1961 U.S. Open (golf), Round summaries, Final round
Littler needed no worse than bogey to get in ahead of Goalby, and that is what he shot, recording his lone bogey of the round for a 68 and a 281 total. Sanders, meanwhile, narrowly missed a birdie putt at 17, then almost chipped in for birdie at the last that would have forced a Sunday playoff. Sanders' putter cost him the championship, as he three-putted five of the last 36 greens. (He later missed a short putt to win The Open Championship in 1970.) Littler was the only player to break par twice.


1961 U.S. Women's Open
The 1961 U.S. Women's Open was the 16th U.S. Women's Open, held June 29 to July 1 at the Lower Course of Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey.


1961 U.S. Women's Open
Mickey Wright, age 26, won the third of her four U.S. Women's Open titles, six strokes ahead of runner-up Betsy Rawls, a four-time winner and the defending champion. It was Wright's third win at the U.S. Women's Open in four years, and the sixth of her thirteen major titles.


1961 U.S. Women's Open
After opening with a par 72 on Thursday to co-lead, Wright shot an 80 (+8) in the second round on Friday and dropped four shots back after 36 holes. A three-under 69 on Saturday morning regained the lead after 54 holes, two strokes ahead of Rawls.


1961 U.S. Women's Open
The Lower Course has hosted the U.S. Open four times (two won by Jack Nicklaus) and a PGA Championship, won by Phil Mickelson. The U.S. Women's Open returned to Baltusrol in 1985, but was played on the Upper Course.


1961 UC Davis Aggies football team
The 1961 UC Davis football team represented the University of California, Davis in the 1961 NCAA College Division football season. UC Davis competed in the Far Western Conference (FWC). The UC Davis sports teams were commonly called the “Cal Aggies” from 1924 until the mid 1970s.


1961 UC Davis Aggies football team
The Aggies were led by sixth-year head coach Will Lotter. They played home games at Aggie Field. The Aggies finished the season with a record of five wins and four losses (5–4, 3–2 FWC). They outscored their opponents 173–111 for the 1961 season.


1961 UC Davis Aggies football team, NFL Draft
No UC Davis Aggies players were selected in the 1962 NFL Draft.


1961 UC Riverside Highlanders football team
The 1961 UC Riverside Highlanders football team represented UC Riverside during the 1961 NCAA College Division football season. The Highlanders competed as an independent in 1961.


1961 UC Riverside Highlanders football team
UC Riverside was led by third-year head coach Jim Whitley. They played home games at UCR Athletic Field in Riverside, California. The Highlanders finished the season with a record of one win and seven losses (1–7). Overall, the team was outscored by its opponents 101–159 for the season.


1961 UC Riverside Highlanders football team, Team players in the NFL
No UC Riverside players were selected in the 1962 NFL Draft.


1961 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos football team
The 1961 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos football team represented University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) during the 1961 NCAA College Division football season.


1961 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos football team
UCSB competed in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). The team was led by second-year head coach Bill Hammer, and played home games at La Playa Stadium in Santa Barbara, California. They finished the season with a record of two wins and eight losses (2–8, 0–5 CCAA).


1961 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos football team, Team players in the NFL
No UC Santa Barbara Gaucho players were selected in the 1962 NFL Draft.


1961 UCI Road World Championships
The 1961 UCI Road World Championships took place on 3 September 1961 in Bern, Switzerland. The women's race took place on 10 August on the Isle of Man.


1961 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race
The men's road race at the 1961 UCI Road World Championships was the 28th edition of the event. The race took place on Sunday 3 September 1961 in Bern, Switzerland. The race was won by Rik Van Looy of Belgium.


1961 UCI Track Cycling World Championships
The 1961 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were the World Championship for track cycling. They took place in Zürich, Switzerland from 27 August to 1 September 1961. Eight events were contested, 6 for men (3 for professionals, 3 for amateurs) and 2 for women.


1961 UCLA Bruins football team
The 1961 UCLA Bruins football team was an American football team that represented the University of California, Los Angeles during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season. In their fourth year under head coach Bill Barnes, the Bruins compiled a 7–4 record (3–1 conference) and finished in first place in the Athletic Association of Western Universities.


1961 UCLA Bruins football team
UCLA's offensive leaders in 1961 were quarterbacks Bobby Smith and Mike Haffner with 327 passing yards each, Haffner with 703 rushing yards, and Kermit Alexander with 297 receiving yards.


1961 UEFA European Under-18 Championship
The UEFA European Under-18 Championship 1961 Final Tournament was held in Portugal.


1961 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year
The 1961 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year was the 35th year of greyhound racing in the United Kingdom and Ireland.


1961 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year, Summary
The Betting and Gaming Act 1960 came into force on 1 January 1961. The effect was almost instantaneous with afternoon attendances collapsing. In an attempt to combat the decline, the National Greyhound Racing Society banned telephones at the track and did not allow results to be published before 9.00 pm. In addition they attempted delaying trap draws and enforced a copyright on the tote returns but the government legislation had effectively handed over the afternoon track trade to the bookmaker industry.


1961 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year, Summary
Bizarrely the government handed horse racing a levy (a deduction from bookmaker's turnover that would be paid back to the racecourses), under the Betting Levy Act 1961. The levy was given because of the losses that horse racing would incur with daytime bookmakers shops opening. Greyhound racing was not given a levy which came as a further blow to the industry. Knowle Stadium, Stanley Greyhound Stadium (Liverpool) and Woodhouse Lane Stadium all closed.


1961 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year, Tracks
The opening meeting was held at Poole football stadium on 8 May. A track was also added around the County Ground, Taunton despite an initial betting licence refusal. The Sheffield Corporation took over Owlerton Stadium with a £185,000 offer and converted the three private clubs into public bars which helped boost attendance figures.


1961 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year, Competitions
Long Story won the Gold Collar to make up for his unlucky exit in the previous years 1960 Irish Greyhound Derby; the black dog had switched kennels from Jim Syder Jr. to Phil Rees. Oregon Prince easily won the Welsh Greyhound Derby while Palms Printer won the Scurry Gold Cup for his new handler Greg Doyle who had replaced Paddy McEvoy at the Clapton Stadium kennels; the veteran greyhound Gorey Airways was denied a third successive Scurry Gold Cup title. Clonalvy Pride finally broke his classic duck at Wimbledon, the April 1958 whelp ran a great race defeating the field that included Palms Printer and Winter Bell. Within two weeks he had also picked up the St Leger at Wembley Greyhounds.


1961 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year, Competitions
During the Eclipse heats the track record at Lythalls Lane Stadium is broken three times, Faithful Charlie (the eventual competition winner) set a new record of 29.19 followed by Jim's Tour in 29.16 and finally SS Leader in 29.12.


1961 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year, News
John Sutton was handed control of the family-run business at Catford Stadium, following the death of his father Frank Sutton. He would introduce the first Jackpot Pool, later to be copied by horse racing. After the closure of the Knowle track, trainer John Rowe (father of Bob Rowe) joined Oxford Stadium. Within a year he had taken up the position as Racing Manager at Leicester Stadium and his son Bob became Assistant Racing Manager to Charles Boulton at Wandsworth Stadium.


1961 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year, News
The Greyhound Racing Association introduced under track heating systems at Belle Vue Stadium, Harringay Stadium and White City following a successful trial in Scotland. Electric cables were sewn into the track by the tractor and a team of workers then placed the cables eight inches under the turf. They would prove to be useful until the advent of all sand tracks. Catford and Walthamstow Stadium would continue to use under track systems replacing electric cables with water pipes until the late 1980s.


1961 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year, News
Former Oxford, Sheffield, Nottingham and Park Royal trainer Frank Schock leaves for Australia and takes a minor open race hound with him called Which Chariot. The greyhound provides a major bloodline in the Australian breeding industry. Five times Derby winning trainer Leslie Reynolds died on 1 August.


1961 UK & Ireland Greyhound Racing Year, Ireland
The Bord na gCon continued the process of upgrading their tracks by installing totalisator systems into seven more tracks.


1961 UMass Redmen football team
The 1961 UMass Redmen football team represented the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the 1961 NCAA College Division football season as a member of the Yankee Conference. The team was coached by Vic Fusia and played its home games at Alumni Field in Amherst, Massachusetts. The 1961 season was Fusia's first as coach of the Redmen. UMass finished the season with a record of 5–4 overall and 3–1 in conference play.


1961 USAC Championship Car season
The 1961 USAC Championship Car season consisted of 12 races, beginning in Trenton, New Jersey on April 9 and concluding in Phoenix, Arizona on November 19. There was also one non-championship event at Pikes Peak, Colorado. The USAC National Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner was A. J. Foyt. The season was marred by the deaths of 1951 and 1958 season champion Tony Bettenhausen at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Al Keller at Phoenix.


1961 USAC Road Racing Championship
The 1961 USAC Road Racing Championship season was the fourth season of the USAC Road Racing Championship. It began June 25, 1961, and ended October 22, 1961, after four races. Ken Miles won the season championship.


1961 USA–USSR Track and Field Dual Meet
The 1961 USA–USSR Track and Field Dual Meet was an international track and field competition between the Soviet Union and the United States. The third in a series of meetings between the nations, it was held on July 15–16 in Lenin Stadium, Soviet Union, and finished with Soviet Union beating the United States 179 to 163. A total of 33 events were contested, 22 by men and 10 by women.


1961 USA–USSR Track and Field Dual Meet
A total of five world records were broken at the competition – the most of any meeting in the series. Home athletes Valeriy Brumel, Tatyana Shchelkanova and Tamara Press set records in field events, while Ralph Boston and the American women's 4 × 100 meters relay team set world standards for the visitors.


1961 USC Trojans baseball team
The 1961 USC Trojans baseball team represented the University of Southern California in the 1961 NCAA University Division baseball season. The team was coached Rod Dedeaux in his 20th season.


1961 USC Trojans baseball team
The Trojans won the College World Series, defeating the Oklahoma State in the championship game. This was the Trojans' third championship.


