- Jan 1 40th Orange Bowl: #6 Penn State beats #13 LSU, 16-9
- Jan 1 60th Rose Bowl: #4 Ohio State beats #7 Southern California, 42-21
Connors Wins Over Dent
Jan 1 Australian Open Men's Tennis: American Jimmy Connors wins his only Australian title; beats home favourite Phil Dent 7-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
- Jan 1 Ernie DiGregorio of Buffalo hands out 25 assists in the Braves' 120-119 win over Portland, establishing an NBA single-game record for assists by a rookie
Lee MacPhail
Jan 1 Lee MacPhail takes over as AL president, succeeding Joe Cronin
- Jan 13 Super Bowl VIII, Rice Stadium, Houston, TX: Miami Dolphins beat Minnesota Vikings, 24-7; MVP: Larry Csonka, Miami, RB
- Jan 15 24th NBA All-Star Game, Seattle Center Coliseum: West beats East, 134-123; MVP: Bob Lanier, Detroit Pistons
- Jan 19 Notre Dame beats UCLA, 71-70 in South Bend, Indiana to end Bruins' NCAA-record 88-game basketball win streak
- Jan 20 24th NFL Pro Bowl, Arrowhead Stadium, KC, Missouri: AFC beats NFC, 15-13; MVP: Garo Yepremian, Miami Dolphins, PK
- Jan 20 Essex Comm College beats Englewood Cliffs 210-67 in basketball
Baseball Hall of Fame
Jan 28 Sam Thompson, Jim Bottomley, & Jocko Conlan elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Jan 29 1974 NFL Draft: Ed Jones from Tennessee State first pick by Dallas Cowboys
- Jan 29 27th NHL All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium: Western Division beats Eastern Division, 6-4; MVP: Garry Unger, St. Louis, C
Baseball Players
Basketball Stars
Boxers
Footballers
NFL Stars
Tennis Champions