1949 in sports

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.

Basketball

The sixth European basketball championship, Eurobasket 1949, is won by Egypt.
The fourteenth South American Basketball Championship in Asunción is won by Uruguay.

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

Football (American)

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 would joined the NFL for the 1950 season.

Philadelphia Eagles 14-0 Los Angeles Rams for the NFL championship.

Football (Australian)

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)

Football (soccer)

England

First Division - Portsmouth win the 1948-49 title.
FA Cup: Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Leicester City 3–1.
On September 21, 1949 at Goodison Park, Liverpool, the home of Everton, the England national football team are defeated 2-0 by Ireland in a friendly international. As a result Ireland became the first non-UK team to beat England at home.

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.

Costa Rica

Deportivo Saprissa - enters Costa Rica first division.

Football (Rugby)

New Zealand - September 3, blackest day in All Blacks history when they lost two test matches, 6-11 to the Wallabies in Wellington, and 3-9 to the Springboks in South Africa.

Golf

Men's professional

April 8-10 - Masters Tournament - Sam Snead
May 31 - PGA Championship - Sam Snead
June 9-11 - U.S. Open - Cary Middlecoff
July5- 8 - British Open - Bobby Locke

Men's amateur

Women's professional

Horse Racing

May 7 - Ponder wins the Kentucky Derby

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

Snooker

World Snooker Championship: Fred Davis beats Walter Donaldson 80-65.

Volleyball

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

General sporting events

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.

Awards

Births

January

January 6 — Michael Boit, Kenyan track and field athlete
January 15 — Peter Vonhof, German track and road cyclist
January 16 — Alfonso Pérez, Colombian boxer
January 17 — Dick Nanninga, Dutch football player
January 21 — José Viejo, Spanish road cyclist
January 23 — Tom Forsyth, Scottish football player
January 23 — Per Røntved, Danish football player
January 29 — Andrew Carter, British middle distance runner
January 31 — Ruben Pagnanini, Argentine football player

February

February 1 — Franco Causio, Italian football player
February 2 — Mitchell Ivey, American backstroke swimmer
February 3 — Hennie Kuiper, Dutch cyclist
February 5 — Manuel Orantes, Spanish tennis player
February 7 — Ricardo Cabot, Spanish field hockey player
February 12 — John Blankenstein, Dutch soccer referee (d. 2006)
February 21 — Ronnie Hellström, Swedish football goalkeeper
February 21 — Mats Wallberg, Swedish ice speed skater

March

March 2 — JPR Williams, Welsh rugby union player
March 5 — Leszek B?a?y?ski, Polish boxer (d. 1992)
March 6 — Martin Buchan, Scottish football player
March 8 — Teófilo Cubillas, Peruvian football player
March 8 — Karel Lismont, Belgian marathon runner
March 13 — Jan Vitacek, Czech football player
March 24 — Ruud Krol, Dutch football player and coach
March 28 — Ronnie Ray Smith, American track and field athlete
March 31 — Hans Lutz, German track and road cyclist
March 31 — Zoya Spasovkhodskaya, Soviet heptathlete

April

April 2 — Alec Nastac, Romanian boxer
April 15 — Trevor Smith, Australian field hockey player
April 16 — Sandy Hawley, Canadian jockey
April 17 — Heini Hemmi, Swiss alpine skier
April 22 — Spencer Haywood, American basketball player
April 23 — György Gedó, Hungarian boxer
April 28 — Alan Chesney, New Zealand field hockey player
April 29 — Eddie Hart, American track and field athlete

May

May 1 — Margo Miller, American fencer
May 6 — Per Halle, Norwegian long-distance runner
May 7 — Michael Peter, German field hockey player
May 12 — Tim Crooks, British rower
May 16 — Paul Ackerley, New Zealand field hockey player and coach
May 29 — Wilhelm Kreuz, Austrian football player
May 29 — Leonid Pavlovski, Soviet field hockey player

