1947 in sports
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Athletics

Marathon

• August 20 — Enschede Marathon, Netherlands
  • Men's Winner: Eero Riikonen (FIN) 2:44:13

• December 7 — Fukuoka Marathon, Japan
  • Men's Winner: Toshikazu Wada (JPN) 2:45:45

Auto racing

• Wally Parks founds the Southern California Timing Association, to better organize drag racing.

Baseball

• Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American baseball player in Major League Baseball.

• April 27 - Babe Ruth day was celebrated all across the Major Leagues, Babe himself appeared in Yankee Stadium. Although stricken with throat cancer, Ruth said to the audience "The only real game I think in the world is baseball."

• World Series - New York Yankees beat Brooklyn Dodgers 4 games to 3.

Boxing

• Rocky Graziano defeats Tony Zale to win boxing’s world middleweight championship.
• December 5 - Joe Louis defeats Jersey Joe Walcott to retain his heavyweight championship

Figure skating

• World Figure Skating Championships
  • Men's champion: Hans Gerschwiler, Switzerland
  • Ladies' champion: Barbara Ann Scott, Canada
  • Pair skating champions: Micheline Lannoy & Pierre Baugniet, Belgium

Football (NFL)

• The Chicago Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Eagles 28-21.

Football (Australian)

• Victorian Football League
  • Carlton wins the 51st VFL Premiership (Carlton 13.8 (86) d Essendon 11.17 (83))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Bert Deacon (Carlton)

Football (soccer)

England

• First Division - Liverpool win the 1946-47 title.
• FA Cup - Charlton Athletic beat Burnley 1-0 after extra time

Golf

Men's professional

• April 3-6 - Masters Tournament - Jimmy Demaret
• June 12-15 - U.S. Open - Lew Worsham
• June 24 - PGA Championship - Jim Ferrier
• July 1-4 - British Open - Fred Daly

Men's amateur

• British Amateur - Willie Turnesa
• U.S. Amateur - Skee Riegel

Women's professional

• Women's Western Open - Louise Suggs
• U.S. Women's Open - Betty Jameson
• Titleholders Championship - Babe Zaharias

Horse Racing

• May 3 - Kentucky Derby - Jet Pilot
• Preakness - Faultless: this race is remembered for Clem McCarthy calling Jet Pilot the winner when in reality it was Faultless, a true major radio blunder
• Belmont Stakes - Phalanx

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship: Walter Donaldson beats Fred Davis 82-63.

Awards

• Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year: Johnny Lujack, College football
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year: Babe Didrikson Zaharias, LPGA golf

Births

• January 20 — Cyrille Guimard, French racing cyclist
• January 25 — Bruce Bradley, American water polo player
• January 31 — Nolan Ryan, Baseball Hall of Famer
• February 1 — Gaston Rahier, Belgian motocross racer (d. 2005)
• February 5 — Darrell Waltrip, American automobile racer and broadcaster
• February 18 — Gary Sheerer, American polo player
• February 28 — Włodzimierz Lubański, Polish football (soccer) striker
• March 3 — Ian O'Brien, Australian breaststroke swimmer
• March 7 — Walter Röhrl, German car racer
• March 10 — Zachary Zorn, American swimmer
• March 21 — Ferenc Szekeres, Hungarian long-distance runner
• March 26 — John van Reenen, South African discus thrower
• April 5 — Đurđica Bjedov, Yugoslav breaststroke swimmer
• April 15 — Onny Parun, New Zealand tennis player
• May 21 — Hans Hoogveld, Dutch water polo player
• May 27 — Branko Oblak, Slovenian football (soccer) player and coach
• May 29 — Peter Lown, UK-born Canadian field hockey player
• June 2 — Giorgio Cagnotto, Italian diver
• June 2 — Sonia Robertson and Sandra Chick, Zimbabwean field hockey players and twin sisters
• June 6 — Marion Coakes, English equestrian show jumper
• June 19 — James Mason, Australian field hockey player
• June 25 — John Powell, American discus thrower
• June 27 — Pete Maravich, American basketball player (d. 1988)
• July 22 — Amado Morales, Puerto Rican javelin thrower
• July 24 — Jacques Fouroux, French rugby union player (d. 2005)
• July 30 — James Slatton, American water polo player
• August 26 — Jan Krekels, Dutch cyclist
• August 28 — Boris Zaychuk, Soviet hammer thrower
• September 7 — Wim Hermsen, Dutch water polo player
• September 8 — Amos Biwott, Kenyan athlete
• September 20 — Victor Zilberman, Romanian boxer
• September 25 — Ali Parvin, Iranian football (soccer) player
• September 27 — Jan Borren, Dutch-born New Zealand field hockey player and coach
• October 3 — Carroll Morgan, Canadian heavyweight boxer
• October 6 — Klaus Dibiasi, Italian diver
• October 8 — Emiel Puttemans, Belgian middle- and long-distance runner
• October 11 — Alan Pascoe, British athlete
• October 23 — Kazimierz Deyna, Polish football (soccer) player (d. 1989)
• November 1 — Rolando Garbey, Cuban boxer
• November 5 — Oleg Antropov, Soviet volleyball player
• November 17 — Keith Remfry, British judoka
• December 5 — Ain Roost, Swedish-Canadian discus thrower
• December 16 — Vincent Matthews, American track and field athlete
• December 27 — Willy Polleunis, Belgian long-distance runner

Deaths

• January 20 — Josh Gibson (35), famed Negro League slugger
• January 21 — Hermann Müller, German race walker (b. 1885)
• February 6 — Theodor Nauman (61), Swedish water polo player (b. 1885)