1961 USC Trojans football team
The 1961 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1961 NCAA University Division football season. In their second year under head coach John McKay, the Trojans compiled a 4–5–1 record (2–1–1 against conference opponents), finished in a tie for second place in the Athletic Association of Western Universities, and were outscored by their opponents by a combined total of 167 to 151.


1961 USC Trojans football team
Quarterback Bill Nelsen led the team in passing, completing 39 of 86 passes for 683 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions. Ben Wilson led the team in rushing, with 619 yards on 139 carries. Hal Bedsole was the team's leading receiver with 27 catches for 525 yards and six touchdowns. Bedsole was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.


1961 USSR Chess Championship (28th)
The 1961 Soviet Chess Championship - 28th edition was held from 11 January to 11 February 1961 in Moscow. The tournament was won by Tigran Petrosian. The final were preceded by semifinals events at Odessa, Rostov and Vilnius. This was also a Zonal tournament withfour Interzonal places on offer. 1961 was the year of two Soviet Chess Championships, the 28th and the 29th editions.


1961 USSR Chess Championship (29th)
The 1961 Soviet Chess Championship - 29th edition was held from 16 November to 20 December 1961 in Baku. The tournament was won by Boris Spassky. The final were preceded by semifinals events at Batumi, Novgorod and Kiev. 1961 was the year of two Soviet Chess Championships, the 28th  and the 29th editions.


1961 Ugandan general election
General elections were held in Uganda on 23 March 1961. They were the first time direct elections to the Legislative Council had been held across the entire country. The result was a victory for the Democratic Party, which won 44 of the 82 seats (excluding Buganda).


1961 Ukrainian Class B
The 1961 Football Championship of Ukrainian SSR (Class B) was the 31st season of association football competition of the Ukrainian SSR, which was part of the Ukrainian Class B. It was the twelfth in the Soviet Class B.


1961 Ukrainian Class B
The 1961 Football Championship of Ukrainian SSR (Class B) was won by FC Chornomorets Odesa.


1961 United Kingdom census
The United Kingdom Census 1961 was a census of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland carried out on 23 April 1961. It was the first to ask about qualifications, migration status, and household tenure. It was also the first to use a computer, an IBM 705 at the Royal Army Pay Corps, Worthy Down, Winchester.


1961 United Kingdom census, Release
The census was conducted under the Census Act 1920 which prohibits disclosure. It is expected, however, that it will be released to the public in the year 2062.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection
A United Nations Secretary-General selection was held in 1961 to replace Dag Hammarskjöld after he was killed in a plane crash. After initial Soviet attempts to replace the Secretary-General with a troika, it was agreed that an Acting Secretary-General would be appointed for the remainder of Hammarskjöld's term. Within two weeks, U Thant of Burma emerged as the only candidate who was acceptable to both the Soviet Union and the United States. However, the superpowers spent another four weeks arguing over the number of Assistant Secretaries-General, before finally resolving their dispute by allowing Thant to decide for himself. Thant was then voted in unanimously for a term ending on 10 April 1963.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection
Thant's term was extended in 1962 to a full five years, and he was drafted for a second term in 1966 ending on 31 December 1971. Thant served a total of 10 years and 2 months in office, making him the longest-serving Secretary-General in history. Future candidates would be subject to a two-term limit, with each term running for exactly 5 years.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Background
Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld had been actively engaged in the Congo Crisis, flying frequently to the war zone to supervise the U.N. peacekeeping mission. On 18 September 1961, Hammarskjöld flew to Ndola in Northern Rhodesia to meet with rebel leader Moïse Tshombe of the State of Katanga. After circling the airfield twice, the airplane crashed, killing Hammarskjöld and all but one of the other occupants. The airplane crash set off a succession crisis at the United Nations, as Hammarskjöld's death required the Security Council to vote on a successor.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Succession crisis
The Soviet Union had been pushing to replace the Secretary-General with a troika, the three men to be named by each of the Three Worlds of the Cold War. The Soviets recommended that three of the thirteen Under Secretaries-General be promoted to the troika: Georgi P. Arkadev of the Soviet Union, Ralph Bunche of the United States, and Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan of India. However, U.S. President John F. Kennedy objected that a troika had three horses but only one driver. U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk admitted on 22 September 1961 that "an immediate agreement cannot be expected" and suggested filling the Secretary-Generalship on a temporary basis.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Succession crisis
The question of finding a replacement for Hammarskjöld raised several constitutional questions, as the U.N. Charter made no provision for succession to the office of Secretary-General. The United States and the United Kingdom argued that the General Assembly could act on its own to provide for the rest of Hammarskjöld's term. Several European countries suggested that the officeholder could not hold the title of Acting Secretary-General, as the selection of anyone called "Secretary-General" would require action by the Security Council. The Soviet Union, India, Ireland, and the Scandinavian countries argued that the Security Council must act to select a replacement for Hammarskjöld.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Negotiations
Mongi Slim of Tunisia was elected President of the General Assembly on 21 September 1961. The United States came up with a plan for Slim to carry out the duties of Secretary-General, while he would delegate his own duties to one of the Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly. However, Slim insisted that the General Assembly would not act until the candidates had first been submitted to the Security Council. Nathan Barnes of Liberia, as President of the Security Council, attempted to arrange for Great Power consultations on the topic. However, the Soviet Union refused to attend any meeting that included Ambassador Tsiang Tingfu of Nationalist China, on the grounds that the Chinese seat at the United Nations actually belonged to Communist China.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Negotiations
After the rejection of Great Power consultations, the two superpowers negotiated bilaterally on the Secretary-Generalship. Soviet ambassador Valerian Zorin met with U.S. ambassador Adlai Stevenson II on 29 September 1961, and the superpowers moved closer to agreement over the next week. The Soviet Union agreed to select a single Acting Secretary-General, and the United States dropped Mongi Slim in favor of U Thant. The Arab countries were also willing to accept Thant, even though Burma had diplomatic relations with Israel. The principal opposition to Thant came from Western Europe, Latin America, and the French-speaking countries of Africa.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Negotiations, Terms of office
Although the superpowers had quickly agreed on Hammarskjöld's successor, they deadlocked on the details of the appointment. The Soviet Union wanted to name an Acting Secretary-General, who must first declare that he would take actions "in agreement" with the Under Secretaries-General. The United States maintained that the Security Council must appoint a permanent Secretary-General, and only the General Assembly could name an interim Secretary-General. The United States also insisted that the Secretary-General must have freedom of action.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Negotiations, Terms of office
The main point of disagreement was over the number of Under Secretaries-General. The Soviet Union originally insisted on three Assistants with provision for compulsory consultation, while the United States wanted five Assistants with optional consultation. The Soviet Union then proposed four Assistants, one each from the United States, the Soviet Union, Africa, and Latin America. The United States again demanded five Assistants, including one from Western Europe, whereupon the Soviet Union countered with six or seven, including one from Eastern Europe. British ambassador Patrick Dean received instructions from London to accept seven and reject four, and he convinced U.S. ambassador Stevenson to accept seven "as a last resort." However, the U.S. State Department issued instructions that five was the only acceptable number.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Negotiations, Terms of office
The deadlock was finally broken on 1 November 1961 when Stevenson suggested that Thant be allowed to decide for himself how many Assistants he would have. Thant also prepared a declaration that did not commit in advance to naming five or seven Under-Secretaries.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Vote
The Security Council met in closed session on 3 November 1961, unanimously adopting Resolution 168 to recommend U Thant to the General Assembly. A resolution was presented that afternoon by Ceylon, Liberia, and the United Arab Republic, all of them non-permanent members of the Security Council. The United States and the Soviet Union could not sponsor the resolution, as the other permanent members would have joined as co-sponsors, and the Soviet Union did not accept the participation of Nationalist China.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Vote
The General Assembly voted that afternoon by secret ballot to accept the Security Council's recommendation. In a unanimous vote of 103-0-0, the General Assembly appointed U Thant as Acting Secretary-General of the United Nations for a term ending on 10 April 1963.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, 1962 selection
U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson announced in May 1962 that he would vote for Thant's re-election. Thant subsequently played a major role in resolving the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. A second term was assured when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev made several favorable references to Thant in letters to U.S. President John F. Kennedy. However, some of the other members of the Security Council were annoyed that the Soviet Union and the United States had decided on a second term without consulting the other Council members.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, 1962 selection
On 30 November 1962, the Security Council met in secret session and adopted a communiqué recommending that Thant be appointed to a term ending 3 November 1966. Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin reiterated that a troika was "the only one [arrangement] consonant with reality." Nevertheless, the Soviet Union would vote for Thant in recognition of his "positive action" during the "dangerous crisis in the Caribbean." For personal reasons, Thant wished to have his second term extend five years from his own selection, rather than five years from the expiration of Hammarskjöld's term as the United States had wanted. No formal resolution was adopted by the Security Council, and Thant would henceforth consider his first five years in office to be a single term.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, 1962 selection
The General Assembly followed with a vote of 109-0-0 with one absence. Thant was promoted from Acting Secretary-General to Secretary-General, and his term in office was extended until 3 November 1966.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, 1966 selection
In 1966, Thant was assured of running unopposed with the support of both superpowers. The only question was whether he would accept a full five-year term. The prospect of a smooth re-selection was clouded on 1 September 1966, when Thant released a statement saying, "I have decided not to offer myself for a second term as Secretary General." Thant offered to stay on until the end of the General Assembly session on 2 December 1966 while a successor was selected.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, 1966 selection
However, no other candidates were nominated to succeed Thant, and it was expected that he would accept a draft. On 23 November 1966, Thant explained to U.S. Ambassador Arthur Goldberg that he could only reverse his decision if the Council gave him something to save "face". The face-saving statement came on 1 December 1966, when Thant met with the President of the Security Council and all of the permanent members except for Nationalist China. They promised him wider latitude to initiate action, assuring him that he would not be a "glorified clerk."


