1979 in sports

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

• Super Bowl XIII – the Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC) won 35−31 over the Dallas Cowboys (NFC)
  • Location: Miami Orange Bowl
  • Attendance: 79,484
  • MVP: Terry Bradshaw, QB (Pittsburgh)
• Sugar Bowl (1978 season):
  • The Alabama Crimson Tide won 14–7 over the Penn State Nittany Lions to claim AP Poll national championship
• August 4 – Opening game of the American Football Bundesliga played between Frankfurter Löwen and Düsseldorf Panther, first-ever league game of American football in Germany. ^[1]
• November 10 – German Bowl I – Frankfurter Löwen defeated the Ansbach Grizzlies 14–8. ^[2]

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

• 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
  • April 28: Collingwood beats a 70-year-old record for the greatest winning margin in VFL football when they beat St. Kilda by 178 points 31.21 (207) to 3.11 (29)
  • July 28: Fitzroy beats Collingwood's three-month-old record when they beat Melbourne 36.22 (238) to 6.12 (48) with Bob Beecroft kicking ten goals
  • Carlton win the 83rd VFL Premiership (Carlton 11.16 (82) d Collingwood 11.11 (77))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Peter Moore (Collingwood)

Baseball

Main article: 1979 in baseball

• January 23 – Willie Mays receives 409 of 432 votes in the BBWAA election to earn enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.
• July 12 – Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers
• 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. The Pirates become the only team in sports history to come back from a three games to one deficit in a championship series twice, having also achieved the comeback in the 1925 World Series.

Basketball

• NCAA Division I Men's 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, 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 Axemen 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 of France
• UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race – 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, British Columbia, 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 – Mo Bandy
  3. Kentucky Futurity – Filet of Sole
• 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. The Derby – Troy ^[3]
  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 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.
• Avco World Trophy – Winnipeg Jets won 4 games to 2 over the Edmonton Oilers

Motorsport

Main articles: 1979 in motorsport and List of 1979 motorsport champions

Rugby league

• 1979 Amco Cup
• 1979 European Rugby League Championship
• 1979 New Zealand rugby league season
• 1978–79 Northern Rugby Football League season / 1979–80 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1979 NSWRFL season

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. U.S. 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. U.S. 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

• Asian Men's Volleyball Championship: won by China
• Asian Women's Volleyball Championship: won by China
• Men and Women's European Volleyball Championship held in France: 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 ^[4]
• 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

1. Google book review: Turnen and sport: transatlantic transfers author: Annette R. Hofmann, accessed: 12 January 2010
2. Bowls Archived 2015-09-29 at the Wayback Machine German Football League website, accessed: 16 January 2011
3. "Epsom Derby | History, Winners, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
4. "FAQ: What are the Pan American Games?". Team Canada - Official Olympic Team Website. Retrieved 4 January 2022.