1972 in sports
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See also: 1971 in sports, other events of 1972, 1973 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'.
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Auto Racing
- Stock car racing:
- A.J. Foyt won the Daytona 500
- NASCAR Championship - Richard Petty
- Indianapolis 500 - Mark Donohue
- USAC Racing - Joe Leonard won the season championship
- Formula One Championship - Emerson Fittipaldi of Brazil
- 24 hours of Le Mans: the team of Henri Pescarolo / Graham Hill won, driving a Matra MS670
- Rally racing - Sandro Munari / Mario Manucci won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Lancia Fulvia 1.6HF
- Drag racing - Don Moody won "Top Fuel" at the NHRA Supernationals
Baseball
- January 19: The BBWAA elects Sandy Koufax (344 votes), Yogi Berra (339), and Early Wynn (301) to the Hall of Fame. Koufax makes it in his first try and, at 36, is the youngest honoree in history. He won three Cy Young awards in a four-year span when the honor was only given to one pitcher for both leagues. Berra played in 14 World Series (ten world champions), he had more hits in Series play than any other player, and he was a three-time MVP for the Yankees. Wynn won 300 career games, and won 20 games five times.
- Sparky Lyle saves 35 games for the New York Yankees, breaking Ron Perranoski's 1970 records for AL pitchers and lefthanders. Lyle also becomes the first left-hander to save 100 career games in the American League.
- World Series: Oakland Athletics win their 6th World Championship by defeating the Cincinnati Reds, 4 games to 3.
- December 31 - The Pittsburgh Pirates' legendary right fielder Roberto Clemente dies in a plane crash near Puerto Rico on his way to bring relief supplies to Nicaraguan earthquake victims.
Basketball
- NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship:
- UCLA wins 81-76 over Florida St.
- NBA Finals:
- Los Angeles Lakers won 4 games to 1 over the New York Knicks
Boxing
- June 26 - Roberto Duran stopped Ken Buchanan in the thirteenth round to win the WBA Lightweight Championship.
Cycling
- Giro d'Italia won by Eddy Merckx of Belgium
- Tour de France - Eddy Merckx of Belgium
- World Cycling Championship: Marino Basso of Italy
Figure skating
- World Figure Skating Championships:
- Men's champion: Ondrej Nepala, Czechoslovakia
- Women's champion: Beatrix Schuba, Austria
- Pairs champions: Irina Rodnina & Alexei Ulyanov, Soviet Union
Football (American)
- Super Bowl VI: Dallas Cowboys won 24-3 over the Miami Dolphins
Football (Australian Rules)
- Victorian Football League
- Carlton wins the 76th VFL Premiership (Carlton 28.9 (177) d Richmond 22.18 (150))
- Brownlow Medal awarded to Len Thompson (Collingwood)
Football (Canadian)
- Grey Cup: Hamilton Tiger-Cats won 13-10 over the Saskatchewan Roughriders
- Vanier Cup: Alberta Golden Bears won 20-7 over the Waterloo Golden Hawks
Football (Soccer)
- England - FA Cup: Leeds United won 1-0 over Arsenal
Golf
- The European PGA tour begins its first season of competition.
- Grand Slam of golf results:
- PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Jack Nicklaus - $320,542
- US Women's Open - Susie Berning
- LPGA Championship - Kathy Ahern
- Kathy Whitworth: leading money winner on the LPGA tour, earning $65,063
Thoroughbred Horse Racing
- Australia - Melbourne Cup - Piping Lane
- Canada - Queen's Plate - Victoria Song
- France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - San San
- Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Steel Pulse
Harness Racing
- September 21 - Strike Out became the first Canadian owned harness racing horse to ever win the Little Brown Jug.
Ice Hockey
- World Hockey Association (WHA) formed to compete with the NHL. This new league signed several of the top NHL stars including Bobby Hull and Derek Sanderson.
- Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Phil Esposito, Boston Bruins
- Hart Memorial Trophy: for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Bobby Orr, Boston Bruins
- Stanley Cup - Boston Bruins win 4 games to 2 over the New York Rangers
- September 28 - Paul Henderson scored the "goal of the century" to give Canada the win in the Summit Series, the first ever Canada versus the Soviet Union hockey showdown.
- World Hockey Championship
- Men's champion: Czechoslovakia defeated the Soviet Union
Skiing
- Alpine Skiing
- The men's overall season champion: Gustavo Thoeni, Italy
- The women's overall season champion: Annemarie Pröll, Austria
Snooker
- World Snooker Championship: Alex Higgins beats John Spencer 37-32
Tennis
- Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
- Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
- Australian Open - Virginia Wade
- French Open - Billie Jean King
- Wimbledon championships - Billie Jean King
- US Open - Billie Jean King (first player in Open Era to repeat as singles champion)
- Davis Cup: United States wins 3-2 over Romania in world tennis.
General sporting events
- 1972 Summer Olympics takes place in Munich, Germany
- USSR wins the most medals (99), and the most gold medals (50).
- 1972 Winter Olympics takes place in Sapporo, Japan
- USSR wins the most medals (16), and the most gold medals (8).
Births
- January 3 - Steph Cook, modern pentathlon star
- January 11 - Julia Price, Australian cricketer
- February 11 - Dennis Iliohan, Dutch football player
- February 15 - Jaromir Jagr, ice hockey star
- February 17 - Philippe Candeloro, figure skater
- February 19 - Lucy Pearson, English cricketer
- February 24 - Richard Chelimo, Kenyan athlete, former world record holder, 10,000m (d. 2001)
- March 6 - Shaquille O'Neal, basketball player
- March 14 - Clover Maitland, Australian field hockey goalkeeper
- March 17 - Mia Hamm, soccer player
- March 18 - Carolyn Reid, British field hockey goalkeeper
- March 22 - Elvis Stojko, figure skating champion
- March 25 - Nina Bonner, Australian field hockey goalkeeper
- April 17 - Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer
- June 23 - Zinedine Zidane, French football star
- July 8 - Saurav Ganguly, Indian cricketer
- August 11 - Melanie Jones, Austaralian cricketer
- August 27 - Denise Lewis,British athlete
- August 30 - Pavel Nedved, Czech football star
- November 4 - Luis Figo, Portuguese football star
- November 4 - Olivia Magno, Australian cricketer
- November 9 - Sophie Blake, British television sports presenter
Deaths
- February 28 - Victor Barna, Hungarian-born, 5 time World table tennis champ
- February 28 - Dizzy Trout, Major League Baseball pitcher (1939-1957)
- March 11 - Zack Wheat, Major League Baseball player (1909-1927)
- March 16 - Pie Traynor, Major League Baseball player (1920-1937)
- March 28 - Donie Bush, Major League Baseball player (1908-1923)
- April 2 - Gil Hodges, Major League Baseball player/manager (1943-1963)
- October 9 - Dave Bancroft, Major League Baseball player (1915-1930)
- October 17 - Turk Broda, ice hockey goaltender
- October 24 - Jackie Robinson, (Baseball Hall of Famer) (1947-1956)
- December 31 - Roberto Clemente, (Baseball Hall of Famer) (1955-1972)
- December 20 - Gabby Hartnett, Major League Baseball player (1922-1941)fr:1972 en sport