Years in sports:	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956
Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
Years:	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956

Contents 1 Athletics 1.1 Marathon 2 Auto Racing 3 Baseball 4 Basketball 5 Boxing 6 Cricket 7 Cycling 8 Figure skating 9 Football (American) 10 Football (Australian rules football) 11 Football (Canadian) 12 Football (Soccer) 12.1 England 13 Golf 14 Thoroughbred Horse Racing 15 Harness Racing 16 Ice Hockey 17 Snooker 18 Tennis 19 Multi-sport events 20 Awards 21 Births 21.1 January 21.2 February 21.3 March 21.4 April 21.5 May 21.6 June 21.7 July 21.8 August 21.9 September 21.10 October 21.11 November 21.12 December 22 Deaths

Athletics

Marathon

• September 12 — Enschede Marathon, Netherlands
  • Men's Winner: Jim Peters (ENG) 2:19:22

• December 6 — Fukuoka Marathon, Japan
  • Men's Winner: Hideo Hamamura (JPN) 2:27:26

Auto Racing

• NASCAR Championship - Herb Thomas
• AAA Racing:
  • Bill Vukovich won the Indianapolis 500
  • Sam Hanks won the season driving championship
• Formula One Championship - Alberto Ascari of Italy
• 24 hours of Le Mans:
  • the team of Tony Rolt / Duncan Hamilton won, driving a Jaguar C-Type
• Rally racing:
  • the team of Maurice Gatsonides /Peter Worledge won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Ford Zephyr
• Drag racing - The NHRA held its first official race in April on a section of the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds parking lot in Pomona, California.
• World Sportscar Championship:
  • Inaugural season
  • Ferrari wins constructor's championship after 3 victories in the season.

Baseball

• World Series: New York Yankees won 4 games to 2 over the Brooklyn Dodgers

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
  • Indiana wins 69-68 over Kansas

• NBA Finals|NBA Finals:
  • Minneapolis Lakers won 4 games to 1 over the New York Knicks

• The eighth European basketball championship, Eurobasket 1953, is won by the Soviet Union.
• The fifteenth South American Basketball Championship in Montevideo is won by Uruguay.

Boxing

• September 24 in New York City - Rocky Marciano retains his World Heavyweight title with a TKO over Roland La Starza in the 11th round.

• October in New York City - Bobo Olson scored a 15 round decision over Randy Turpin to win the World Middleweight Championship

Cricket

• Pakistan becomes the seventh Test cricket playing nation.

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Fausto Coppi of Italy
• Tour de France - Louison Bobet of France
• World Cycling Championship: Fausto Coppi of Italy

Figure skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Hayes Alan Jenkins, United States
  • Ladies' champion: Tenley Albright, United States
  • Pair skating champions: Jennifer Nicks & John Nicks, Great Britain
  • Ice dancing champions: Jean Westwood & Lawrence Demmy, Great Britain

Football (American)

• NFL Championship: Detroit Lions won 17-16 over the Cleveland Browns

Football (Australian rules football)

• Victorian Football League
  • Collingwood wins the 57th VFL Premiership (Collingwood 11.11 (77) d Geelong 8.17 (65))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Bill Hutchison (Essendon)

Football (Canadian)

• Grey Cup: Hamilton Tiger-Cats win 12-6 over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Football (Soccer)

• Coronation Cup (football) - Celtic beat Hibernian 2-0 at Hampden Park.

England

• First Division - Arsenal win the 1952-53 title.
• FA Cup - Blackpool beat Bolton Wanderers 4-3 in what is known as "The Matthews Final", although it is Stan Mortensen who scores a winning hat-trick for Blackpool.
• England lose 6-3 to Hungary at Wembley Stadium their first ever loss to a team from Continental Europe at home.

Golf

Men's Golf

• Grand Slam of golf results:
  1. April 9-12 - The Masters - Ben Hogan
  2. June 11-13 - US Open - Ben Hogan
  3. July 7 - PGA Championship - Walter Burkemo
  4. July 7-10 - British Open - Ben Hogan

• PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Lew Worsham - $34,002

• Ryder Cup: United States wins 6 1/2 to 5 1/2 over the British team in world golf.

Women's Golf

• The US Women's Open - Betsy Rawls

MWF forever

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

• Australia - Melbourne Cup - Wodalla
• Canada - Queen's Plate - Canadiana
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - La Sorellina
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Chamier

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. 2,000 Guineas Stakes - Nearula
  2. Epsom Derby - Pinza
  3. St. Leger Stakes - Premonition

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. May 2 - Kentucky Derby - Dark Star
  2. Preakness Stakes - Native Dancer
  3. Belmont Stakes - Native Dancer

Harness Racing

• Little Brown Jug for pacers won by Keystoner
• Hambletonian for trotters won by Helicopter

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Captain Sandy

Ice Hockey

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings

• Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings

• Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens win 4 games to 1 over the Boston Bruins

• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Sweden defeated the heavily favoured Soviet Union
  • Canada did not participate in the World Hockey Championship, the government claiming it was not worth the expense.

• NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship - University of Michigan Wolverines defeat University of Minnesota Golden Gophers 7-3 in Colorado Springs, CO

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship: Fred Davis beats Walter Donaldson 37-34

Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Ken Rosewall
  2. French Open - Ken Rosewall
  3. Wimbledon championships - Vic Seixas
  4. US Open - Tony Trabert

• Maureen Connolly became the first woman to win the Grand Slam in tennis. Women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Maureen Connolly
  2. French Open - Maureen Connolly
  3. Wimbledon championships - Maureen Connolly
  4. US Open - Maureen Connolly

• Davis Cup: Australia won 3-2 over the United States in world tennis.

