December 1961 in Sport

Events in Sport

Dec 4 Floyd Patterson KOs Tom McNeeley in 4 for heavyweight boxing title

Dec 4 Smallest NY Knick, 49th St Madison Square Garden crowd-1,300 (snowstorm)
Dec 4 1962 NFL Draft: Ernie Davis from University of Syracuse first pick by Washington Redskins
Dec 6 27th Heisman Trophy Award: Ernie Davis, Syracuse (HB) (1st African American to win)
Dec 8 Larry Costello scores 32 consecutive pts without a miss (NBA rec)

Dec 8 Wilt Chamberlain scores the 2nd highest total in the NBA - 78

Dec 18 For 2nd consecutive year, AP names Wilma Rudolph female athlete of year
Dec 18 Wilt Chamberlain of NBA Philadelphia Warriors scores 78 points vs LA
Dec 24 Houston Oilers beat San Diego Chargers 10-3 in AFL championship game
Dec 28 50th Davis Cup: Australia beats Italy in Melbourne (5-0)
Dec 31 Green Bay Packers shutout NY Giants 37-0 in NFL championship game

Dec 1 Barb Mucha, American golfer (5 LPGA titles), born in Parma Heights, Ohio
Dec 4 Frank Reich, Freeport, New York, American NFL quarterback (Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions)
Dec 9 Christiane Jolissaint, Swiss tennis star
Dec 9 Ian Andrew Wright, New Zealand rower (Olympics 1996), born in Hamilton, New Zealand
Dec 11 Mike Henneman, pitcher (Texas Rangers), born in Saint Charles, Missouri
Dec 12 Dale Sanderson, CFL guard (Hamilton Tiger Cats)
Dec 13 Gary Zimmerman, NFL tackle (Denver Broncos-Super Bowl 32)
Dec 14 Jeff Robinson, American baseball player (Det, Balt), born in Ventura, California, (d. 2014)
Dec 18 Brian Orser, Canadian figure skater (Olympic silver 1988)
Dec 18 Lalchand Rajput, cricketer (Indian Test opening batsman 1985-86)

Dec 19 Reggie White, American NFL defensive end (Green Bay Packers - Super Bowl 31), born in Chattanooga, Tennessee (d. 2004)

Dec 20 Gale Gilbert, NFL quarterback (San Diego Chargers)
Dec 20 Nate Newton, NFL guard (Dallas Cowboys)
Dec 21 Trevor Bayliss, Australian cricketer (NSW batsman) and coach (England), born in Goulburn, Australia
Dec 24 Jay Wright, American basketball coach
Dec 25 Storm Davis, baseball player
Dec 26 Storm Davis, pitcher (KC Royals), born in Dallas, Texas
Dec 27 Caroline Gowan, LPGA golfer (SC Women's Amat-1981, 83), born in Greenville, South Carolina
Dec 28 Heather Hafner, WPVA volleyballer (National-7th-90), born in Santa Barbara, California
Dec 28 Kent Nielsen, Danish footballer and football coach
Dec 30 Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete (Olympic 100m gold 1988-disqualified), born in Falmouth, Jamaica
Dec 30 Sue Malaxos, Australian marathoner (Olympics 1996)
Dec 31 Rick Aguilera, pitcher (Minnesota Twins), born in San Gabriel, California