November 1956 in Sports History

Events in Sport

Nov 6 Netherlands and Spain withdraw from Olympics in protest against Soviet actions in the Hungarian Revolution

Sports History

Nov 17 Syracuse fullback Jim Brown, scores NCAA record of 43 pts (vs Colgate)

Nov 21 Don Newcombe wins NL MVP & 1st-ever Cy Young Award

Sports History

Nov 22 Boston shooting guard Bill Sharman hits 10 free throws in Celtics 101-78 over Philadelphia Warriors at Philadelphia Civic Center; begins NBA FT streak of 55 games

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

Olympic Gold

Nov 27 Al Oerter wins first of 4 consecutive men's discus gold medals when he throws Olympic record 56.36m to lead an American medal sweep at the Melbourne Games; Fortune Gordien silver, Desmond Koch bronze

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

Boxing Title Fight

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
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

Birthdays in Sport

Nov 3 Bob Welch, American baseball pitcher (AL Cy Young Award 1990; Oakland A's; World Series 1981, 89, 2001), born in Seal Beach, California (d. 2014)
Nov 6 Graeme Wood, Australian cricket batsman (59 Tests, 9 x 100, HS 172; 83 ODIs, 3 x 100; WA CA), born in East Fremantle, Australia
Nov 13 Bill Scanlon, American tennis player (World #9 1984; 6 x ATP titles), born in Dallas, Texas (d. 2021)
Nov 14 Keith Alexander, British soccer forward (3 caps St Lucia; Grimsby Town FC, Lincoln City FC) and manager (Lincoln, Peterborough, Macclesfield), born in Nottingham, England (d. 2010)
Nov 15 Zlatko Kranjčar, Croatian soccer striker (2 caps; Dinamo Zagreb, Rapid Wien) and manager (Croatia, Montenegro, Dinamo Zagreb), born in Zagreb, Croatia (d. 2021)
Nov 16 Terry Labonte, American NASCAR driver
Nov 18 Noel Brotherston, Northern Irish footballer (d. 1995)
Nov 18 Tony Franklin, American football kicker (Pro Bowl, NFL scoring leader 1986; New England Patriots), born in Big Spring, Texas
Nov 18 Warren Moon, NFL quarterback (Houston Oilers, Seahawks, Vikings)
Nov 20 Mark Gastineau, American NFL end (NY Jets, Pro Bowl 1981-85), born in Ardmore, Oklahoma
Nov 21 Mariana Simionescu, Romanian tennis player (1st wife of Björn Borg), born in Tirgu Neamt, Romania
Nov 23 Bruce Edgar, New Zealand cricketer (NZ opener through the 80's), born in Wellington, New Zealand
Nov 23 Shane Gould, Australian freestyle swimmer (Olympic-3 gold-1972), born in Sydney, Australia
Nov 25 Liana Vicens, Puerto Rico, 100m breaststroke (Olympics 1968)
Nov 26 Dale Jarrett, American auto racer (Daytona 500 1993, 96, 2000; NASCAR Winston Cup Series 1999) and broadcaster (ESPN, ABC, NBC), born in Conover, North Carolina
Nov 26 Marty Smith, American motocross racer (AMA 125cc 1974, 75; AMA 500cc 1977), born in San Diego, California (d. 2020)
Nov 29 Eric Laakso, American NFL player (Miami Dolphins), born in New York City