See also: 1978 in sports, other events of 1979, 1980 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'.

Auto Racing

• Stock car racing:
  • NASCAR Championship - Richard Petty
  • Richard Petty won the Daytona 500
• CART Racing (replaced USAC): Rick Mears won the season championship
  • Indianapolis 500 - Rick Mears
• Formula One Champion - Jody Scheckter of South Africa
• 24 hours of Le Mans: the team of Klaus Ludwig / Bill Whittington / Don Whittington win driving a Porsche 935
• Rally racing - the team of Bernard Darniche / Alain Mahe win the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Lancia Stratos HF
• Drag racing:
  • Rob Bruins won the NHRA Top Fuel championship.
  • Don Garlits won Top Fuel at the [NHRA] World Finals

Baseball

• January 23: Willie Mays receives 409 of 432 votes in the BBWAA election to earn enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.

• World Series: Pittsburgh Pirates won 4 games to 3 over the Baltimore Orioles. The Series MVP was Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship:
  • Michigan St. wins 75-64 over Indiana St.

• NBA Finals:
  • Seattle SuperSonics won 4 games to 1 over the Washington Bullets

Boxing

• September 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Larry Holmes retains his World Heavyweight title with an 11th round TKO of Earnie Shavers.

• November 3 also in Las Vegas, dual world championship undercard: Vito Antuofermo retains his world Middleweight title with a 15 round draw (tie) against Marvin Hagler, and Sugar Ray Leonard wins his first word title, beating WBC world Welterweight champion Wilfredo Benitez by knockout in round 15.

Cricket

• Cricket World Cup - West Indies beat England by 92 runs
• World Series Cricket rival competition to official International Cricket Council matches is disbanded.

Cycling

• Giro d'Italia won by Giuseppe Saronni of Italy
• Tour de France - Bernard Hinault -France
• World Cycling Championship: Jan Raas of Netherlands

Field Hockey

• March 10 - In an international women's field hockey match at Wembley Stadium,England.England drew 0-0 with Ireland.
• August 31 - The 2nd Women's World Field Hockey Championships was held at Vancouver,Canada with the Netherlands as the champions.

Figure Skating

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Vladimir Kovalev , (Soviet Union)
  • Women's champion: Linda Fratianne , (United States)
  • Pairs champions: Tai Babilonia & Randy Gardner, (United States)

Football (American)

• Super Bowl XIII: Pittsburgh Steelers won 35-31 over the Dallas Cowboys

Football (Australian Rules)

• Victorian Football League
  • Carlton wins the 83rd VFL Premiership (Carlton 11.16 (82) d Collingwood 11.11 (77))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Peter Moore (Collingwood)

Football (Canadian)

• Grey Cup: Edmonton Eskimos won 17-9 over the Montreal Alouettes
• Vanier Cup: Acadia Axmen won 34-12 over the Western Ontario Mustangs

Football (Soccer)

• May 12 - England - FA Cup: Arsenal won 3-2 over Manchester United

Sport Club Internacional Brazilian Champion, without defeats.

Golf

Men's Golf

• Grand Slam of golf results:
  1. May - The Masters - Fuzzy Zoeller
  2. June - US Open - Hale Irwin
  3. July 20 - British Open - Seve Ballesteros
  4. August - PGA Championship - David Graham

• PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Tom Watson - $462,636

• Ryder Cup: United States won 17-11 over Europe in the first Ryder Cup to feature a side representing all Europe.

Women's Golf

• US Women's Open - Jerilyn Britz
• LPGA Championship - Donna Caponi
• Nancy Lopez: leading money winner on the LPGA tour, earning $189,213.

Thoroughbred Horse Racing

• Australia - Melbourne Cup - Hyperno
• Canada - Queen's Plate - Steady Growth
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Three Troikas
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Troy

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. Two Thousand Guineas Stakes - Tap On Wood
  2. Epsom Derby - Troy
  3. St. Leger Stakes - Son of Love

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. Kentucky Derby - Spectacular Bid
  2. Preakness Stakes - Spectacular Bid
  3. Belmont Stakes - Coastal

Harness Racing

• United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
  1. Cane Pace - Happy Motoring
  2. Little Brown Jug - Hot Hitter
  3. Messenger Stakes - Hot Hitter

• United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
  1. Hambletonian - Legend Hanover
  2. Yonkers Trot
  3. Kentucky Futurity

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Rondel
  • Trotters: No Response

Ice Hockey

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Bryan Trottier, New York Islanders

• Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Bryan Trottier, New York Islanders

• Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens win 4 games to 1 over the New York Rangers

• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Czechoslovakia
  • Junior Men's champion: Soviet Union defeated Sweden

Skiing

• Alpine Skiing
  • The men's overall season champion: Peter Luescher , Switzerland
  • The women's overall season champion: Annemarie Moser-Pröll , Austria

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship: outsider Terry Griffiths beats Dennis Taylor 24-16
• World rankings: Ray Reardon remains world number one for 1979/80

Tennis

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Guillermo Vilas
  2. French Open - Björn Borg
  3. Wimbledon championships - July 7 - Björn Borg
  4. US Open - John McEnroe

• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Barbara Jordan
  2. French Open - Chris Evert
  3. Wimbledon championships - July 7 - Martina Navratilova
  4. US Open - Tracy Austin, youngest US Open Champion at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 28 days defeating 4-time defending champion Chris Evert 6-4, 6-3 in the final after defeating 2nd seeded Martina Navratilova in the semifinal making Evert lose for the first time in 32 matches.

• Davis Cup: United States wins 5-0 over Italy in world tennis.

General sporting events

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion:
  • Rick Swenson won with lead dogs: Andy & O.B. (Old Buddy)

• September 7 - The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) makes its debut.

Births

• January 15 - Marie-Helene Chisholm , judo star
• January 2 - Hanna Ljungberg, Swedish soccer star
• January 9 - Kate Wilson-Smith, badminton player
• January 14 - Whynter Lamarre, water polo goalie
• January 16 - Helen Grant , English field hockey star
• January 21 - Brian O'Driscoll, Irish rugby star
• January 24 - Amanda Levens, basketball player
• January 25 - Pi Hongyan, badminton player
• January 30 - Karen Smith , Australian field hockey international
• February 2 - Fani Halkia, Greek athlete
• February 9 - Irina Slutskaya, figure skater
• March 12 - Nidia Guenard, professional wrestler
• March 16 - Suzie Faulkner , Australian field hockey international
• March 26 - Almudena Gallardo, Spanish archery star
• April 5 - Emily Halliday , Australian field hockey international
• April 6 - Jana Salat, water polo player
• April 18 - Pawina Thongsuk, weightlifter
• April 27 - Alison Bradley, Canadian softball player
• May 1 - Ann Dow, Canadian water polo star
• May 24 - Tracy McGrady, NBA star
• May 24 - Natalya Nazarova, Russian athlete
• May 25 - Jonny Wilkinson, English rugby star
• June 11 - Patricia Miranda, US wrestler
• June 24 - Fanny Letourneau, synchronised swimming star
• July 5 - Amélie Mauresmo, tennis star
• July 7 - Alexandra Fouace, French archery star
• July 9 - Andrea Dewar, Canadian water polo star
• July 13 - Saralee Thungthongkam, badminton player
• July 16 - Kim Rhode, shooter
• July 21 - Tine Rasmussen, badminton player
• July 25 - Mylanie Barre, canoeist
• August 8 - Carrie Lightbound, canoeist
• August 9 - Erin Chan, synchronised swimming star
• August 23 - Kaori Mori, badminton player
• September 19 - Li Wing Mui, badminton player
• September 26 - Jaycie Phelps, US gymnast
• November 13 - Ron Artest, NBA star
• November 20 - Anastasiya Kapachinskaya, Russian athlete
• December 2 - Abdul Razzaq, cricketer
• December 7 - Nigella Saunders, badminton player
• December 17 - Charlotte Edwards , English cricketer
• December 24 - Lucilla Wright , UK field hockey international
• December 30 - Angela Lichty, softball player
• December 30 - Abi Oyepitan, athlete

Deaths

• February 21 - Glendon Gibbs , Australian cricketer
• April 6 - M Marie Widlow , Hall of Fame softball pitcher
• May 31 - Nigel Howard, English cricketer
• June 22 Louis Chiron, Grand Prix motor racing champion
• July 5 - Elizabeth Ryan , tennis star, won 19 Wimbledon titles
• July 9 - Betty Evans Grayson , Hall of Fame softball pitcher
• July 21 - Sandor Kocsis, Hungarian soccer star
• July 22 - Tony "Two-Ton" Galento, boxer/actor
• August 2 - Thurman Munson, New York Yankees catcher (1969-1979), plane crash
• August 21 - Giuseppe Meazza, Italian, soccer star
• October 22 - Clint Hodgins , Hall of Fame harness-racing driver
• December 15 - Stan Hack , Major League Baseball player (1932-1947)