- Jan 2 22nd Orange Bowl: #1 Oklahoma beats #3 Maryland, 20-6
- Jan 2 22nd Sugar Bowl: #7 Georgia Tech beats #11 Pittsburgh, 7-0
- Jan 2 42nd Rose Bowl: #2 Michigan State beats #4 UCLA, 17-14
6th NFL Pro Bowl
Jan 15 6th NFL Pro Bowl, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: Eastern Conference beats Western Conference, 31-30; MVP: Ollie Matson, Baltimore Colts, RB
Alexander Cartwright Honored
Jan 19 City of Hoboken, New Jersey dedicates a plaque honoring achievements of Alexander Cartwright in organizing early baseball at Elysian Field
6th NBA All-Star Game
Jan 24 6th NBA All-Star Game, Rochester War Memorial Coliseum, NY: West beats East, 108-94; MVP: Bob Pettit, St. Louis Hawks, C
Baseball Hall of Fame
Jan 26 Hank Greenberg and Joe Cronin are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Jan 26 VII Winter Olympic Games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
- Jan 27 NFL's New York Giants move their home from the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan to Yankee Stadium in The Bronx
- Jan 27 Veikko Hakulinen of Finland wins Olympic 30k cross country gold medal at Cortina d'Ampezzo; second career Olympic title after winning the 15k event in Oslo, 1952
- Jan 28 Austrian skier Toni Sailer wins the giant slalom at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics on his way to a sweep of the 3 alpine skiing events at the Games
- Jan 28 Italy goes 1-2 in the 2-man bobsleigh at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics; along with silver in 4-man event, the only medals for the home nation at the Games
Hoad's First Grand Slam Title
Jan 30 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Lew Hoad beats fellow Australian Ken Rosewall 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 for his first Grand Slam title
- Jan 30 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Mary Carter Reitano beats fellow Australian Thelma Coyne Long 3-6, 6-2, 9-7 for her 1st Australian singles title
- Jan 30 Hallgeir Brenden of Norway wins Olympic 15k cross country gold medal at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games; his 2nd career Olympic title after taking out the 18k event in Oslo (1952)
- Jan 30 Soviet 500m speed skating champion Yevgeni Grishin wins 2nd gold medal of the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics when he dead heats teammate Yuri Mikhatlov in the 1,500m in world record 2:08.6
- Jan 31 Austrian skier Toni Sailer wins the slalom at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics for his 2nd gold medal of the Games; sweeps all 3 alpine skiing events
- Feb 1 Hayes Alan Jenkins leads only US sweep of Olympic men's figure skating medals at the Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Games; Ronald Robertson wins silver with bronze to Jenkins' younger brother, David
Albright Olympic Champion
Feb 2 Despite a severe ankle injury Tenley Albright leads an American 1-2 in the women's figure skating at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics; Carol Heiss takes the silver medal
- Feb 3 Toni Sailer of Austria wins the downhill at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics; becomes first athlete to sweep all 3 alpine skiing events in a single Olympics
- Feb 4 Soviet Union beats Canada, 2-0 at Cortina d'Ampezzo to clinch their first ever Olympic ice hockey gold medal; US takes silver, Canada bronze
- Feb 5 Finland goes 1-2 in the ski jumping at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics; Antti Hyvärinen takes gold ahead of teammate Aulis Kallakorpi
- Feb 5 NY Mayor Robert Wagner & Bkln Boro President Frank Cashmore sponsor a bill to create a $30M Brooklyn Sports Center Authority to build
- Feb 5 VII Winter Olympic Games close in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
- Feb 17 Ice Dance Championship at Garmisch won by Pamela Weight/P Thomas GRB
- Feb 22 1st English soccer match at Kunstlicht: Portsmouth vs Newcastle United
- Feb 29 MLB's Cleveland Indians franchise is sold for nearly $4m; former player and the team’s general manager Hank Greenberg is part of the new ownership group
- Mar 3 3rd ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: NC State beats Wake Forest, 76-64
- Mar 3 Dutch swimmer Cockie Gastelaars breaks 20-year old world record for 100m freestyle (1:04.2)
Golf Tournament
Mar 11 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Louise Suggs wins her 3rd Titleholders title by 1 stroke from Patty Berg
- Mar 13 NZ bowl out WI for 77 at Eden Park to score their 1st Test Cricket win
Contract of Interest
Mar 14 50-year-old baseball pitching star Satchel Paige signs a contract to play for and manage the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro National League
- Mar 16 US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Tenley Albright
- Mar 19 Biggest NBA margin of victory - Minn Lakers-133, St Louis Hawks-75
- Mar 24 110th Grand National: race best remembered for Devon Loch's inexplicable fall on final straight, just 40 yards from a certain victory; Dave Dick wins aboard E.S.B.
