1954 in sports

May 6 – Roger Bannister breaks the four-minute mile barrier with a time of 3:59.4
August 25 to 29 August – European Championships held at Berne, capital of Switzerland

[Australian rules football]

Victorian Football League
* 5 June: Champion Essendon full-forward John Coleman has his career ended by a serious knee injury
* Footscray wins the 58th VFL Premiership by defeating Melbourne 15.12 to 7.9 in the Grand Final.
* Brownlow Medal awarded to Roy Wright
South Australian National Football League
* Port Adelaide begins a record run of six consecutive SANFL premierships by beating West Adelaide 11.13 to 10.16 in a highly controversial Grand Final.
* Magarey Medal won by Len Fitzgerald
West Australian National Football League
* wins its third successive premiership and eighth overall beating 21.14 to 9.8.
* Sandover Medal awarded to Merv McIntosh

January 14 – Former Yankees great Joe DiMaggio marries actress Marilyn Monroe in a union of heavily publicized media stars.
St. Louis Browns move to Baltimore, Maryland, becoming the new Baltimore Orioles.
World Series – New York Giants win 4 games to 0 over the Cleveland Indians

FIBA World Championship –
* Gold: United States
* Silver: Brazil
* Bronze: Philippines
NCAA Men's Basketball Championship –
*La Salle wins 92–76 over Bradley
NBA Finals –
* Minneapolis Lakers win 4–3 over the Syracuse Nationals
March 13 – Milan High School, enrollment 161, defeated Muncie Central High School 32–30 to win the Indiana state title. The 1986 movie classic Hoosiers was very loosely based on the story of this Milan team.

June 17 – Rocky Marciano defeats Ezzard Charles by unanimous decision to retain his World Heavyweight title
September 17 in New York City, Rocky Marciano retained his World Heavyweight title with an 8th-round knockout of Ezzard Charles
December 12 – death of Ed Sanders, American heavyweight soon after a fight with Willie James in which he lost consciousness

The BC Lions started play in the Western Interprovincial Football Union as the ninth professional team.
After the 1954 season, the Ontario Rugby Football Union stops challenging for the Grey Cup, permanently establishing that trophy as one to be awarded only to professional teams.
These changes result in the Grey Cup being an East vs. West competition. Although the Canadian Football League was not technically founded until 1958, 1954 is often referred to as the start of the "modern era" of Canadian professional football. It is also considered to be the year the CFL was founded in substance if not in name.
In the Grey Cup, the Edmonton Eskimos win 26–25 over the Montreal Alouettes.
The Canadian Intermediate-Senior championship was awarded to the . The team consisted of Rich Kolisnyk, Mel Kotch, Bob Jones, Tom Brisson, Bill Ritchie, Len Sigurdson, Walt Van Wynsberg, Lorne Miller, Gerry Duguid, Harry Makin, Art Makin, Jerry Lavitt, John Thorney, Bill Barrett, Jim Thorney, Al McBride, Bill Senyk, Bob Bouchard, Ray Charambura, Nick Miller, Dick Hebertson, Ron Stephenson, Al Passman, Mort Corrin, Bill Yee, Norm Lampe, Dede Brown, Joe Sawchuk, Art Brockhill, Lew Miles, Ken Freeman, Bill Thomas, Ron Cooke, Pete Sawchuk, Harry Snider, Harold Neufeld and their mascot Ken Kolisnyk.