1946 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
- All-America Football Conference
The All-America Football Conference was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL’s most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the nation’s best players, produced one of pro football’s greatest...
begins play. Cleveland BrownsThe Cleveland Browns are an American football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They play in the AFC North division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . The original Cleveland Browns began play in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
win the championship by beating New York YankeesThe New York Yankees were a professional American football team that played in the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949. The team played in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and often played in front of sold-out crowds . They were owned by Dan Topping, who brought many of his Brooklyn...
14-9.
- Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the NFC North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
win the NFL crown by defeating the New York GiantsThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The team plays its home games at Giants Stadium, which also serves as its headquarters, and trains at an adjacent practice facility within the Meadowlands Sports Complex...
24-14 in New York.
England
- FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association. The name "FA Cup" usually refers to the English men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held...
– Derby CountyDerby County Football Club is a professional football club based in Derby, England, currently playing in the Football League Championship. The club is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only eleven clubs to have competed in...
beat Charlton AthleticCharlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich...
4–1 after extra time.
- The Football League resumes playing for the 1946–47 season.
- The 3rd European Championships in Athletics
The European Athletics Championships is an event organized by the European Athletic Association. It is organised every four years, the same year as the Commonwealth Games and between the Summer Olympic Games cycle...
held from August 22 to August 25 at the Bislett StadionBislett Stadion is a sports stadium in Oslo, Norway. Bislett is Norway's most well known sports arena internationally, with 15 speed skating world records and more than 50 track and field world records having been set here...
in Oslo.
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1946 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
- All-America Football Conference
The All-America Football Conference was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL’s most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the nation’s best players, produced one of pro football’s greatest...
begins play. Cleveland BrownsThe Cleveland Browns are an American football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They play in the AFC North division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . The original Cleveland Browns began play in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
win the championship by beating New York YankeesThe New York Yankees were a professional American football team that played in the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949. The team played in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and often played in front of sold-out crowds . They were owned by Dan Topping, who brought many of his Brooklyn...
14-9.
- Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the NFC North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
win the NFL crown by defeating the New York GiantsThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The team plays its home games at Giants Stadium, which also serves as its headquarters, and trains at an adjacent practice facility within the Meadowlands Sports Complex...
24-14 in New York.
Association football
England
- FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association. The name "FA Cup" usually refers to the English men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held...
– Derby CountyDerby County Football Club is a professional football club based in Derby, England, currently playing in the Football League Championship. The club is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only eleven clubs to have competed in...
beat Charlton AthleticCharlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich...
4–1 after extra time.
- The Football League resumes playing for the 1946–47 season.
AthleticsTrack and field athletics is a collection of sports events that involve running, throwing, jumping and walking. Organised athletics are traced back to the Ancient Olympic Games from 776 BC, and most modern events are conducted by the member clubs of the International Association of Athletics...
- The 3rd European Championships in Athletics
The European Athletics Championships is an event organized by the European Athletic Association. It is organised every four years, the same year as the Commonwealth Games and between the Summer Olympic Games cycle...
held from August 22 to August 25 at the Bislett StadionBislett Stadion is a sports stadium in Oslo, Norway. Bislett is Norway's most well known sports arena internationally, with 15 speed skating world records and more than 50 track and field world records having been set here...
in Oslo. For the first time, it is a combined event for men and women; and for the first time a city in Scandinavia hosts the championships.
Australian rules footballAustralian football, also commonly referred to as Australian rules football, football, or Aussie rules, colloquially as footy, and historically as Australasian football or Victorian football, is a variant of football played between two teams of 18 players, plus four interchange players, outdoors on...
- Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League, formerly known as the Victorian Football Association is the premier league in Victoria...
- Essendon
Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club and is part of the Australian Football League. Formed in 1871 as a junior club and as a senior club in 1873, it is headquartered at the Essendon Recreation Reserve, Windy Hill in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon,...
wins the 50th VFL Premiership (Essendon 13.8 (86) d CarltonCarlton Football Club, nicknamed The Blues, is the third oldest club in the Australian Football League and one of the oldest Australian rules football clubs. They were the first premiers of the Victorian Football Association in 1877, and share the most premierships of any VFL/AFL club...
