Athletics

Marathon

• September 12 — Enschede Marathon, Netherlands
  • Men's Winner: Jim Peters (ENG) 2:19:22

• December 6 — Fukuoka Marathon, Japan
  • Men's Winner: Hideo Hamamura (JPN) 2:27:26

Auto Racing

• NASCAR Championship - Herb Thomas
• AAA Racing:
  • Bill Vukovich won the Indianapolis 500
  • Sam Hanks won the season driving championship
• Formula One Championship - Alberto Ascari of Italy
• 24 hours of Le Mans:
  • the team of Tony Rolt / Duncan Hamilton won, driving a Jaguar C-Type
• Rally racing:
  • the team of Maurice Gatsonides /Peter Worledge won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Ford Zephyr
• Drag racing - The NHRA held its first official race in April on a section of the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds parking lot in Pomona, California.
• World Sportscar Championship:
  • Inaugural season
  • Ferrari wins constructor's championship after 3 victories in the season.

Baseball

• World Series: New York Yankees won 4 games to 2 over the Brooklyn Dodgers

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
  • Indiana wins 69-68 over Kansas

• NBA Finals|NBA Finals:
  • Minneapolis Lakers won 4 games to 1 over the New York Knicks

• The eighth European basketball championship, Eurobasket 1953, is won by the Soviet Union.
• The fifteenth South American Basketball Championship in Montevideo is won by Uruguay.

Boxing

• September 24 in New York City - Rocky Marciano retains his World Heavyweight title with a TKO over Roland La Starza in the 11th round.

• October in New York City - Bobo Olson scored a 15 round decision over Randy Turpin to win the World Middleweight Championship

Cricket

• Pakistan becomes the seventh Test cricket playing nation.

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Fausto Coppi of Italy
• Tour de France - Louison Bobet of France
• World Cycling Championship: Fausto Coppi of Italy

Figure skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Hayes Alan Jenkins, United States
  • Ladies' champion: Tenley Albright, United States
  • Pair skating champions: Jennifer Nicks & John Nicks, Great Britain
  • Ice dancing champio

Football (American)

• NFL Championship: Detroit Lions won 17-16 over the Cleveland Browns

Football (Australian rules football)

• Victorian Football League
  • Collingwood wins the 57th VFL Premiership (Collingwood 11.11 (77) d Geelong 8.17 (65))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Bill Hutchison (Essendon)

Football (Canadian)

• Grey Cup: Hamilton Tiger-Cats win 12-6 over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Football (Soccer)

• Coronation Cup (football) - Celtic beat Hibernian 2-0 at Hampden Park.

England

• First Division - Arsenal win the 1952-53 title.
• FA Cup - Blackpool beat Bolton Wanderers 4-3 in what is known as "The Matthews Final", although it is Stan Mortensen who scores a winning hat-trick for Blackpool.
• England lose 6-3 to Hungary at Wembley Stadium their first ever loss to a team from Continental Europe at home.

Golf

Men's professional

• April 9-12 - Masters Tournament - Ben Hogan
• June 11-13 - U.S. Open - Ben Hogan
• July 7 - PGA Championship - Walter Burkemo
• July 7-10 - British Open - Ben Hogan
• PGA Tour money leader - Lew Worsham - $34,002
• Ryder Cup - United States wins 6 1/2 to 5 1/2 over the British team.

Men's amateur

• British Amateur - Joe Carr
• U.S. Amateur - Gene Littler

Women's professional

• Women's Western Open - Louise Suggs
• U.S. Women's Open - Betsy Rawls
• Titleholders Championship - Patty Berg
• LPGA Tour money leader - Louise Suggs - $19,816

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

• Australia - Melbourne Cup - Wodalla
• Canada - Queen's Plate - Canadiana
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - La Sorellina
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Chamier

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. 2,000 Guineas Stakes - Nearula
  2. Epsom Derby - Pinza
  3. St. Leger Stakes - Premonition

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. May 2 - Kentucky Derby - Dark Star
  2. Preakness Stakes - Native Dancer
  3. Belmont Stakes - Native Dancer

Harness Racing

• Little Brown Jug for pacers won by Keystoner
• Hambletonian for trotters won by Helicopter

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Captain Sandy

Ice Hockey

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings

• Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings

• Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens win 4 games to 1 over the Boston Bruins

• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Sweden defeated the heavily favoured Soviet Union
  • Canada did not participate in the World Hockey Championship, the government claiming it was not worth the expense.

• NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship - University of Michigan Wolverines defeat University of Minnesota Golden Gophers 7-3 in Colorado Springs, CO

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship: Fred Davis beats Walter Donaldson 37-34

Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Ken Rosewall
  2. French Open - Ken Rosewall
  3. Wimbledon championships - Vic Seixas
  4. US Open - Tony Trabert

• Maureen Connolly became the first woman to win the Grand Slam in tennis. Women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Maureen Connolly
  2. French Open - Maureen Connolly
  3. Wimbledon championships - Maureen Connolly
  4. US Open - Maureen Connolly

• Davis Cup: Australia won 3-2 over the United States in world tennis.

