- Jan 3 Gus Dorais, American College Football Hall of Fame quarterback (Notre Dame) and coach (Gonzaga, Detroit Lions), dies of arteriosclerosis and anorexia at 62
- Jan 5 Rabbit Maranville, American baseball player (Boston Braves), dies at 62
- Jan 6 Rabbit Maranville, American Baseball HOF infielder (World Series 1914 Boston Braves) and manager (Chicago Cubs), dies at 62
- Jan 20 Fred Root, English cricket fast bowler (3 Tests, 8 wickets; Derbyshire CCC, Worcestershire CCC), dies at 63
- Jan 20 Warren Bardsley, Australian cricket batsman (41 Tests, 6 x 100, 14 x 50, HS 193no; NSWCA), dies at 71
- Feb 1 Henry Leveson-Gower, English cricket batsman and captain (3 Tests; Surrey CCC, Oxford University CC), dies at 80
- Mar 12 Bob Quinn, American baseball executive (owner Boston Red Sox 1923–33; part owner Boston Braves 1936–45; President National Baseball Hall of Fame 1948–51), dies at 84
- Mar 14 Fred Herd, Scottish golfer (US Open 1898), dies at 80
- Mar 18 Walter Mead, cricketer (one Test for England 1899), dies
- Apr 2 Maud Barger-Wallach, American tennis player (US Nat C'ship 1908), dies at 83
- Apr 2 Pudge Heffelfinger, American College Football Hall of Fame guard (3 x All American, Yale; first professional player 1892) and coach (Cal, Lehigh, Minnesota), dies at 86
- Apr 10 Oscar Mathisen, Norwegian speed skater (5-time World Champion all-round), dies at 65
- Apr 12 Pim Mulier, Dutch sports organizer, founded the Dutch Football and Athletics Association, Koninklijke HFC, established hockey in the Netherlands and President of the International Skating Union (1892-94), dies at 89
- May 10 George Hirst, English cricketer (36,323 1st-class runs, 2739 wickets), dies at 82
- May 22 Charles "Chief" Bender, American Baseball HOF pitcher (only indigenous American in BHOF; World Series 1910, 11, 13; no-hitter 1910; Philadelphia A's), dies at 70
- May 23 H R Bromley-Davenport, cricketer (batted in 4 Tests for England), dies
- May 26 Lionel Conacher, Canadian Hockey HOF defenceman (Stanley Cup 1934 Chicago Black Hawks, 1935 Montreal Maroons) and politician (MP Trinity), dies from a heart attack at 54
- Jul 29 Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (World Alllround Speed Skating champion 1905), dies at 75
- Jul 31 Onofre Marimón, Argentine racing driver (b. 1923)
- Sep 26 Ellen Roosevelt, American tennis player (US Nat C'ship 1890), dies at 86
- Oct 5 Oscar Charleston, American Baseball HOF CF (NgL Triple Crown 1921 St. Louis Giants, 1924, 25 Harrisburg Giants) and manager (NgL WS 1933, 35, 36 Pittsburgh Crawfords), dies of a stroke at 57
- Oct 19 Hugh Duffy, American Baseball HOF outfielder (Triple Crown & MLB record .440 batting average, single season 1894 Boston Beaneaters), dies from heart failure at 87
- Oct 20 Wilbur Shaw, American auto racer (Indianapolis 500 1937, 39, 40; Motorsports Hall of Fame of America 1991), dies in an airplane crash at 51
- Oct 27 Frank Druce, English cricket batsman (5 Tests, 1 x 50; Surrey CCC), dies at 79
- Nov 22 Roderick McMahon, Professional Wrestling/Boxing Booker (b. 1882)
- Nov 26 Bill Doak, American baseball pitcher (NL ERA leader 1914, 21; St. Louis Cardinals), dies at 63
- Dec 9 Bill McGowan, American Baseball HOF umpire (AL 1925-54; 8 x World Series; 4 x MLB All-Star Games), dies from a heart attack at 58
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