In 1976, Americans celebrated the Bicentennial, America’s 200th Anniversary. Here’s some of what happened in the world of sports (Part 2 of a two-part column).
Tennis: Sweden’s Bjorn Borg won the Wimbledon championship, the first of his five consecutive Wimbledon titles. Borg never lost a set during the tournament, the first man in the Open Era to do so. The U.S. Open was won by Jimmy Connors, who defeated his rival, Bjorn Borg. Connors’ ex-fiancée, Chris Evert, won two of the four Grand Slam titles in 1976. Evert won the Wimbledon championship and the U.S. Open.
Ali-Norton III took place in September, 1976
Boxing: Muhammad Ali, the boxer who proclaimed to be “The Greatest,” won a long and controversial 15-round decision over Ken Norton to secure his World Heavyweight title.
Horse Racing: On March 14, Willie Shoemaker won his 7000th race. Shoemaker won his 1st race back in 1949.
Winter Olympics: Ice Dance debuted at the 1976 Winter Olympics. Ice Dance consisted of two figure skaters dancing to modern or classical music. Dorothy Hamill of the United States won the gold medal in figure skating. The United States earned a modest 10 medals at the Games, including three gold. The Soviet Union, also known as the U.S.S.R., led with 27 medals in total and 13 gold medals.
Summer Olympics: Montreal hosted the Summer Olympics and welcomed several familiar dignitaries. Queen Elizabeth II opened the games and was joined by other members of the Royal Family, including Princess Anne, the Queen’s daughter, and the Queen’s husband, Prince Philip. 14-year old Nadia Comaneci of Romania became the first person to score a perfect 10 at the Olympics. The scoreboard could only display 3 digits, so it showed 1.00. Edwin Moses, a Morehouse College student at the time, set a new world record in the 400-meter hurdles. He would eventually earn gold for the event. Bruce Jenner earned gold for the decathlon, setting a world record of 8,634 points. The United States won 94 medals, 34 of them gold. The Soviet Union again dominated the medal count at the Summer Olympics. They had the most medals, 125, and, yet again, the most gold medals, 49.
Nadia dazzled in 1976 (photo courtesy Fayobserver)
The Year in Awards: The Bicentennial was the year of the Olympic athlete, as the Associated Press named Bruce Jenner the Male Athlete of the Year. The Associated Press named Nadia Comaneci the Female Athlete of the Year.
Life Passages: 1976 saw life passages in the sports world, two of them (described first) at young ages.
Spider Sabich was an Alpine ski racer who competed at the 1968 Winter Olympics. His career peaked in the early 1970s as he was the pro ski racing champion in 1971 and 1972. On March 21st, Sabich was shot and killed by his live-in girlfriend, Claudine Longet (Longet recently died in May of 2026). Sabich was only 31 years old.
Oscar Bonavena was a popular heavyweight boxer in his native Argentina. He had very good success as a professional boxer in both Argentina and the United States. Despite winning 58 boxing matches, he never won a boxing match against any of the legends, but all of the matches were hard-fought. He lost against Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and Floyd Patterson. On May 22nd, Bonavena was shot dead by a security guard at a brothel near Reno, Nevada. Bonavena became involved in a conflict with the brothel owner. Bonavena was only 33.
Wes Ferrell was part of a big family that enjoyed playing baseball. Two of his brothers had steady careers in baseball: Rick Ferrell was a Hall of Fame catcher, and George Ferrell was a veteran in the minor league circuit. For his part, Wes was a pitcher whose career started in the late 1920s and ended in the early 1940s. His best season came in 1931 with the Cleveland Indians. Ferrell pitched a no-hitter on April 29th against the St. Louis Browns. Not only did he have defensive prowess, but he also dominated as a pretty good hitter. Ferrell hit 9 home runs during that 1931 season. Overall, Ferrell had a career total of 38 home runs, a record that still stands for pitchers, 37 of them he hit as a pitcher. After ending his major league career, Ferrell played on and off in the minor leagues before retiring for good after the 1949 season. Wes Ferrell died on December 9th. He was 68 years old.
