1979 in sports

[Alpine skiing]

• Alpine Skiing World Cup
• * Men's overall season champion: Peter Lüscher, Switzerland
• * Women's overall season champion: Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Austria

  [American football]

• Sugar Bowl :
• * The Alabama Crimson Tide won 14–7 over the Penn State Nittany Lions to claim AP Poll national championship
• January 21 – Super Bowl XIII: Pittsburgh Steelers won 35−31 over the Dallas Cowboys
• * Location: Miami Orange Bowl
• * Attendance: 79,484
• August 4 – Opening game of the American Football Bundesliga played between Frankfurter Löwen and Düsseldorf Panther, first-ever league game of American football in Germany.
• November 10 – German Bowl I – Frankfurter Löwen defeated the Ansbach Grizzlies 14–8.

  [Artistic gymnastics]

• World Artistic Gymnastics Championships –
• * Men's all-around champion: Alexander Dityatin, USSR
• * Women's all-around champion: Nellie Kim, USSR
• * Men's team competition champion: USSR
• * Women's team competition champion: Romania

  [Association football]

• May 12 – England – FA Cup – Arsenal win 3–2 over Manchester United
• Sport Club Internacional win the Brazilian Championship undefeated

  [Australian rules football]

• Victorian Football League
• * April 28: Collingwood beats a 70-year-old record for the greatest winning margin in VFL football when they beat St. Kilda by 178 points 31.21 to 3.11
• * July 28: Fitzroy beats Collingwood's three-month-old record when they beat Melbourne 36.22 to 6.12 with Bob Beecroft kicking ten goals
• * Carlton win the 83rd VFL Premiership d Collingwood 11.11 )
• * Brownlow Medal awarded to Peter Moore

  [Baseball]

• January 23 – Willie Mays receives 409 of 432 votes in the BBWAA election to earn enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.
• July 12 – Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers
• August 2 – death of Thurman Munson, New York Yankees catcher, in an air crash
• World Series – Pittsburgh Pirates won 4 games to 3 over the Baltimore Orioles. The Series MVP was Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh. The Pirates become the only team in sports history to come back from a three games to one deficit in a championship series twice, having also achieved the comeback in the 1925 World Series.

  [Basketball]

• NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship –
• * Michigan St. wins 75–64 over Indiana St.
• NBA Finals –
• * Seattle SuperSonics, coached by Lenny Wilkens, won 4 games to 1 over the Washington Bullets for the only finals win in Seattle SuperSonics history.
• National Basketball League –
• * The Australian NBL was founded. The St Kilda Saints became the first champions by defeating the Canberra Cannons 94–93 in the final.

  [Boxing]

• September 28 in Las Vegas, Larry Holmes retains his World Heavyweight title with an 11th-round TKO of Earnie Shavers.
• November 30 in Las Vegas, dual world championship undercard: Vito Antuofermo retains his world Middleweight title with a 15-round draw against Marvin Hagler, and Sugar Ray Leonard wins his first world title, beating WBC world Welterweight champion Wilfred Benítez by knockout in round 15.

  [Canadian football]

• Grey Cup – Edmonton Eskimos win 17–9 over the Montreal Alouettes
• Vanier Cup – Acadia Axemen win 34–12 over the Western Ontario Mustangs

  [Cricket]

• Cricket World Cup – West Indies beat England by 92 runs
• World Series Cricket rival competition to official International Cricket Council matches is disbanded.

  [Cycling]

• Giro d'Italia – won by Giuseppe Saronni of Italy
• Tour de France – Bernard Hinault of France
• UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race – Jan Raas of Netherlands

  [Dogsled racing]

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion –
• * Rick Swenson won with lead dogs: Andy & O.B.

  [Field hockey]

• 1979 Pan American Games men's competition held in San Juan, Puerto Rico and won by Argentina
• August – The 2nd Women's World Field Hockey Championships are held at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with the Netherlands as the champions.

  [Figure skating]

• World Figure Skating Championships –
• * Men's champion: Vladimir Kovalev, Soviet Union
• * Ladies' champion: Linda Fratianne, United States
• * Pair skating champions: Tai Babilonia & Randy Gardner, United States
• * Ice dancing champions: Natalia Linichuk & Gennadi Karponossov, Soviet Union

  [Golf]

• Masters Tournament – Fuzzy Zoeller defeats Ed Sneed and Tom Watson in the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, the first time the Masters used a sudden-death format.
• U.S. Open – Hale Irwin
• British Open – Seve Ballesteros becomes the first golfer from Continental Europe to win a major since Arnaud Massy of France won this event in 1907.
• PGA Championship – David Graham
• PGA Tour money leader – Tom Watson – $462,636
• Ryder Cup – United States won 17–11 over Europe in the first Ryder Cup to feature a side representing all of Europe.

