Events in Sport
Sports History
May 3 78th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Arcaro aboard Hill Gail wins his record fifth Derby
- May 13 Ron Necciai of Pittsburgh Pirate's Bristol Twins Class D farm team, strikes out 27 in 9-innings, as he no-hits Welch Minors; 4 Minors do reach base
- May 15 Johnny Longden becomes 2nd jockey to ride 4,000 winners
- May 17 77th Preakness: Conn McCreary aboard Blue Man wins in 1:57.4
- May 21 Booklyn Dodgers score 15 runs in their 1st inning to beat Cincinnati Reds 19-1
- May 30 Charlie Grimm succeeds Tommy Holmes as manager of Boston Braves
- May 30 Indianapolis 500: Troy Ruttman at 22 years 80 days sets record for youngest 500 winner in history; his Kuzma-Offenhauser is last dirt track car to win at Indy
Birthdays in Sport
- May 3 Allen Wells, Scottish athlete (Olympic 100m gold 1980), born in Edinburgh, Scotland
- May 11 Mike Lupica, American sports journalist and newspaper columnist (New York Daily News, ESPN), born in Oneida, New York
- May 13 Sew Shivnarine, West Indian cricketer (3 Tests for WI 1978, later USA captain), born in Albion, Guyana
- May 15 Rick Waits, baseball pitcher (Rangers, Indians, Twins)
- May 19 Bert van Marwijk, Dutch football manager
- May 20 Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer
- May 23 'Marvelous' Marvin Hagler, American boxer (undisputed World Middleweight champion 1980-87; second-longest unified C'ship reign in history), born in Newark, New Jersey (d. 2021)
Deaths in Sport
- May 16 Alec Hearne, English cricket batsman (1 Test; Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1894; Kent), dies at 88