1952 in sports

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

yp1=1949
yp2=1950
yp3=1951
year=1952
ya1=1953
ya2=1954
ya3=1955
dp3=1920s
dp2=1930s
dp1=1940s
d=1950s
da=0
dn1=1960s
dn2=1970s
dn3=1980s|hmm 1952..ά

=Auto Racing=

*NASCAR Championship - Tim Flock
*AAA Racing:
**Troy Ruttman won the Indianapolis 500
**Chuck Stevenson won the season championship
*Formula One Championship - Alberto Ascari of Italy
*24 hours of Le Mans:
**Hermann Lang / Fritz Reiss won, driving a Mercedes 300SL
*Rally racing:
**Sydney Allard / George Warburton won the Monte Carlo Rally driving an Allard J2
*Drag racing - In cities and towns across North America, drag racing begins to move from the streets to organized events usually at abandoned airport strips.

Baseball

* January 31: The Hall of Fame elects two new members: Harry Heilmann, with 203 votes, and Paul Waner with 195. Waner, a .333 career hitter, rapped out 3,152 hits and struck out just 376 times in 9,459 career at-bats. Heilmann was similarly skilled with the bat, winning four batting titles with the Tigers and finishing his career with a .342 average

*World Series: New York Yankees win 4 games to 3 over the Brooklyn Dodgers

Basketball

*NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
**Kansas wins 80-63 over St. John's

* NBA Finals|NBA Finals:
**Minneapolis Lakers won 4 games to 3 over the Syracuse Nationals

Boxing

*June 25 at Yankee Stadium, Joey Maxim defeats Sugar Ray Robinson by knockout to retain his world light heavyweight title. This is the only knockout Robinson would ever suffer.
*September 23 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rocky Marciano knocked out Jersey Joe Walcott in the 13th round to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

Cricket

*16 October-18 October, Delhi - Pakistan plays its first Test match, against India. India won by an innings and 70 runs.

=Cue sports (pool, snooker, carom billiards)=

*Schism in snooker means "two" world championships are held:
**World Snooker Championship (World Matchplay event): Fred Davis beats Walter Donaldson 38-35
**World Snooker Championship (BA&CC event): Horace Lindrum beats Clark McConachy 94-49

Cycling

*Giro d'Italia won by Fausto Coppi of Italy
*Tour de France - Fausto Coppi of Italy
*World Cycling Championship: Heinz Müller of Germany

Field Hockey

* Olympic Games (Men's Competition) in Helsinki, Finland
** Gold Medal: India
** Silver Medal: The Netherlands
** Bronze Medal: Great Britain

Figure skating

*World Figure Skating Championships:
**Men's champion: Dick Button, United States
**Ladies' champion: Jacqueline du Bief, France
**Pair skating champions: Ria Falk & Paul Falk, Germany
**Ice dancing champions: Jean Westwood & Lawrence Demmy, Great Britain

In this year, ice dancing introduced as part of the World Figure Skating Championships.

=Football (American)=

*NFL Championship: Detroit Lions win 17-7 over the Cleveland Browns

Football (Australian rules football)

* Victorian Football League
** Geelong wins the 56th VFL Premiership (Geelong 13.8 (86) d Collingwood 5.10 (40))
** Brownlow Medal awarded to Roy Wright (Richmond) and Bill Hutchison (Essendon)

=Football (Canadian)=

* Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts win 21-11 over the Edmonton Eskimos

Football (soccer)

England

* First Division - Manchester United win the 1951-52 title.
*FA Cup - Newcastle United beat Arsenal 1-0.

Italy

*Serie A - FC Juventus.

Golf

Men's professional
*April 3-6 - Masters Tournament - Sam Snead
*June 12-14 - U.S. Open - Julius Boros
*June 22-25 - PGA Championship - Jim Turnesa
*July 8-11 - British Open - Bobby Locke
*PGA Tour money leader - Julius Boros - $37,033Men's amateur
*British Amateur - Harvie Ward
*U.S. Amateur - Jack WestlandWomen's professional
*Women's Western Open - Betsy Rawls
*U.S. Women's Open - Louise Suggs
*Titleholders Championship - Babe Zaharias
*LPGA Tour money leader - Betsy Rawls - $14,505