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, 1966 selection
On 2 December 1966, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 229 to recommend Thant for another term. The General Assembly voted 120-0-1 to re-appoint Thant as Secretary-General of the United Nations for a term ending on 31 December 1971.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, 1971 selection
On 18 January 1971, Thant announced that he had "no intention whatsoever" to serve another term. Unlike the 1966 selection, several candidates entered the race after Thant's declaration, beginning with Max Jakobson of Finland on 20 January 1971. However, the prospect of another draft loomed over the race, especially from the Soviet Union, France, and the Third World countries. Thant declared in September 1971 that his decision was "final and categorical," and he would not serve "even for two months" past the end of his term. Thant's health also took a turn for the worse, as he was treated at Leroy Hospital for a bleeding ulcer in November 1971.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, 1971 selection
Nevertheless, the Soviet Union attempted to draft Thant at the first consultation of the permanent members on 6 December 1971. Soviet Ambassador Yakov Malik brushed aside concerns about Thant's health, saying that he should be given two weeks of vacation. The United States and the United Kingdom argued that Thant should be allowed to retire, and U.S. Secretary of State William P. Rogers instructed Ambassador George H. W. Bush to veto Thant if necessary.


1961 United Nations Secretary-General selection, 1971 selection
Thant's name did not appear on the ballot in 1971, and he stepped down when his last term in office ran out on 31 December 1971. Concerns about his health proved well-founded, as Thant died of cancer on 25 November 1974.


1961 United States Grand Prix
The 1961 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on October 8, 1961, at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York. It was the eighth and final race in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.


1961 United States Grand Prix
The United States Grand Prix had been held at two different circuits in its previous three runnings, but subsequently remained at Watkins Glen until 1980. The season-ending race was won by British driver Innes Ireland, his only career Grand Prix win. He started eighth, took the lead when the engine in Stirling Moss' Lotus failed,  and finished 4.3 seconds ahead of American Dan Gurney. The win was the first victory for Colin Chapman's Team Lotus.


1961 United States Grand Prix, Background
By the time of the Watkins Glen event, the 1961 season had seen Californian Phil Hill crowned the first American World Champion. However, he did not take part in the race as the Scuderia Ferrari team had remained home. In the previous race, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Ferrari driver and team leader Wolfgang von Trips had been killed in a crash while leading the Drivers' Championship, handing victory and the Championship to Hill. Since Ferrari had clinched the Constructors' Championship as well as the Drivers', the team chose not to make the trip across the Atlantic for the season finale.


1961 United States Grand Prix, Background
There had been considerable doubt about whether the US race would even take place, since the FIA did not grant the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Corporation final approval for the event until August 28. By October, however, the field was missing only the Ferrari team.


1961 United States Grand Prix, Background
Howard Hughes visited the pits to meet with John Cooper about expanding his car manufacturing business. A photograph taken of Hughes in the pits and published in the May 10, 1976, issue of Time magazine was the last known photograph of him.


1961 United States Grand Prix, Qualifying
While all but the two Porsche entries had Climax engines, only Jack Brabham of the factory Cooper team, and Stirling Moss, in Rob Walker's privately entered Lotus, had the newest developmental V8 version available to them. Moss set the pace on Saturday with a lap time of 1:18.2 in his 4-cylinder car, then posted a 1:17.2 with the V8. Brabham, the just-deposed two-time World Champion, responded by taking the pole with a 1:17.0.


1961 United States Grand Prix, Qualifying
When Moss decided to use the older 4-cylinder in the race, saying that the car handled better with it, he dropped back to the second row of the grid, next to Brabham's teammate, Bruce McLaren. Graham Hill's BRM, a tenth quicker than the other 4-cylinder cars, was alongside Brabham on the front row, a second slower than the Australian.


1961 United States Grand Prix, Qualifying
Jim Clark, in one works Lotus, took fifth spot, while Ireland, his teammate, qualified eighth. On Friday, Ireland spun to the edge of the woods in the 180-degree South Loop when his steering failed. The following day, before he could put in a serious time, his gearbox broke. The back of the grid was filled largely with independent North American drivers in uncompetitive cars. Canadian Peter Ryan, in his only grand prix, led a group containing Walt Hansgen, Roger Penske, Hap Sharp, Jim Hall and Lloyd Ruby. Penske's car was one of the first instances of commercial sponsorship in F1, painted in bright DuPont Anti- Freeze yellow.


1961 United States Grand Prix, Race summary
A paid crowd of 28,000 (total around 60,000) attended the race on Sunday. At the start, Brabham led the field off the grid and into the first corner, but before the end of the first lap, Moss had moved into the lead. These two were followed by Ireland (up from eighth), Hill, Dan Gurney, Masten Gregory and McLaren. On lap three, McLaren moved up to third when Ireland spun on oil at the end of the straight. "I nearly went out of the race," he said. "I went into a whirl, a 360-degree spin, cars were whipping past." He recovered and continued in eleventh.


1961 United States Grand Prix, Race summary
By lap 10, Ireland had already moved up to fourth, behind McLaren's Cooper, as Moss and Brabham continued to draw away at a second a lap, swapping the lead back and forth. At about one-third distance, on lap 34, Brabham's V8 began to leak water and overheat. With puffs of smoke appearing from the left-side exhaust, the Cooper dropped back from Moss and finally entered the pits on lap 45. After taking on water and returning to the race, Brabham completed only seven more laps before retiring.


1961 United States Grand Prix, Race summary
Leading now by over 40 seconds, Moss seemed on his way to a comfortable victory. However, his oil pressure was dropping, and on lap 59, the dark blue Lotus peeled off and retired suddenly, handing the lead to Ireland. Hill was right on the tail of the Scot, hounding him for 15 laps, until he, too, suddenly coasted down the pit lane with a loose magneto wire. The next challenger was Roy Salvadori, who began trimming the lead from 20 seconds down to five with only five laps left. But it was Ireland's day. With just over three laps remaining, Salvadori's privately entered Cooper blew its engine, just as his teammate John Surtees' car had done on the first lap.


1961 United States Grand Prix, Race summary
Ireland came home under the waving checkered flag of Tex Hopkins, less than five seconds ahead of American Dan Gurney, as Britain's Tony Brooks finished the last GP of his career in third. "I was lucky," said Ireland. "I could not take Moss or Brabham. Their cars were too fast. I had no fuel pressure in the last ten laps, and ended up with a thimbleful of gas at the finish."


1961 United States Grand Prix, Race summary
It was Ireland's only career win, the first win for Team Lotus, and the first American Grand Prix to turn a profit, ensuring its return in 1962. It was Moss's last World Championship race, as his career was ended by a heavy accident during the 1962 Glover Trophy race at Goodwood the following April.


1961 United States Grand Prix, Classification, Qualifying
† Moss registered a laptime of 1:17.2 in Q2 using a car with a 4-cylinder engine, but decided to race with his V8-powered machine, and was placed on the grid with his best time in the V8..


1961 United States House of Representatives elections
There were seven special elections to the United States House of Representatives in 1961, during 87th United States Congress.


1961 United States Senate special election in Texas
The 1961 United States Senate special election in Texas was held on May 27, 1961. The election was held to replace outgoing Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been elected Vice President of the United States.


1961 United States Senate special election in Texas
Republican John Tower, who had been the nominee for the regularly scheduled election in 1960, defeated seventy other candidates to become the first Republican to represent Texas in the Senate since Reconstruction. Tower was also the first post-Reconstruction Republican to win a statewide election in Texas, the first to win any popular election in a former Confederate state, and the third to win any election to the Senate from the former Confederacy.


1961 United States Senate special election in Texas, Primary election, Candidates
Seventy-one candidates were on the ballot for the primary election. At the time, the filing fee for ballot access was only $50.


1961 United States Senate special election in Texas, Primary election, Candidates, Minor candidates
None of these candidates received more than 0.5% of the popular vote.


1961 United States gubernatorial elections
United States gubernatorial elections were held on 7 November 1961, in two states, New Jersey and Virginia.


1961 Uruguayan Primera División, Overview
It was contested by 10 teams, and Peñarol won the championship.


1961 Utah Redskins football team
The 1961 Utah Redskins football team represented the University of Utah during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season. Home games were played on campus in Salt Lake City at Ute Stadium.


1961 Utah Redskins football team
Under fourth-year head coach Ray Nagel, the Redskins were 6–4 overall and 3–3 in the final season of the Mountain States Conference (Skyline). The new Western Athletic Conference (WAC) debuted the following season.


1961 Utah Redskins football team
Utah did not face longtime rival Colorado in the previous two years. This season the Redskins upset the #8 Buffaloes in Boulder, Utah's first win since 1948. After 1962, the series went on hiatus until 2011, when both schools joined the Pac-12 Conference.


1961 Utah State Aggies football team
The 1961 Utah State Aggies football team represented the Utah State University in the 1961 NCAA University Division football season.


1961 VFA season
The 1961 Victorian Football Association season was the 80th season of the Australian rules football competition. The season saw a significant change in the structure of the Association, with the competition split into two divisions, with promotion and relegation between them, a system which remained in place until 1988.


1961 VFA season
The Division 1 premiership was won by the Yarraville Football Club, after it defeated Williamstown in the Grand Final on 30 September by 63 points; it was Yarraville's second and final VFA premiership, and its first since 1935. The inaugural Division 2 premiership was won by Northcote; it was the club's first premiership in either division since 1936.


1961 VFA season, Division of the competition
Since 1956, the Association had been attempting to expand from fourteen to twenty clubs, and part of the plan to manage this was to operate in two divisions of ten clubs each. There had been two structures proposed for this: the first would see the clubs divided geographically into Northern and Southern divisions, based on their position relative to the Yarra River, and the premiers from each division would play off for the Association-wide premiership at the end of the season; the second would see a top division and a second division with promotion and relegation between them.


1961 VFA season, Division of the competition
A partial approach to geographical divisions had been trialled since 1958, with all teams competing in a single division but fixtured to play most games against teams in their geographical section. However, it was becoming recognised that difference in class between the strongest clubs and the weakest clubs was widening, resulting in a lot of very one-sided matches; it was thought that dividing into a top and second division would allow teams in both divisions to play more competitive matches, and therefore attract greater public interest.


