1959 In Sports

Auto Racing

• Stock car racing:
• Lee Petty won the inaugural Daytona 500
• NASCAR Championship — Lee Petty
• Indianapolis 500 — Rodger Ward
• USAC Racing — Rodger Ward
• Formula One Champion — Jack Brabham of Australia
• 24 hours of Le Mans: Carroll Shelby / Roy Salvadori won driving an Aston Martin DBR1
• Rally racing — Paul Coltelloni / P Alexandre won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Citron ID
• Drag racing:
• Chris the "Greek" Karamesines won the AHRA "Top Fuel"
• Rodney Singer won Top Eliminator at the NHRA Nationals

Baseball

• March 3 — The San Francisco Giants officially name their new stadium Candlestick Park.
• World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers win 4 games to 2 over the Chicago White Sox. The Series MVP is Larry Sherry, Los Angeles
• The Winnipeg Goldeyes win the Northern League championship.

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
• California wins 71-70 over West Virginia
• NBA Finals:
• Boston Celtics win 4 games to 0 over the Minneapolis Lakers

Boxing

• June 26 — in New York City, Ingemar Johansson scored a 3rd round TKO over Floyd Patterson to win the World Heavyweight Championship

Cricket

• West Indies register their biggest test win beating India by an innings and 336 runs at Calcutta.

Curling

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia — Charly Gaul of (Luxembourg)
• Tour de France — Federico Bahamontes of Spain
• Vuelta a Espana — Antonio Suarez of (Spain)

Figure Skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
• Men's champion: David Jenkins, United States
• Women's champion: Carol Heiss, United States
• Pairs champions: Barbara Wagner & Robert Paul, Canada

Football (American)

• NFL Championship: Baltimore Colts won 31-16 over the New York Giants

Football (Australian Rules)

• Victorian Football League
• Melbourne wins the 63rd VFL Premiership (Melbourne 17.13 (115) d Essendon 11.12 (78))
• Brownlow Medal awarded to Bob Skilton (South Melbourne)

Football (Canadian)

• Grey Cup: Winnipeg Blue Bombers win 21-7 over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Football (Soccer)

• England — FA Cup: Nottingham Forest won 2-1 over Luton Town

Golf

• Grand Slam of golf results:
1. May — The Masters golf tournament — Art Wall, Jr.
2. June — US Open — Billy Casper
3. July — British Open — Gary Player
4. August — PGA Championship — Bob Rosburg

• PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Art Wall — $53,168

• Ryder Cup: United States 8 to 3 over Britain in world team golf

• US Women's Open — Mickey Wright
• LPGA Championship — Betsy Rawls
• Betsy Rawls: leading money winner on the LPGA tour, earning $26,774.

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

• Australia — Melbourne Cup — Macdougal
• Canada — Queen's Plate — New Providence
• France — Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe — Saint Crespin
• Ireland — Irish Derby Stakes — Fidalgo

• English Triple Crown Races:
1. Two Thousand Guineas Stakes — Taboun
2. Epsom Derby — Parthia
3. St. Leger Stakes — Cantelo

• United States Triple Crown Races:
1. Kentucky Derby — Tomy Lee
2. Preakness Stakes — Royal Orbit
3. Belmont Stakes — Sword Dancer

Harness Racing

• Adios Butler is the first to win the United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
1. Cane Pace — Adios Butler
2. Little Brown Jug — Adios Butler
3. Messenger Stakes — Adios Butler

• United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
1. Hambletonian — Diller Hanover
2. Yonkers Trot — John A Hanover
3. Kentucky Futurity — Diller Hanover

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
• Pacers: Young Pedro

Ice Hockey

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Dickie Moore, Montreal Canadiens

• Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Andy Bathgate, New York Rangers

• Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens win 4 games to 1 over the Toronto Maple Leafs

• World Hockey Championship
• Men's champion: Belleville McFarlands from Canada

Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
1. Australian Open — Alex Olmedo
2. French Open — Nicola Pietrangeli
3. Wimbledon championships — Alex Olmedo
4. US Open — Neale Fraser

• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
1. Australian Open — Mary Carter-Reitano
2. French Open — Christine Truman
3. Wimbledon championships — Maria Bueno
4. US Open — Maria Bueno

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

General sporting events

Births

• January 2 — Bettina Blumenberg, German field hockey international
• January 4 — Alison Weir, Scottish field hockey goalkeeper
• February 4 — Lawrence Taylor, American football star
• February 11 — Corinne Shigemoto, US judo coach
• February 16 — John McEnroe, tennis player
• March 17 — Danny Ainge, basketball player, coach, baseball player
• July 4 — Jan Brittin, English women's cricketer
• August 14 — Magic Johnson, basketball legend
• August 21 — Jim McMahon, American football star
• December 16 — Colleen Jones, world's most successful female Curler

Deaths

• War Admiral — thoroughbred race horse
• January 22 — Michael Hawthorn, F1 race driver
• September 28 — Rudolf Caracciola, F1 race driver

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