11.19(85))
- Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy — better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
awarded to Don CordnerDr Donald Cordner was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League during the 1940s...
(MelbourneMelbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
)
BaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond...
- January 23 – Hall of Fame election
Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1946 were conducted by methods refashioned and then fashioned again during the year. As in 1945 the Baseball Writers Association of America voted by mail to select from recent players and elected no one...
– the writers' vote again fails to select an inductee, despite a newly revamped voting process. Voting again favors earlier candidates from the 1900s and 1910s, but none is able to gain 75% of the vote.
- Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first African-American Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
plays for the Montreal Royals, the AAA affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first African-American to play in organised baseball in the 20th centuryThe 20th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar.The British Empire, the Russian Empire, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved in the first half of the century, with all but the...
. Vincent "Manny" McIntyre from Fredericton, New BrunswickFredericton is the capital of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, by virtue of the provincial parliament which sits there. An important cultural, artistic, and educational centre for the province , Fredericton is home to two universities, as well as cultural institutions such as the...
, CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
becomes the first Black CanadianBlack Canadians, Caribbean Canadians and African Canadians are designations used for people of Black African descent who reside in Canada. The terms are used by and of Canadian citizens who trace their ancestry back to people who were indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa...
to sign a professional baseball contract (with the Sherbrooke Canadians).
- April 23 – the Hall of Fame Committee clears the deadlock at the top of the writers' ballot by selecting 11 new inductees, primarily from the popular candidates of the 1900s and 1910s: Jesse Burkett
Jesse Cail Burkett , nicknamed "The Crab", was a Major League Baseball player at the turn of the 20th century...
, Frank ChanceFrank Leroy Chance was a Major League Baseball player at the turn of the 20th century. Performing the roles of first baseman and manager, Chance led the Chicago Cubs to four National League championships in the span of five years and earned the nickname "The Peerless Leader".Chance was elected to...
, Jack ChesbroJohn Dwight Chesbro was a Major League Baseball pitcher at the turn of the 20th century. He was the last major league pitcher to win 40 games or more in a single season....
, Johnny EversJohn Joseph Evers was a Major League Baseball player and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1946...
, Clark GriffithClark Calvin Griffith , nicknamed "the Old Fox", was a Major League Baseball pitcher, manager and team owner....
, Tommy McCarthyThomas Francis Michael "Tommy" McCarthy was a 19th century Major League Baseball player. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.-Career:...
, Joe McGinnity, Eddie PlankEdward Stewart Plank , nicknamed "Gettysburg Eddie," was a Major League Baseball pitcher in the early 20th century, the first left-handed pitcher to win 200 games and then 300 games, and now ranks third in all-time wins among left-handers with 326 career victories .Plank was elected to the Baseball...
, Joe TinkerJoseph Bert Tinker was a Major League Baseball player and manager. He was born in Muscotah, Kansas.Tinker was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.-Career:...
, Rube WaddellGeorge Edward Waddell was an American Southpaw pitcher in Major League Baseball. In his thirteen-year career he played for the Louisville Colonels , Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Orphans in the National League, and the Philadelphia Athletics and St. Louis Browns in the American League...
and Ed WalshEdward Augustine Walsh was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He holds the record for lowest career ERA, 1.82.Born in Plains Township, Pennsylvania, Walsh had a brief though remarkable major league career. He made his major league debut in with the Chicago White Sox and pitched his first full...
. Selections of 19th century players are largely postponed. It is decided that the writers will henceforth select only players retired within the more recent past, rather than from the entire 20th century.
- June 15 – when some ballplayers jump to the Mexican League, MLB Commissioner Happy Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. was twice governor of Kentucky, a U.S. Senator, the second Commissioner of Major League Baseball, and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame...
mentions a lifetime suspension for them, but his penalty is later reduced (19491949 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-American football:* Cleveland Browns 21–7 San Francisco 49ers for the All-America Football Conference championship...
