Sporting Highlights for 1972
Here are some of the sporting highlights in the world of sport for 1972. The major events of this year in sport were the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.
The Olympic Games were to be remembered not for the events on the sporting field, but for the eleven Israeli Olympic team members which were taken hostage and ultimately murdered by an Arab terrorist cell, "Black September".
The new year came with a disappointment for the LA Lakers who saw their 33-game win streak come to an end at the hands of Milwaukee Bucks. The record though still holds good as the most consecutive wins ever even after 40 years. The Lakers won 69 games that season which remained as the most wins till the Bulls surpassed it in 1996 with 72 wins, which in turn is likely to be surpassed by Golden State Warriors in 2016.
With multiple governing tennis bodies already in existence, and with intense rivalry amongst themselves, a new syndicate called the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) was created. ATP would eventually outlast all other to eventually become the major organization governing tennis.
Ken Rosewall was one of the four Australians that dominated tennis in the 1960's. He won his eighth and final grand slam title by taking the Australian Open. Billie Jean King was a superstar in women's tennis and she won three grand slams that year except the Australian Open.
Jack Nicklaus won the Masters Tournament and the US Open for his 10th and 11th major and surpassed Arnold Palmer as the all-time highest money winner in golf. In LPGA, it was considered as the last year of the first era, and Susie Berning took the U.S. Women's Open for her third career major.
See some videos from the world of sport in 1972.
Below is a timeline of some significant results in the world of sport for the year 1972.
| Date | Results |
|---|---|
| Jan | Tennis Australia Open won by Ken Rosewall and Virginia Wade |
| Feb | Super Bowl held in New Orleans won by Dallas |
| Feb 3-13 | Winter Olympic Games were held in Sapporo, Japan |
| April | Golf Masters won by Jack Nicklaus (4th win) |
| May | Tennis French Open won by Andres Gimeno and Billie Jean King |
| June | Golf US Open won by Jack Nicklaus |
| July | the Cycling Tour de France won by Eddy Merckx |
| July | Tennis Wimbledon won by Stan Smith and Billie Jean King |
| July | Golf The Open Championship won by Lee Trevino |
| Aug | Golf US PGA won by Gary Player (2) |
| Aug 26 - Sep 10 | Summer Olympic Games were held in Munich, Germany |
| Sep | Tennis US Open won by Ilie Nastase and Billie Jean King |
| Oct | The Baseball World Series won by Oakland Athletics |
Please note that the dates for past events are not always known, and are sometimes just placed in the month that the current event is held. If no exact date is listed, then it is just an estimated month that it was held.
If you have a correction or know of events that should be included here, please let me know.
Related Pages
- Ballon D'or Winners for 1972
- Timeline (all years) in the world of sport
- For future sporting events, see the Calendar of Major Sporting Events
- More about the World of Sport
Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.
Current Events