- Mar 24 18th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: San Francisco beats Iowa, 83-71; Dons' back-to-back National titles
- Mar 24 Wales beats France, 5-3 at the National Stadium, Cardiff to clinch their 13th Five Nations Rugby Championship
- Apr 7 10th NBA Championship: Despite 30 points from Pistons forward George Yardley, Philadelphia Warriors beat Fort Wayne, 99-88; Warriors wrap up series, 4-1
- Apr 8 20th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Jack Burke Jr. wins his first major title, 1 stroke ahead of amateur Ken Venturi; final Masters played without a 36-hole cut
Stanley Cup
Apr 10 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Jean Béliveau has a goal and 2 assists as Montreal Canadiens beat Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 for a 4-1 series win
Rocky Marciano Retires
Apr 27 Undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano, retires from the ring
Baseball Record
Apr 28 Cincinnati Reds outfielder Frank Robinson hits his 1st of 586 HRs
- May 5 82nd Kentucky Derby: David Erb aboard Needles wins in 2:03.4
- May 5 Broekster Boys soccer team forms in Damwoude
- May 5 World championships of judo are 1st held in Tokyo
- May 12 Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine's throws 2nd career no-hitter, beats NY Giants, 3-0, at Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn, NYC
- May 16 England cricket spin bowler Jim Laker takes 10-88 for Surrey v Australia in tour match at The Oval, London
Baseball Record
May 18 Mickey Mantle hits HR from both sides of plate for record 3rd time
French Open Women's Tennis
May 26 French Championships Women's Tennis: American Althea Gibson wins her only French singles title; beats Angela Mortimer of England 6-0, 12-10
- May 26 Reds' John Klippstein, Hershel Freemman & Joe Blacks no-hitter, broken up with 2 outs in 10th & lose to Braves in 11th, 2-1
- May 28 Pittsburgh Pirates Dale Long becomes 1st to hit HRs in 8 straight games
- May 30 Indianapolis 500: Pat Flaherty wins in a Watson-Offenhauser; first 500 to be governed by the United States Automobile Club
- May 30 Mickey Mantle misses by 18 inches hitting 1st home run out of Yankee Stadium in the first game of a doubleheader against the Washington Senators
- Jun 10 XVI Summer Olympic equestrian events open in Stockholm
- Jun 13 1st European Cup Final, Paris: Héctor Rial scores twice as Real Madrid beats Stade de Reims, 4-3 to claim inaugural title
- Jun 16 88th Belmont: David Erb aboard Needles wins in 2:29.8
US Golf Open
Jun 16 US Open Men's Golf, Oak Hill CC: Cary Middlecoff wins his second Open title, 1 stroke ahead of runners-up Julius Boros and Ben Hogan
- Jun 20 At Detroit's Briggs Stadium, Mickey Mantle hits 2 Billy Hoeft pitches into right center field bleachers, the only player to ever do so
LPGA Championship
Jun 24 LPGA Championship Women's Golf, Forest Lake CC: Marlene Hagge wins her only major title; beats Patty Berg by 2 strokes in a sudden-death playoff
- Jun 27 Indians trailing Orioles 9-1 come back to win 12-11 in 11 innings
- Jun 29 American Charles Dumas records first high jump over 7' (2.13m) during US Olympic Trials at Los Angeles, California
- Jul 1 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Wakonda CC: Beverly Hanson wins by 4 strokes from Louise Suggs; second of her 3 major titles
British Golf Open
Jul 6 British Open Men's Golf, Royal Liverpool: Australian Peter Thomson wins by 3 shots from Flory Van Donck of Belgium for his 3rd consecutive Open victory
- Jul 6 Cleveland outfielder Jim Busby hits a second grand slam on consecutive days during Indians 4-2 win v Kansas City A's
- Jul 6 MLB Commissioner Ford Frick inaugurates Cy Young Award, to honour baseball's outstanding pitcher of the season
- Jul 6 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: In an all-Australian matchup Lew Hoad wins his first of 2 Wimbledon singles crowns beating Ken Rosewall 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
- Jul 7 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: American Shirley Fry beats Angela Buxton of England 6-3, 6-1 for her only Wimbledon singles title
- Jul 10 23rd All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 7-3 at Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.
