American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

• Green Bay Packers
  Green Bay Packers
  The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
  
   defeats 14-7 New York Giants
  New York Giants
  The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
  
   in New York City for the NFL title

Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

• Victorian Football League
  Australian Football League
  The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
  
   – Fitzroy
  Fitzroy Football Club
  The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...
  
   wins the 48th VFL Premiership (Fitzroy 9.12 (66) d Richmond
  Richmond Football Club
  The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
  
   7.9 (51))

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

• May 7 – Chucho Ramos
  Chucho Ramos
  Jesús Manuel "Chucho" Ramos García was an outfielder/first baseman in Major League Baseball who played briefly during the season. Listed at 5' 10.5", 167 lb., Ramos batted right-handed and threw left-handed...
  
   made his major league debut as first baseman
  First baseman
  First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...
  
   and outfielder
  Outfielder
  Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...
  
    with the Cincinnati Reds
  Cincinnati Reds
  The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
  
  . He was the third baseball
  Baseball
  Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
  
   player from Venezuela
  Venezuela
  Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
  
   to play Major League Baseball
  Major League Baseball
  Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
  
  .
• June 10 – 15-year old Joe Nuxhall
  Joe Nuxhall
  Joseph Henry Nuxhall was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball, mostly for the Cincinnati Reds. Immediately after retiring as a player, he became a radio broadcaster for the Reds from 1967 through 2004, and continued part-time up until his death in 2007...
  
   becomes the youngest baseball
  Baseball
  Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
  
   player to pitch a game in major league history.
• World Series
  World Series
  The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
  
   – St. Louis Cardinals
  St. Louis Cardinals
  The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
  
   defeats St. Louis Browns, 4 games to 2.
• Hall of Fame election
  Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1944
  There was no regular election in 1944 to select inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame; in 1939 the Baseball Writers Association of America had moved to hold elections every three years rather than annually, and the next scheduled election was to be in 1945...
  
   – Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis
  Kenesaw Mountain Landis
  Kenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death...
  
   is elected by the Hall of Fame Committee in December following his death the previous month. The long-delayed selection of at least 10 players from the 19th century is promised the following year.

Basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

• Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons  win three games to none over the Sheboygan Redskins
  Sheboygan Redskins
  The Sheboygan Red Skins were a National Basketball League, National Basketball Association, National Professional Basketball League and professional independent team based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA.- Barnstorming roots :...
  
  

Boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

• August 4 – the "War Bonds Fight". $36m is raised to fund the war effort as Beau Jack
  Beau Jack
  Sidney Walker, better known as Beau Jack, , was an American lightweight boxer, he was a world champion twice...
  
   wins a ten round decision over arch-rival Bob Montgomery
  Bob Montgomery (boxer)
  Bob Montgomery was an American lightweight boxer. He was born in Sumter, South Carolina.Montgomery went undefeated in his first 23 fights, going 22-0-1 and winning the Pennsylvania State Lightweight Title....
  
   at New York
  New York
  New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
  
  's Madison Square Garden
  Madison Square Garden (1925)
  Madison Square Garden was an indoor arena in New York City, the third of that name. It was built in 1925 and closed in 1968, and was located on Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan on the site of the city's trolley car barns. It was the first Garden that was not located near...
  
  . A few weeks later, they were both drafted on the same day by the U.S. Army.

Golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

• Masters Tournament - not played due to World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
  
• U.S. Open
  U.S. Open (golf)
  The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...
  
   - not played due to World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
  
• British Open
  The Open Championship
  The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
  
   - not played due to World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
  
• PGA Championship
  PGA Championship
  The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...
  
   - Bob Hamilton
  Bob Hamilton
  Robert T. "Bob" Hamilton was an American professional golfer. He was born and died in Evansville, Indiana....
  
  

• British Amateur
  The Amateur Championship
  The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...
  
   - not played due to World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
  
• U.S. Amateur - not played due to World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
  

• Women's Western Open - Babe Zaharias
  Babe Zaharias
  Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias was an American athlete who achieved outstanding success in golf, basketball, and track and field...
  
  
• Titleholders Championship
  Titleholders Championship
  The Titleholders Championship was a women's golf tournament played from in 1937 to 1966 and again in 1972. It was later designated a major championship by the LPGA Tour.It should not be confused with two other LPGA events with similar names:...
  
   - not played due to World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
  

Horse racing

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

• Cheltenham Gold Cup
  Cheltenham Gold Cup
  The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt chase in the United Kingdom which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run on the New Course at Cheltenham over a distance of about 3 miles and 2½ furlongs , and during its running there are twenty-two fences to be jumped...
  
   –
• Grand National
  Grand National
  The Grand National is a world-famous National Hunt horse race which is held annually at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool, England. It is a handicap chase run over a distance of four miles and 856 yards , with horses jumping thirty fences over two circuits of Aintree's National Course...
  
   –

• Australia – Melbourne Cup
  Melbourne Cup
  The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
  
   won by Sirius
• Canada – Queen's Plate
  Queen's Plate
  The Queen's Plate is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...
  
   won by
• France – Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
  Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
  The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year, usually on the first Sunday in October.Popularly referred to as the...
  
   won by
• Ireland – Irish Derby Stakes
  Irish Derby Stakes
  The Irish Derby is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in late June or early July.It is Ireland's equivalent of the Epsom Derby,...
  
   won by
• English Triple Crown Races
  Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
  The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...
  
