1949 in sports

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1949 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

[edit] American football

Cleveland Browns 21–7 San Francisco 49ers for the All-America Football Conference championship. After the 1949 season, the Browns, 49ers and original Baltimore Colts all joined the NFL for the 1950 season.
Philadelphia Eagles 14–0 Los Angeles Rams for the NFL championship.
The decades–long "color barrier" in athletics for the Big Seven Conference is broken by Harold Robinson, playing football for Kansas State. Robinson would go on to be named All–Conference in 1950.

[edit] Association football

England

First Division – Portsmouth win the 1948–49 title.
FA Cup – Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Leicester City 3-1.

Italy

Superga air disaster – a plane carrying the Torino team crashes into a mountain on May 4, killing everyone on board. Of the entire squad, only one player (who didn't fly, due to injury) survived, as well as potential signing Ladislao Kubala, who was due to fly but did not, due to his son's ill health.

On 21 September 1949 at Goodison Park, Liverpool, the home of Everton, England were defeated 2-0 by Ireland in a friendly international.

[edit] Australian rules football

Victorian Football League
- Essendon wins the 53rd VFL Premiership (Essendon 18.17 (125) d Carlton 6.16 (52))
- Brownlow Medal awarded to Ron Clegg (South Melbourne) and Col Austen (Hawthorn)

[edit] Baseball

January 28 – The New York Giants sign their first black players: Negro Leaguers outfielder Monte Irvin and pitcher Ford Smith. Both men are assigned to Jersey City. Irvin will star for the Giants, but Smith will not reach the major leagues.
May 5 – Hall of Fame election. After a runoff election was necessary, Charlie Gehringer is selected for induction; on May 9, the Old-Timers Committee elects Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown and Kid Nichols as its first selections in 3 years.
June 5 – MLB Commissioner Happy Chandler lifts the ban on all players who jumped to the Mexican League, starting in 1946.
June 15 – Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus is shot in Chicago by deranged fan Ruth Ann Steinhagen.

[edit] Basketball

BAA Finals

Minneapolis Lakers win four games to two over the Washington Capitols

NBL Championship

Anderson Packers win three games to none over the Oshkosh All-Stars

Events

On August 3rd, the NBL merges with the BAA, forming the National Basketball Association.
The sixth European basketball championship, Eurobasket 1949, is won by Egypt.
The fourteenth South American Basketball Championship in Asunción is won by Uruguay.

[edit] Boxing

October 27 – death of Marcel Cerdan (33), Algerian–born French world middleweight champion, in an air crash

[edit] Figure skating

World Figure Skating Championships –
- Men's champion: Dick Button, United States
- Ladies' champion: Aja Zanova, Czechoslovakia
- Pair skating champion: Andrea Kékesy & Ede Király, Hungary

[edit] Golf

Men's professional

Men's amateur

British Amateur – Samuel McCready
U.S. Amateur – Charles Coe

Women's professional

[edit] Horse racing

Steeplechases

Cheltenham Gold Cup –
Grand National –

Flat races

Australia – Melbourne Cup won by
Canada – Queen's Plate won by
France – Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe won by
Ireland – Irish Derby Stakes won by
English Triple Crown Races:
1. 2,000 Guineas Stakes –
2. Epsom Derby –
3. St. Leger Stakes –
United States Triple Crown Races:
1. Kentucky Derby – Ponder
2. Preakness Stakes –
3. Belmont Stakes –

[edit] Ice hockey

Sweden

Canada defeats Denmark 47-0 at the 1949 World Hockey Championships in Stockholm, Sweden.

United States

NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship – Boston College Eagles defeat Dartmouth College Big Green 4-3 in Colorado Springs, CO

[edit] Motor racing

The first 24 hours of Le Mans is held since the beginning of World War II. Luigi Chinetti and Lord Seldson win the race in a Ferrari 166M.
30 May – Bill Holland wins the 33nd running of the Indianapolis 500 in the Blue Crown Spark Plug Special Deidt-Offenhauser
The inaugural NASCAR Strictly Stock season takes place. Robert "Red" Byron, driving the #22 Oldsmobile for Raymond Parks, is the series' first champion.

[edit] Rowing

The Boat Race

26 March — Cambridge wins the 95th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race

[edit] Rugby union

Five Nations Championship

55th Five Nations Championship series is won by Ireland
3 September – "blackest day" in All Blacks history as two Test matches are lost on the same day: 6–11 at home to the Wallabies; and 3–9 on tour to South Africa.