1954 in sports

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[edit] Artistic Gymnastics

1954 World Championships
- Men's all-around champion: Viktor Chukarin, USSR
- Women's all-around champion: Galina Rud'ko, USSR
- Team competition champions: men's - USSR; women's - USSR

[edit] Athletics

[edit] Marathon

August 25 — European Championships Marathon, Bern, Switzerland
- Men's Winner: Veikko Karvonen (FIN) 2:24:52

December 5 — Fukuoka Marathon, Japan
- Men's Winner: Reinaldo Gorno (ARG) 2:24:55

[edit] Auto Racing

NASCAR Championship - Lee Petty
AAA Racing:
- Bill Vukovich won the Indianapolis 500
- Jimmy Bryan won the season championship
Formula One Championship - Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina
24 hours of Le Mans: the team of Froilán González / Maurice Trintignant won, driving a Ferrari 375
Rally racing - the team of Louis Chiron / Ciro Basadonna win the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Lancia Aurelia GT
Drag racing - The NHRA expands, sanctioning other drag strip operators in the United States.
Daytona 200 - BSA take all first five places with remainder of the team at 8th and 16th.

[edit] Baseball

January 14: Former Yankees great Joe DiMaggio marries legendary actress Marilyn Monroe in a union of heavily publicized media stars.

World Series: New York Giants win 4 games to 0 over the Cleveland Indians

[edit] Basketball

FIBA World Championship:
- USA World Champion

NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
- La Salle wins 92-76 over Bradley

NBA Finals:
- Minneapolis Lakers win 4-3 over the Syracuse Nationals

March 13: Milan High School, enrollment 161, defeated Muncie Central High School (enrollment over 1,600) 32-30 to win the Indiana state title. The 1986 movie classic Hoosiers was very loosely based on the story of this Milan team.

[edit] Boxing

September 17 in New York City, Rocky Marciano retained his World Heavyweight title with an 8th round knockout of Ezzard Charles

[edit] Figure skating

World Figure Skating Championships:
- Men's champion: Hayes Alan Jenkins, United States
- Ladies' champion: Gundi Busch, Germany
- Pair skating champions: Frances Dafoe & Norris Bowden, Canada
- Ice dancing champions: Jean Westwood & Lawrence Demmy, Great Britain

[edit] Football (American)

NFL Championship: Cleveland Browns win 56-10 over the Detroit Lions
Ohio State Buckeyes - college football champions.

[edit] Football (Australian rules football)

Victorian Football League
- Footscray wins the 58th VFL Premiership (Footscray 15.12 (102) d Melbourne 7.9 (51))
- Brownlow Medal awarded to Roy Wright (Richmond)

[edit] Football (Canadian)

The British Columbia Lions started play in the Western Interprovincial Football Union as the ninth professional team.

The Ontario Rugby Football Union stops challenging for the Grey Cup, permanently establishing that trophy as one to be awarded only to professional teams.

These changes result in the Grey Cup being an East vs. West competition. Although the Canadian Football League was not technically founded until the late 1950's, 1954 is often referred to as the start of the "modern era" of Canadian professional football. It is also considered to be the year the CFL was founded in substance if not in name.

In the Grey Cup, the Edmonton Eskimos win 26-25 over the Montreal Alouettes.

Back row: (left to right) [1]Rich Kolisnyk, Mel Kotch, Bob Jones, Tom Brisson, Bill Ritchie, Len Sigurdson, Walt Van Wynsberg, Lorne Miller. Middle row: Gerry Duguid, Harry Makin, Art Makin, Jerry Lavitt, John Thorney, Bill Barrett, Jim Thorney, Al McBride, Bill Senyk, Bob Bouchard, Ray Charambura, Nick Miller, Dick Hebertson, Ron Stephenson. Front row: Al Passman, Mort Corrin, Bill Yee, Norm Lampe, Dede Brown, Joe Sawchuk, Art Brockhill, Lew Miles, Ken Freeman, Bill Thomas, Ron Cooke, Pete Sawchuk, Harry Snider, Harold Neufeld. In front: Ken Kolisnyk (mascot).

The Canadian Intermediate-Senior championship was awarded to the Winnipeg Rams. The team consisted of [2]Rich Kolisnyk (quarterback), Mel Kotch, Bob Jones, Tom Brisson, Bill Ritchie, Len Sigurdson, Walt Van Wynsberg, Lorne Miller, Gerry Duguid, Harry Makin, Art Makin, Jerry Lavitt, John Thorney, Bill Barrett, Jim Thorney, Al McBride, Bill Senyk, Bob Bouchard, Ray Charambura, Nick Miller, Dick Hebertson, Ron Stephenson, Al Passman, Mort Corrin, Bill Yee, Norm Lampe, Dede Brown, Joe Sawchuk, Art Brockhill, Lew Miles, Ken Freeman, Bill Thomas, Ron Cooke, Pete Sawchuk, Harry Snider, Harold Neufeld and their mascot Ken Kolisnyk.