1961 VFA season, Division of the competition
The matter of division was discussed on 2 December 1960. The motion to change required a three-quarters majority to pass, and passed by exactly that margin, 27–9; and, in fact, the motion would have been defeated had Mordialloc, one of the five clubs to oppose the change, sent both of its delegates to the meeting; its second delegate, Jack Danckert, was unavailable as his wife was expecting to give birth, and Mordialloc did not have time to arrange for his proxy to attend, leaving it with only one of its two votes.


1961 VFA season, Division of the competition
The five clubs to vote against the motion were Mordialloc, which was destined for Division 1, and Camberwell, Dandenong, Preston and Sunshine, which were all destined for Division 2. Yarraville and Northcote had been expected to oppose the change, but both ultimately voted for it. Clubs opposed to the change were concerned that the prestige and popularity of Division 2 would be significantly diminished, such that it would become seen as little more than a junior competition, and that local councils may withdraw their support for lower division teams.


1961 VFA season, Division of the competition
The arrangements for the division of the Association were as follows:


1961 VFA season, Division of the competition
The two-division format was used in the VFA from 1961 until 1988, although the promotion and relegation structure was restructured in 1982.


1961 VFA season, Association Membership
The Association actively sought an eighteenth team to balance the fixture in Division 2. Springvale, a former power club in Caulfield Oakleigh District League, which had switched to the Federal League in the mid-1950s and won the 1960 premiership, was approached by the Association as its first choice for admission, but the club was concerned that it was not yet ready for senior football, and that its proximity to the popular Oakleigh and Dandenong clubs would stifle its competitiveness.


1961 VFA season, Association Membership
The Association then took applications from two Caulfield Oakleigh District League clubs: Glen Waverley, a power club of the 1950s, and East Malvern, the 1960 premiers. East Malvern, like Springvale, ultimately decided that it was not ready for the step up to senior football, so on 21 December 1960, it withdrew its application and Glen Waverley was admitted to the Association. The club was renamed the Waverley Football Club, and played its matches on the Central Reserve in Glen Waverley.


1961 VFA season, Association Membership
In January 1961, the future of the struggling Brighton Football Club for the 1961 season looked bleak. The club had few supporters, few assets, and when a committee meeting on 20 January to appoint a coach drew only seven committeemen, the club realised that it had barely enough off-field manpower to operate its administration.


1961 VFA season, Association Membership
In a general meeting on 26 January attended by only fourteen voting members and 35 people in total, it was proposed to disband the club, but the members voted 10–4 to continue operating – buoyed by hopes that Sunday matches and a more competitive fixture in Division 2 would help the club.


1961 VFA season, Association Membership
However, even in Division 2, the club endured one of the worst VFA seasons on record (winless with a percentage of only 29.0 and an average losing margin of 103 points), its best players were leaving the club in favour of the Federal League, and the possibility of disbanding was again on the club's agenda ten months later.


1961 VFA season, Sunday football
Following its success in 1960, the Association continued to play matches on Sundays. As in 1960, any match could be moved from Saturday to Sunday by mutual agreement between the clubs, with approval from the ground management and local council, and with part of the gate donated to charity. Sunday crowds continued to be strong, and clubs who hosted the matches found that even with the donation, they were earning as much from one Sunday game as they were from three or four Saturday games. After Oakleigh withdrew from playing Sunday games at mid-season, nine of the Association's eighteen clubs were willing and able to play Sunday games.


1961 VFA season, Division 1
The Division 1 home-and-home season was played over 22 rounds – spread over 21 weekends with a full round on Anzac Day Tuesday. The top four then contested the finals under the Page–McIntyre system, abandoning the top six format which had been used in the single-division 1960 season. Division 1 finals continued to be played at the St Kilda Cricket Ground on Saturdays.


1961 VFA season, Division 2
The Division 2 home-and-home season was played over 18 rounds, four fewer than Division 1. The season started on the same weekend, but finished three weeks earlier, with no matches on Anzac Day. The top four played finals under the Page–McIntyre system. The Division 2 Grand Final was scheduled for the same weekend as the Division 1 First Semi-Final, with the promotion-relegation playoff scheduled for the following weekend. Division 2 finals were played at Toorak Park on Sundays.


1961 VFA season, Promotion and relegation
Division 2 premier Northcote was promoted to Division 1 for 1962, and tenth-placed Division 1 club Box Hill was relegated to Division 2. A play-off for promotion was held between Division 2 runners-up, Dandenong and ninth-placed Division 1 club Mordialloc; Mordialloc won by 23 points, and therefore held its place in Division 1 for 1962.


1961 VFA season, Notable events, Anzac Day
Anzac Day fell on a Tuesday in 1961. According to the Anzac Day Act, the R.S.L. would receive half of any Anzac Day gate less expenses, so the R.S.L. was keen to see high-drawing football matches played on the day. The Association scheduled a full round of Division 1 matches, and the Victorian Football League scheduled two of its six Round 3 matches, both at low-capacity venues (Windy Hill and Punt Road Oval).


1961 VFA season, Notable events, Anzac Day
The R.S.L. was disappointed that the League had not scheduled a match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, so Sandringham arranged to move its match against Moorabbin to the venue instead.


1961 VFA season, Notable events, Anzac Day
The build-up to the match was one of the biggest in Association history: the Association prepared a spectacle of a similar scale to the AFL's modern Anzac Day clash – featuring a troupe of marching girls, the Southern Command Band playing the Last Post, Reveille and the national anthem, and running races at half time – the final quarter of the match was to be televised, and the R.S.L. urged the public to support the Association match ahead of the suburban League matches.


1961 VFA season, Notable events, Anzac Day
With this build-up, and the interest in a match between two strong rival clubs, the Association hoped to attract as many as 60,000 spectators, which would have exceeded the 1939 Grand Final (47,000 spectators) as the largest crowd in its history. However, a disappointing crowd of only 13,842 attended – by comparison, the League match at the neighbouring Punt Road Oval drew 27,650, and the match at Windy Hill drew 32,000. A strong gate and donation to the R.S.L. was still drawn, but considering that the next Sandringham–Moorabbin match at Moorabbin Oval also drew 14,000, it is questionable whether switching to the Melbourne Cricket Ground drew any extra fans.


1961 VFA season, Notable events, Interstate matches
The Association played one interstate match during 1961, against Tasmania in Hobart on Queen's Birthday Monday. Jim Cleary, coach of Division 2 club Dandenong, was a surprise choice as coach; Williamstown's Ray Smith was captain. An inaccurate goalkicking display saw the Association kick twelve behinds before registering its first goal, and Tasmania went on to defeat the Association by 23 points.


1961 VFL Grand Final
The 1961 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Footscray Football Club and Hawthorn Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 23 September 1961. It was the 65th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1961 VFL season. The match, attended by 107,935 spectators, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 43 points, marking that club's first premiership victory.


1961 VFL Grand Final
Hawthorn, who were competing in their inaugural VFL Grand Final despite being in the competition since 1925, came into the game as minor premiers and favourites. Footscray, the 1954 premiership winners, had finished the home and away season in fourth place but upset the Ron Barassi-led Melbourne by 27 points in the Preliminary Final to end the Demons' sequence of seven consecutive Grand Final appearances.


1961 VFL Grand Final
It was a young Footscray side, with only two players coming into the game with more than 80 VFL games behind them, although one of them was veteran Ted Whitten. Hawthorn's Brendan Edwards was playing in his 100th VFL game and dominated in the centre. Despite trailing at half time, Hawthorn won comfortably in the end courtesy of a dominant third quarter in which they kicked six goals to just one by Footscray.


1961 VFL Grand Final
The Bulldogs did not appear in another Grand Final until 2016, which they won.


1961 VFL Grand Final
The 1961 Grand Final is the oldest currently available on DVD. Videos of the 1962, 1963 and 1964 Grand Finals have not yet surfaced. It is also the first Grand Final in VFL/AFL history that did not include any of the original eight clubs that formed the VFL in 1897 (Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, St. Kilda, South Melbourne).


1961 VFL season
The 1961 Victorian Football League season was the 65th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.


1961 VFL season, Premiership season
In 1961, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man. A player could be substituted for any reason; however, once substituted, a player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances.


1961 VFL season, Premiership season
Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds; matches 12 to 18 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 7.


1961 VFL season, Premiership season
Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1961 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.


1961 VFL season, Consolation Night Series Competition
The night series were held under the floodlights at Lake Oval, South Melbourne, for the teams (5th to 12th on ladder) out of the finals at the end of the season.


1961 VFL season, Finals series
The 1961 VFL finals series was contested under the Page-McIntyre System, which had been used since 1931.


1961 VMI Keydets football team
The 1961 VMI Keydets football team represented the Virginia Military Institute during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season.


1961 VPI Gobblers football team
The 1961 VPI Gobblers football team represented the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in the 1961 NCAA University Division football season.


1961 VPI Gobblers football team, Players
The following players were members of the 1961 football team according to the roster published in the 1962 edition of The Bugle, the Virginia Tech yearbook.


1961 Vanderbilt Commodores football team
The 1961 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University in the 1961 NCAA University Division football season. The Commodores were led by head coach Art Guepe in his ninth season and finished the season with a record of two wins and eight losses (2–8 overall, 1–6 in the SEC).


1961 Venezuelan Primera División season
The 1961 season of the Venezuelan Primera División, the top category of Venezuelan football, was played by 5 teams. The national champions were Deportivo Italia.


1961 Vermont Catamounts football team
The 1961 Vermont Catamounts football team was an American football team that represented  the University of Vermont in the Yankee Conference during the 1961 NCAA College Division football season. In their tenth year under head coach J. Edward Donnelly, the team compiled a 3–3–1 record.


