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1961 in sports

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1961 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

[[American football]]

[[Association football]]

England

  • FA Cup final – Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Leicester City. Tottenham also were division 1 champions, making them the first British club to win the double.

[[Australian rules football]]

  • Victorian Football League
    • August 12: Richmond becomes the only team to fail to kick a goal in a match since 1921, scoring only 0.8 (8) to St. Kilda's 12.19 (91).
    • September 23: Hawthorn wins the 65th VFL pennant and its first, beating Footscray 13.16 (94) to 7.9 (51)
    • John James wins the 34th Brownlow Medal

[[Bandy]]

[[Baseball]]

  • The American League expands to 10 teams, adding the Los Angeles Angels and the new Washington Senators. The league schedule is expanded from 154 to 162 games.
  • January 16 – Mickey Mantle becomes the highest paid player in Major League Baseball by signing a contract that will pay him $75,000 per season.
  • April 11 – The former Washington Senators play their first home game in Metropolitan Stadium as the Minnesota Twins
  • July 13 – In his majors debut, Milwaukee Braves outfielder Mack Jones tied a post-1900 National League record by collecting three singles and a double in his first game.
  • Roger Maris hits 61 home runs during the regular season, establishing a record for the longer season. Babe Ruth's record of 60 still stood for the shorter season.
  • October – World Series – New York Yankees win 4 games to 1 over the Cincinnati Reds. The series MVP is Whitey Ford of the Yankees.

[[Basketball]]

[[Boxing]]

  • June 3 in Los Angeles – Emile Griffith knocked out Gaspar Ortega in the 12th round to retain the Welterweight Championship

[[Canadian football]]

  • Grey Cup – Winnipeg Blue Bombers win 21–14 over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats

[[Cycle sport|Cycling]]

[[Figure skating]]

  • The World Figure Skating Championships in Prague are cancelled after the entire USA team of skaters, officials, leaders and chaperones are killed in a plane crash on 15 February en route to the competition.
  • Among the dead are:
    • Bradley Lord (21), USA men's figure skating champion;
    • Maribel Vinson-Owen, USA women's figure skating champion and coach;
    • Maribel Yerxa Owen (20), USA women's figure skating champion;
    • Laurence Owen (16), USA women's figure skating champion.

[[Golf]]

Men's professional

[[Harness racing]]

  • United States Pacing Triple Crown races –
    1. Cane Pace – Cold Front
    2. Little Brown Jug – Henry T. Adios
    3. Messenger Stakes – Adios Don
  • United States Trotting Triple Crown races –
    1. Hambletonian – Harlan Dean
    2. Yonkers Trot – Duke Rodney
    3. Kentucky Futurity – Duke Rodney
  • Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship –
    • Pacers: Massacre

[[Horse racing]]

Steeplechases

  • Cheltenham Gold Cup – Saffron Tartan
  • Grand National – Nicolaus Silver Flat races
  • Australia – Melbourne Cup won by Lord Fury
  • Canada – Queen's Plate won by Blue Light
  • France – Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe won by Molvedo
  • Ireland – Irish Derby Stakes won by Your Highness
  • English Triple Crown Races:
    1. 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Rockavon
    2. The Derby – Psidium
    3. St. Leger Stakes – Aurelius
  • United States Triple Crown Races:
    1. Kentucky Derby – Carry Back
    2. Preakness Stakes – Carry Back
    3. Belmont Stakes – Sherluck

[[Ice hockey]]

  • Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Bernie "Boom-Boom" Geoffrion, Montreal Canadiens
  • Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Bernie "Boom-Boom" Geoffrion, Montreal Canadiens
  • Stanley Cup – Chicago Black Hawks win 4 games to 2 over the Detroit Red Wings
  • World Hockey Championship –
    • Men's champion: Trail Smoke Eaters from Canada
  • NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship – University of Denver Pioneers defeat St. Lawrence University Saints 12–2 in Denver, Colorado

[[Motorsport]]

Main article: 1961 in motorsport, List of 1961 motorsport champions

[[Radiosport]]

  • First European Amateur Radio Direction Finding Championships held in Stockholm, Sweden. This event was the first organized international competition in the sport.

[[Rugby league]]

[[Rugby union]]

[[Swimming (sport)|Swimming]]

  • August 13 – USA's Becky Collins breaks the world record in the women's 200m butterfly (long course) during a meet in Philadelphia – 2:32.8.
  • August 19 – US swimmer Carl Robie takes over the world record in the men's 200m butterfly (long course) from his compatriot Michael Troy at a meet in Los Angeles, clocking 2:12.6.

[[Tennis]]

Australia

[[Multi-sport event]]s

Awards

  • Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year – Roger Maris, Major League Baseball
  • Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year – Wilma Rudolph, Track and field

References

References

  1. "Epsom Derby {{!}} History, Winners, & Facts {{!}} Britannica".
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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