- Jul 14 Boston Red Sox pitcher Mel Parnell no-hits Chicago White Sox, 4-0 at Fenway Park, Boston
- Jul 16 Detroit Tigers & Briggs Stadium sold for then record $5.5 million
Whitey Ford's 6th Straight Strike Out
Jul 20 Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford ties AL record of 6 straight strike-outs
- Jul 21 Cincinnati Reds pitcher Brooks Lawrence loses after 13 straight wins
- Jul 23 Joe Cronin and Hank Greenberg are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York
- Jul 24 Dodgers lose to the Reds, 2-1, playing in Jersey City's Roosevelt Stadium
- Jul 24 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Blue Hill CC: Masters champion Jack Burke Jr. wins his second major championship of the season, 3 & 2 over Ted Kroll
Sports History
Jul 25 Pittsburgh Pirates' Roberto Clemente hits MLB's 1st (and only) walk-off inside-the-park grand slam for 9-8 win over visiting Chicago Cubs at Forbes Field
- Jul 27 England cricket spin bowler Jim Laker takes 9-37 in Australia's 1st innings in 4th Test at Manchester; best return ever in Test cricket; bettered in 2nd innings 10-53
- Jul 28 43rd Tour de France won by Roger Walkowiak of France
- Jul 29 US Open Women's Golf, Northland CC: Kathy Cornelius wins her only major title in an 18-hole playoff by 7 strokes over amateur Barbara McIntire
- Jul 31 England cricket spin bowler Jim Laker takes 10-53 in Australia's 2nd innings; match figures 19-90 in 4th Test at Old Trafford; England win by innings & 170 runs
- Aug 3 American sprinter Willie Williams sets 100m world record at 10.1 in Berlin, Germany
- Aug 4 Lee Petty dismounts car on lap 32, waves red flag to field because of dusty conditions at NASCAR Grand National at Tulsa, Oklahoma; race halted and never completed
- Aug 5 Belgian race car driver André Milhoux (27) runs in his only Grand Prix driving a Gordini T32 in Germany; forced to retire after 15 laps due to engine problem
- Aug 6 After going bankrupt in 1955, the American national broadcaster DuMont Television Network makes its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena
- Aug 7 51-year-old Satchel Paige (Miami Marlins) wins a game before the largest crowd in minor league history, 57,000 at Miami’s Orange Bowl; International League: Marlins 6-2 v Columbus Jets
Sports History
Aug 7 Boston Red Sox fine slugger Ted Williams $5,000 for spitting at heckling Boston fans, third incident in 3 weeks
Sports History
Aug 16 MLB Cleveland Indians' Rocky Colavito hits his 1st grand slam, Cleveland 5, Tigers 4
- Aug 18 Cincinnati Reds (8) & Cubs (2) combine to hit 10 HRs in a 9 inning game
Sports History
Aug 25 To make room for Enos Slaughter, NY Yankees release Phil Rizzuto
Sports History
Aug 26 Yankees announce purchase of outfielder Enos Slaughter from KC
- Aug 28 Australia clings on for a draw in 5th Test at The Oval, London; England retain cricket Ashes with Jim Laker's 46 wickets a record series haul
F1 World Champion
Sep 2 British Ferrari driver Peter Collins sportingly hands over his car to retired teammate Juan Manuel Fangio during season ending Italian Grand Prix at Monza; Fangio finishes 2nd to win F1 World Drivers Championship
- Sep 2 Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina finishes 2nd in Italian GP at Monza to win his 3rd straight F1 World Drivers Championship by 3 points from Englishman Stirling Moss
Sports History
Sep 3 American Johnny Longden becomes thoroughbred racing's winningest rider, breaking the record of 4,870 wins by British jockey Sir Gordon Richards; rides Arrogate to victory in the Del Mar Handicap
US Men's Tennis Open
Sep 9 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: In an all-Australian final Ken Rosewall wins his first US singles title, beating Lew Hoad 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3
- Sep 9 US National Championship Women's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: In an all-American final Shirley Fry Irvin beats Althea Gibson 6-3, 6-4 for her only US singles crown
- Sep 11 Cincinnati Reds outfielder Frank Robinson ties rookie record with his 38th HR
Baseball Record
Sep 11 New York Yankees Yogi Berra ties career record for HRs (236) by a catcher
- Sep 17 Yanks clinch pennant #22 on Mantle's 50th homer of year