1961 Victorian Trophy
The 1961 Victorian Trophy was an International motor race staged at the Ballarat Air Strip circuit in Victoria, Australia on 12 February 1961. Open to Formula Libre cars, it was contested over 33 laps, a distance of approximately 100 miles (161 km). The race meeting was organised by the Light Car Club of Australia.


1961 Victorian Trophy
The race was won by American driver Dan Gurney in a BRM P48.


1961 Victorian state election
Elections were held in the Australian state of Victoria on 15 July 1961 to elect the 66 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 17 members of the 34-member Legislative Council. MLAs were elected for three year terms and MLCs were elected for six year terms. All were elected in single-member districts or provinces using preferential voting.


1961 Victorian state election
The Liberal and Country Party (LCP) government of Premier Henry Bolte won a third term in office. It was the first Victorian election at which all seats in both houses were contested by at least two candidates, and the first at which both houses were contested on the same day.


1961 Victorian state election, Results, Legislative Assembly
The election produced almost no change in the electoral balance.


1961 Victorian state election, Results, Legislative Assembly
Victorian state election, 15 July 1961Legislative Assembly << 1958–1964 >>


1961 Victorian state election, Results, Legislative Council
Victorian state election, 15 July 1961Legislative Council << 1958–1964 >>


1961 Vienna Grand Prix
The 2nd Vienna Grand Prix was a motor race, run to Formula One rules, held on 16 April 1961 at Aspern Circuit. The race was run over 55 laps of the circuit, and was won comfortably by British driver Stirling Moss in a Lotus 18.


1961 Villanova Wildcats football team
The 1961 Villanova Wildcats football team represented the Villanova University during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season. The head coach was Alexander F. Bell, coaching his second season with the Wildcats. The team played their home games at Villanova Stadium in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Villanova won the 1961 Sun Bowl and finished the season 8–2.


1961 Vincentian general election
General elections were held in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on 20 April 1961. The result was a victory for the People's Political Party, which won six of the nine seats. Voter turnout was 77.1%.


1961 Virginia Cavaliers football team
The 1961 Virginia Cavaliers football team represented the University of Virginia during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season. The Cavaliers were led by first-year head coach Bill Elias and played their home games at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia. They competed as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, finishing in last. Despite the last place finish, Elias was named ACC Coach of the Year, becoming the second in conference history to win the award in a coach's first year at the school. Elias, who had been the Southern Conference Coach of the Year the previous season at George Washington, snapped Virginia's 28 game losing streak by beating William & Mary in the first game of the season. Their win against South Carolina snapped an 18-game losing streak against ACC foes.


1961 Virginia gubernatorial election
In the 1961 Virginia gubernatorial election, incumbent Governor J. Lindsay Almond, a Democrat, was unable to seek re-election due to term limits. H. Clyde Pearson was nominated by the Republican Party to run against former Democratic Attorney General of Virginia Albertis Harrison.


1961 Vitry-Le-François train bombing
The Vitry-Le-François train bombing of 18 June 1961 was a bomb attack on a Strasbourg–Paris train carried out by the Organisation armée secrète (OAS), a paramilitary organization opposed to the independence of Algeria in the Algerian War. With 28 fatalities and over 100 injured, it was the deadliest terrorist attack in modern French history until it was surpassed by the November 2015 Paris attacks and the 2016 Nice truck attack, which killed 130 and 86 people, respectively.


1961 Vitry-Le-François train bombing
The bombing targeted the No. 12 express train, which derailed while traveling at high speed near the small village of Blacy, Marne between Vitry-le-François and Loisy-sur-Marne. On the day after the derailment, investigators found that the rails had been sabotaged using an explosive device that went off when the train passed over it. It also emerged that the stationmaster at Vitry-le-François had earlier received a threatening letter from the OAS.


1961 Vitry-Le-François train bombing
The sabotage theory was ruled out despite a threat letter being received a few days earlier, prompting Communist Party leader Jacques Duclos to demand an inquiry on the matter. Despite this, the attack was kept secret by the French state.


1961 Volta a Catalunya
The 1961 Volta a Catalunya was the 41st edition of the Volta a Catalunya cycle race and was held from 17 September to 24 September 1961. The race started in Montjuïc and finished in Barcelona. The race was won by Henri Duez.


1961 Vuelta a España
The 16th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 26 April to 11 May 1961. It consisted of 16 stages covering a total of 2,856.5 km (1,774.9 mi), and was won by Angelino Soler of the Faema cycling team. Antonio Suárez won the points classification and Antonio Karmany won the mountains classification.


1961 WANFL season
The 1961 WANFL season was the 77th season of the various incarnations of the Western Australian National Football League.


1961 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
The 1961 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the 2nd conference playoff in league history. The tournament was played between March 10 and March 11, 1961. All games were played at home team campus sites. By being declared as co-champions, both Minnesota and Denver were invited to participate in the 1961 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.


1961 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
Though not official designations, Minnesota is considered as the East Regional Champion† and Denver as the West Regional Champion‡.


1961 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Format
The top four teams in the WCHA, based upon the conference regular season standings, were eligible for the tournament and were seeded No. 1 through No. 4 . In the first round the first and fourth seeds and the second and third seeds were matched in two-game series where the team with the higher number of goals scored was declared the winner. Rather than decide upon a single tournament champion, the WCHA declared the winners of the two series as co-tournament champions.


1961 WCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Format, Conference Standings
Note: GP = Games Played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; PCT = Winning Percentage; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against


1961 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team
The 1961 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team was an American football team that represented Wake Forest University during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season. In its second season under head coach Bill Hildebrand, the team compiled a 4–6 record and finished in seventh place in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).


1961 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team
Halfback Alan White was selected by the Associated Press as a first-team player on the 1961 All-Atlantic Coast Conference football team.


1961 Walker Cup
The 1961 Walker Cup, the 18th Walker Cup Match, was played on September 1 and 2, 1961, at Seattle Golf Club, Seattle, Washington. The United States won by 11 matches to 1. This was the last Walker Cup in which 36-hole matches were played.


1961 Walker Cup
Great Britain and Ireland's only success came when Martin Christmas beat Charlie Smith in the singles.


1961 Walker Cup, Format
Four 36-hole matches of foursomes were played on Friday and eight singles matches on Saturday. Each of the 12 matches was worth one point in the larger team competition. If a match was all square after the 36th hole extra holes were not played. The team with most points won the competition. If the two teams were tied, the previous winner would retain the trophy.


1961 Walker Cup, Teams
Ten players for the United States and Great Britain & Ireland participated in the event plus one non-playing captain for each team.


1961 Warrington by-election
The 1961 Warrington by-election was held on 20 April 1961 when the incumbent Labour MP, Dr Edith Summerskill became a Life Peer. The seat was retained by the Labour candidate Thomas Williams.


1961 Warrington by-election, Candidates
The local Liberals selected 39 year old insurance official Frank Tetlow. He was born in September 1921 and educated at King's School, Macclesfield. He was a member of the Liberal Party Council. He had been elected to Cheshire County Council and Bredbury and Romiley Urban District Council. At the 1959 general election he had been Liberal candidate for Knutsford.


1961 Washington Huskies football team
The 1961 Washington Huskies football team was an American football team that represented the University of Washington during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season. In its fifth season under head coach Jim Owens, the team compiled a 5–4–1 record, finished in a tie for second place in the Athletic Association of Western Universities, and outscored its opponents by a combined total of 119 to 98. Kermit Jorgensen was the team captain.


1961 Washington Huskies football team, Professional football draft selections
Two University of Washington Huskies were selected in the 1962 NFL Draft, which lasted twenty rounds with 280 selections. One of those Huskies was also selected in the 1962 AFL Draft, which lasted thirty-four rounds with 272 selections.


1961 Washington Redskins season
The 1961 Washington Redskins season was the team's 30th in the National Football League. The team tried to improve on their 1–9–2 record from 1960. However, under their first-year coach Bill McPeak, their 1-12-1 performance during the season placed the Redskins in last-place in the NFL Eastern Conference. Their lone victory of the season came in the final game of the season at home against the Dallas Cowboys, 34–24. The 1961 campaign remains the worst season record in Redskins history.


1961 Washington Redskins season
This season was also the first one in their new stadium, D.C. Stadium, later renamed RFK Stadium.


1961 Washington Redskins season, Standings
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.


1961 Washington Senators season
The 1961 Washington Senators season was the team's inaugural season, having been established as a replacement for the previous franchise of the same name, which relocated to the Twin Cities of Minnesota following the 1960 season, becoming the Minnesota Twins. The Senators finished in a tie for ninth place in the ten-team American League with a record of 61–100, 47½ games behind the World Champion New York Yankees. It was also the team's only season at Griffith Stadium before moving its games to D.C. Stadium for the following season. The expansion team drew 597,287 fans, tenth and last in the circuit. The old Senators had drawn 743,404 fans in 1960.


1961 Washington Senators season, Offseason
The Senators, along with the Los Angeles Angels, were the first ever American League expansion teams. Both teams participated in Major League Baseball's first ever expansion draft. The Senators used their first pick in the 1960 Major League Baseball expansion draft to select pitcher Bobby Shantz from the New York Yankees (while the Angels picked Eli Grba). Grba wound up playing two-plus seasons for Los Angeles before returning to the minor leagues. However, Shantz never played for the Senators, as he was traded just two days later to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Harry Bright, Bennie Daniels, and R. C. Stevens, all of whom played for the Senators in 1961.


1961 Washington Senators season, Offseason
A 1992 Associated Press article which looked prospectively to the Rockies and Marlins expansion draft and retroactively at previous expansion drafts stated: "The Senators drafted for experience and got burned when players such as Dave Sisler, John Klippstein, Tom Sturdivant, Dale Long, Bobby Klaus and Gene Woodling didn't produce."


1961 Washington Senators season, Regular season
As an expansion team, the Senators were not expected to do well. They finished tied for last in the league with the Kansas City Athletics. They also finished 9 games behind their expansion brethren, the Angels. One bright spot was pitcher Dick Donovan, who led the American League in earned run average and WHIP, making the All-Star team and finishing 17th in league MVP voting.