  :
  1. 2,000 Guineas Stakes –
  2. Epsom Derby
     Epsom Derby
     The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
     
      –
  3. St. Leger Stakes
     St. Leger Stakes
     The St. Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain which is open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 1 mile, 6 furlongs and 132 yards , and it is scheduled to take place each year in September.Established in 1776, the St. Leger...
     
      –
• United States Triple Crown Races
  Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
  The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...
  
  :
  1. Kentucky Derby
     Kentucky Derby
     The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
     
      – Pensive
     Pensive
     Pensive was a bright chestnut thoroughbred racehorse who in 1944 came closer than any other horse at the time to winning the U.S. Triple Crown...
     
     
  2. Preakness Stakes
     Preakness Stakes
     The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...
     
      – Pensive
     Pensive
     Pensive was a bright chestnut thoroughbred racehorse who in 1944 came closer than any other horse at the time to winning the U.S. Triple Crown...
     
     
  3. Belmont Stakes
     Belmont Stakes
     The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
     
      – Bounding Home
     Bounding Home
     Bounding Home was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known as the upset winner of the 1944 Belmont Stakes that deprived Pensive of the U.S. Triple Crown....
     
     

Ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

• Stanley Cup
  Stanley Cup
  The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
  
   – Montreal Canadiens
  Montreal Canadiens
  The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
  
   sweep the Chicago Black Hawks
  Chicago Blackhawks
  The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...
  
   in 4 straight games.

Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

• The 1944 Winter Olympics
  1944 Winter Olympics
  The anticipated 1944 Winter Olympics, which would have been officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games , were to be celebrated in February 1944 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy...
  
  , due to take place at Cortina d'Ampezzo
  Cortina d'Ampezzo
  Cortina d'Ampezzo is a town and comune in the southern Alps located in Veneto, a region in Northern Italy. Located in the heart of the Dolomites in an alpine valley, it is a popular winter sport resort known for its ski-ranges, scenery, accommodations, shops and après-ski scene...
  
  , are cancelled due to World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
  

• The 1944 Summer Olympics
  1944 Summer Olympics
  The anticipated 1944 Summer Olympics, which were to be officially known as the Games of the XIII Olympiad, were cancelled due to World War II...
  
  , due to take place at London
  London
  London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
  
  , are cancelled due to World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
  

Rowing

Rowing (sport)

Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...

• Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race
  The Boat Race
  The event generally known as "The Boat Race" is a rowing race in England between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, rowed between competing eights each spring on the River Thames in London. It takes place generally on the last Saturday of March or the first...
  
   is not contested due to World War II

Rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

• Five Nations Championship
  Six Nations Championship
  The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
  
   series is not contested due to World War II

Speed skating

Speed skating

Speed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...

• not contested due to World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
  

Tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

• Australian Men's Singles Championship – not contested
• Australian Women's Singles Championship – not contested

• Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship – not contested
• Wimbledon Women's Singles Championship – not contested

• French Men's Singles Championship – Yvon Petra
  Yvon Petra
  Yvon Petra was a French male tennis player. He was born in Cholon, Vietnam. He is best remembered as the last Frenchman to win the Wimbledon championships men's singles title in 1946, beating Geoff Brown in five sets in the final...
  
   (France) defeats Henri Cochet
  Henri Cochet
  Henri Jean Cochet was a champion tennis player, one of the famous "Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s....
  
   (France) — score to be ascertained
• French Women's Singles Championship – Raymonde Jones Veber
  Raymonde Jones Veber
  Raymonde Jones Veber was a French tennis player who in 1944 won the Tournoi de France, a tournament set up in Vichy France during World War II in place of the French Championships...
  
   (France) † details to be ascertained

• American Men's Singles Championship – Frank Parker
  Frank Parker
  ----Frank "Frankie" Andrew Parker was an American male tennis player. He was coached by Mercer Beasley....
  
   (USA) defeats Bill Talbert
  Bill Talbert
  William Franklin "Billy" Talbert was an American tennis player and administrator.He was ranked in the U.S. Top 10 13 times between 1941 & 1954. He won nine Grand Slam doubles titles, and also reached the men’s doubles finals of the U.S. National Championship nine times. mainly with favorite...
  
   (USA) 6–4, 3–6, 6–3, 6–3
• American Women's Singles Championship – Pauline Betz Addie (USA) defeats Margaret Osborne duPont
  Margaret Osborne duPont
  Margaret Evelyn Osborne duPont is a former World No. 1 American female tennis player.DuPont won a total of 37 singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, which places her fourth on the all-time list despite never entering the Australian Championships. She won 25 of her Grand...
  
   (USA) 6–3, 8–6

• 1944 International Lawn Tennis Challenge – not contested

Awards

• Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year: Byron Nelson
  Byron Nelson
  John Byron Nelson, Jr. was an American PGA Tour golfer between 1935 and 1946.Nelson and two other well known golfers of the time, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, were born within seven months of each other in 1912...
  
  , PGA golf
  PGA Tour
  The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
  
  
• Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year: Ann Curtis
  Ann Curtis
  Ann Curtis is a former competitive swimmer and Olympic Gold Medal winner for the United States. She was coached by Charlie Sava and was a member of the San Francisco Crystal Plunge team. Curtis participated in London’s 1948 Olympic Games winning the gold medal in the 400 m freestyle...
  
  , Swimming
  Swimming (sport)
  Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...