1969 in sports

See also: 1968 in sports, other events of 1969, 1970 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'.

Contents

1 Auto Racing 2 Baseball 3 Basketball 4 Boxing 5 Cycling 6 Figure Skating 7 Football (American) 8 Football (Australian Rules) 9 Football (Canadian) 10 Football (Soccer) 11 Golf 12 Thoroughbred Horse Racing 13 Harness Racing 14 Ice Hockey 15 Skiing 16 Snooker 17 Tennis 18 General sporting events 19 Births 20 Deaths

Auto Racing

• Stock car racing:
  • LeeRoy Yarborough won the Daytona 500
  • NASCAR Championship - David Pearson
• Indianapolis 500 - Mario Andretti
• USAC Racing - Mario Andretti won the season championship
• Formula One Championship - Jackie Stewart of Great Britain driving a Matra
• 24 hours of Le Mans:
  • Jacky Ickx / Jackie Oliver won driving a Ford GT-40
• Rally racing - the team of Bjorn Waldegard / Lars Helmer won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Porsche 911S
• Drag racing:
  • Don Prudhomme won the NHRA,s "Top Fuel" championship
  • Steve Carbone won "Top Fuel" at the NHRA World Finals

Baseball

• March 1: Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees announces his retirement.

• April 14: Montreal Expos outfielder Mack Jones hit a three-run home run and two-run triple that highlighted an 8-7 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the Expos' first home victory as a franchise at Jarry Park. Jones' blast was also the first MLB home run hit outside the United States.

• July 20: San Francisco Giants pitcher Gaylord Perry, six years after quipping, "They'll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run," hits the first and only home run of his career just hours after Neil Armstrong lands on the moon.

• World Series: the New York Mets win 4 games to 1 over the Baltimore Orioles.

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
  • UCLA wins 92-72 over Purdue

• NBA Finals:
  • Boston Celtics won 4 games to 3 over the Los Angeles Lakers

Boxing

• June 23 - Joe Frazier scored a 7th round TKO over Jerry Quarry.

• October 18 - Jose Napoles retained the World Welterweight Championship in a 15 round decision over Emile Griffith.

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Felice Gimondi of Italy
• Tour de France - Eddy Merckx of Belgium
• World Cycling Championship: Harm Ottenbros of Netherlands

Figure Skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Tim Wood , United States
  • Women's champion: Gabrielle Seyfert , Germany
  • Pairs champions: Irina Rodnina & Alexej Ulanow , Soviet Union

Football (American)

• January 12 - The American Football League New York Jets upset the NFL's heavily favored Baltimore Colts in the Third AFL-NFL World Championship of Professional Football by a score of 16-7, after quarterback Joe Namath "guaranteed" a victory. It was the first World Championship Game victory by an American Football League team.

• Kansas City Chiefs 17-7 Oakland Raiders for 1969 AFL championship.

• Minnesota Vikings 27-7 Cleveland Browns for the 1969 NFL championship.

Football (Australian Rules)

• Victorian Football League
  • Richmond wins the 73rd VFL Premiership (Richmond 12.13 (85) d Carlton 8.12 (60))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Kevin Murray (Fitzroy)

Football (Canadian)

• Grey Cup: Ottawa Rough Riders won 29-11 over the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
• Vanier Cup: Manitoba Bisons won 24-15 over the McGill Redmen

Football (Soccer)

• September 26: the Bolivian soccer team is killed in a plane crash near La Paz, Bolivia

• England - First Division Champions: Leeds
• England - FA Cup: Manchester City won 1-0 over Leicester City
• Scotland - First Division Champions: Celtic
• Scotland - FA Cup: Celtic won 4-0 over Rangers

Golf

Men's Golf

• Grand Slam of golf results:
  1. May - The Masters - George Archer
  2. June - US Open - Orville Moody
  3. July - British Open - Tony Jacklin
  4. August - PGA Championship - Ray Floyd

• PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Frank Beard - $164,707

• Ryder Cup: United States and Britain tied 16 all in world team golf.

Women's Golf

• US Women's Open - Donna Caponi
• LPGA Championship - Betsy Rawls
• Carol Mann: leading money winner on the LPGA tour, earning $49,152.

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

• February 11 - Diana Crump becomes 1st American woman jockey to ride against men.
• February 22 - Barbara Jo Rubin wins a United States thoroughbred horse race making history as the first women to do so.

• Australia - Melbourne Cup - Rain Lover
• Canada - Queen's Plate - Jumpin Joseph
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Levmoss
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Prince Regent

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. Two Thousand Guineas Stakes - Right Tack
  2. Epsom Derby - Blakeney
  3. St. Leger Stakes - Intermezzo

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. Kentucky Derby - Majestic Prince
  2. Preakness Stakes - Majestic Prince
  3. Belmont Stakes - Arts and Letters

Harness Racing

• United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
  1. Cane Pace - Kat Byrd
  2. Little Brown Jug - Laverne Hanover
  3. Messenger Stakes - Bye Bye Sam

• Lindy's Pride won the United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
  1. Hambletonian - Lindy's Pride
  2. Yonkers Trot - Lindy's Pride
  3. Kentucky Futurity - Lindy's Pride

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Richmond Lass

Ice Hockey

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Phil Esposito, Boston Bruins

• Hart Memorial Trophy: for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Phil Esposito, Boston Bruins

• Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens won 4 games to 0 over the St. Louis Blues

• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Sweden

Skiing

• Alpine Skiing
  • The men's overall season champion: Karl Schranz , Austria
  • The women's overall season champion: Gertrud Gabi , Austria

Snooker

• The World Snooker Championship reverts to a knockout format. John Spencer beats Gary Owen 37-24

Tennis

• Australian Rod Laver, one of only two men to ever win the Grand Slam in tennis wins it for the second time.
• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Rod Laver (Australia)
  2. French Open - Rod Laver
  3. Wimbledon championships - Rod Laver
  4. US Open - Rod Laver

• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Margaret Smith Court
  2. French Open - Margaret Smith Court
  3. Wimbledon championships - Ann Haydon Jones
  4. US Open - Margaret Smith Court

• Davis Cup: United States wins 5-0 over Romania in world tennis.

• Australian Rod Laver completes his second Grand Slam and the fourth in the history of tennis.

General sporting events

Births

• January 3 - Michael Schumacher, Formula One driver
• January 16 - Roy Jones Jr., boxer
• February 1 - Gabriel Batistuta, Argentine football player
• February 3 - Retief Goosen, South African golfer
• February 11 - Bryan Eversgerd US baseball player
• February 12 - Hong Myung-Bo, South Korean football player
• March 20 - Karen Smithies , English cricketer.
• April 25 - Jo Chamberlain , English cricketer.
• May 2 - Brian Lara, West Indies cricketer
• May 15 - Emmitt Smith, American football player
• June 14 - Steffi Graf, German tennis player
• June 15 - Oliver Kahn, German football goalkeeper
• July 25 - Andrea Wieland , US field hockey goalkeeper
• August 31 - Javagal Srinath, Indian cricketer
• September 10 - Nicola Payne , New Zealand cricketer
• September 13 - Shane Warne, Australian cricketer
• September 20 - Jennifer Turner , New Zealand cricket player
• September 25 - Hansie Cronje, South African cricketer (+2002)
• October 10 - Brett Favre, American football player
• October 17 - Ernie Els, South African golfer

Deaths

• June 21 - Maureen Connolly 34, first woman to win the Grand Slam in tennis
• August 31 - Rocky Marciano 45, former World Heavyweight boxing champion; died in a plane crash
• October 12 - Sonja Henie, Olympic and World Champion figure skater