).
- July 14 – player–manager Lou Boudreau
Louis "Lou" Boudreau was an American Major League Baseball player and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970...
of Cleveland IndiansThe Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field . The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
hits four doubleIn baseball, a double is the act of a batter striking the pitched ball and safely reaching second base without being called out by the umpire, without the benefit of a fielder's misplay or another runner being put out on a fielder's choice....
s and one home runIn baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle all the bases, ending at home plate and scoring runs for himself and each runner who was already on base, with no errors by the defensive team on the play...
, but Ted WilliamsTheodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was a left fielder in Major League Baseball. He played 21 seasons with the Boston Red Sox, twice interrupted by military service as a Marine Corps pilot...
wallops three HRs and drives in eight runs, as the Boston Red SoxThe Boston Red Sox are a member of the Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Since , the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park. The "Red Sox" name originates from the iconic uniform feature....
top the Indians 11–10. In the Sox second–game win, the famous "Boudreau Shift" is born. Boudreau shifts all his players, except the third basemanA third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run...
and left fielderA left fielder , is an outfielder in the sport of baseball who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound...
, to the right side of the diamond in an effort to stop Williams, who grounds out and walks twice while ignoring the shift.
- World Series
The World Series has been the annual championship series of the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada since 1903, concluding the postseason of Major League Baseball...
– St. Louis CardinalsThe St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball...
beat Boston Red SoxThe Boston Red Sox are a member of the Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Since , the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park. The "Red Sox" name originates from the iconic uniform feature....
4 games to 3.
BasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
- National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is a professional basketball league, composed of thirty teams in North America . It is an active member of USA Basketball , which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the National Governing Body for basketball in the United States...
formed as the Basketball Association of America
- Continental Basketball Association
The Continental Basketball Association is a professional men's basketball league in the United States. It is affiliated with USA Basketball, the sport's governing body in the United States.- History :...
formed as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League
- Fourth European basketball championship, Eurobasket 1946
The 1946 European Basketball Championship, commonly called Eurobasket 1946, was the fourth Eurobasket regional championship held by FIBA Europe and the first since 1939 due to World War II. Ten national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation took part in the competition...
, is won by CzechoslovakiaThe Czechoslovakian national basketball team was the basketball side that represented Czechoslovakia in international competitions. After the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia set up their own national teams.- Medals :...
.
Figure skatingFigure skating is a Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...
- The World Figure Skating Championships
The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion...
were not held due to World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
GolfGolf is a precision club-and-ball sport, in which competing players , using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area...
Men's professional
- Masters Tournament – Herman Keiser
Herman W. Keiser was an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour who won the 1946 Masters Tournament. He was born in Springfield, Missouri and was the golf professional at courses in Portage and Akron, Ohio....
- U.S. Open
The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...
– Lloyd MangrumLloyd Eugene Mangrum was an American professional golfer. He was known for his smooth swing and his relaxed demeanour on the course....
- British Open
The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only major held outside the USA and is administered by the R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
– Sam SneadSamuel Jackson Snead was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for most of four decades. He and two of the other greatest golfers of all time, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, were born within six months of each other in 1912...
- PGA Championship
The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour...
– Ben HoganWilliam Ben Hogan was an American golfer, and is generally considered one of the greatest golfers in the history of the game...
Men's amateur
- British Amateur
The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held in the United Kingdom. In the rest of the world, it is often known as the "British Amateur" or the "British Amateur Championship". It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur male golfers alongside the U.S...
– James Bruen
- U.S. Amateur – Stanley E. Bishop
Women's professional
- Women's Western Open
The women's Western Open was a professional golf tournament which was first played in 1930. The LPGA was established in 1950, and it recognized the Western Open as one of its major championships until 1967. All of the events back to 1930 have been designated as majors by the LPGA. All of the...
– Louise SuggsMae Louise Suggs is a veteran American professional golfer and one of the founders of the LPGA Tour and thus modern ladies' golf.-Amateur career:...
