jean-Louis Rosier
    Jean-Louis Rosier is the son of Louis Rosier. Together they won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1950. The Charade Circuit near Clermont-Ferrand is also named after them.-References:...

     win sharing a Talbot-Lago
    Talbot-Lago
    Talbot-Lago was a French automobile manufacturer based in Suresnes, Hauts de Seine, outside of Paris.-Origins:The Anglo-French STD combine collapsed in 1935. The French Talbot company was acquired and reorganised by a Venetian born engineer called Anthony Lago and after that, the Talbot-Lago...

  • Rally racing –
    • Marcel Becquart / H. Secret wins the Monte Carlo Rally
      Monte Carlo Rally
      The Monte Carlo Rally or Rally Monte Carlo is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco which also organises the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix and the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. The rally takes place along the French Riviera in the Principality of Monaco and...

       driving a Hotchkiss
      Hotchkiss et Cie
      Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Cie was a French arms and car company established by United States engineer Benjamin B. Hotchkiss, who was born in Watertown, Connecticut. He moved to France and set up a factory, first at Viviez near Rodez in 1867, then at Saint-Denis near...

  • Drag racing
    Drag racing
    Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....

     – NHRA is founded by Wally Parks
    Wally Parks
    Wallace Gordon Parks was instrumental in establishing drag racing as a legitimate amateur and professional motorsport. He was the Founder, President, and the Chairman of the Board of the National Hot Rod Association, better known as NHRA...


Rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

  • 57th Five Nations Championship
    Six Nations Championship
    The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....

     series is won by Ireland
    Ireland national rugby union team
    The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...


Snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...

  • World Snooker Championship
    World Snooker Championship
    The World Snooker Championship is the leading professional snooker tournament in terms of both prize money and ranking points. The first championship was held in 1927; since 1977, it has been played at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England...

     – Fred Davis beats Walter Donaldson
    Walter Donaldson (snooker player)
    Walter Donaldson was a Scottish professional snooker player.He turned professional at age 16, in 1923. He contested many world championships, finally achieving victory in 1947 after Joe Davis had retired from the tournament, and again in 1950...

     58–39.

Speed skating
Speed skating
Speed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...

Speed Skating World Championships
  • Men's All-round Champion
    World Allround Speed Skating Championships for Men
    The International Skating Union has organised the World Allround Speed Skating Championships for Men since 1893. Unofficial Championships were held in the years 1889-1892.-History:-Distances used:...

     – Hjalmar Andersen
    Hjalmar Andersen
    Hjalmar "Hjallis" Johan Andersen is a former speed skater from Norway who won three gold medals at the 1952 Winter Olympic Games of Oslo, Norway. He was the only triple gold medalist at the 1952 Winter Olympics, and as such, became the most successful athlete there.-Short biography:Hjalmar...

     (Norway)

Tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

Australia
  • Australian Men's Singles Championship – Dick Savitt
    Dick Savitt
    Richard "Dick" Savitt is a 6’ 3" and 185-pound right-handed American male former tennis player.Savitt was ranked 2nd in the world in 1951. That year, at the age of 24, he won both the Wimbledon Singles Championship and the Australian Singles title...

     (USA) defeats Ken McGregor
    Ken McGregor
    Kenneth Bruce McGregor was a former tennis player from Australia who won the Men's Singles title at the Australian Championships in 1952. He and his longtime doubles partner, Frank Sedgman, are generally considered to be one of the greatest men's doubles teams of all time...

     (Australia) 6–3, 2–6, 6–3, 6–1
  • Australian Women's Singles Championship – Nancye Wynne Bolton
    Nancye Wynne Bolton
    Nancye Wynne Bolton was a female tennis player from Australia. She won the women's singles title six times at the Australian Championships, second only to Margaret Court who won 11 titles...

     (Australia) defeats Thelma Coyne Long
    Thelma Coyne Long
    Thelma Dorothy Coyne Long was one of the female tennis players who dominated Australian tennis from the mid-1930s to the 1950s.-Tennis career:...

     (Australia) 6–1, 7–5

England
  • Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship – Dick Savitt
    Dick Savitt
    Richard "Dick" Savitt is a 6’ 3" and 185-pound right-handed American male former tennis player.Savitt was ranked 2nd in the world in 1951. That year, at the age of 24, he won both the Wimbledon Singles Championship and the Australian Singles title...

     (USA) defeats Ken McGregor
    Ken McGregor
    Kenneth Bruce McGregor was a former tennis player from Australia who won the Men's Singles title at the Australian Championships in 1952. He and his longtime doubles partner, Frank Sedgman, are generally considered to be one of the greatest men's doubles teams of all time...

     (Australia) 6–4, 6–4, 6–4
  • Wimbledon Women's Singles Championship – Doris Hart
    Doris Hart
    Doris Hart is a former World No. 1 American female tennis player.As a child, she suffered from osteomyelitis, which resulted in a permanently impaired right leg...

     (USA) defeats Shirley Fry Irvin (USA) 6–1, 6–0

France
USA
Davis Cup
  • 1951 Davis Cup
    1951 Davis Cup
    The 1951 Davis Cup was the 40th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. 26 teams would enter the competition, 21 in the Europe Zone, and 5 in the Americas Zone...

     – 3–2 at White City Stadium
    White City Stadium (Sydney)
    thumb|right|300px|White City Tennis Club circa 1923White City Stadium at the White City Tennis Club is a tennis venue in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, Australia. The stadium was built in 1922 as a new venue for the New South Wales Championships...

     (grass) Sydney
    Sydney
    Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

    , Australia
    Australia
    Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...


Multi-sport event
Multi-sport event
A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports between organized teams of athletes from nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of international significance was the modern Olympic Games.Many...

s

  • First Pan American Games
    1951 Pan American Games
    The 1951 Pan American Games were held in Buenos Aires, Argentina between 25 February-9 March 1951. The Pan American Games' origins were at the Games of the X Olympiad in Los Angeles, United States, where officials representing the National Olympic Committees of the Americas discussed the staging...

     are held in Buenos Aires
    Buenos Aires
    Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

    , Argentina
    Argentina
    Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

  • Asian Games
    1951 Asian Games
    The 1951 Asian Games, officially known as the First Asian Games, was a multi-sport event celebrated in Delhi, India from 4 to 11 March 1951. The Games received names like First Asiad and 1951 Asiad by the president of the organising committee Anthony de Mello...

     are held in New Delhi, India
  • First Mediterranean Games
    1951 Mediterranean Games
    The first Mediterranean Games were held in Alexandria, Egypt, where 734 athletes from 10 countries participated. The event was held from 5 October to 20 October 1951.-Medal table:...

     are held in Alexandria, Egypt

Awards

  • Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year – Dick Kazmaier
    Dick Kazmaier
    Richard Kazmaier was an American football player for Princeton University from 1949 through 1951 and winner of the 1951 Heisman Trophy. As a halfback, kicker and quarterback, he ended his career third all time in Princeton history with over 4000 yards of offense and 55 touchdowns...

    , College football
    College football
    College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

  • Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year – Maureen Connolly
    Maureen Connolly
    Maureen Catherine Connolly Brinker was an American tennis player who was the first woman to win all four Grand Slam tournaments during the same calendar year.-Biography:...

    , Tennis
    Tennis
    Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

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