Events in Sport
Boxing Title Fight
Dec 4 Floyd Patterson KOs Tom McNeeley in 4 for heavyweight boxing title
Floyd Patterson
- 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)
Event of Interest
Dec 8 Wilt Chamberlain scores the 2nd highest total in the NBA - 78
Wilt Chamberlain
- Dec 12 Ballon d'Or: Juventus' Argentine forward Omar Sívori wins award for best football player in Europe ahead of Spanish midfielder Luis Suárez and English forward Johnny Haynes
- 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 AFL Championship, Balboa Stadium, San Diego: Houston Oilers beat San Diego Chargers 10-3; Billy Cannon scores game's only TD
- Dec 28 50th Davis Cup: Australia beats Italy in Melbourne (5-0)
NFL Championship
Dec 31 National Football League Championship, City Stadium, Green Bay: Green Bay Packers shutout NY Giants 37-0; first of 5 NFL titles won in 7-season span by Packers and head coach, Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi
Birthdays in Sport
- Dec 1 Barb Mucha, American golfer (5 LPGA titles), born in Parma Heights, Ohio
- Dec 4 Frank Reich, American NFL quarterback (Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions), born in Freeport, New York
- 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, American baseball pitcher (Texas Rangers), born in Saint Charles, Missouri
- Dec 12 Dale Sanderson, CFL guard (Hamilton Tiger Cats), born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- Dec 13 Gary Zimmerman, American NFL tackle (Denver Broncos-Super Bowl 32), born in Fullerton, California
- 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)
Reggie White
Dec 19 Reggie White, American NFL defensive end (Green Bay Packers - Super Bowl 31), born in Chattanooga, Tennessee (d. 2004)
Reggie White
- Dec 20 Gale Gilbert, NFL quarterback (San Diego Chargers), born in Red Bluff, California
- Dec 20 Nate Newton, NFL guard (Dallas Cowboys), born in Orlando, Florida
- Dec 21 Trevor Bayliss, Australian cricketer (NSW batsman) and coach (England), born in Goulburn, Australia
- Dec 24 Jay Wright, American basketball coach, born in Churchville, Pennsylvania
- Dec 25 Storm Davis, baseball player
- Dec 26 Storm Davis, American baseball 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 football player & coach, born in Frederiksberg, Denmark
- 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, American baseball pitcher (Minnesota Twins), born in San Gabriel, California