June

June 1 — Mike Boit, Kenyan middle distance runner
June 3 — Leo Rwabwogo, Ugandan boxer
June 5 — Arthur Borren, Dutch-born field hockey player from New Zealand
June 7 — Lou Macari, Scottish football player
June 8 — Hildegard Falck, German 800m runner
June 8 — Franklin Standard, Cuban basketball player
June 20 — Paul Shaw, Canadian trap shooter
June 27 — Günther Schumacher, German track and road cyclist
June 29 — Lisette Sevens, Dutch field hockey defender

July

July 1 — Francisco Fábregas, Spanish field hockey player
July 11 — Émerson Leão, Brazilian football goalkeeper
July 13 — Helena Fibingerova, Czech shot putter
July 16 — Ann-Sofie Järnstrøm, Swedish ice speed skater
July 16 — Robert Proctor, Australian field hockey player
July 18 — Jennifer McDonald, New Zealand field hockey player
July 19 — Marcello Fiasconaro, Italian athlete
July 21 — Ludmila Smirnova, Soviet figure skater
July 22 — Lasse Virén, Finnish track and field athlete

August

August 2 — Luciano Luci, italian referee
August 20 — Antonio Rubio, Spanish boxer
August 22 — Diana Nyad, American swimmer
August 26 — John Baldwin, American light middleweight boxer
August 28 — Roy Andersson, Swedish football player
August 28 — Svetislav Pe?i?, Serbian basketball player and coach
August 28 — Conny Torstensson, Swedish football player

September

September 2 — Jürgen Colombo, German track cyclist
September 3 — Phil Edwards, British road cyclist
September 4 — Tom Watson, American golfer
September 7 — Jukka Toivola, Finnish long-distance runner
September 9 — John Curry, British figure skater (d. 1994)
September 12 — Irina Rodnina, Russian figure skater
September 14 — Rainer Fischer, German-Canadian judoka
September 16 — William Mahony, Canadian breaststroke swimmer
September 20 — Alan McIntyre, New Zealand field hockey player
September 25 — Jeff Borowiak, American tennis player
September 27 — Mike Schmidt, Baseball Hall of Famer

October

October 2 — Rufat Riskiyev, Soviet boxer
October 10 — Calixto Perez, Colombian boxer
October 17 — Kim U-Gil, North Korean boxer
October 20 — Valery Borzov, Soviet track and field athlete
October 20 — Wayne Collett, American 400m runner
October 21 — Laszlo Nagy, Hungarian football player
October 24 — Betulio Gonzalez, Venezuelan boxer
October 28 — Barbara Inkpen, English high jumper
October 28 — Bruce Jenner, American decathlete

November

November 2 — Bruce Biddle, New Zealand road cyclist
November 3 — Roswitha Krause, Soviet swimmer
November 6 — Malcolm Poole, Australian field hockey player
November 8 — Cor Vriend, Dutch long-distance runner
November 17 — Thomas Lionel Hill, American hurdler
November 17 — Michael Wenden, Australian swimmer
November 20 — Juha Mieto, Finnish skier
November 23 — Olle Nordin, Swedish football player
November 28 — Amadou Meité, Cote d'Ivoire sprinter

December

December 3 — John Akii-Bua, Ugandan hurdler (d. 1997)
December 9— László Orbán, Hungarian boxer
December 12— Ricardo Carreras, American bantamweight boxer
December 14 — Nasser Hejazi, Iranian football goalkeeper
December 19 — Claudia Kolb, American breast stroke swimmer
December 21 — Daniel Killer, Argentine football player
December 26 — Pat Matzdorf, American high jumper
December 29 — Phil Boggs, American diver (d. 1990)
December 30 — Julian Austin, Canadian field hockey player
December 31 — Bruce Davidson, American equestrian

Deaths

January 10 — Momcsilló Tapavicza (76), Hungarian tennis player, weightlifter and wrestler (b. 1872)
January 28 — Jean-Pierre Wimille (40), French racing driver (b. 1908)
March 9 — Charles Bennett (78), British athlete (b. 1870)
June 25 — Buck Freeman (78), American baseball player (b. 1871)
October 27 — Marcel Cerdan (33), Algerian-born French world boxing champion (b. 1916)
December 28 — Jack Lovelock (39), New Zealand athlete (b. 1905)
December 31 — Nándor Dáni (78), Hungarian athlete (b. 1871)