1979 in sports

1979 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.

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

 * Super Bowl XIII – the Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC) won 35−31 over the Dallas Cowboys (NFC)
 * Location: Miami Orange Bowl
 * Attendance: 79,484
 * MVP: Terry Bradshaw, QB (Pittsburgh)
 * Sugar Bowl (1978 season):
 * The Alabama Crimson Tide won 14–7 over the Penn State Nittany Lions to claim AP Poll national championship
 * 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 (207) to 3.11 (29)
 * July 28: Fitzroy beats Collingwood's three-month-old record when they beat Melbourne 36.22 (238) to 6.12 (48) with Bob Beecroft kicking ten goals
 * Carlton win the 83rd VFL Premiership (Carlton 11.16 (82) d Collingwood 11.11 (77))
 * Brownlow Medal awarded to Peter Moore (Collingwood)

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 (Australia) –
 * 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 (tie) 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. (Old Buddy)

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
Men's professional Men's amateur Women's professional
 * 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 – Mo Bandy
 * Kentucky Futurity – Filet of Sole
 * Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship –
 * Pacers: Rondel
 * Trotters: No Response

Horse racing
Steeplechases Flat races
 * 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

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

 * 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 (23.72) 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
 * U.S. Open – John McEnroe
 * Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
 * Australian Open – Barbara Jordan
 * French Open – Chris Evert
 * Wimbledon championships – July 7 – Martina Navratilova
 * U.S. 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 events

 * 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 (ESPN) 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