- Jan 1 46th Orange Bowl: #5 Oklahoma beats #4 Florida State, 24-7
- Jan 1 46th Sugar Bowl: #2 Alabama beats #6 Arkansas, 24-9
- Jan 1 66th Rose Bowl: #3 Southern California beats #1 Ohio State, 17-16
- Jan 1 Australian Open Women's Tennis: In an all-American final Barbara Jordan wins her first and only Grand Slam singles title; beats Sharon Walsh 6-3, 6-3
Vilas Retains Title
Jan 2 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Guillermo Vilas retains title for 4th and last Grand Slam win; beats American John Sadri 7-6, 6-3, 6-2
- Jan 6 AFC Championship, Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Houston Oilers, 27-13
- Jan 6 NFC Championship, Tampa Stadium: Los Angeles Rams beat Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 9-0
- Jan 6 Phil Flyers set NHL record of 35 straight games without a defeat
- Jan 7 Minnesota ends Philadelphia Flyers' NHL record 35 game unbeaten streak ends
- Jan 8 Islander Glenn Resch's 20th shut-out opponent-Canucks 3-0
- Jan 8 NCAA decides to sponsor women's championships in 5 sports
Borg Wins ATP
Jan 12 Björn Borg of Sweden wins his first of 2 season-ending ATP Masters Grand Prix tennis titles outclassing American Vitas Gerulaitis 6–2, 6–2 at Madison Square Garden, NYC
- Jan 12 Phoenix point guard Mike Bratz begins NBA free throw streak of 57 games during a 107-96 loss at the Golden State Warriors
Carter Announces US Boycott
Jan 20 President Jimmy Carter announces US boycott of Olympics in Moscow
- Jan 20 Super Bowl XIV, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA: Pittsburgh Steelers beat LA Rams, 31-19; MVP: Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh, QB
- Jan 21 Les Henson, Virginia Tech, makes 89' 3" basketball field goal
- Jan 22 West Indies beat England 2-0 to win cricket's 1st World Series Cup
- Jan 25 Dutch government demands boycott of Olympics
- Jan 26 Islanders & Whalers play a NHL penalty-free game
- Jan 27 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: NFC beats AFC, 37-27; MVP: Chuck Muncie, New Orleans Saints, RB
- Jan 28 New York coach Red Holzman wins his 600th NBA game, only the second (after Red Auerbach) coach at the time to reach the plateau, as the Knicks beat Golden State, 107-103
- Jan 29 Cleveland Cavaliers beat LA Lakers 154-153 in quadruple OT
Baseball Players
Basketball Stars
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Tennis Champions