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
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.
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.
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.