=Thoroughbred Horse Racing=

*Australia - Melbourne Cup - Dalray
*Canada - Queen's Plate - Epigram
*France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Nuccio
*Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Thirteen of Diamonds

*English Triple Crown Races:
*#2,000 Guineas Stakes - Thunderhead II
*#Epsom Derby - Tulyar
*#St. Leger Stakes - Tulyar

*United States Triple Crown Races:
*#May 3 - Kentucky Derby - Hill Gail
*#Preakness Stakes - Blue Man
*#Belmont Stakes - One Count

=Harness Racing=

*Little Brown Jug for pacers won by Meadow Rice
*Hambletonian for trotters won by Sharp Note

*Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
**Pacers: Avian Derby

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: Detroit Red Wings win 4 games to 0 over the Montreal Canadiens

*World Hockey Championship
** Men's champion: Canada defeated the United States

*NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship - University of Michigan Wolverines defeat Colorado College Tigers 4-1 in Colorado Springs, CO

Professional wrestling

*World Wrestling Entertainment is founded by Vincent J. McMahon and Joseph Raymond "Toots" Mondt.

Skiing

*Alpine Skiing
*The men's Olympic Gold Medal:
**Downhill: Zeno Colò, Italy
**Slalom: Othmar Schneider, Austria
**Giant Slalom: Stein Eriksen, Norway

**The women's Olympic Gold Medal:
**Downhill: Trude Jochum-Beiser, Austria
**Slalom: Andrea Mead Lawrence, United States
**Giant Slalom: Andrea Mead Lawrence, United States

Tennis

*Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
*#Australian Open - Ken McGregor
*#French Open - Jaroslav Drobny
*#Wimbledon championships - Frank Sedgman
*#US Open - Frank Sedgman

*Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
*#Australian Open - Thelma Long
*#French Open - Doris Hart
*#Wimbledon championships - Maureen Connolly
*#US Open - Maureen Connolly

*Davis Cup: Australia wins 4-1 over the United States in world tennis.

Volleyball

* Men's World Championship in Moscow, Soviet Union
** Gold Medal: Soviet Union
** Silver Medal: Czechoslovakia
** Bronze Medal: Bulgaria

Multi-sport events

*1952 Summer Olympics takes place in Helsinki, Finland
**United States wins the most medals (76), and the most gold medals (40).
**Emil Zátopek wins marathon.

*1952 Winter Olympics takes place in Oslo, Norway
**Norway wins the most medals (16), and the most gold medals (7).

Awards

*Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year: Bob Mathias, Track and field
*Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year: Maureen Connolly, Tennis

Births

January

* January 3 — Viacheslav Lampeev, Soviet field hockey player
* January 10 — George Turpin, English boxer
* January 11 — Ben Crenshaw, American golfer
* January 12 — John Walker, New Zealand middle distance runner
* January 18 — Wim Rijsbergen, Dutch soccer player and manager
* January 22 — Karen Moe, American swimmer
* January 27 — Brian Gottfried, American tennis player

February

* February 2 — Jeff Archibald, New Zealand field hockey player
* February 3 — Wayne Erdman, Canadian judoka
* February 9 — Héctor Velásquez, Chilean boxer
* February 9 — Julio Velasco, Argentine volleyball coach
* February 10 — Pinklon Thomas, American boxer
* February 14 — Les Wilson, New Zealand field hockey goalkeeper
* February 15 — Carla Beurskens, Dutch athlete
* February 15 — Arthur Parkin, New Zealand field hockey player
* February 19 — Freddy Maertens, Belgian cyclist
* February 19 — Oscar Raise, Italian high jumper
* February 22 — Thomas Wessinghage, German middle- and long-distance runner
* February 23 — Pedro Pérez, Cuban triple jumper
* February 28 — Pat Ryan, New Zealand boxer
* February 29 — Jaime Arbós, Spanish field hockey player

March

* March 1 — Tito Steiner, Argentine decathlete
* March 6 — Ian Cooke, Australian field hockey player
* March 14 — Zoya Ivanova, Kazakhstani long-distance runner
* March 22 — Bob Costas, American sports announcer
* March 27 — Jan Albers, Dutch field hockey player
* March 29 — Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer

