Events in Sport
- May 1 Sabres & Islanders play to 1:20 of 5th period in a playoff
- May 3 106th Kentucky Derby: Jacinto Vasquez on Genuine Risk wins in 2:02
- May 3 Giants 1st baseman Willie McCovey hits his 521st & final HR
- May 3 Texas Ranger Ferguson Jenkins becomes 4th to win 100 games in AL & NL
- May 4 Dodgers bat out of order against Phillies in 1st inning
- May 4 Hollis Stacy wins LPGA CPC Women's Internationalional Golf Tournament
- May 4 White Sox 1st baseman Mike Squires catches final inning of 11-1 loss to Brewers, becoming 1st lefty to catch since Dale Long in 1958
- May 8 Sabres take only 15 shots, Islanders 22, in a playoff game
- May 11 Pam Higgins wins LPGA Lady Michelob Golf Tournament
Baseball Record
- May 12 West Ham United wins the FA Cup, beating Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley Stadium. Midfield playmaker Trevor Brooking scores the winner with a rare header.
- May 13 Cincinnati Red Ray Knight hits 2 HRs in 5th inning vs NY Mets
- May 14 Valencia of Spain wins 20th European Cup Winner's Cup against Arsenal of England 5-4 on penalties in Brussels
- May 15 Flyers score 8 goals against Islanders in playoffs
- May 16 34th NBA Championship: LA Lakers beat Philadelphia 76ers, 4 games to 2
- May 17 105th Preakness: Angel Cordero Jr aboard Codex wins in 1:54.2
- May 18 Donna White wins LPGA Coca-Cola Golf Classic
- May 24 Stanley Cup: NY Islanders beat Philadelphia Flyers, 4 games to 2
Golf Tournament
May 25 Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA Corning Golf Classic
Donna Caponi
- May 25 Jacek Wszoka of Poland sets high jump record (7'8")
- May 25 Indianapolis 500: Johnny Rutherford wins in 3:29:59.572 (229.914 km/h)
- May 26 Dietmar Mogenburg of West Germany ties high jump record at 7'8"
- May 26 Phillie Steve Carlton is 1st NLer to record 6, 1-hitters
- May 28 Joe Darby does a standing long jump of 12'5"
- May 28 24th European Cup: Nottingham Forest beats Hamburg 1-0 at Madrid
Event of Interest
May 29 Larry Bird beats out Magic Johnson for NBA rookie of year
Larry Bird
Magic Johnson
Birthdays in Sport
- May 1 Jan Heylen, Belgian racing driver
- May 2 Tim Borowski, German footballer
- May 2 Miloš Glogovac, Serbian footballer
- May 2 Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Canadian skateboarder
- May 2 Zat Knight, English footballer
- May 2 Troy Murphy, American basketball player
- May 2 Brad Richards, Canadian ice hockey player
- May 4 Andrew Raycroft, NHL goalie
- May 5 Yossi Benayoun, Israeli Footballer
- May 5 DerMarr Johnson, American basketball player
- May 6 Brooke Bennett, 800m freestyle (Olympic gold 1996)
- May 6 Kasumi Takahashi, Australian rhythmic gymnast (Olympics 1996), born in Tokyo, Japan
- May 6 Ricardo Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
- May 6 Mario Stojić, Croatian basketball player
- May 7 Johan Kenkhuis, Dutch swimmer
- May 9 Angela Nikodinov, Spartanburg SC, figure skater (1997 Pacif Sr champ)
- May 9 Tony Schmidt, German racing driver
- May 9 Grant Hackett, Australian swimmer
- May 14 Eugene Martineau, Dutch decathlete
- May 14 Hugo Southwell, Scottish rugby union footballer
- May 14 Zdeněk Grygera, Czech footballer
- May 15 Josh Beckett, American baseball player
- May 16 Mikel Alonso, Spanish footballer
- May 16 Michael Ryan, American ice hockey player and coach (Springfield Thunderbirds), born in Boston, Massachusetts
- May 18 Jeff Roehl, American football player
- May 19 Tony Hackworth, English footballer
- May 20 Austin Kearns, American Baseball player
- May 22 Chad Tracy, American baseball player
- May 23 Sarah Louise Catherwood, 4x200m swimmer (Olympics 1996), born in Christchurch, New Zealand
- May 23 Theofanis Gekas, Greek footballer
- May 25 David Navarro, Spanish footballer
- May 27 Jessica Deglau, 200m butterfly (Olympics 1996), born in Vancouver, British Columbia
- May 28 Miguel Pérez, Spanish footballer
- May 30 Steven Gerrard, English footballer