- Sep 18 Mickey Mantle is 8th to hit 50 HRs in a season
- Sep 21 New York Yankees set dubious MLB record, stranding 20 on base; Mickey Mantle hits a 500' plus homer but rival Boston Red Sox win 13-9 at Fenway Park
- Sep 25 Brooklyn Dodger Sal Maglie no-hits Philadelphia Phillies, 5-0
- Sep 29 Music single "I Love Mickey" by Mickey Mantle & Teresa Brewer peaks at #87
- Sep 29 Yanks Mickey Mantle hits his 52nd HR of season
- Sep 30 Phillies Robin Roberts gives up a major league record 46th HR
- Sep 30 White Sox Jim Derrington, 16, is youngest to start a game (he loses)
- Oct 1 American jockey Johnny Heckmann becomes first to ride 7 winners at Hawthorne Race Course at Stickney/Cicero near Chicago, Illinois
- Oct 3 Sal Maglie pitches a complete game as Brooklyn Dodgers beat NY Yankees, 6-3 in Game 1 of Baseball World Series at Ebbets Field; Yankees win series, 4-3
- Oct 5 Catcher Yogi Berra becomes 4th NY Yankee to hit a Baseball World Series grand slam in Game 2 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn; Dodgers win, 13-8 but lose series, 4-3
- Oct 8 Yankees pitcher Don Larsen throws a perfect game as New York beats Brooklyn Dodgers, 2-0 in Game 5 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium
- Oct 9 10th NHL All-Star Game, Montreal Forum, Montreal, QC: All-Stars tie Montreal Canadiens, 1-1
- Oct 10 Baseball World Series: Behind Yogi Berra's 2 HRs, NY Yankees beat Brooklyn Dodgers, 9-0 in Game 7 at Ebbets Field; MVP: Yankees pitcher Don Larsen
Sports History
Oct 10 Fazal Mahmood takes 13-114 for match v Australia in Karachi
Sports History
Oct 17 Chess "Game of the Century": 13-year-old Bobby Fischer defeats 1953 U.S. Champion Donald Byrne in the Rosenwald Memorial Tournament at the Marshall Chess Club in New York City
- Nov 21 Don Newcombe wins NL MVP & 1st-ever Cy Young Award
Celtic vs. Warriors
Nov 22 Boston shooting guard Bill Sharman hits 10 free throws in Celtics 101-78 over Philadelphia Warriors at Philadelphia Civic Center
- Nov 22 XVI Summer Olympic Games open in Melbourne, Australia; first to be staged in Southern Hemisphere and Oceania, as well as first to be held outside Europe and North America
- Nov 23 Vladimir Kuts of the Soviet Union runs Olympic record 28:45.6 to win the 10,000m at the Melbourne Olympics; later also wins 5,000m gold
- Nov 24 Americans go 1-2 in the men's 100m final at the Melbourne Olympics; Bobby Morrow and Thane Baker both record hand-timed 10.50s but automatic timing gives gold medal to Morrow
- Nov 24 CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Edmonton Eskimos make it 3rd consecutive Championships; defeat Montreal Alouettes for 3rd straight year, 50-27
- Nov 24 Glenn Davis leads an American trifecta in the men's 400m hurdles at the Melbourne Olympics; hurdles Olympic record equalling 50.1s to beat teammates Eddie Southern and Joshua Culbreath
- Nov 26 American weightlifter Charles Vinci wins bantamweight gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics with world-record 3-lift (snatch, clean & jerk, overhead press) total of 342.5 kilograms
- Nov 26 Australian sprinter Betty Cuthbert wins the coveted 100m gold medal in 11.5 at the Melbourne Olympics; takes sprint double winning 200m final four days later
- Nov 26 Egil Danielsen of Norway sets a new world record throw of 85.71m to win the men's javelin gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics
- Nov 26 USSR coxless pairs scull rower Viktor Ivanov wins Olympic silver medal; in his excitement he drops his medal, it sinks in Lake Wendouree (Victoria, Australia) and is later recovered by a local teenager
- Nov 27 1957 NFL Draft: Paul Hornung from University of Notre Dame first pick by Green Bay Packers
- Nov 27 Bobby Morrow takes out the Melbourne Olympics sprint double when he wins the 200m gold medal in equal world record 20.75s; beats American teammates Andy Stanfield and Thane Baker
- Nov 27 Elżbieta Krzesińska of Poland equals world record with leap of 6.53m to win the women's long jump gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics
- Nov 28 Lee Calhoun leads an American trifecta in the men's 110m hurdles at the Melbourne Olympics; hurdles Olympic record 13.5s to beat teammates Jack Davis and Joel Shankle
