Sports

Hungarian Sport Notables

These are some of the Hungarians, or people with a strong Hungarian heritage, who have made impact on sports.

This is an attempt at an impossible list. There are more athletes than we know, and some may have passed. Please update us with current information.

Albert, Florian
Soccer
born: September 15, 1941, Hercegszanto, Hungary
World Cup scoring title and European Soccer Player of the Year (1967).

Barna, Victor
Ping Pong
born: August 24, 1911, Budapest, Hungary
died: February 1972
Table Tennis World Champion

Pal Benko
Chess
born: July 15, 1928, Amiens, France
Chess Champion Grandmaster. US Chess Hall of Fame.

Besenyei, Péter
Acrobatics
World Champion

Boloni, Ladislau (Laszlo)
Soccer
Soccer Player and Romanian National Team Head Coach.

Boros, Julius
Golf
born: March 3, 1920, Bridgeport, CT
died: 1994

Bugner, Joe
Boxing
born: 1950, Hungary
(WBF) World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Australian Heavyweight Champion.

Csonka, Larry
Football
born: December 25, 1946, Stow, OH
Running back for the Miami Dolphins. Hall of Fame. Super Bowl VIII MVP.

Egerszegi, Krisztina
Swimming
born: August 16, 1974, Budapest, Hungary
Five-time Olympic Gold Medalist. Youngest Olympic champion ever. Only woman to win five gold medals in individual swimming events.

Gogolak, Peter & Charlie
Football
New York Giants. All-Pro.

Groza, Lou
Football
born: January 25, 1924, Martins Ferry, OH
died: November 29, 2000, Berea, OH
Place kicker for the Cleveland Browns. Six-time All Pro. Hall of Fame.

Halas, George “Papa Bear”
Football
born: February 2, 1895, Chicago, IL
died: October 31, 1983
Hall of Fame football coach and founder of the Chicago Bears. Helped found the NFL

Hargitay, Mickey (Miklós)
Weightlifting
born: October 19, 1927, Budapest, Hungary
Mr. Universe. Mariska Hargitay’s dad.

Hingis, Martina
Tennis
born: Kassa, [now called Kosice after Czech and Slovak annexation]
Was the youngest #1 ranked player ever at age 17, and became the youngest to win a Grand Slam title.

Hrabosky, Alan Thomas
Baseball
born: July 21, 1949 Oakland, CA
One of the most effective relievers of the 1970’s Called “the Mad Hungarian” for wild-haired look and angry stomping on the mound. Plated with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Kansas City Royals and the Atlanta Braves

Ienei, Emeric (Imre)
Soccer
Player and Romanian National Team Head Coach.

Károlyi, Béla and Márta
Gymnastics
born: September 13, 1942, Kolozsvár, Transylvania)
U.S. Gymnastics Coach to Nadia Comaneci, and Mary Lou Retton. Defected from Romania September 1980.

Kincsem
Horse Racing
born: 1874
Filly 🙂

Kiraly, Karch
Volleyball
born: November 3, 1960, Jackson, MI
Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist and Professional Volleyball Player.

Kocsis, Sándor
Soccer
born: 10859
died: 28692
Member of the “Magnificent Magyars”

Kosár, Bernie
Football
born: November 25, 1963, Youngstown, OH
Quarterback for the Browns, Cowboys and the Dolphins.

Mednyanszky, Maria
Ping Pong
born: 1901
died: 1979, Budapest
Table Tennis Champion. First official female World Champion

Medwick, Joe
Golf
born: 1911
died: 1975
Played in World-Series. Nicknamed “The Muscular Magyar” Hall of Fame.

Molnar, Miklos
Soccer
born: June 10, 1970, Copenhagen, Denmark
Kansas City Wizards, International.

Nagy, Charles
Baseball
born: May 5, 1967, Fairfield, CT
Pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. Three-time All-Star. Olympics Gold Medal Winner.

Namath (Németh), Joe
Football
Quarterback for New York Jets. Hall of Fame. Super Bowl MVP.

Orosz, Tom
Football
NFL Football Player. Superbowl Punter for the Miami Dolphins. Wore #3

Papp, Laszlo
Boxing
born: March 25, 1926 Budapest, Hungary
First boxer in history to win three consecutive Olympic Gold Medals.

Polgár, Zsuzsa (Susan)
Chess
Woman’s World Chess Champion, and reigning woman World champion in Blitz and Rapid Chess. She was the first woman to earn an overall Chess Grand Master title in 1991.

Polgár, Judit (Judith)
Chess
Grandmaster at 15 years old. 10th in the World Chess Federation. Highest rated female chess player in the world. First female player to win the U.S. Open Chess Championship in 1988.

Polgár, Zsófia (Sofia)
Chess

Pozsár, Géza
Gymnastics
U.S. Gymnastics National Team coach and choreographer.

Puskás, Ferenc
Soccer
born: April 2, 1927, Budapest
Members of the “Magnificent Magyars”

Reményi , Maria Judith
Beauty Queen
Miss USA 1966

Seles, Monica
Tennis
born: Vajdaság (Vojvodina), the Hungarian region that was given to Serbia/Yugoslavia.
Won nine Grand Slam singles titles. Bronze medal in the Sydney Olympics 2000.

Shula, Don
Football
born: 1930
Football coach for the 17-0 Miami Dolphins. Winningest Coach in NFL History. Hall of Fame.

Sipos, Anna
Ping Pong
born: 1908, Hungary
died: 1972
Table Tennis first female player to use the “pen holder grip.”

Stojko, Elvis
Ice dancing
born: March 22, 1972, Newmarket, grew up in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
Three-time World Champion. Seven-time Canadian National Champion. Two-time Olympic Silver Medalist.

Szabados, Miklos
Ping Pong
born: 1912
died: 1960
Six World Doubles titles

Szabo, Ekaterina (Katalin)
Gymnastics
born: January 22, 1966, Zágon, Transylvania (now in Romania)
Gymnast. Four Olympic gold medals and one silver in Los Angeles competing for Romania.

Szalay, Thatcher
Football
born: January 18, 1979, OK
NFL Football Player Cincinnati Bengals. Wears #66.

Szalay, Professor
Weightlifting
Father of British Weightlifting

Thesz, Lou
Wrestling

Varkonyi, Robert
Poker
born: 1961, Brooklyn, NY
Poker World Series Champion of 2002. First to Win $2 million.

Vegh, Daniel
Ping Pong
US ping pong champion

Vermes, Peter
Soccer
born: November 21, 1966 in Willingboro, NJ
Kansas City Wizards, US National Team (captain), International