* Tex Austin ( 1886 – 1938 ), American rodeo promoter

* Austin Osman Spare ( 1886 – 1956 ), English artist and magician

* John M. Pierce ( 1886 – 1958 ) was one of the founders of the Springfield Telescope Makers.

* 1886 – Athenagoras I, Greek religious leader, 268th Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople ( d. 1972 )

* 1886 – Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, Nizam of Hyderabad state ( d. 1967 )

* 1886 – Walter Edward Dandy, American neurosurgeon and scientist ( d. 1946 )

* 1823 – Alexander Ostrovsky, Russian playwright ( d. 1886 )

* 1886 – Rebecca Clarke, English composer and violist ( d. 1979 )

* 1886 – Eric Coates, English composer and viola player ( d. 1957 )

* 1886 – Edward Ballantine, American composer ( d. 1971 )

* 1886 – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy Canadian pilot and engineer ( d. 1961 )

After 1890 came philosopher Josiah Royce ( 1855 – 1916 ), botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey ( 1858 – 1954 ), the Southern Agrarians of the 1920s and 1930s, novelist John Steinbeck ( 1902 – 1968 ), historian A. Whitney Griswold ( 1906 – 1963 ), environmentalist Aldo Leopold ( 1887 – 1948 ), Ralph Borsodi ( 1886 – 1977 ), and present-day authors Wendell Berry ( b. 1934 ), Gene Logsdon ( b. 1932 ), Paul Thompson, and Allan C. Carlson ( b. 1949 ).

* 1886 – Maithili Sharan Gupt, Indian poet ( d. 1964 )

Prominent leaders include co-founders Lucien Febvre ( 1878 – 1956 ) and Marc Bloch ( 1886 – 1944 ).

Cofounder Marc Bloch ( 1886 – 1944 ) was a quintessential modernist who studied at the elite École Normale Supérieure, and in Germany, serving as a professor at the University of Strasbourg until he was called to the Sorbonne in Paris in 1936 as professor of economic history.

Franciszek Bujak ( 1875 – 1953 ) and Jan Rutkowski ( 1886 – 1949 ), the founders of modern economic history in Poland and of the journal Roczniki Dziejów Spolecznych i Gospodarczych ( 1931 – ), were attracted to the innovations of the Annales school.

* 1886 – Ernst Thälmann, German politician ( d. 1944 )

Aron Nimzowitsch ( or Aron Isayevich Nimtsovich, or Aaron Nimzovich ) (, ; born Aron Niemzowitsch ) ( 7 November 1886 – 16 March 1935 ) was a Russian-born, Danish leading chess master and a very influential chess writer.

* 1935 – Aron Nimzowitsch, Latvian-born chess player ( b. 1886 )

After 2. d4, there are two distinctive main lines: 2 ... e5, favored by British grandmaster Tony Miles, and 2 ... d5, introduced and often played by the influential Latvian-Danish player and writer Aron Nimzowitsch ( 1886 – 1935 ).

Larsen was inspired by the example of the great Latvian-Danish player and theoretician Aron Nimzowitsch ( 1886 – 1935 ), who often played 1. Nf3 followed by 2. b3, which is sometimes called the Nimzowitsch – Larsen Attack.

Wilhelm ( later William ) Steinitz ( Prague, May 17, 1836 – August 12, 1900 ) was an Austrian and then American chess player and the first undisputed world chess champion from 1886 to 1894.

Macclesfield Chess Club is one of the oldest chess clubs in the country having been founded in 1886.

Culin became interested in chess and card games and published a paper on the topic in 1886.

* John Dunlop ( chess player ) ( 1886 –?

* Maurice Wertheim ( 1886 – 1950 ), American investment banker, chess player, and philanthropist

In the second half of the 19th century, modern chess tournament play began, and the first world Chess Championship was held in 1886.

* 1886 – Ed Lafitte, American baseball player ( d. 1971 )

* 1886 – Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis player ( d. 1974 )

* 1968 – Lena Blackburne, American baseball player and manager ( b. 1886 )

* 1980 – Rube Marquard, American baseball player ( b. 1886 )

* 1886 – Thomas January, American soccer player ( d. 1957 )

* 1886 – Art Ross, Canadian ice hockey player and executive ( d. 1964 )

* 1886 – Henry Jamison Handy, American breaststroke swimmer, water polo player and filmmaker ( d. 1983 )

* 1886 – Rube Marquard, American baseball player ( d. 1980 )

* 1886 – Warren Brittingham, American soccer player ( d. 1962 )

* December 21 – Vittorio Pozzo, Italian football player and manager ( b. 1886 )

* July 17 – Ty Cobb, American baseball player ( b. 1886 )

* Willie Smith ( billiards player ) ( 1886 – 1982 ), English professional player of snooker and English billiards

* William Smith ( field hockey ) ( 1886 – 1937 ), British field hockey player who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics

* Allie Moulton, ( 1886 – 1968 ), Major League baseball player for the St. Louis Browns.

* Lena Blackburne ( 1886 – 1968 ), major league baseball player and manager best known for his discovery of a mud in a tributary of the Delaware River near Palmyra which is still used to rub down baseballs allowing pitchers to gain better control over the ball.

* Jack Jones ( rugby player ) ( 1886 – 1951 ), Welsh international rugby union player

The record for most runs scored by a player in a single game is 7, set by Guy Hecker of the American Association's Louisville Colonels on August 15, 1886.

* Isaac Bentham ( 1886 – 1917 ), British water polo player

* Robert Andersson ( 1886 – 1972 ), Swedish water polo player, diver, and freestyle swimmer