1961 Washington Senators season, Regular season, Opening Day lineup
In the first game in franchise history, the "Presidential Opener" then held every year in Washington, the Senators were defeated by the Chicago White Sox, 4–3, on Monday, April 10, 1961. With leadoff man Coot Veal getting its first-ever hit (an infield single)  in the first inning, Washington jumped out to a quick 2–0 advantage and led 3–1 after two innings. But the Senators were blanked thereafter and committed four errors, leading to two unearned runs, as Chicago battled back to win.


1961 Washington Senators season, Regular season, Opening Day lineup
Roy Sievers, former star of the previous Washington franchise, drove in a pair of White Sox runs with a home run and a sacrifice fly. It was the last Presidential Opener in the history of Griffith Stadium, and the first one in which John F. Kennedy threw out the first ball.


1961 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Batting, Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1961 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Batting, Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in


1961 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Pitching, Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1961 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Pitching, Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1961 Washington Senators season, Player stats, Pitching, Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts


1961 Washington State Cougars football team
The 1961 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University as an independent during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season. In their sixth season under head coach Jim Sutherland, the Cougars compiled a 3–7 record and were outscored 213 to 163.


1961 Washington State Cougars football team
The team's statistical leaders included Mel Melin with 814 passing yards, George Reed with 489 rushing yards, and Hugh Campbell with 723 receiving yards.


1961 Washington State Cougars football team, NFL Draft
Three Cougars were selected in the 1962 NFL Draft, which was twenty rounds (280 selections).


1961 Waterford Senior Hurling Championship
The 1961 Waterford Senior Hurling Championship was the 61st staging of the Waterford Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Waterford County Board in 1897.


1961 Waterford Senior Hurling Championship
On 29 October 1961, Mount Sion won the championship after a 2-14 to 2-04 defeat of Erin's Own in the final. This was their 17th championship title overall and their ninth title in succession.


1961 West Chester Golden Rams men's soccer team
The 1961 West Chester Golden Rams men's soccer team represented the West Chester University during the 1961 NCAA men's soccer season. The Golden Rams were an independent, and had a perfect 13–0–0 record throughout the season. The Rams went on to win the 1961 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship by defeating the two-time defending champions, Saint Louis Billikens, 2–0 in the final. West Chester's roster included future Indiana soccer coaching legend Jerry Yeagley. This made West Chester the second ever team to win the NCAA Soccer title.


1961 West German federal election
Federal elections were held in West Germany on 17 September 1961 to elect the members of the fourth Bundestag. CDU/CSU remained the largest faction, winning 242 of the 499 seats.


1961 West German federal election, Campaign
For the first time, the SPD announced a Chancellor candidate who was not chairman of the party: Willy Brandt, the Governing Mayor of West Berlin. After the building of the Berlin Wall, he gained more and more sympathy, while chancellor Konrad Adenauer was criticised for not showing enough support for the people of West Berlin. Adenauer had to save the absolute majority of CDU and CSU, but, considering his age and his long term as chancellor, there were big doubts if he should lead the country in a fourth term.


1961 West German federal election, Results
Seat results—SPD in red, FDP in yellow, CDU/CSU in black, others (moderate right) in gray


1961 West German federal election, Aftermath
The absolute majority was lost by the conservative union due to the gains of the liberal FDP under Erich Mende. From 1961 on, the Union, SPD and FDP established an electoral "triopoly" in the Bundestag that would last until 1983.


1961 West German federal election, Aftermath
Konrad Adenauer remained Chancellor, building a coalition between the CDU/CSU-FDP. In 1962 he had to announce a fifth cabinet: The FDP had temporarily left the coalition after the secretary of defense, Franz Josef Strauß (CSU), had ordered the arrest of five journalists for publishing a memo detailing alleged weaknesses in the German armed forces (known as the Spiegel scandal). In 1963 Adenauer finally retired; Ludwig Erhard took over his position as head of the coalition government.


1961 West Virginia Mountaineers football team
The 1961 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season.


1961 Western Australian bushfires
In early 1961, a series of bushfires burned in the south-west region of Western Australia. The devastating fires burned large areas of forest in and around Dwellingup from 20 to 24 January, at Pemberton and in the Shannon River region between 11 and 15 February, and in the Augusta-Margaret River area in early March. There were also major fires which burned in the Darling Scarp around Kalamunda. The towns of Dwellingup and Karridale were largely destroyed by the fires, as were a number of smaller railway and mill settlements. There was no loss of human life.


1961 Western Australian bushfires
Whilst the 1960 rainy season over the affected region had not been excessively dry, rainfall had been below average over the region affected by the fires ever since August of that year - thus the forests were perhaps even drier than they would normally be by January.


1961 Western Australian bushfires
However, the underlying cause of the Dwellingup fires lay far to the north in the Pilbara, where a tropical cyclone had formed on 15 January northeast of Darwin had followed a trajectory along the north west Western Australian coast and intensified north east of Onslow and then moved steadily southwards, hitting that town on 24–25 January while having a central pressure of 920 hPa. Hurricane-force winds demolished several buildings and storm surge inundated the town with 1.8 metres water.


1961 Western Australian bushfires
With a strong high pressure system to the east of the cyclone remaining almost stationary for some days, hot north-easterly winds developed and became so intense that by the 20th maximum temperatures throughout the south west were uniformly above 40 °C (104 °F) and remained at that level for the following five days. During this period,  as the cyclone moved slowly along the coast it drenched Onslow and the neighbouring district, but only dry thunderstorms occurred in the south-west, which started fires that spread extremely rapidly in the hot, windy conditions.


1961 Western Australian bushfires
The first fires were reported from Dwellingup, 110 kilometres (68 mi) south of Perth,  on 19 January and the following day fires erupted in the timbered country of the Darling Scarp around Mundaring and Mount Helena. Although as the cyclone tracked down the west coast some rain came around 25 January to ease the fires, not all were fully extinguished.


1961 Western Australian bushfires
Moreover, as the normal dry summer weather evaporated further moisture from the forests, when another severe cyclone hit Onslow on 12 February it caused even stronger winds (sustained at up to 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph) with much stronger gusts) and as this cyclone moved inland, lost intensity and produced no rain in fire-affected areas, decaying bushfires were re-ignited.


1961 Western Australian bushfires
The fire from Dwellingup consequently moved downslope toward the major town of Pinjarra where it burned a significant portion of the town's buildings—500 people were left homeless. As the forests surrounding began re-igniting, the entire population of a number of other mill towns was relocated to Dwellingup in the following days. The fires continued to burn owing to the strong winds, and many tiny timber towns were completely burnt out - Holyoake, Nanga Brook, Marrinup and Banksiadale; and were never re-built.


1961 Western Australian bushfires
The 2 March saw Onslow’s third cyclone in five weeks, which like the second did not produce any rain in the affected areas and led to temperatures reaching in Perth 37.8 °C (100.0 °F) on the first two days of March for the first time. Fires spread southward to Augusta-Margaret River Shire, though some in that area were thought to have been deliberately lit, and continued to rage within 25 kilometres of Perth city. Although rain was predicted, it did not eventuate. Despite the dryness of the cool change, an easing of the winds allowed fire fighters to finally bring the flames under control. However, in all it is estimated that the fires burned a total of 4,400 square kilometres (1,700 sq mi) of bushland, and property damage far exceeded this.


1961 Western Australian bushfires
Following the fires, a Royal Commission was conducted to investigate causes and in following years many recommendations were made to improve controlled burning in the tall eucalypt forests of the south-west.


1961 Western Michigan Broncos baseball team
The 1961 Western Michigan Broncos baseball team represented Western Michigan College in the 1961 NCAA University Division baseball season. The Broncos played their home games at Hyames Field. The team was coached by Charlie Maher in his 23rd year at Western Michigan.


1961 Western Michigan Broncos baseball team
The Broncos won the District IV playoff to advanced to the College World Series, where they were defeated by the Syracuse Orangemen.


1961 Western Michigan Broncos football team
The 1961 Western Michigan Broncos football team represented Western Michigan University in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season. In their fifth season under head coach Merle Schlosser, the Broncos compiled a 5–4–1 record (4–1–1 against MAC opponents), finished in second place in the MAC, and were outscored by their opponents, 179 to 143. The team played its home games at Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan.


1961 Western Michigan Broncos football team
Center Mike Snodgrass and guard Ken Reasor were the team captains. Quarterback Ed Chlebek received the team's most outstanding player award.


1961 Western Samoan general election
General elections were held in Western Samoa on 4 February 1961. They had originally been planned for November 1960, but were postponed by three months.


1961 Western Samoan general election, Electoral system
The Legislative Assembly had 46 elected members, of which 41 were Samoans elected in single-member constituencies (with voting limited to matais, and five were Europeans elected form a single national constituency.


1961 Western Samoan general election, Campaign
In 21 of the 41 Samoan constituencies there was only one candidate, who was returned unopposed, whilst two had no candidates. Elections went ahead in the remaining 18 constituencies, with by-elections held for the two vacant seats in March.


1961 Western Samoan general election, Campaign
Although the number of voters on the European roll dropped by around half compared to the 1957 elections, eight candidates contested the five available seats.


1961 Western Samoan general election, Aftermath
Following the elections, petitions were submitted to the High Court regarding alleged malpractice in the Faasaleleaga I, Palaluli East, Faleata West and European constituencies. The petition by losing candidate William Betham to have the European results annulled on the basis that 55 voters had been added to the voter roll after registration closed was dismissed, with the judge stating that it was not an irregularity and would not have affected the results.


1961 Western Samoan general election, Aftermath
Former Minister of Agriculture Tualaulelei Mauri submitted a petition seeking to overturn his 46–42 vote defeat by Afoafouvale Misimoa in Palauli East, where he claimed that a death oath had been placed on voters by a local chief if Misimoa was not elected. However, his case was dismissed due to contradictory evidence. The petition concerning the result in Faasaleleaga I (Magele Ate had been elected unopposed) was successful, with a by-election ordered for 10 June.


