1980 in sports

Auto Racing

• Stock car racing:
  • Buddy Baker wins the Daytona 500
  • NASCAR Championship - Dale Earnhardt
• Indianapolis 500 - Johnny Rutherford
• CART Racing - Johnny Rutherford won the season championship
• Formula One Championship - Alan Jones of Australia
• 24 hours of Le Mans: the team of Jean Rondeau / Jean-Pierre Jaussaud won, driving a Rondeau M379B
• Rally racing - the team of Walter Rohrl / Christian Geistdorfer won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Fiat 131 Abarth
• Drag racing - Shirley Muldowney won the NHRA "Top Fuel" championship.

Baseball

• World Series: The Philadelphia Phillies of the National League end 97 years of frustration by defeating the American League champion Kansas City Royals.

• Japan's Sadaharu Oh retires from the Yomiuri Giants as the all time professional baseball home run king.

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
  • Louisville wins 59-54 over UCLA

• NBA Finals:
  • Los Angeles Lakers won 4 games to 2 over the Philadelphia 76ers

Boxing

• March 14 - 22 members of the United States Olympic boxing team died in a plane crash near Warsaw, Poland
• June 20- Roberto Duran defeats Sugar Ray Leonard by a 15 round decision to win boxing's WBC world Welterweight title.
• August 2- Thomas Hearns defeats Jose Pipino Cuevas by a knockout in round 2 to win boxing's WBA world Welterweight title and Yasutsune Uehara knocks out Samuel Serrano in round six to win the WBA's world Jr. Lightweight title in Detroit
• In Cincinnati, Aaron Pryor defeats Antonio Kid Pambele Cervantes by a knockout in round four to win the WBA's world Jr. Welterweight title.
• October 2- Larry Holmes defeats Muhammad Ali by a knockout in round eleven to retain boxing's WBC world Heavyweight title, in what would be Ali's last world title bout.
• November 25- In The No Más Fight, in Montreal, Quebec, Sugar Ray Leonard recovers the WBC's world Welterweight championship with an eight round technical knockout of Roberto Duran.

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Bernard Hinault of France
• Tour de France - Joop Zoetemelk of the Netherlands
• World Cycling Championship: Bernard Hinault of France

Field Hockey

• January 3 - 11 - 2nd Champions Trophy held in Lahore, Pakistan won by Pakistan

Figure Skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Jan Hoffmann, Germany
  • Women's champion: Anett Pötzsch, Germany
  • Pairs champions: Marina Tscherkasowa & Sergej Schachrai, Soviet Union

Football (Soccer)

• European Championship: West Germany 2-1 Belgium
• Champions' Cup: Nottingham Forest1-0 Hamburger SV
• UEFA Cup: 2 legs, Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-2 Eintracht Frankfurt; Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 Borussia Moenchengladbach , 3-3 on aggregate, Frankfurt win on away goals rule
• Cup Winners' Cup: Valencia 0-0 Arsenal (AET), Valencia won 5-4 on penalties
• England - FA Cup: West Ham United won 1-0 over Arsenal

Football (American)

• Super Bowl XIV: Pittsburgh Steelers won 31-19 over the Los Angeles Rams

Canadian Football League

• Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos win 48-10 over the Hamilton Tigercats
• Vanier Cup: Alberta Golden Bears win 40-21 over the Ottawa Gee Gees

Golf

Men's Golf

• January - the Senior PGA Tour (Champions Tour) is founded.

• Grand Slam of golf results:
  1. May - The Masters - Seve Ballesteros
  2. June - US Open - Jack Nicklaus
  3. July - British Open - Tom Watson
  4. August - PGA Championship - Jack Nicklaus

• PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Tom Watson - $530,808
• PGA Champions Tour - In its first year, Don January is the leading money winner with earnings of $44,100.

Women's Golf

• US Women's Open - Amy Alcott
• LPGA Championship - Sally Little
• Beth Daniel: leading money winner on the LPGA tour, earning $231,000.

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

• Australia - Melbourne Cup - Beldale Ball
• Canada - Queen's Plate - Driving Home
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Detroit
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Tyrnavos

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. Two Thousand Guineas Stakes - Known Fact
  2. Epsom Derby - Henbit
  3. St. Leger Stakes - Light Cavalry

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. Kentucky Derby - Genuine Risk
  2. Preakness Stakes - Codex
  3. Belmont Stakes - Temperence Hill

Harness Racing

• Superhorse, Niatross wins the United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
  1. Cane Pace - Niatross
  2. Little Brown Jug - Niatross
  3. Messenger Stakes - Niatross

• United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
  1. Hambletonian - Burgomeister
  2. Yonkers Trot
  3. Kentucky Futurity

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Koala King
  • Trotters: Hano Direct

Ice Hockey

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Marcel Dionne, Los Angeles Kings

• Hart Memorial Trophy: for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers

• Stanley Cup - New York Islanders defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 4 games to 2.

• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Olympic year, no tournament
  • Junior Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Finland

• February - 1980 Winter Olympics: The United States men's hockey team wins the gold medal, defeating Finland in the final. Their extraordinary upset victory over the heavily favoured Soviet Union team in the semifinal became known as the "Miracle On Ice" in the US press.

Skiing

• Alpine Skiing
  • The men's overall season champion: Andreas Wenzel, Liechtenstein
  • The women's overall season champion: Hanni Wenzel, Liechtenstein

January 12 - Canada’s Ken Read, the leader of the "Crazy Cannucks" ski team, wins the Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbühel Austria, becoming the first North American to ever win the classic race.

Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis mens results:
  1. Australian Open - Brian Teacher
  2. French Open - Bjorn Borg
  3. Wimbledon championships - Bjorn Borg
  4. US Open - John McEnroe

• Grand Slam in tennis womens results:
  1. Australian Open - Hana Mandlikova
  2. French Open - Chris Evert
  3. Wimbledon championships - Evonne Goolagong Cawley
  4. US Open - Chris Evert

• Davis Cup World tennis - Czechoslovakia defeated Italy 4-1.

General sporting events

• February 14 - 1980 Winter Olympic Games open in Lake Placid, New York

• Embassy World Snooker Championship:
  • Cliff Thorburn of Canada won 18-16 over Alex Higgins

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion:
  • Joe May won with lead dogs: Wilbur & Cora Gray

Births

• February 12 - Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spanish tennis player
• June 17 - Venus Williams, American tennis player
• July 6 - Pau Gasol, Catalan NBA star
• September 12 - Yao Ming, Chinese NBA star
• September 30 - Martina Hingis, Swiss tennis player

Deaths

• January 25 - Peter Haughton, harness racing driver - auto accident
• March 21 - Marcel Boussac - last of France's horse racing tycoons
• March 31 - Jesse Owens, American athlete
• October 25- Victor Galindez, boxing light heavyweight world champion, in car race accident.

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