1959 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
Rafael Osuna Herrera , nicknamed "El Pelón", was a former world No. 1 tennis player, the most successful player in the history of Mexico and an Olympian. He was born in Mexico City, and is best remembered for his singles victory at the U.S. Open Championships in 1963, winning the 1960 and 1963 Wimbledon Doubles championships, the 1962 U.S. Open Championships doubles, and for leading Mexico to its only Davis Cup Final round appearance in 1962. He is the only Mexican to date to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, in 1979.
Charles Robert McKinley Jr. was an American former world no. 1 men's amateur tennis champion of the 1960s. He is remembered as an undersized, hard-working dynamo, whose relentless effort and competitive spirit led American tennis to the top of the sport during a period heavily dominated by Australians.
Allen E. Fox is an American former tennis player in the 1960s and 1970s who went on to be a college coach and author. He was ranked as high as U.S. No. 4 in 1962, and was in the top ten in the U.S. five times between 1961 and 1968.
Bernard "Tut" Bartzen was an American former tennis player in the mid-20th century, who later became a winning college tennis coach.
Sam Giammalva Sr., is an American former professional tennis player in the mid-20th century.
The Western Michigan Broncos are a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I program representing Western Michigan University (WMU) in college athletics. They compete in the Mid-American Conference in men's baseball, basketball, football, and tennis; and women's basketball, cross-country, golf, gymnastics, soccer, softball, track and field, and volleyball. The men's ice hockey team competes in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference and the men's soccer team competes in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Broncos also have a flight team, the SkyBroncos, who have won the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) National Championship award five times.
Barry MacKay was an American tennis player, tournament director and broadcaster. He was ranked #1 in the U.S. in 1960.
Myron Jay "Mike" Franks is an American former world class tennis player. He was the #1 seeded junior player in 1954 in the US Nationals at Kalamazoo, Michigan. He played #1 singles for UCLA from 1956 to 1958, and was one of 8 All Americans in college tennis. UCLA won its 5th NCAA Tennis Team Championship in 1956, but was placed on two years probation for football recruiting violations in 1957 and 1958. Franks was ranked # 3 in doubles in the United States in 1956, 1957, and 1959, and was ranked # 7 in singles in 1958. He won a gold medal in doubles at the 1961 Maccabiah Games in Israel with Dick Savitt.
Luis Alberto Ayala Salinas was a Chilean tennis player who competed during the 1950s and 1960s.
Ronald "Ronnie" Edward Holmberg is a former American tennis player who competed during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was ranked World No. 7 in 1959 and was ranked in the U.S. Top 10 for nine years. He is currently one of the USTA's select "Master Professionals" and devotes most of his time coaching, participating and directing charity events and clinics and other tennis related projects.
Third-seeded Nicola Pietrangeli defeated Ian Vermaak 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–1 in the final to win the men's singles tennis title at the 1959 French Championships.
William E. Murphy was a Navy Cross winner in World War II, an American Championship tennis player and university coach.
Ian Vermaak is a former tennis player competing for South Africa.
Jean Hoxie was a Hamtramck, Michigan tennis player and coach. In 1965, she was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.
Robert Keith Wilson was an English tennis player. Wilson reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon four times, Forest Hills twice, and Roland Garros once during the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was also a prominent Great Britain Davis Cup team member.
Steve Johnson Jr. is an American former professional tennis player.
Osamu Ishiguro was a tennis player from Japan.
Ladislav "Laci" Legenstein is a Croatian–born Austrian former tennis player. He was active from 1950 to 1975 and won 13 career singles titles.
Larry Nagler is an American former college and professional tennis player. In college, Nagler played on the UCLA Bruins men's basketball team for Hall of Fame coach John Wooden in 1958 and 1959. In tennis, he was the 1960 NCAA Tennis Singles Champion, and a 1960 NCAA Tennis Doubles Champion, with teammate Allen Fox. He also played doubles with Arthur Ashe, winning the 1962 Pennsylvania Lawn Tennis Championships. Nagler was a three-time Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) First-Team All-American (1960–62), and was the only player to ever win three Pac-10 men's singles titles (1960–62). In 1962 he was ranked 11th in the United States in singles. He played singles in the 1964 Wimbledon Championships and played doubles in the 1964 Wimbledon Championships with Allen Fox. At the 1977 Maccabiah Games in Israel, he and Steve Krulevitz won gold medals in doubles for the United States, and he won a silver medal in men's singles. Nagler was inducted into the ITA Hall of Fame and the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame.
United States