Events in Sport
- Aug 1 Tour de France: Louison Bobet of France wins by 15' 49" from Ferdinand Kübler, for the second of his 3 consecutive wins
- Aug 10 Sir Gordon Richards retires as a jockey with record 4,870 wins
- Aug 11 BC Lions plays its 1st CFL game, they lose to Montreal Alouettes, 22-0
- Aug 13 21st NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Detroit 31, All-Stars 6 (93,470)
- Aug 16 "Sports Illustrated" magazine begins publishing
- Aug 22 Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina clinches his second FIA World Championship of Drivers by winning Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten in a Maserati
- Aug 25 Ivan Filin wins Berne marathon (2:25:26.6) (260m)
- Aug 31 Cincinnati 1st baseman Ted Kluszewski hits 2 HRs in a 9-3 loss v Phillies; 1st Redleg to ever hit 40 MLB HRs, en route to season total 49
Birthdays in Sport
- Aug 2 Sammy McIlroy, Irish soccer star (Manchester United), born in Belfast, United Kingdom
- Aug 3 Gary Peters, English footballer, born in Carshalton, London
- Aug 4 Janet Coles, LPGA golfer
- Aug 6 Paul Steigerwald, American sports announcer
- Aug 8 Nigel Mansell, British auto racer (World F1 champion 1992, Indy Car 1993), born in Upton-upon-Severn, England
- Aug 11 M V Narasimha Rao, Indian cricketer (leg-spin all-rounder 1978-79), born in Secunderabad, India
- Aug 11 Yashpal Sharma, cricketer (Indian right-handed batsman early 80')
- Aug 14 Mark Fidrych, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers), born in Worcester, Massachusetts
- Aug 19 Oscar Larrauri, Argentine racing driver
- Aug 20 William Quinn Buckner, Phoenix Ill, basketballer (Olympic gold 1976)
- Aug 21 Archie Griffin, NFL runningback (won 2 Heisman Trophies, Ohio State), born in Columbus, Ohio
- Aug 22 John Colwell, Canadian Tour golfer (1978 Simon Fraser), born in Kingston, Ontario
- Aug 24 Alain Daigle, French Canadian ice hockey player
- Aug 25 Gilbert "Gibus" Duclos-Lassalle, French cyclist
- Aug 26 Sarah Lundy, horse trainer
- Aug 27 Derek Warwick, race car driver
- Aug 27 John Lloyd, England, tennis star (former husband of Chris Everet)