April 1963 in Sports History

Events in Sport

Apr 1 NY Mets purchase future Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Duke Snider from the LA Dodgers for $40,000; Snider had starred for the Brooklyn Dodgers 1947-57

US Masters Golf

Apr 7 27th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: 23 year old Jack Nicklaus wins the first of his record 6 Green Jackets with a 3-foot par putt on the final hole to finish 1 stroke ahead of Tony Lema

Apr 7 Public stock offering of 115,000 shares in Milwaukee Braves withdrawn after only 13,000 shares are sold to 1,600 new investors

Sports History

Apr 8 Detroit Tigers claim young pitcher Denny McLain on waivers from the Chicago WS; McLain goes on the win Cy Young Award 1968, 69 and AL MVP 1968

Sports History

Apr 11 Milwaukee Braves future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn beats NY Mets, 6-1 for his 328th win; most by a left-hander in MLB history

Sports History

Apr 13 Pete Rose triples for his 1st major league base hit

Apr 15 67th Boston Marathon won by Aurèle Vandendriessche of Belgium in race record 2:18:58
Apr 18 Stanley Cup Final, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, ON: Toronto Maple Leafs go back-to-back with a 3-1 Game 5 win over Detroit Red Wings for a 4-1 series victory

Hall of Fame

Apr 24 Future Basketball Hall of Fame point guard Bob Cousy plays his last NBA game for Boston as Celtics beat LA Lakers, 112-109 in Game 6 for their 5th straight NBA C'ship

Apr 24 17th NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat LA Lakers, 4 games to 2

Golf Tournament

Apr 29 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Marilynn Smith beats Mickey Wright by 1 shot in 18-hole playoff

Birthdays in Sport

Apr 2 Dermot Reeve, English cricket all-rounder (3 Tests, 29 ODIs), born in Kowloon, Hong Kong
Apr 2 Mike Gascoyne, British motor racing engineer, designer, writer (McLaren, Sauber, Tyrrell, Jordan, Renault, Toyota, Force India) and broadcaster (BBC 5 Live, Sky Sports), born in Norwich, England
Apr 3 Chris Bosio, American baseball pitcher (Seattle Mariners), born in Carmichael, California
Apr 3 Zakir Khan, Pakistani cricketer (two Tests for Pakistan 1986-89), born in Bannu, Pakistan
Apr 4 Dale Hawerchuk, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame center (#1 pick NHL Draft 1981; Calder Trophy 1982; Canada Cup 1987, 91; Winnipeg Jets, Buffalo Sabres), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 2020)
Apr 4 Jack Del Rio, American football player, NFL linebacker (Minnesota Vikings), born in Castro Valley, California
Apr 6 Lorenzo Lynch, NFL safety (Az Cardinals, Oakland Raiders)
Apr 8 Alec Stewart, English cricketer (son of Micky, opening batter, occasional wicket keeper), born in Merton Park, England
Apr 8 Terry Porter, American basketball point guard and coach (Portland Trail Blazers; Minnesota Timberwolves; NBA All Star 1991, 93), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Apr 10 Claire Smith, equestrian 3 day event (Olympics 1996), born in Ottawa, Ontario
Apr 10 Kirk Lowdermilk, American football NFL center (Indianapolis Colts), born in Canton, Ohio

Apr 10 Mike Devereaux, American baseball outfielder (Baltimore Orioles), born in Casper, Wyoming
Apr 11 Elizabeth Smylie, tennis star (1987 Oklahoma City), born in Perth, Australia
Apr 11 Billy Bowden, New Zealand cricket umpire (84 Tests, 200 ODIs, 24 T20Is), born in Auckland, New Zealand

Garry Kasparov

Apr 13 Gary Kasparov, Russian chess player (world champion 1985-93), born in Baku, Azerbaijan

Apr 13 Jan Willem van Ede, Dutch soccer player (FC Utrecht, PSV), born in Utrecht, Netherlands
Apr 13 Mark Leiter, American baseball pitcher (SF Giants), born in Joliet, Illinois
Apr 14 Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, American WNBA guard (Houston Comets/Olympic gold 1988) and coach, born in Chicago, Illinois

Meg Mallon

Apr 14 Meg Mallon, American golfer (4 major titles; US Open 1991, 2004), born in Natick, Massachusetts

Apr 15 Manoj Prabhakar, Indian cricketer (Indian opening batsman & opening bowler), born in Ghaziabad, India
Apr 16 Garry Galley, Canadian NHL defenseman (Buffalo Sabres), born in Montreal, Quebec
Apr 16 Hu Na, Chinese tennis star, born in Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Apr 16 Saleem Malik, Pakistani cricketer (memorable Pakistani & Essex batsman), born in Kayerpora, Lahore, Pakistan
Apr 18 Phil Simmons, West Indian cricketer (West Indian opening batsman), born in Arima, Trinidad
Apr 20 Mauricio Gugelmin, Brazilian racing driver, born in Joinville, Brazil
Apr 21 Ken Caminiti, MLB third baseman, 1987-2001, (Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, and 3 other teams; NL MVP- 1996), born in Hanford, California (d. 2004)
Apr 25 Marcos Ferrufino, Bolivian soccer defender (9 caps; Bolívar 252 games) and manager (San José, Real Potosí), born in Oruro, Bolivia (d. 2021)
Apr 26 Bill Wennington, Canadian NBA center (Chicago Bulls), born in Montreal, Quebec

Mike Babcock

Apr 29 Mike Babcock, Canadian NHL Coach (Anaheim, Detroit, Team Canada), born in Manitouwadge, Ontario

Apr 30 Steve Smith, NHL defenseman (Chicago Blackhawks), born in Glasgow, Scotland
Apr 30 Michael Waltrip, American auto racer (Daytona 500 2001, 2003), born in Owensboro, Kentucky