June 1981 in Sports History

Events in Sport

Event of Interest

Jun 5 Astro's Nolan Ryan passes Early Wynn as all-time walk leader (1,777)

MLB Pitching Legend Nolan Ryan — MLB Pitching Legend
Nolan Ryan

French Open Women's Tennis

Jun 6 French Open Women's Tennis: Czech teenager Hana Mandlíková beats Sylvia Hanika of Germany 6-2, 6-4 for her only French singles crown

Tennis Player and Four-Time Major Champion Hana Mandlikova — Tennis Player and Four-Time Major Champion
Hana Mandlikova

Tennis Player Sylvia Hanika — Tennis Player
Sylvia Hanika

French Open Men's Tennis

Jun 7 French Open Men's Tennis: Björn Borg of Sweden wins 11th and final career Grand Slam title; Open era record 6th French title; beats Ivan Lendl 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

Tennis Player Björn Borg — Tennis Player
Björn Borg

Tennis Player and Eight-Time Major Champion Ivan Lendl — Tennis Player and Eight-Time Major Champion
Ivan Lendl

Jun 8 Seattle Mariners draft Mike Moore #1

Baseball Record

Jun 10 Pete Rose ties Stan Musial's NL record of 3,630 hits

MLB Player and Manager Pete Rose — MLB Player and Manager
Pete Rose

MLB Legend Stan Musial — MLB Legend
Stan Musial

Event of Interest

Jun 10 Sebastian Coe of England sets 800m record (1:41.73) in Florence

1500m Runner Sebastian Coe — 1500m Runner
Sebastian Coe

Jun 11 Mariners beat Orioles 8-2 at Kingdome, then players go on strike
Jun 12 Baseball players begin a 50 day strike, their 3rd strike

Boxing Title Fight

Jun 12 Larry Holmes TKOs Leon Spinks in 3 for WBC heavyweight boxing title

WBC Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes — WBC Heavyweight Champion
Larry Holmes

Heavyweight Boxing Champion Leon Spinks — Heavyweight Boxing Champion
Leon Spinks

LPGA Championship

Jun 14 LPGA Championship Women's Golf, Jack Nicklaus GC: Donna Caponi Young sinks 15 foot birdie putt on 18th to beat Jerilyn Britz and Pat Meyers by 1 stroke

LPGA Golfer Donna Caponi — LPGA Golfer
Donna Caponi

Jun 18 Test cricket debut of Terry Alderman, v England at Trent Bridge
Jun 21 US Open Men's Golf, Merion GC: David Graham wins his second major title and becomes the first Australian to win the US Open, 3 strokes ahead of runners-up George Burns and Bill Rogers

Event of Interest

Jun 22 John McEnroe's famous 'You cannot be serious' rant in 1st round win over Tom Gullikson at Wimbledon

Tennis Player John McEnroe — Tennis Player
John McEnroe

Jun 23 Longest game in Professional Baseball: Pawtucket Red Sox finally beat Rochester Red Wings 3-2 in 33 innings (game began 18th April)

Birthdays in Sport

Jun 1 Carlos Zambrano, Venezuelan baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 2004, 06, 08; NL wins leader 2006; no-hitter 2008), born in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela
Jun 2 Chin-hui Tsao, Taiwanese baseball player
Jun 2 Nikolay Davydenko, Russian professional tennis pl
Jun 4 Giourkas Seitaridis, Greek footballer

Anna Kournikova

Jun 7 Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player (Australian Open doubles 1999, 2002), born in Moscow, Russia

Jun 7 Kevin Kyle, Scottish soccer striker (Scotland 10 caps, Sunderland), born in Stranraer, Wigtownshire
Jun 8 Matteo Meneghello, Italian racing driver
Jun 10 Burton O'Brien, Scottish footballer
Jun 11 Emiliano Moretti, Italian footballer, born in Rome, Italy
Jun 15 Jeremy Reed, American baseball player
Jun 16 Miguel Villalta, Peruvian footballer
Jun 16 Benjamin Becker, German tennis player
Jun 16 Kevin Bieksa, Canadian ice hockey player
Jun 17 Kyle Boller, American football quarterback
Jun 17 Shane Watson, Australian Test cricket all-rounder (2005-2015), born in Ipswich, Queensland
Jun 20 Ardian Gashi, Albanian-Norwegian footballer
Jun 21 Yann Danis, Canadian ice hockey player
Jun 22 Lisa Moro, Victoria Australia, gymnast (Olympics 1996)
Jun 25 Simon Ammann, Swiss ski jumper, born in Grabs, Switzerland
Jun 29 Nicolás Vuyovich, Argentine racing driver, born in Orán, Province of Salta, Argentina (d. 2005)
Jun 29 Joe Johnson, American basketball player, born in Little Rock, Arkansas
Jun 30 Can Artam, Turkish racing driver
Jun 30 Matt Kirk, Canadian football Player
Jun 30 Ben Utecht, American football Player

Deaths in Sport

Jun 3 Eric Dalton, South African cricket batsman (15 Tests, top score 117), dies at 74
Jun 28 Terry Fox, Canadian one-legged distance runner (Marathon of Hope 1980), dies of cancer at 22