- Jan 1 36th Orange Bowl: #2 Penn State beats #6 Missouri, 10-3
- Jan 1 36th Sugar Bowl: #13 Mississippi beats #3 Arkansas, 27-22
- Jan 1 56th Rose Bowl: #5 Southern California beats #7 Michigan, 10-3
- Jan 1 Charles "Chub" Feeney becomes president of baseball's National League
Chiefs Defeat Raiders
Jan 4 AFL Championship, Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland: Kansas City Chiefs beat Oakland Raiders, 17-7; Chiefs defense forces 4 interceptions
- Jan 4 NFL Championship, Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington: Minnesota Vikings beat Cleveland Browns, 27-7
- Jan 6 Australian boxer Johnny Famechon retains his WBC featherweight title with a 14th-round knockout of Fighting Harada in Tokyo; re-match of questionable 15-round decision in 1969 in his first title defense
- Jan 11 Super Bowl IV, Tulane Stadium, New Orleans, LA: KC Chiefs beat Minnesota Vikings, 23-7; MVP: Len Dawson, Kansas City, QB
Flood Files Lawsuit
Jan 16 Curt Flood files a civil lawsuit challenging baseball's reserve clause [1]
- Jan 16 Inaugural Buffalo Sabres owners Seymour H. Knox III and Northrup Knox hire former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager and head coach Punch Imlach in the same capacities for their new NHL franchise
- Jan 16 NFL realigns into 3 divisions (down from 4)
- Jan 17 357 baseball players are available in the free-agent draft
- Jan 17 9th AFL All Star Game, Astrodome, Houston: Western Division beats Eastern Division, 26-3; MVP: John Hadl, LA Chargers, QB
Mays Player of the Decade
Jan 17 Sporting News names Willie Mays as Player of the Decade for the 1960s
20th NFL Pro Bowl
Jan 18 20th NFL Pro Bowl, LA Memorial Coliseum: West beats East, 16-13; MVPs: Gale Sayers, Chicago Bears, HB; George Andrie, Dallas Cowboys, DE
20th NBA All-Star Game
Jan 20 20th NBA All-Star Game, Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pa: East beats West, 142-135; MVP: Willis Reed, NY Knicks, C; Tom and Dick Van Arsdale, first brothers to play in same NBA All-Star Game
23rd NHL All-Star Game
Jan 20 23rd NHL All-Star Game, St. Louis Arena: East beats West, 4-1; MVP: Bobby Hull, Chicago, LW
- Jan 26 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Margaret Court beats fellow Australian Kerry Melville Reid 6-1, 6-3; Court retains title for 9th Australian singles crown and 1st leg of her Grand Slam
Ashe Beats Crealy
Jan 27 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Arthur Ashe beats big serving local Dick Crealy 6-4, 9-7, 6-2
- Jan 27 NFL Draft: Louisiana Tech quarterback Terry Bradshaw #1 pick by Pittsburgh Steelers
Baseball Players
Basketball Stars
Boxers
Footballers
NFL Stars
Tennis Champions