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John Curry 1976

Admin July 4, 2025

In 1976, figure skater John Curry was presented with the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award by Lord Mountbatten, having finished ahead of racing driver James Hunt and swimmer David Wilkie. Hunt had won the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship, while Wilkie had won the gold medal in the 200-metres breaststroke at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, setting a world record in the process.

Curry, though, had not only become the first British man to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating, which he did at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, but also won the

British Figure Skating Championships in Richmond, the European Figure Skating Championships in Geneva and the World Figure Skating Championships in Lyon.

In Innsbruck, he carried the British flag and the opening ceremony and, when competition commenced, finished second in the compulsory figures, behind Sergei Volkov of the Soviet Union, and second in the short programme, behind Toller Cranston of Canada, to lead the overall standings ahead of the free skate. In that free skate, at the Olympiahalle in Innsbruck, Curry delivered what was described in commentary as, “One of the finest, most beautiful moments of skating I have ever seen.”

In a flawless, five-minute programme, set to the music of Ludwig Minkus from his score of the ballet ‘Don Quixote’, Curry began with a triple toe loop and also successfully landed a triple salchow and triple loop. Technical proficiency aside, he also received scores of 5.9 for artistic impression from all bar one of nine international judges, the Canadian judge, who awarded him 5.8. All told, Curry earned 105.9 points out of a possible 108 for his free skate to take his overall total to 192.74 points and give him the gold medal ahead of his nearest pursuer, Vladimir Kovalyov of the Soviet Union, who finished with 187.64 points, despite error-strewn short and free programs.

Curry was diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 1987 and with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in 1991. He spent his final years with his mother, Rita, and died of an AIDS-related heart attack at her home in Binton, Warwickshire on April 15, 1994. He was just 44 years old.

Mary Peters 1972

Admin July 4, 2025

In 1972, athlete Mary Peters was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) by readers of the ‘Radio Times’, beating footballer Gordon Banks and equestrian Richard Meade to the coveted prize after winning the gold medal in the pentathlon at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Accepting the SPOTY trophy from the 1971 winner, Princess Anne, Peters quipped, “Hasn’t she kept in clean?” She went on to say I’m not only pleased for myself, but for Buster [McShane], my coach, for the people of Northern Ireland and for women’s athletics. All you boys and girls who are sitting up late tonight watching, think about doing some sport in the New Year. It’s a great life and a healthy one.”

Peters was born in Halewood, Liverpool on July 6, 1939, but moved to her adopted home in Northern Ireland with her family at the age of 11. She had finished fourth in the pentathlon at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and ninth at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City and, at the age of 33, was all too aware that Munich represented her last chance of an Olympic medal.

After the first day of competition, during which Peters finished second in the 100m hurdles before winning the shot put and high jump events, she held a lead of 300 points over her main rival, Heide Rosendahl of West Germany. On the second day, Rosendahl, 26, who had already jumped 6.78m to win the individual gold medal in the long jump, sailed out to 6.83m – just one centimetre shy of the world record – in the first round of the pentathlon long jump competition, thereby accruing 1,082 points. Peters, by contrast, could manage only 5.98 metres, worth 902 points, on her third and final attempt, so went into the final event, the 200m, with a greatly-reduced lead.

Rosenthal won the 200m, too, in a time of 22.96 seconds, with Peters fourth, in a time of 24.08 seconds. After an agonising wait for the times to be displayed, Rosenthal came over to shake her hand and Peters was confirmed as Olympic champion – by just 10 points, or the equivalent of 0.1 seconds in the 200m – with a new world record score of 4,801 points to 4,791.

David Steele 1975

Admin July 4, 2025

In 1975, cricketer David Steele, who became an unlikely hero for England in the losing Ashes series that year, was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year by Radio Times readers, ahead of athlete Alan Pascoe and swimmer David Wilkie. Accepting the trophy from Michael Morris, Baron Killanin, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), he said, “This has been a wonderful year for me, in more ways than one.”

Steele, 33, had been plucked from the relative obscurity of the Northamptonshire middle-order by newly-appointed England captain Tony Greig, who had succeeded the previous incumbent, Mike Denness, during the disastrous First Test at Edgbaston, which England lost by an innings and 85 runs. He later said of his selection, “It was my benefit year, so it was the first time I hadn’t thought about cricket too much; all I was thinking about was earning a bob or two, so when I did bat I felt relaxed and got runs. But it was still a surprise getting picked by England.”

Steele made his England debut, batting at number three, in the Second Test at Lord’s. Grey-haired and bespectacled, he would later be described by the cricket correspondent of ‘The Sun’, Clive Taylor, as “the bank clerk who went to war”, but made an immediate impact, getting of the mark by hooking a waist-bouncer from Dennis Lillee behind square for four. Steele made 50 in the first innings and 45 in the second innings of the drawn Second Test, 73 and 92 in the drawn Third Test at Headingley (which was abandoned due to vandalism of the pitch) and 39 and 66 in the drawn Fourth Test at The Oval. In the series as a whole, against the likes of Lillee, Jeff Thomson and Max Walker, he had made 365 runs at an average of 60.83.

Staffordshire-born Steele would play just four more Test matches, against the West Indies in 1976, but made 106 in the first innings in the First Test at Trent Bridge. That maiden century, plus five half-centuries, contributed to a Test career total of 673 runs from 16 innings, at an average of 42.06.

Virginia Wade 1977

Admin July 4, 2025

In 1977, the year in which Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Silver Jubilee, Virginia Wade was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY), beating cricketer Geoffrey Boycott and motorcycle racer Barry Sheene into second and third place, respectively, in a poll of readers of the ‘Radio Times’. Accepting the trophy from Prince Michael of Kent, she said, “I think this is the trophy that every sportsman or woman in this country longs to win win and I can’t be happier to have won it. I think it’s wonderful that Prince Michael is here, because his family have all been such popular followers of our game, tennis.”

Aside from the Silver Jubilee, 1977 was also a historic year insofar as it marked the centenary of the Wimbledon Championships, so Wade chose a good time to win her first, and only, ladies’ singles title at the All England Tennis Club after 16 attempts. Indeed, at the time of writing, she remains the last British woman to win a singles title, not only at Wimbledon, but at any Grand Slam tournament.

Wade, herself, has already won the US Open in 1968, beating Billie Jean King in straight sets in the final, and the Australian Open in 1972, beating Evonne Goolagong in similar fashion. However, she was a beaten semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 1974, a beaten quarter-finalist in 1975, and a beaten semi-finalist again in 1976, so the most famous victory of her career could also be viewed as completion of unfinished business.

Wade did not drop a set until the semi-final, in which she nonetheless beat top seed, and defending champion, Chris Evert 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to set up a final with seventh seed Betty Stove. Evert later remarked, “I could see it in her eyes that she really wanted to win.” In the final, Stove won the first set, 6-4, but at 3-3 in the second Wade began her fightback and, playing some of the best tennis of her career, gradually took control of the match. She eventually prevailed 4–6, 6–3, 6–1 and said later, “It was like a fairy-tale, with everyone cheering for the Queen and cheering for me.”