April

* April 4 — Julie Staver, American field hockey player
* April 5 — Sandy Mayer, American tennis player
* April 7 — Jane Frederick, American heptathlete
* April 10 — Hugo Broos, Belgian soccer player and manager
* April 23 — Terry Moor, American tennis player
* April 25 — Jacques Santini, French soccer manager

May

* May 3 — Christine Prinsloo, Zimbabwean field hockey player
* May 7 — Simion Cutov, Romanian boxer
* May 19 — Erik Fish, Canadian backstroke swimmer
* May 19 — Charlie Spedding, English long-distance runner
* May 20 — Roger Milla, Cameroonian soccer player
* May 25 — François van Kruijsdijk, Dutch medley swimmer

June

* June 1 — Mihaela Loghin, Romanian shot putter
* June 11 — Trevor Laurence, New Zealand field hockey player
* June 13 — Jean-Marie Dedecker, Belgian judo coach
* June 14 — Pat Summit, American college basketball coach
* June 18 — Ron Steens, Dutch field hockey player
* June 25 — Hans-Joachim Abel, German football (soccer) player
* June 28 — Pietro Mennea, Italian sprinter

July

* July 3 — Rudd Misdorp, Dutch water polo player
* July 8 — Jack Lambert, American football player
* July 11 — Alan Hobkirk, Canadian field hockey player

August

* August 3 — Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentinian football (soccer) player
* August 3 — Wojtek Fibak, Polish tennis player
* August 3 — Thomas Munkelt, East German athlete
* August 4 — Daniel Bautista, Mexican track and field athlete
* August 5 — Tamás Faragó, Hungarian water polo player and coach
* August 6 — Mike Stamm, American backstroke swimmer
* August 7 — Kees Kist, Dutch football (soccer) player
* August 9 — Rui Jordão, Angolan-born Portuguese football (soccer) player
* August 12 — Patrick Sweeney, British rower
* August 14 — Debbie Meyer, American swimmer
* August 17 — Nelson Piquet, Brazilian Formula 1-driver
* August 17 — Guillermo Vilas, Argentinian tennis player
* August 22 — Gerda Lassooy, Dutch medley swimmer
* August 26 — John Kinsella, American swimmer
* August 27 — Barry Dancer, Australian field hockey player and coach
* August 29 — Falk Hoffmann, East German diver
* August 31 — Tom McBreen, American freestyle swimmer

eptember

* September 1 — Clemente Rojas, Colombian boxer
* September 2 — Jimmy Connors, American tennis player
* September 4 — Tom Maher, Australian basketball coach
* September 8 — Rod Frawley, Australian tennis player
* September 12 — Pierluigi Marzorati, Italian basketball player
* September 12 — Jeff Rackley, New Zealand boxer
* September 17 — Viktor Savchenko, Soviet boxer
* September 18 — Ton Buunk, Dutch water polo player
* September 25 — Ray Clarke, English football (soccer) player

October

* October 6 — Jerzy Engel, Polish football (soccer) player and coach
* October 14 — Nikolai Andrianov, Soviet-Russian gymnast
* October 21 — Leonid Moseyev, Soviet-Russian long-distance runner
* October 22 — Emilio Ulloa, Chilean distance runner
* October 31 — Andrés Ballbé, Spanish middle-distance runner

November

* November 8 — Jan Raas, Dutch professional cyclist
* November 12 — Juan Arbós, Spanish field hockey player
* November 17 — Ties Kruize, Dutch field hockey player
* November 17 — Roman Ogaza, Polish football (soccer) player (d. 2006)
* November 21 — Eamonn Coghlan, Irish track and field athlete

December

* December 15 — Allan Simonsen, Danish football (soccer) player and coach
* December 17 — Jochen Bachfeld, East German boxer

Deaths

* January 17 — Walter O. Briggs (74), American owner of the Detroit Tigers
* March 30 — Deacon Phillippe, US Major League Baseball player (1899-1911)
* July 3 — Fred Tenney, US Major League Baseball player (1894-1911)
* August 11 — Dave Sands (26), Australian Aborigine boxer (b. 1926)
* August 30 — Arky Vaughan, US Major League Baseball player (1932-1948)
* October 7 — Brand Evers (66), Dutch athlete (b. 1886)
* November 22 — Ted Morgan (46), New Zealand boxer (b. 1906)