1953 in sports

yearbox
in?=in sports
cp=19th century
c=20th century
cf=21st century

yp1=1950
yp2=1951
yp3=1952
year=1953
ya1=1954
ya2=1955
ya3=1956
dp3=1920s
dp2=1930s
dp1=1940s
d=1950s
da=0
dn1=1960s
dn2=1970s
dn3=1980s|

Athletics

Marathon

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

* December 6 — flagicon|JPN 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 champio

=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 professional
*April 9-12 - Masters Tournament - Ben Hogan
*June 11-13 - U.S. Open - Ben Hogan
*July 7 - PGA Championship - Walter Burkemo
*July 7-10 - British Open - Ben Hogan
*PGA Tour money leader - Lew Worsham - $34,002
*Ryder Cup - United States wins 6 1/2 to 5 1/2 over the British team.Men's amateur
*British Amateur - Joe Carr
*U.S. Amateur - Gene LittlerWomen's professional
*Women's Western Open - Louise Suggs
*U.S. Women's Open - Betsy Rawls
*Titleholders Championship - Patty Berg
*LPGA Tour money leader - Louise Suggs - $19,816

=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:
*#2,000 Guineas Stakes - Nearula
*#Epsom Derby - Pinza
*#St. Leger Stakes - Premonition

*United States Triple Crown Races:
*#May 2 - Kentucky Derby - Dark Star
*#Preakness Stakes - Native Dancer
*#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:
*#Australian Open - Ken Rosewall
*#French Open - Ken Rosewall
*#Wimbledon championships - Vic Seixas
*#US Open - Tony Trabert

*Maureen Connolly became the first woman to win the Grand Slam in tennis. Women's results:
*#Australian Open - Maureen Connolly
*#French Open - Maureen Connolly
*#Wimbledon championships - Maureen Connolly
*#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 5 — Jo Hea-Jung, South Korean volleyball 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 13 — Umberto Panerai, Italian water polo player
* 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 — Jamtsyn 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

eptember

* 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 9 — Hiromitsu Ochiai Japanese baseball player and coach
* 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)