1961 Western Samoan general election, Aftermath, Government formation
A government was appointed by Prime Minister Fiame Mata'afa Faumuina Mulinu'u II.


1961 Western Samoan referendum
A double referendum on a new constitution and independence took place in Western Samoa on 10 May 1961. A Constitutional Assembly of Matai and associated groups had been elected the previous year to draw up a proposed constitution. It reflected the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy, but restricted both standing and voting in elections to the Matai. The referendums were supervised by the United Nations, and with both approved, the country gained independence on 1 January the following year.


1961 Western Samoan referendum, Results, New constitution
Do you agree with the Constitution, adopted by the Constitutional Convention on 28 October 1960?


1961 Western Samoan referendum, Results, Independence
Do you agree that on 1 January 1962 Western Samoa should become an independent State on the basis of that Constitution?


1961 Wichita Shockers football team
The 1961 Wichita Shockers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Wichita (now known as Wichita State University) as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season. In its second season under head coach Hank Foldberg, the team compiled an 8–3 record (3–0 against MVC opponents), won the MVC championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 230 to 189. Wichita finished  the season with a 17–9 loss to Villanova in the Sun Bowl. The team played its home games at Veterans Field, now known as Cessna Stadium.


1961 Wightman Cup
The 1961 Wightman Cup was the 33rd edition of the annual women's team tennis competition between the United States and Great Britain. It was held at the Saddle & Cycle Club in Chicago, Illinois in the United States.


1961 Wilkes 200
The 1961 Wilkes 200 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 1, 1961, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.


1961 Wilkes 200, Background
Through the 1960s and 1970s the NASCAR Grand National Series began focusing on bigger, faster, and longer tracks. Like other short tracks in NASCAR at the time, crowd capacity and purses were small compared to the larger tracks. Over time, Enoch Staley and Jack Combs attempted to keep the facility modern and on pace with the growth of the sport. The West Grandstand was rebuilt with chair-type seats rather than the old bare concrete slabs. New larger restroom facilities were built, and the South Grandstand was expanded.


1961 Wilkes 200, Background
A garage facility was also built within the track, which at the time was rare for short-track venues. But the main focus was on keeping ticket prices affordable. Food and beverage prices were kept low, and event parking and camping were always free. As long as profits covered maintenance costs, Staley was satisfied with the income of the track.


1961 Wilkes 200, Background
In the Gwyn Staley 160 of 1960, Junior Johnson beat 21 other drivers for the pole position with a lap speed of 83.860 mph. Glen Wood overtook Johnson to lead the first lap, but Johnson had the race under control and led the next 145 laps. Lee Petty moved up from the eighth starting position to challenge Johnson late in the race. With 14 laps remaining, Johnson and Petty made contact. Johnson's car was sent spinning into the guardrail. Petty led the final 14 laps to win his third straight race at North Wilkesboro.


1961 Wilkes 200, Background
The crowd of 9,200 pelted Petty with bottles, rocks, and debris after his win; he had done their local hero wrong. When Petty took the microphone in Victory Lane to explain his side of the story, the crowd began jeering. Rex White finished second, and Wood placed third. Ned Jarrett finished fourth under the alias John Lentz.


1961 Wilkes 200, Background
The length of the fall race in 1960 was increased from its usual 160 laps / 100 miles to 320 laps / 200 miles, this it became known as the Wilkes 320. Speeds increased immensely from the previous record, 1.83 seconds quicker than any previous qualifying lap (86.806 to 93.399 mph). Rex White posted the fastest qualifying lap and dethroned Lee Petty from his three-race winning streak at North Wilkesboro. Junior Johnson finished about half a lap behind White in second place.


1961 Wilkes 200, Summary
The race took two hours and twenty-two minutes in order to resolve 320 laps in front of 9000 live audience members; with a track spanning 0.625 miles (1.006 km) for 200 miles (320 km) of racing action. Four cautions slowed the race for 24 laps. The average speed of the race was 84.675 miles per hour (136.271 km/h) while the pole position speed was established by Junior Johnson who qualified with a speed of 94.540 miles per hour (152.147 km/h). Rex White managed to defeat Fireball Roberts by at least one lap. Joe Jones was the last-place finisher of the race. The other finishers in the top ten were: Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett, Emanuel Zervakis, Jimmy Pardue, Joe Weatherly, Bill Morton, and Doug Yates.


1961 Wilkes 200, Summary
Most of the drivers on this 30-car grid were driving cars belonging to the Chevrolet (13) and Pontiac (7) manufacturers (with Ford (4), Dodge and Plymouth (2 each) and Mercury (1) making up the rest of the field ). All the drivers who qualified for the race were American-born males; there were no foreigners or women in this racing event. Banjo Matthews would never race at Wilkes Motor Speedway again after this race.


1961 Wilkes 200, Summary
Bud Allman was the only notable crew chief to attend this race; he serviced Ned Jarret's #11 Chevrolet vehicle.


1961 Wilkes 200, Summary
The transition to purpose-built racecars began in the early 1960s and occurred gradually over that decade. Changes made to the sport by the late 1960s brought an end to the "strictly stock" vehicles of the 1950s.


1961 Wilkes 200, Summary, Qualifying
Failed to qualify: Bob Presnell (#5), Fred Lorenzen (#28), Nelson Stacy (#29), Dale Jett (#70)


1961 William & Mary Indians football team
The 1961 William & Mary Indians football team represented William & Mary during the 1961 NCAA University Division football season.


1961 Wimbledon Championships
The 1961 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament ran from 26 June until 8 July. It was the 75th staging of the Wimbledon Championships, and the third Grand Slam tennis event of 1961.


1961 Wimbledon Championships, Champions, Seniors, Men's Doubles
Roy Emerson /  Neale Fraser defeated  Bob Hewitt /  Fred Stolle, 6–4, 6–8, 6–4, 6–8, 8–6


1961 Wimbledon Championships, Champions, Seniors, Women's Doubles
Karen Hantze /  Billie Jean Moffitt defeated  Jan Lehane /  Margaret Smith, 6–3, 6–4


1961 Wimbledon Championships, Champions, Seniors, Mixed Doubles
Fred Stolle /  Lesley Turner defeated  Robert Howe /  Edda Buding, 11–9, 6–2


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Boys' Singles
Clark Graebner defeated Ernst Blanke in the final, 6–3, 9–7 to win the Boys' Singles tennis title at the 1961 Wimbledon Championships.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Girls' Singles
Galina Baksheeva defeated Katherine Chabot in the final, 6–4, 8–6 to win the Girls' Singles tennis title at the 1961 Wimbledon Championships.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Doubles
Rafael Osuna and Dennis Ralston were the defending champions, but Osuna did not compete. Ralston competed with Chuck McKinley but lost in the quarterfinals to Roy Emerson and Neale Fraser.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Doubles
Emerson and Fraser defeated Bob Hewitt and Fred Stolle in the final, 6–4, 6–8, 6–4, 6–8, 8–6 to win the Gentlemen' Doubles tennis title at the 1961 Wimbledon Championship.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Doubles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles
Rod Laver defeated Chuck McKinley in the final, 6–3, 6–1, 6–4 to win the Gentlemen's Singles tennis title at the 1961 Wimbledon Championships. Neale Fraser was the defending champion, but lost in the fourth round to Bobby Wilson.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed Doubles
Rod Laver and Darlene Hard were the defending champions, but did not compete.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed Doubles
Fred Stolle and Lesley Turner defeated Bob Howe and Edda Buding in the final, 11–9, 6–2 to win the Mixed Doubles tennis title at the 1961 Wimbledon Championships.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed Doubles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Doubles
Maria Bueno and Darlene Hard were the defending champions, but did not compete.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Doubles
Karen Hantze and Billie Jean Moffitt defeated Jan Lehane and Margaret Smith in the final, 6–3, 6–4 to win the Ladies' Doubles tennis title at the 1961 Wimbledon Championships.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Doubles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles
Angela Mortimer defeated Christine Truman in the final, 4–6, 6–4, 7–5 to win the Ladies' Singles tennis title at the 1961 Wimbledon Championships. It was the last all-British final to date. Maria Bueno was the reigning champion, but did not defend her title due to jaundice.


1961 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section. As originally seeded,  Darlene Hard was the fifth seed, but when she withdrew from the championships before the draw was made, the seeding list was redrafted and she was replaced by Yola Ramírez.


1961 Windward Islands Tournament
The 1961 Windward Islands Tournament was an international football tournament hosted in Saint Lucia in 1961.


1961 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season
The 1961 Winnipeg Blue Bombers finished in 1st place in the Western Conference with a 13–3 record. The Blue Bombers defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to win the 49th Grey Cup.


1961 Wisconsin Badgers football team
The 1961 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin in the 1961 Big Ten Conference football season.


1961 Women's Amateur Snooker Championship
The 1961 Women's Amateur Snooker Championship was an amateur snooker tournament held in 1961. The event was held from 24 to 29 April 1961 at Burroughes Hall. Maureen Barrett, who had not participated in the tournament in the two previous years, won the event, defeating Thea March 4-1 in the final.


1961 Women's British Open Squash Championship
The 1961 Ladies Open Championships was held at the Lansdowne Club in London from 20–26 February 1961. Sheila Macintosh (née Speight) the number one seed was unable to defend her title due to contracting mumps. Fran Marshall defeated Ruth Turner in the final.


1961 Women's European Cup (handball)
The 1961 Women's Handball European Champions Cup was the inaugural edition of the premier competition for women's handball clubs. Eight teams from Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, West Germany, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia took part in the competition, which took place from 19 January to 18 March 1961.


1961 Women's European Cup (handball)
Știința Bucharest defeated Spartak Subotica, Zalgiris Kaunas and finally Dynamo Prague in the final's both legs to become the first European champion. It was the first of three titles won by Romanian teams to date.


1961 Women's Western Open
The 1961 Women's Western Open was contested from June 1–4 at Belle Meade Country Club in Nashville, Tennessee. It was the 32nd edition of the Women's Western Open.


