1945 | Sports
Sports
British Olympic gold medalist runner Eric Liddell dies of a brain tumor at Weihsien, China, February 21 at age 43 while being held in a Japanese prison camp. He returned to his native China in 1925 to do missionary work with his father.
Golfer Byron Nelson wins his second PGA championship and sets records by winning 11 successive tour tournaments and 18 out of 30 tour tournaments. He is the top U.S. money winner for the second year in a row.
Frank Parker wins in men's singles at Forest Hills, Sarah Cooke in women's singles.
Davis Cup donor (and former governor general of the Philippines) Dwight F. Davis dies at Washington, D.C., November 28 at age 66.
Matador Carlos Arruza has his best season (see 1944). Fighting in 108 corridas, he kills 232 bulls and is awarded 219 ears, 74 tails, and 20 hooves—twice as many as Manolete.
Pitcher Warren Spahn, now 24, returns from the European war to resume a career with the Boston Braves that was interrupted after four games in 1942.
The Detroit Tigers win the World Series, defeating the Chicago Cubs 4 games to 3 with help from Hank Greenberg, who returned to the Tiger lineup in midsummer at age 34 and hit a home run in his first game after serving as an Army Air Corps volunteer in the China-Burma-India Theater.
Army backs Felix "Doc" Blanchard ("Mr. Inside") and Glenn Davis ("Mr. Outside"), both 20, lead their team to victory; Blanchard wins the Heisman Trophy, Davis will win it next year.