- Jan 1 14th Fiesta Bowl: #14 UCLA beats #13 Miami, 39-37
- Jan 1 51st Orange Bowl: #4 Washington beats #2 Oklahoma, 28-17
- Jan 1 51st Sugar Bowl: #5 Nebraska beats #11 LSU, 28-10
- Jan 1 71st Rose Bowl: #18 Southern California beats #6 Ohio State, 20-17
- Jan 2 Nevada Las Vegas basketball gives coach Jerry Tarkanian his 600th career victory with a 142-140 win over Utah State in triple overtime; total of 282 points breaks NCAA men's record of 275 set in 1976
- Jan 3 Future Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin scores 110 on debut in drawn 3rd Test against England in Kolkata
Trottier's Penalty Fail
Jan 5 Bryan Trottier failed on 9th Islander penalty shot
- Jan 6 AFC Championship, Miami Orange Bowl: Miami Dolphins beat Pittsburgh Steelers, 45-28
- Jan 6 NFC Championship, Candlestick Park, SF: San Francisco 49ers beat Chicago Bears, 23-0
Baseball's Brock and Wilhelm
Jan 7 Lou Brock & Hoyt Wilhelm are elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame
- Jan 9 Flames set NHL record 264th regular season game without being shut-out
Wilkens first to 1,000 Games
Jan 10 Lenny Wilkens becomes first to coach in 1,000 NBA games when his Seattle SuperSonics defeat the Golden State Warriors, 89-86
- Jan 13 23rd Tennis Fed Cup: Czech beats USA in Nagoya Japan (2-1)
- Jan 13 99-year-old Otto Bucher from Switzerland becomes the oldest man to record a hole-in-one at Spanish GC La Manga's 130-yard 12th hole
- Jan 13 Blackhawk Doug Wilson failed on 12th penalty shot against Islanders
McEnroe Retains ATP Title
Jan 13 John McEnroe repeats previous year's result with a 7–5, 6–0, 6–4 win over Ivan Lendl to claim back-to-back season-ending ATP Masters Grand Prix tennis titles at Madison Square Garden, NYC
Gretzky Makes 400
Jan 13 Playing in his 436th career game, Edmonton center Wayne Gretzky scores his 400th career NHL goal and adds 2 assists in a 5-4 Oilers' win over the Sabres in Buffalo
Navratilova Wins 100
Jan 14 Martina Navratilova is 3rd to win 100 tennis tournaments (Connors & Evert)
- Jan 15 Mike Gatting (207) and Graeme Fowler (201) become first pair of England batsmen to complete double centuries in the same innings during 9-wicket 4th cricket Test win against India at Madras
Super Bowl XIX
Jan 20 Super Bowl XIX, Stanford Stadium, Stanford, CA: San Francisco 49ers beat Miami Dolphins, 38-16; MVP: Joe Montana, SF, QB
- Jan 21 Dennis Potvin ties Bobby Orr's career record of 270 NHL goals
Wasim Akram Debut
Jan 25 Test debut of Wasim Akram, vs New Zealand at Auckland (2-105)
- Jan 26 Edmonton Oiler Wayne Gretzky scores 50th goal in 49th game of season
- Jan 27 Mark Mckoy cycles world record 50m hurdles indoor (5.25)
- Jan 27 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 22-14; MVP: Mark Gastineau, NY Jets, DE
- Jan 28 Houston's Bill Fitch becomes the 6th coach in NBA history to post 600 wins as the Rockets beat the New Jersey Nets, 97-93
Kurri's 100th Point
Jan 29 Jari Kurri of Edmonton Oilers scores 100th pt of season in game 39
Baseball Players
Basketball Stars
Boxers
Footballers
NFL Stars
Tennis Champions