See also: 1935 in sports, other events of 1936, 1937 in sports and the list of 'years in sports'.

Events

• May 12: Jockey Ralph Neves was involved in a racing accident at Bay Meadows Racetrack in San Mateo, California and mistakenly pronounced dead. A while later, he woke up in the morgue and promptly returned to the racetrack but was not allowed to compete in any of the remaining races because of his 'death.'

• June 21: First Hungarian Grand Prix held in Budapest.

Baseball

• Plans are announced for a Baseball Hall of Fame to be established in 1939, the game's supposed centennial, in Cooperstown, New York. In the first elections to select 15 initial inductees (5 from the 19th century and 10 from the 20th), Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson are selected from the 20th century; the election for 19th century players is plagued by problems and results in no selections. See: Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1936
• World Series: New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants, 4-2.

Football (Australian Rules)

• Victorian Football League
  • Collingwood wins the 40th VFL Premiership (Collingwood 11.23 (89) d South Melbourne 10.18 (78))
  • Brownlow Medal awarded to Dinny Ryan (Fitzroy)

American Football

• Minnesota Golden Gophers National college football champions.
• Green Bay Packers 21-6 Boston Redskins for the NFL championship. The game was moved from Boston to New York's Polo Grounds.

Ice skating

• First Speed Skating World Championships for Ladies held in Stockholm

Snooker

• World Snooker Championship: Joe Davis beats Horace Lindrum 34-27

General sporting events

• 1936 Summer Olympics takes place in Berlin, Germany
  • Germany wins the most medals (89), and the most gold medals (33).
  • Jesse Owens wins four gold medals.
  • The first torch relay takes place from Olympia, Greece.

• 1936 Winter Olympics takes place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
  • Norway wins the most medals (15), and the most gold medals (7).