1961 Worcester by-election
The 1961 Worcester by-election was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Worcester on 16 March 1961. It was won by the Conservative Party candidate Peter Walker.


1961 Worcester by-election, Candidates
The local Liberals selected 40-year-old journalist Robert Glenton as their candidate. He was an international rally driver, and a motoring correspondent for the Sunday Express. Born in June 1920 and educated at Scarborough College, he had previously stood as Liberal candidate for Hitchin at the 1959 general election.


1961 World 600
The 1961 World 600, the second running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that took place on May 28, 1961, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Chris Economaki called the race in one of the few televised NASCAR races of the 1960s. A series of two qualifying events took place on May 21 to determine the starting grid for this event.


1961 World 600
This race began a streak of 1856 consecutive NASCAR races where at least one of the drivers in the race was from North Carolina. The streak would come to an end after Dale Earnhardt, Jr. did not race in the 2012 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte after getting a concussion after the previous race at Talladega.


1961 World 600, Background
Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) quad-oval track located in Concord, North Carolina, was the location for the race. The track's turns were banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, was five degrees. The back stretch, opposite of the front, also had a five degree banking. Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted the NASCAR Grand National Series twice during the season, with the other race being the National 400. The track opened for the inaugural World 600 one year earlier, and was built by Bruton Smith and Curtis Turner. Around 46,538 spectators attended the race.


1961 World 600, Race report
Four hundred laps were raced over a paved oval track spanning 1.500 miles (2.414 km) with a time of five hours, twenty-two minutes, and twenty-nine seconds. Seven cautions were waved for fifty-seven laps. David Pearson defeated Fireball Roberts by more than two laps for his first NASCAR Cup series victory. He and Richard Petty would both acquire wins in what is now called the Coca-Cola 600. There were fifty-five competitors; Cafe Burgundy, Daytona Kennel, and Holly Farms were the main sponsors for some of the drivers. Even though there were 55 cars in the event, only 19 vehicles were allowed to qualify during each pre-race qualifying session.


1961 World 600, Race report
The average speed was 111.633 miles per hour (179.656 km/h) while the pole position speed was 131.611 miles per hour (211.807 km/h). The qualifying races only set the front row (which is the opposite of what happens before the Daytona 500). A lot of drivers chose not to participate in qualifying.


1961 World 600, Race report
Attendance for this race was 46,538 and the top prize was $24,280 ($207,732 when adjusted for inflation). The last place competitor received $200 ($1,711 when adjusted for inflation). Competitors for this race included: Ralph Earnhardt, Ned Jarrett, Tiny Lund, Junior Johnson, Joe Weatherly, Richard Petty, and Roy Tyner. While Ralph Earnhardt was very competitive early in the race and was the odds-on favorite to be the winner; he gave up the lead four times and had to settle for 11th.


1961 World 600, Race report
A terrible crash occurred in this race to driver Reds Kagle; he would lose a leg in this race when his car penetrated the outside guard rail.


1961 World 600, Race report
Notable crew chiefs for the race were Ray Fox, Bud Allman, Smokey Yunick, Mario Rossi, Roy Burdick, Shorty Johns and Joseph Meyer.


1961 World Archery Championships
The 1961 World Archery Championships was the 21st edition of the World Archery Championships. The event was held in Oslo, Norway in August 1961 and was organised by World Archery Federation (FITA).


1961 World Fencing Championships
The 1961 World Fencing Championships were held in Turin, Italy.


1961 World Judo Championships
The 1961 World Judo Championships were the 3rd edition of the Men's World Judo Championships, and were held in Paris, France on 2 December, 1961.


1961 World Men's Handball Championship
The 1961 World Men's Handball Championship was the fourth team handball World Championship. It was held in West Germany between 1–12 March 1961. A united team composed of players from the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany competed. Romania won the championship.


1961 World Modern Pentathlon Championships
The 1961 World Modern Pentathlon Championships were held in Moscow, Soviet Union.


1961 World Series
The 1961 World Series matched the New York Yankees (109–53) against the Cincinnati Reds (93–61), with the Yankees winning in five games to earn their 19th championship in 39 seasons. This World Series was surrounded by Cold War political puns pitting the "Reds" against the "Yanks." But the louder buzz concerned the "M&M" boys, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, who spent the summer chasing the ghost of Babe Ruth and his 60–home run season of 1927. Mantle finished with 54 while Maris set the record of 61 on the last day of the season


1961 World Series
The Yankees were under the leadership of first-year manager Ralph Houk, who had succeeded Casey Stengel. The Yankees won the American League pennant, finishing eight games better than the Detroit Tigers. The Bronx Bombers also set a Major League record for most home runs in a season with 240. Along with Maris and Mantle, four other Yankees, Yogi Berra, Elston Howard, Bill Skowron, and Johnny Blanchard, hit more than 20 home runs. The pitching staff was led by Cy Young Award-winner Whitey Ford (25–4, 3.21).


1961 World Series
The underdog Reds, skippered by Fred Hutchinson, finished four games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League and boasted four 20-plus home run hitters of their own: NL MVP Frank Robinson, Gordy Coleman, Gene Freese and Wally Post. The second-base, shortstop, and catcher positions were platooned, while center fielder Vada Pinson led the league in hits with 208 and finished second in batting with a .343 average. Joey Jay (21–10, 3.53) led the staff, along with Jim O'Toole and Bob Purkey.


1961 World Series
The American League added two teams, the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators, through expansion and also increased teams' respective schedules by eight games to 162. The National League was a year away from its own expansion as the Reds and the other NL teams maintained the 154-game schedule.


1961 World Series
The Most Valuable Player Award for the series went to lefty Whitey Ford, who won two games while throwing 14 shutout innings.


1961 World Series
Ford left the sixth inning of Game 4 due to an injured ankle. He set the record for consecutive scoreless innings during World Series play with 32, when, during the third inning he passed the previous record holder, Babe Ruth, who had pitched 29+2⁄3 consecutive scoreless innings for the Boston Red Sox in 1916 and 1918. Ford would extend that record to 33+2⁄3 in the 1962 World Series.


1961 World Series
The 1961 five-game series was the shortest since 1954, when the New York Giants swept the Cleveland Indians in four games.


1961 World Series
These two teams would meet again 15 years later in the 1976 World Series, which the Reds would win in a four-game sweep.


1961 World Series, Summary
AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL Cincinnati Reds (1)


1961 World Series, Matchups, Game 1
At Yankee Stadium, Whitey Ford tossed his third straight World Series shutout. A fourth-inning shot into the lower right-field stands by Elston Howard was all Ford would need. Moose Skowron added a sixth-inning shot into the lower left-field to make it 2–0. The two-hour, 11-minute game featured only two hits by the Reds, a first-inning single to left by Eddie Kasko and a fifth-inning single by Wally Post. The only other Reds baserunner was Frank Robinson, who walked in the seventh. Otherwise, Ford had six strikeouts. Jim O'Toole allowed six hits in seven innings.


1961 World Series, Matchups, Game 1
Ford was also aided by two excellent defensive plays by third baseman Clete Boyer. In the second inning, Boyer backhanded a Gene Freese ground ball close to the bag, wheeled, and threw out his third-base counterpart from his knees. In the eighth, Boyer dove to his left onto his stomach after a Dick Gernert ground ball; coming up with the ball, Boyer threw Gernert out, also from his knees.


1961 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
The Reds came charging back on superb pitching by Joey Jay to win Game 2 and even the series. Reds first baseman Gordy Coleman and Yankees' left-fielder Yogi Berra traded two-run homers in the fourth. Coleman hit his homer into the right-center field bleachers after Frank Robinson reached on an error by Yankees' third-baseman Clete Boyer. After Roger Maris led off the bottom half of the inning with a walk, Berra tied the score with a drive into the lower right-field stands.


1961 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
From there, Jay would give up only two more hits, a Berra single in the sixth and a Tony Kubek single to center in the eighth. The Reds continued to score with single runs in the fifth and sixth and two in the eighth. The Reds went ahead for good with two outs in the fifth when Elio Chacón sprinted home from third on an Elston Howard passed ball that didn't get much further than 15 feet (4.6 m) away. Yankee starter Ralph Terry would give up one more run in the sixth on a Wally Post double and a run- scoring single by eighth-place hitter Johnny Edwards, before being lifted in the seventh for pinch-hitter Héctor López.


1961 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
Luis Arroyo took over in the eighth and walked Robinson, gave up an infield single to Coleman on a roller between third and the mound and then threw wild to first, with Robinson scoring; Coleman was thrown out trying for third. The next batter, Wally Post, reached safely when Berra misplayed his fly for a three-base error. With Post on third, Gene Freese was intentionally walked for the second time in the game and Edwards followed with his second hit, a bloop double to left, scoring Post. Jay would seal the victory for the Reds by retiring six of the remaining seven batters, allowing only a walk to Clete Boyer in the ninth.


1961 World Series, Matchups, Game 2
The series shifted to Cincinnati with the pressure on New York. After falling to a perceived inferior team (the Pittsburgh Pirates) in the 1960 World Series, a loss that cost long-time manager Casey Stengel his job, fans and media were wondering if it could happen again as the Yankees limped into Cincinnati with the series tied, having scored a total of just four runs and 10 hits in the first two games as several of the Yankee hitters struggled including the "M&M Boys."


1961 World Series, Matchups, Game 3
Cincinnati hosted its first World Series in 21 years at Crosley Field. 99-year-old Dummy Hoy, a former Red and the oldest living former Major League player at the time, threw out the first pitch.


1961 World Series, Matchups, Game 3
Game 3 pitted New York's 23-year-old right-hander Bill Stafford against Reds' veteran knuckleballer Bob Purkey. Stafford pitched well for 6+2⁄3 innings. Purkey also had outstanding control and kept the Yankee hitters off balance, but New York would triumph on a Maris home run in the ninth. While the Yankees' offense still was stagnant, it was just good enough.