• British Amateur – Jay Sigel
• U.S. Amateur – Mark O'Meara

• LPGA Championship – Donna Caponi
• U.S. Women's Open – Jerilyn Britz
• Classique Peter Jackson Classic – Amy Alcott
• LPGA Tour money leader – Nancy Lopez – $197,489

  [Harness racing]

• The Hambletonian is awarded to Meadowlands Racetrack, starting in 1981.
• United States Pacing Triple Crown races –
• # Cane Pace – Happy Motoring
• # Little Brown Jug – Hot Hitter
• # Messenger Stakes – Hot Hitter
• United States Trotting Triple Crown races –
• # Hambletonian – Legend Hanover
• # Yonkers Trot
• # Kentucky Futurity
• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship –
• * Pacers: Rondel
• * Trotters: No Response

  [Horse racing]

• Cheltenham Gold Cup – Alverton
• Grand National – Rubstic

• Australia – Melbourne Cup won by Hyperno
• Canada – Queen's Plate won by Steady Growth
• France – Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe won by Three Troikas
• Ireland – Irish Derby Stakes won by Troy
• English Triple Crown Races:
• # 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Tap On Wood
• # The Derby – Troy
• # St. Leger Stakes – Son of Love
• United States Triple Crown Races:
• # Kentucky Derby – Spectacular Bid
• # Preakness Stakes – Spectacular Bid
• # Belmont Stakes – Coastal

  [Ice hockey]

• Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Bryan Trottier, New York Islanders
• Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Bryan Trottier, New York Islanders
• Stanley Cup – Montreal Canadiens win 4 games to 1 over the New York Rangers
• World Hockey Championship
• * Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Czechoslovakia
• * Junior Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Sweden
• Réal Cloutier of the Quebec Nordiques became the second NHL player to score a hat trick in his debut NHL game.
• Avco World Trophy – Winnipeg Jets won 4 games to 2 over the Edmonton Oilers

  [Motorsport]

[Rugby league]

• 1979 Amco Cup
• 1979 European Rugby League Championship
• 1979 New Zealand rugby league season
• 1978–79 Northern Rugby Football League season / 1979–80 Northern Rugby Football League season
• 1979 NSWRFL season

  [Rugby union]

• 85th Five Nations Championship series is won by Wales

  [Snooker]

• World Snooker Championship – outsider Terry Griffiths beats Dennis Taylor 24-16
• World rankings – Ray Reardon remains world number one for 1979/80

  Swimming">swimming (sport)">Swimming

• Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico
• July 23 – West Germany's Klaus Steinbach sets a world record in the 50m freestyle at a swimming meet in Freiburg, shaving off 0.02 of the previous record set by Ron Manganiello nearly a year ago: 23.70.

  [Tennis]

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
• # Australian Open – Guillermo Vilas
• # French Open – Björn Borg
• # Wimbledon championships – July 7 – Björn Borg
• # US Open – John McEnroe
• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
• # Australian Open – Barbara Jordan
• # French Open – Chris Evert
• # Wimbledon championships – July 7 – Martina Navratilova
• # US Open – Tracy Austin, youngest US Open Champion at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 28 days defeating 4-time defending champion Chris Evert 6–4, 6–3 in the final after defeating 2nd seeded Martina Navratilova in the semifinal making Evert lose for the first time in 32 matches.
• Davis Cup – United States wins 5–0 over Italy in world tennis.

  [Volleyball]

• Asian Men's Volleyball Championship: won by China
• Asian Women's Volleyball Championship: won by China
• Men and Women's European Volleyball Championship held in France: both won by USSR
• Volleyball at the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico: men's and women's tournaments both won by Cuba

  [Water polo]

• 1979 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup held in Yugoslavia and won by Hungary
• 1979 FINA Women's Water Polo World Cup held in Merced, California and won by USA

  [Multi-sport event]s

• 8th Pan American Games held in San Juan, Puerto Rico
• 8th Mediterranean Games held in Split, Yugoslavia
• Tenth Summer Universiade held in Mexico City, Mexico
• September 7 – The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network makes its debut.

  Awards

• Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year – Willie Stargell, Major League Baseball
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year – Tracy Austin, Tennis
• ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year: Willie Stargell, Major League Baseball