- Nov 28 Leonid Spirin leads a Soviet Union 1-2-3 to win the men's 20 kilometre walk gold medal in 1:31:27.4 at the Melbourne Olympics; beats teammates Antanas Mikėnas and Bruno Junk
- Nov 28 Shirley Strickland de la Hunty of Australia retains her 80m hurdles Olympic title in OR 10.7s beating German Gisela Birkemeyer by just 0.2s at the Melbourne Games
- Nov 28 Soviet runner Vladimir Kuts wraps up the Olympic middle distance double by winning the 5,000m gold medal at the Melbourne Games; runs Olympic records in both 5k and 10,000m events
- Nov 29 Chris Brasher becomes first Briton to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field since 1936; claims 3,000m steeplechase in 8:41.2 at the Melbourne Games; initially disqualified but reversed on appeal
Patterson vs. Moore
Nov 30 At 21 years, 10 months, 3 weeks, 5 days Floyd Patterson becomes youngest world heavyweight boxing champion; KOs Archie Moore in 5th round in Chicago; first Olympic gold medalist to win a professional heavyweight title
- Nov 30 Australian Betty Cuthbert takes Olympic sprint double when she runs OR equalling 23.4s to win the 200m gold medal at the Melbourne Games; beats Christa Stubnick in repeat of 100m final 4 days earlier
Gert Fredriksson
Nov 30 Gert Fredriksson of Sweden wins his 2nd straight K-1 10,000m canoeing gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; last time event held in the Summer Olympics; also wins 3rd consecutive K-1 1,000m gold
- Nov 30 Jon Henricks swims world record 55.4 to win the men's 100m at the Melbourne Olympics; rare Australian 1-2-3 with John Devitt and Gary Chapman taking the minor medals
- Nov 30 Milt Campbell sets Olympic record total of 7,937 points to upset fellow American and world record holder Rafer Johnson, and win the decathlon gold medal at the Melbourne Games
- Dec 1 21st Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 34-7 in Birmingham
- Dec 1 Algerian-born French long-distance runner Alain Mimoun wins the men's marathon in 2:25:00.0 at the Melbourne Olympics; first time runners follow painted line
- Dec 1 American Mildred McDaniel jumps world record 1.76m to win the women's high jump gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; Briton Thelma Hopkins and Russian Mariya Pisareva dead-heat for silver (1.67m)
- Dec 1 Australian women's 4 x 100m relay team of Norma Croker, Betty Cuthbert, Fleur Mellor & Shirley Strickland de la Hunty run world record 44.65 to win the gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; Cuthbert's 3rd gold of the Games
- Dec 1 Frank Robinson (NL) & Luis Aparicio (AL) voted Rookie of the Year
- Dec 1 Gert Fredriksson of Sweden wins his 3rd consecutive K-1 1,000m canoeing gold medal by 2.5s from Igor Pissarov of the Soviet Union at the Melbourne Olympics; also wins K-1 10,000m gold
- Dec 1 Hungarian boxer László Papp wins his 3rd straight Olympic gold medal when he beats future Hall of Famer José Torres representing the US on points in the light-middleweight final at the Melbourne Olympics
- Dec 1 In front of 100,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a US Army baseball team beats an Australian all-star team, 11–5 in an Olympic exhibition game; Sergeant Vance Sutton belts a grand slam for Army
US Defeats Soviet Union
Dec 1 Led by future Basketball Hall of Famers Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, the US wins it's 4th consecutive Olympic gold medal with an 89-55 victory over the Soviet Union at the Melbourne Games
Dawn Fraser
Dec 1 Legendary Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets world record 1:02.0 to win the women's 100m freestyle at the Melbourne Olympics; first of Fraser's 3 consecutive gold medals in the event
- Dec 1 Romanian canoeist Leon Rotman wins the men's C-1,000m gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; claims the singles double after also winning the C-1 10,000m gold
- Dec 1 US men's 4 x 100m relay team of Thane Baker, Leamon King, Bobby Morrow & Ira Murchison sets world record 39.60s to win the gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; Morrow's 3rd gold medal of the Games
- Dec 3 Australian 4 x 200m freestyle relay team of Kevin O'Halloran, John Devitt, Murray Rose & Jon Henricks swim world record 8:23.6 to take the gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; Rose's 2nd of 3 gold at the Games