- U.S. Women's Open
The United States Women's Open Golf Championship, one of thirteen national championships conducted by the United States Golf Association , is one of the LPGA's major championships along with the LPGA Championship, the Women's British Open, and the Kraft Nabisco Championship...
– Patty BergPatricia Jane Berg was a founding member and then leading player on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s...
- Titleholders Championship
There have been two professional golf tournaments for women named the Titleholders Championship. The first was of the original women's majors. The 1990s tournament was a standard event on the LPGA Tour.-History:...
– Louise SuggsMae Louise Suggs is a veteran American professional golfer and one of the founders of the LPGA Tour and thus modern ladies' golf.-Amateur career:...
Horse racingHorse racing is an equestrian sport that has been practiced over the centuries; the chariot races of Roman times are an early example, as is the contest of the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. It is inextricably associated with gambling...
Steeplechases
- Cheltenham Gold Cup
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt chase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run on the New Course at Cheltenham over a distance of 3 miles and 2½ furlongs , and during its running there are twenty-two fences to be jumped...
–
- Grand National
The Grand National is a famous National Hunt horse race which is held at Aintree in England. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of about 4 miles and 856 yards , and during its running there are thirty fences to be jumped...
–
Flat races
- Australia – Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major annual Thoroughbred horse race. Billed as The race that stops a nation, it is a race for three-year-olds and over, over a distance of 3,200 metres. It is the richest and most prestigious "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races in...
won by
- Canada – Queen's Plate
The Queen's Plate is North America's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each June at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...
won by
- France – Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year, usually on the first Sunday in October.Popularly referred to as the...
won by
- Ireland – Irish Derby Stakes
The Irish Derby is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland which is open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in late June or early July...
won by
- English Triple Crown Races
The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...
:
- 2,000 Guineas Stakes –
- Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, known colloquially as The Derby and internationally as the Epsom Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain which is open to three-year-old Thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 10 yards , and it is scheduled...
–
- St. Leger Stakes
The St. Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain which is open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 1 mile, 6 furlongs and 132 yards , and it is scheduled to take place each year in September.Established in 1776, the St. Leger...
–
- United States Triple Crown Races
The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...
:
- Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter miles at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ...
– AssaultAssault was an American Hall of Fame thoroughbred racehorse who won the U.S. Triple Crown in 1946.-Early life:...
- Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race 1-3/16 mile thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses, held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...
–
- Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. The race is the third and final leg of the Triple Crown, following five weeks after the Kentucky Derby, and three weeks after the Preakness Stakes...
–
Rugby unionRugby union is a full contact team sport, a form of football which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. It is played with an oval-shaped ball, outdoors on a level field, usually with a grass surface, 100 m...
- Five Nations Championship
The Six Nations Championship , known before 2000 as the Five Nations Championship, is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.The Six Nations Championship is the successor to the Five Nations and the Home...
series is not contested due to World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
SnookerSnooker is a cue sport that is played on a large baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regulation table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different ...
- World Snooker Championship
The World Snooker Championship, held at the Crucible Theatre in the English city of Sheffield, is the climax of snooker's annual calendar and the most important snooker event of the year in terms of prestige, prize money and world ranking points. The current champion is John Higgins.- History :The...
– Joe DavisJoe Davis, OBE was a British professional player of snooker and English billiards....
beats Horace LindrumHorace Lindrum was an Australian professional snooker and carom billiards player. He was the great grandson of Australia's first billiards champion, the grandson of the great billiard coach, Frederick William Lindrum II, and nephew of Frederick WIlliam Lindrum III and Walter Lindrum...
78–67, then announces his retirement from the event after this, his 15th consecutive victory.
Awards
- Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year – Glenn Davis, College football
College football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies. It was the venue through which American football first gained popularity in the United States...
- Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year – Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Mildred Ella Didrikson Zaharias was an American athlete named by the Guinness Book of Records, along with Lottie Dod, as the most versatile female competitor...
, LPGA golfThe LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters are in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...