- Jan 1 Andy Andrews, American tennis player (Australian Open doubles 1982 runner-up), born in Raleigh, North Carolina
- Jan 1 Panagiotis Giannakis, Greek basketball guard and coach (EuroLeague champion 1996, Panathinaikos; FIBA European Selection 1980, 87, 90; Greek League Best Coach 2004, 06), born in Athens, Greece
- Jan 2 Kirti Azad, Indian cricket all-rounder (7 Tests; 25 ODIs) and politician, born in Darbhanga, India
Kapil Dev (65 years old)
Jan 6 Indian cricketer (India's finest all-rounder 1978-94, Cup-1982), born in Chandigarh, Punjab
- Jan 8 Mike Harwood, Australian golfer (British Open 1991 runner-up), born in Sydney, New South Wales
- Jan 9 Mark Martin, American stock car racing driver, born in Batesville, Arkansas
- Jan 10 Chandra Cheesborough, American 4x100 runner (Olympic gold 1984), born in Jacksonville, Florida
- Jan 11 Brett Bodine, American stock car racing driver, born in Chemung, New York
- Jan 14 Georgi Dimitrov, Bulgarian soccer centre-back (77 caps; CSKA Sofia, Saint-Étienne), born in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria (d. 2021)
- Jan 14 Lars Høgh, Danish soccer goalkeeper (8 caps; OB 603 games) and GK coach (Denmark, Brøndby IF), born in Odense, Denmark (d. 2021)
- Jan 14 Paul Terry, English cricketer (in Germany Two Tests England v WI 1984), born in Osnabrück, Germany
- Jan 20 Lea Antonoplis, American tennis player, born in West Covina, California
- Jan 21 Alex McLeish, Scottish footballer and manager
- Jan 23 Sandra Pisani, Australian field hockey captain (Olympic gold 1988), born in Adelaide, Australia (d. 2022)
- Jan 27 Chris Collinsworth, NFL wide receiver/TV sportscaster
- Jan 31 Kelly Moore, American stock car driver, born in Scarborough, Maine
- Jan 31 Michael Allen, American golfer (Senior PGA Championship 2009), born in San Mateo, California
About January 1959
How Old? 65 years old
Generation: Baby Boomer
Leap Year: No
Baseball Players
Basketball Stars
Boxers
Footballers
NFL Stars
Tennis Champions