Events

• May 8: Jockey Ralph Neves was involved in a racing accident at Bay Meadows Racetrack in San Mateo, California and mistakenly pronounced dead. A while later, he woke up in the morgue and promptly returned to the racetrack but was not allowed to compete in any of the remaining races because of his 'death.'

• June 21: First Hungarian Grand Prix held in Budapest.

Auto racing

• Grand Prix racing - Main article: 1936 Grand Prix season. European Champion: Bernd Rosemeyer

Baseball

• Plans are announced for a Baseball Hall of Fame to be established in 1939, the game's supposed centennial, in Cooperstown, New York. In the first elections to select 15 initial inductees (5 from the 19th century and 10 from the 20th), Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson are selected from the 20th century; the election for 19th century players is plagued by problems and results in no selections. See: Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1936
• World Series: New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants, 4-2.

Boxing

• June 19 - In one of boxing's all-time biggest upsets, Max Schmeling knocked out Joe Louis at 2:29 of round 12 at New York's Yankee Stadium.

Field Hockey

• Olympic Games (Men's Competition) in Berlin, London
  • Gold Medal: India
  • Silver Medal: Germany
  • Bronze Medal: The Netherlands

Football (Australian rules football)

• Victorian Football League
  • Collingwood wins the 40th VFL Premiership (Collingwood 11.23 (89) d South Melbourne 10.18 (78))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Dinny Ryan (Fitzroy)

American Football

• Minnesota Golden Gophers National college football champions.
• Green Bay Packers 21-6 Boston Redskins for the NFL championship. The game was moved from Boston to New York's Polo Grounds.
• The first NFL Draft is held.
• The second American Football League was founded.
• The Cleveland Rams were founded by Homer Marsh as part of the AFL II.

Football (soccer)

England

• First Division - Sunderland win the 1935-36 title.
• FA Cup - Arsenal beat Sheffield United 1-0, thanks to a Ted Drake goal.

Golf

Men's professional

• April 2-5 - Masters Tournament - Horton Smith
• June 4-6 - U.S. Open - Tony Manero
• June 25-27 - British Open - Alf Padgham
• November 23 - PGA Championship - Denny Shute

Men's amateur

• British Amateur - Hector Thomson
• U.S. Amateur - John Fischer

Women's professional

• Women's Western Open - Opal Hill

Horse Racing

• May 2 - Bold Venture wins the Kentucky Derby

Ice Hockey

• The Detroit RedWings won the championship in the National Hockey League. Combine this with the Detroit Tigers World Series win and the Detroit Lions NFL Championship in 1934 and in one 12 month period Detroit played home to the Championship teams in the MLB, NFL, and NHL. This feat has yet to be duplicated by any other city.

Speed Skating

• First Speed Skating World Championships for Women held in Stockholm
  • Gold Medal: Kit Klein (United States)
  • Silver Medal: Verné Lesche (Finland)
  • Bronze Medal: Synnøve Lie (Norway)

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship: Joe Davis beats Horace Lindrum 34-27

Multi-sport events

• 1936 Summer Olympics takes place in Berlin, Germany
  • Germany wins the most medals (89), and the most gold medals (33).
  • Jesse Owens wins four gold medals.
  • The first torch relay takes place from Olympia, Greece.

• 1936 Winter Olympics takes place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
  • Norway wins the most medals (15), and the most gold medals (7).

Awards

• Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year: Jesse Owens, Track and field
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year: Helen Stephens, Track and field

Births

• January 14 — Reiner Klimke, German equestrian (d. 1999)
• February 20 — Shigeo Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and coach
• March 4 — Jim Clark, Scottish motor racing champion (d. 1968)
• March 6 — Florentino "The Ox" Fernandez, Cuban boxer
• April 15 — Raymond Poulidor, French cyclist
• May 3 — José Torres, Puerto Rican boxer
• June 2 — Vladimir Golubnichy, Soviet race walker
• June 18 — Denny Hulme, New Zealand motor racing champion (d. 1992)
• July 16 — Kees Koch, Dutch discus thrower
• July 26 — Tsutomu Koyama, Japanese volleyball player
• August 16 — Lindsay Gaze, Australian basketball player and coach
• August 17 — Arthur Rowe, English shot putter (d. 2003)
• September 19 — Al Oerter, American discus thrower (d. 2007)
• October 1 — Bertha Díaz, Cuban track and field athlete
• October 30 — Polina Astakhova, Soviet/Ukrainian gymnast (d. 2005)
• November 10 — Claudio "Tripa" Barrientos, Chilean boxer (d. 1982)
• November 16 — Isaac Berger, Jewish-American weightlifter
• December 12 — Iolanda Bala?, Romanian athlete
• December 13 — Andrew Cowan, Scottish rallying champion
• December 22 — Mieczys?aw Nowak, Polish weightlifter (d. 2006)

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