Multi-sport events

• Pan Arab Games held in Alexandria, Egypt

Awards

• Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year: Ben Hogan, PGA golf
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year: Maureen Connolly, Tennis

Births

January

• January 5 — Vassily Solomin, Soviet boxer
• January 9 — Takeshi So, Japanese long-distance runner
• January 10 — Bobby Rahal, American automobile racer
• January 29 — Juan Paredes, Mexican boxer

February

• February 4 — Svetlana Ulmasova, Soviet long-distance runner
• February 9 — Vito Antuofermo, Italian actor and boxer
• February 14 — Greg Browning, Australian field hockey player
• February 14 — Hans Krankl, Austrian football (soccer) player and coach
• February 15 — Jarmila Nygrýnová, Czech long jumper (d. 1999)
• February 17 — Pertti Karppinen, Finnish rower

March

• March 1 — Jose Higueras, Spanish tennis coach and player
• March 5 — Jo Hea-Jung, South Korean volleyball player
• March 10 — Debbie Brill, Canadian high jumper
• March 11 — Ladislau Bölöni, Romanian football (soccer) player and manager
• March 13 — Stephanie Berto, Canadian track and field athlete
• March 13 — Umberto Panerai, Italian water polo player
• March 14 — Tim McKee, American medley and backstroke swimmer
• March 15 — Randall Goff, Australian water polo player
• March 25 — Paul Ballinger, New Zealand long-distance runner
• March 27 — Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Austrian skier
• March 27 — Herman Ponsteen, Dutch track cyclist

April

• April 2 — Janet Nutter, Canadian diver
• April 13 — Valeri Belyakov, Soviet field hockey player
• April 18 — Bernt Johansson, Swedish road bicycle racer
• April 18 — Vladimir Kolev, Bulgarian boxer
• April 19 — Sara Simeoni, Italian high jumper
• April 27 — Bruce Robertson, Canadian freestyle and butterfly swimmer

May

• May 5 — Cindy Bremser, American long-distance runner
• May 16 — Pierre Hermans, Dutch field hockey goalkeeper
• May 19 — Shavarsh Karapetyan, Soviet Armenian finswimmer
• May 22 — Sylvia Filipsson, Swedish ice speed skater

June

• June 6 — Jerzy Rybicki, Polish boxer
• June 8 — Ad Tak, Dutch cyclist
• June 15 — Vilma Bardauskiené, Lithuanian long jumper
• June 23 — Filbert Bayi, Tanzanian middle-distance runner
• June 28 — Jamtsyn Davaajav, Mongolian wrestler

July

• July 14 — Harina Kohere, New Zealand field hockey player
• July 15 — Galina Savinkova, Russian discus thrower
• July 19 — John Murphy, American backstroke and freestyle swimmer
• July 26 — Piotr Zaev, Soviet boxer

August

• August 2 — Peter-Michael Kolbe, German rower
• August 4 — Alie te Riet, Dutch breaststroke swimmer
• August 6 — Reg Plummer, Canadian field hockey player
• August 11 — Mark Chatfield, American breaststroke swimmer
• August 11 — Greg Duhaime, Canadian middle-distance runner
• August 11 — Wijda Mazereeuw, Dutch swimmer
• August 18 — Patrick Cowdell, English boxer
• August 21 — Ferenc Paragi, Hungarian javelin thrower
• August 29 — Rainer Pottel, East German decathlete

September

• September 4 — Fatih Terim, Turkish football player and manager
• September 12 — Janet Ely, American diver
• September 12 — Ramesh Patel, New Zealand field hockey player
• September 14 — Judy Playfair, Australian breaststroke swimmer
• September 25 — Hitoshi Ishigaki, Japanese boxer
• September 27 — Javier Cabot, Spanish field hockey player

October

• October 1 — Grete Waitz, Norwegian marathon runner
• October 3 — Cornelia Bürki, Swiss long-distance runner
• October 3 — Gejza Valent, Czechoslovakian discus thrower
• October 9 — Hank Pfister, American tennis player
• October 12 — Richard McKinney, American archer
• October 27 — Adri van Houwelingen, Dutch road bicycle racer
• October 28 — Clay Evans, Canadian medley swimmer

November

• November 3 — Jürgen Straub, East German middle distance runner
• November 5 — Hugo Corro, Argentine boxer
• November 7 — Alexander Romankov, Russian fencer
• November 11 — Martín Mondragón, Mexican long-distance runner
• November 13 — Steve Williams, American track and field sprinter
• November 20 — Terry Walsh, Australian field hockey striker and coach
• November 22 — Matija Ljubek, Croatian canoer (d. 2000)

December

• December 9 — Hiromitsu Ochiai Japanese baseball player and coach
• December 15 — Gary MacDonald, Canadian freestyle swimmer
• December 20 — Ralph Evans, British boxer
• December 25 — Karl-Heinz Krüger, East German boxer

Deaths

• March 2 — Jim Lightbody (70), American middle distance runner (b. 1882)
• March 3 — Clyde Milan, Major League Baseball player (1907-1922)
• March 3 — James J. Jeffries, world heavyweight boxing champion
• March 23 — László Beleznai (61), Hungarian water polo player and freestyle swimmer (b. 1891)
• March 28 — Jim Thorpe, athlete
• April 11 — Kid Nichols, Major League Baseball pitcher (1890-1906)
• May 27 — Jesse Burkett, Major League Baseball player (1890-1905)
• June 5 — Bill Tilden, tennis player
• June 19 — Norman Ross, American swimmer (b. 1896)
• August 11 — Tazio Nuvolari, race car driver
• October 5 — Piet de Brouwer (73), Dutch archer (d. 1953)
• December 2 — Reginald Baker (69), Australian athlete, sports promoter and film actor (b. 1884)

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