Events in Sport
- Jan 1 28th Rose Bowl: #12 Oregon State beats #2 Duke, 20-16 (played in North Carolina due to Japanese threat)
- Jan 1 8th Sugar Bowl: #6 Fordham beats #7 Missouri, 2-0
- Jan 1 8th Orange Bowl: #14 Georgia beats TCU, 40-26
- Jan 4 4th NFL All Star Game, Polo Grounds, NYC: Chicago Bears beat NFL All-Stars, 35-24
- Jan 4 7 x NL batting champion Rogers Hornsby is 14th player selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Jan 6 Bob Feller, enlists in Navy & reports for duty to Norfolk Virginia
- Jan 15 Chicago Cubs drop plans to install lights at Wrigley Field because of military's need for materials; takes 35 years before lights finally installed at the venerable ballpark
Event of Interest
Jan 15 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sends his famed "Green Light Letter" to MLB Commissioner Judge Landis, encouraging baseball to continue playing during World War II
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Birthdays in Sport
- Jan 1 Nevzat Güzelırmak, Turkish soccer defender (18 caps; Göztepe) and manager (Denizlispor; Turkey U21), born in İzmir, Turkey (d. 2020)
- Jan 7 Vasiliy Ivanovich Alekseyev, USSR, weightlifter (Olympic gold 1972, 76)
- Jan 14 Ian Brayshaw, Australian cricketer & footballer, born in South Perth, Australia
- Jan 14 Dave Campbell, American baseball player, born in Manistee, Michigan
Muhammad Ali
Jan 17 Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay], American boxer (world heavyweight champion 1964-7 74-8), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 2016)
Muhammad Ali
- Jan 22 Mimis Domazos, Greek footballer
- Jan 23 Laurie Mayne, Australian cricketer (Australian pace bowler in 6 Tests 1965-70), born in Westonia, West Australia
- Jan 25 Carl Eller, American football player, born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
- Jan 30 David J. Brown, English cricketer (Warwicks pace bowler, played 26X for England), born in Walsall, United Kingdom
Deaths in Sport
- Jan 7 Henri de Baillet-Latour, Belgian aristocrat and 3rd President of the International Olympic Committee (1925-42), dies at 63
- Jan 12 George Francis, cricketer (WI Test fast-bowler, 23 wkts in 10), dies
- Jan 15 Melvin Winfield Sheppard, runner (Olympic gold 1908, 12), dies at 58
- Jan 31 Henry Larkin, American baseball player (b. 1860)