July 1980 in Sports History

Events in Sport

World Record

Jul 1 British runner Steve Ovett breaks countryman Sebastian Coe's world record for the mile in 3:48.8 in Oslo, Norway

Jul 3 Biggest MLB crowd in 7 years, 73,096 watch Indians beat NY Yankees, 7-0 at Cleveland Stadium

Baseball Record

Jul 4 Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) fans Reds' Cesar Geronimo to become 4th pitcher to 3,000 MLB strikeouts

Wimbledon Women's Tennis

Jul 4 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley beats Chris Evert 6-1, 7-6 for her 3rd Wimbledon singles crown

Wimbledon Men's Tennis

Jul 5 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Björn Borg beats John McEnroe 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 8-6 for his 5th straight Wimbledon crown with famous 22-minute, 34-point, fourth-set tiebreak

Baseball Record

Jul 6 MLB Philadelphia Phillies starter Steve Carlton fans 7 Cardinals to reach 2,836 strikeouts, the most by a left-handed pitcher in MLB history

Boxing Title Fight

Jul 7 American boxer Larry Holmes scores a 7th round TKO of Scott LeDoux in Bloomington, Minnesota in defense of his WBC heavyweight title

Jul 8 51st All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 4-2 at Dodger Stadium, LA
Jul 8 All star MVP: Ken Griffey (Cincinnati Reds)

US Women's Golf Open

Jul 13 US Open Women's Golf, Richland CC: Amy Alcott scores convincing 9 stroke win over runner-up Hollis Stacy

Baseball Record

Jul 15 Johnny Bench hits his 314th HR as a catcher which breaks Yogi Berra's record

Jul 19 XXII Summer Olympic Games open in Moscow, Russia; led by United States, 66 nations boycott event because of Soviet-Afghan war
Jul 20 67th Tour de France won by Joop Zoetemelk of Netherlands

British Golf Open

Jul 20 British Open Men's Golf, Muirfield: Tom Watson wins his 3rd of 5 Open titles, by 4 strokes from fellow American Lee Trevino

Jul 30 American swimmers Mary T Meagher (2.06.37) and Craig Beardsley (1.58.21) both set 200m butterfly world records at the US National Swimming Championships at Irvine, California
Jul 30 Houston Astros pitcher J. R. Richard suffers a stroke and collapses while playing a game of catch before an Astros game, ending his career

Birthdays in Sport

Jul 1 Nelson Cruz, Dominican baseball designated hitter, right fielder (7 x MLB All Star; ALCS MVP 2011 Texas Rangers), born in Las Matas de Santa Cruz, Dominican Republic
Jul 2 Nicole Manske, American beauty queen and motorsports television commentator
Jul 3 Harbhajan Singh, Indian cricket spin bowler (103 Tests, 417 wickets, BB 8/84; Punjab, Surrey CCC, Mumbai Indians, Essex CCC, Chennai SKs, Kolkata KRs), born in Jalandhar, India
Jul 3 Roland Schoeman, South African swimmer (Olympic gold 4x100m freestyle relay 2004; 3 x World C'ship gold), born in Pretoria, South Africa
Jul 5 David Rozehnal, Czech soccer defender (Czech Rep. 60 caps; PSG, Lille), born in Šternberk, Czech Republic
Jul 6 Pau Gasol, Spanish Basketball HOF forward (NBA C'ship 2009, 10 LA Lakers; 6 × NBA All-Star; NBA Rookie of the Year 2002 Memphis Grizzlies), born in Barcelona, Spain
Jul 7 John Buck, American MLB baseball catchrr, 2004-14 (Kansas City Royals, and six other teams), born in Kemmerer, Wyoming
Jul 7 Michelle Kwan, American figure skater (World C'ship gold women's singles 1996, 98, 2000, 01, 03; Olympic silver 1998; bronze 2002), born in Torrance, California
Jul 8 Robbie Keane, Irish soccer striker (146 caps Republic of Ireland; Tottenham Hotspur 197 games, LA Galaxy 125 games), born in Dublin, Ireland
Jul 10 Adam Petty, American auto racer (son of Kyle Petty; death leads to NASCAR mandate of steering wheel kill switch), born in Trenton, New Jersey (d. 2000)
Jul 14 George Smith, Australian Rugby player, born in Sydney, Australia
Jul 15 Jonathan Cheechoo, Canadian CHL player, born in Moose Factory, Ontario
Jul 15 Reggie Abercrombie, American MLB player (Florida Marlins), born in Columbus, Georgia
Jul 16 Adam Scott, Australian golfer (US Masters 2013), born in Adelaide, South Australia
Jul 17 Javier Camuñas, Spanish footballer, born in Municipality of Parla, Spain
Jul 17 Ryan Miller, American hockey player, born in East Lansing, Michigan

Jul 19 Giorgio Mondini, Italian racing driver
Jul 19 Xavier Malisse, Belgian tennis player
Jul 21 CC Sabathia, American baseball player, born in Vallejo, California
Jul 22 Dirk Kuyt, Dutch footballer, 1998-2017 (Liverpool and 4 other teams), and manager, born in Katwijk, Netherlands
Jul 22 Scott Dixon, New Zealand auto racer (IndyCar Drivers' champion 2003, 08, 13, 15, 18), born in Brisbane, Australia
Jul 24 Wilfred Bungei, Kenyan middle-distance runner
Jul 25 Shawn Riggans, American baseball player, born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Jul 25 Toni Vilander, Finnish auto racer (24 Hours of Le Mans LMGTE Pro class 2012, 14; FIA World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers 2014; FIA GT C'ship GT2 class 2007, 08), born in Kankaanpää, Finland
Jul 27 Allan Davis, Australian cyclist, born in Ipswich, Queensland
Jul 27 Jessi Combs, American auto racer, television personality (women’s land speed class record [4 wheels] 2013, 16), born in Rockerville, South Dakota (d. 2019)
Jul 29 Fernando González, Chilean tennis player
Jul 29 Ryan Braun, Canadian baseball player (Los Angeles Angels), born in Kitchener, Ontario
Jul 30 Justin Rose, English golfer (US Open 2013), born in Johannesburg, South Africa
Jul 30 Sara Anzanello, Italian volleyball player, born in San Donà di Piave, Italy
Jul 31 Mils Muliaina, New Zealand and Waikato rugby player, born in Salesi, Samoa