Multi-sport events

• Pan Arab Games held in Alexandria, Egypt

Awards

• Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year: Ben Hogan, PGA golf
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year: Maureen Connolly, Tennis

Births

January

• January 5 — Vassily Solomin, Soviet boxer
• January 9 — Takeshi So, Japanese long-distance runner
• January 10 — Bobby Rahal, American automobile racer
• January 29 — Juan Paredes, Mexican boxer

February

• February 4 — Svetlana Ulmasova, Soviet long-distance runner
• February 9 — Vito Antuofermo, Italian actor and boxer
• February 14 — Greg Browning, Australian field hockey player
• February 14 — Hans Krankl, Austrian football (soccer) player and coach
• February 15 — Jarmila Nygrýnová, Czech long jumper (d. 1999)
• February 17 — Pertti Karppinen, Finnish rower

March

• March 1 — Jose Higueras, Spanish tennis coach and player
• March 10 — Debbie Brill, Canadian high jumper
• March 11 — Ladislau Bölöni, Romanian football (soccer) player and manager
• March 13 — Stephanie Berto, Canadian track and field athlete
• March 14 — Tim McKee, American medley and backstroke swimmer
• March 15 — Randall Goff, Australian water polo player
• March 25 — Paul Ballinger, New Zealand long-distance runner
• March 27 — Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Austrian skier
• March 27 — Herman Ponsteen, Dutch track cyclist

April

• April 2 — Janet Nutter, Canadian diver
• April 13 — Valeri Belyakov, Soviet field hockey player
• April 18 — Bernt Johansson, Swedish road bicycle racer
• April 18 — Vladimir Kolev, Bulgarian boxer
• April 19 — Sara Simeoni, Italian high jumper
• April 27 — Bruce Robertson, Canadian freestyle and butterfly swimmer

May

• May 5 — Cindy Bremser, American long-distance runner
• May 16 — Pierre Hermans, Dutch field hockey goalkeeper
• May 19 — Shavarsh Karapetyan, Soviet Armenian finswimmer
• May 22 — Sylvia Filipsson, Swedish ice speed skater

June

• June 6 — Jerzy Rybicki, Polish boxer
• June 8 — Ad Tak, Dutch cyclist
• June 15 — Vilma Bardauskiené, Lithuanian long jumper
• June 23 — Filbert Bayi, Tanzanian middle-distance runner
• June 28 — Jamtsying Davaajav, Mongolian wrestler

July

• July 14 — Harina Kohere, New Zealand field hockey player
• July 15 — Galina Savinkova, Russian discus thrower
• July 19 — John Murphy, American backstroke and freestyle swimmer
• July 26 — Piotr Zaev, Soviet boxer

August

• August 2 — Peter-Michael Kolbe, German rower
• August 4 — Alie te Riet, Dutch breaststroke swimmer
• August 6 — Reg Plummer, Canadian field hockey player
• August 11 — Greg Duhaime, Canadian middle-distance runner
• August 11 — Wijda Mazereeuw, Dutch swimmer
• August 18 — Patrick Cowdell, English boxer
• August 21 — Ferenc Paragi, Hungarian javelin thrower
• August 29 — Rainer Pottel, East German decathlete

September

• September 12 — Ramesh Patel, New Zealand field hockey player
• September 14 — Judy Playfair, Australian breaststroke swimmer
• September 27 — Javier Cabot, Spanish field hockey player

October

• October 1 — Grete Waitz, Norwegian marathon runner
• October 3 — Cornelia Bürki, Swiss long-distance runner
• October 3 — Gejza Valent, Czechoslovakian discus thrower
• October 9 — Hank Pfister, American tennis player
• October 12 — Richard McKinney, American archer
• October 27 — Adri van Houwelingen, Dutch road bicycle racer
• October 28 — Clay Evans, Canadian medley swimmer

November

• November 3 — Jürgen Straub, East German middle distance runner
• November 5 — Hugo Corro, Argentine boxer
• November 7 — Alexander Romankov, Russian fencer
• November 11 — Martín Mondragón, Mexican long-distance runner
• November 13 — Steve Williams, American track and field sprinter
• November 20 — Terry Walsh, Australian field hockey striker and coach
• November 22 — Matija Ljubek, Croatian canoer (d. 2000)

December

• December 15 — Gary MacDonald, Canadian freestyle swimmer
• December 20 — Ralph Evans, British boxer
• December 25 — Karl-Heinz Krüger, East German boxer

Deaths

• March 2 — Jim Lightbody (70), American middle distance runner (b. 1882)
• March 3 — Clyde Milan, Major League Baseball player (1907-1922)
• March 3 — James J. Jeffries, world heavyweight boxing champion
• March 23 — László Beleznai (61), Hungarian water polo player and freestyle swimmer (b. 1891)
• March 28 — Jim Thorpe, athlete
• April 11 — Kid Nichols, Major League Baseball pitcher (1890-1906)
• May 27 — Jesse Burkett, Major League Baseball player (1890-1905)
• June 5 — Bill Tilden, tennis player
• June 19 — Norman Ross, American swimmer (b. 1896)
• August 11 — Tazio Nuvolari, race car driver
• October 5 — Piet de Brouwer (73), Dutch archer (d. 1953)
• December 2 — Reginald Baker (69), Australian athlete, sports promoter and film actor (b. 1884)