Chamberlain's Varsity Debut
Dec 3 Basketball icon Wilt Chamberlain makes his much anticipated varsity debut; scores 52 points and grabs 31 rebounds, breaking both all-time Kansas records in an 87–69 win against Northwestern
- Dec 4 22nd Heisman Trophy Award: Paul Hornung, Notre Dame (QB)
- Dec 4 American diver Pat McCormick wins the 3m springboard gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics with 142.46 points; later wraps up the women's double when she takes the 10m platform gold
- Dec 4 Australian swimmer Murray Rose sets world record 4:27.3 to claim the 400m gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; Rose later also wins 1,500m gold
- Dec 5 17-year-old British swimmer Judy Grinham and American Carin Cone both swim world record 1:12.9 in the women's 100m backstroke at the Melbourne Olympics; Grinham is awarded gold medal
- Dec 5 Danish yachtsman Paul Elvstrøm wins the Finn class gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; his 2nd straight Finn gold and 3rd consecutive Olympic gold in sailing
Larisa Latynina's Golds
Dec 5 Soviet artistic gymnast Larisa Latynina wins the women's vault and ties for gold in the floor exercise section at the Melbourne Olympics; later takes gold total to 4 with teams and individual all-round titles
- Dec 6 Against the background of the Soviet invasion of Hungary the nations square off at the Melbourne Olympics in a famous water polo match; game called off with Hungary leading 4-0 and near riot halted by police; Hungary goes on to win gold medal
- Dec 6 Australian swimmer David Theile sets world record 1:02.2 to win the 100m backstroke gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics
- Dec 6 Australian women's 4 × 100m freestyle relay team of Dawn Fraser, Faith Leech, Sandra Morgan & Lorraine Crapp swim world record 4:17.1 and beat powerful US team to win the gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics
- Dec 6 German WWII prisoner of war Helmut Bantz and Soviet gymnast Valentin Muratov tie for the vault gold medal with 18.85 points at the Melbourne Olympics
- Dec 6 Randhir Singh Gentle scores the winner as India beats Pakistan, 1-0 in the Melbourne Olympics field hockey final to win it's 6th consecutive gold medal in the sport
- Dec 6 Soviet gymnast Viktor Chukarin follows his parallel bars gold medal with the individual all-round title and teams gold at the Melbourne Olympics
- Dec 7 American diver Pat McCormick wraps up the women's double when she wins the 10m platform gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics with 84.85 points; also won the 3m springboard gold
- Dec 7 Australian swimmer Murray Rose claims his 3rd gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics when he wins the 1,500m in 17:58.9; also wins 400m & 4 x 200m relay
- Dec 7 Soviet artistic gymnast Larisa Latynina takes her gold medal tally to 4 at the Melbourne Olympics; wins teams and individual all-round titles having earlier won vault and floor exercise sections
- Dec 8 XVI Summer Olympic Games close in Melbourne, Australia; start of an Olympic tradition - amidst international tensions, athletes mingle together, parade into and around MCG arena for final appearance to close the Games
Dodgers Attempt Robinson Trade
Dec 13 Dodgers trade Jackie Robinson to Giants for pitcher Dick Littlefield & $35,000. Robinson will retire rather than be traded.
Inaugural Ballon d'Or
Dec 18 Ballon d'Or: Blackpool & England winger Stanley Matthews wins inaugural award for best football player in Europe; beats Real Madrid pair Alfredo Di Stéfano & Raymond Kopa
- Dec 18 Phil Rizzuto signs as NY Yankees radio-TV announcer
Howe's Christmas Hat Trick
Dec 25 Detroit's future Hockey Hall of Fame right wing Gordie Howe picks up a Xmas hat-trick & 3 assists in Red Wings' 8-1 win over NY Rangers; most points he scores in a single game in entire 26-year NHL career
- Dec 27 45th Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Adelaide (5-0)
- Dec 27 Bill Sharman (Boston) ends NBA free throw streak of 55 games
- Dec 30 National Football League Championship, Yankee Stadium, NYC: New York Giants beat Chicago Bears, 47-7; Giants' 4th NFL title
Baseball Players
Basketball Stars
Boxers
Footballers
NFL Stars
Tennis Champions