February 1961 in Sports History

Events in Sport

Feb 1 Australian cricket tail-enders Ken Mackay (62no) and Lindsay Kline (15no) hang on for 100 minutes to earn a famous draw on the final day vs West Indies in 4th Test in Adelaide
Feb 10 AFL's LA Chargers move to San Diego

Feb 12 Boston Celtic Bill Russell grabs 40 rebounds to beat Warriors 136-125

Feb 12 Pakistani cricketer Mushtaq Mohammad scores his 1st test cricket century for Pakistan at 17 years of age
Feb 15 Australia beat West Indies 2-1 in one of best Test Cricket series ever
Feb 18 Henk van der Grift becomes world champion skater
Feb 19 Henk van der Grift (Neth) becomes world champ all-round skater
Feb 25 Niagara ends St Bonaventura's 99-game home basketball win streak
Feb 26 3rd Daytona 500: Marvin Panch wins in a 1960 Pontiac owned by Smokey Yunick when race leader Fireball Roberts' car suffered a blown engine with 13 laps remaining

Feb 1 Volker Fried, German field hockey player (Olympic gold 1992; silver 1984, 88; 290 caps), born in Osnabrück, Niedersachsen, Germany
Feb 1 Jim Pace, American auto racer (24 Hours of Daytona 1996), born in Monticello, Mississippi (d. 2020)
Feb 2 Joey Benjamin, cricket pace bowler (in St Kitts England in 1994)
Feb 3 Jay Adams, American skateboarder
Feb 4 Denis Savard, Canadian NHL centre (Chicago Blackhawks) named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players' in history, born in Pointe Gatineau, Canada
Feb 5 Savvas Kofidis, Greek footballer & manager, born in Almaty, Kazakhstan
Feb 6 Bill Lester, American racing driver, born in Washington, D.C.
Feb 9 John Kruk, American baseball utility (MLB All-Star 1991–1993; Philadelphia Phillies), born in Charleston, West Virginia
Feb 10 David Ward, British cricketer (prolific Surrey batsman), born in Croydon, United Kingdom
Feb 10 Eva Pfaff, German tennis player (Australian Open doubles 1982 runner-up), born in Königstein im Taunus, Germany
Feb 11 Mary Docter, American 3000m speed skater (Olympics 1980, 84, 88, 92), born in Madison, Wisconsin

Feb 16 Brett Brown, American basketball head coach (Philadelphia 76ers 2013-19; Australian men's national team), born in South Portland, Maine
Feb 17 Guy McIntyre, American football guard (Super Bowl 1984, 88, 89 SF 49ers; 5 × Pro Bowl; All-Pro 1992; Philadelphia Eagles), born in Thomasville, Georgia
Feb 18 Alycia Moulton, American tennis player, born in Sacramento, California
Feb 19 Justin Fashanu, English soccer forward (first openly gay pro footballer; first black footballer to command £1 million transfer fee), born in London, England (d. 1998)
Feb 19 Andy Wallace, English race car driver
Feb 20 Steve Lundquist, US swimmer (Olympics 2 gold-1984)
Feb 21 Yobes Ondieki, Kenyan 10K runner (world record)
Feb 21 Bertha Faye, American wrestler (d. 2001)
Feb 22 Mike Morris, American NFL center (Minnesota Vikings), born in Centerville, Iowa
Feb 24 Ruud Really, soccer player (Feyenoord)
Feb 25 Davey Allison, American auto racer (Daytona 500 1992), born in Hollywood, Florida (d. 1993)
Feb 25 Todd Blackledge, American football player

Feb 27 James Worthy, American NBA forward (LA Lakers, 1988 Playoff MVP), born in Gastonia, North Carolina

Feb 9 Grigory Levenfish, Russian International chess grandmaster, dies at 70
Feb 9 Oscar Egg, Swiss track and road bicycle racer (3 x world hour record), dies at 70
Feb 15 Maribel Vinson, American figure skater (9 time US National Champion), and coach dies in a plane crash at 49
Feb 15 Laurence Owen, American figure skater (U.S. and North American champion), dies in a plane crash at 16
Feb 15 Maribel Yerxa Owen, American figure skater (U.S. Pairs champion, 1961), dies in a plane crash at 20
Feb 15 Dudley Richards, American figure skater (U.S. Pairs champion, 1961), dies in a plane crash at 29
Feb 23 Wilf Ferguson, West Indian cricket leg spinner (34 wickets for West Indies), dies at 43
Feb 27 Platt Adams, American field athlete (Olympic gold standing high jump 1912), dies at 75