Events in Sport
- Jan 1 39th Rose Bowl: #5 Southern California beats #11 Wisconsin, 7-0
- Jan 1 19th Sugar Bowl: #2 Georgia Tech beats #7 Mississippi, 24-7
- Jan 1 19th Orange Bowl: #9 Alabama beats #14 Syracuse, 61-6
- Jan 2 NBA Baltimore Bullets begin a record 32 game road losing streak (12 games in 1952-53; 20 games in 1953-54) with a 73-66 defeat at the Indianapolis Olympians
- Jan 9 Bevo Francis, Rio Grande College, scores 116 pts in basketball game
- Jan 10 3rd NFL Pro Bowl, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: National Conference beats American Conference, 27-7; MVP: Don Doll, Detroit Lions, DB
Event of Interest
Jan 11 J. Edgar Hoover declines 6 figure offer to become president of International Boxing Club
J. Edgar Hoover
NBA All-Star Game
Jan 13 3rd NBA All-Star Game, Allen County Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana: West beats East, 79-75; MVP: George Mikan, Minneapolis Lakers, C
George Mikan
- Jan 17 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: In an all-American final Maureen Connolly wins 1st leg of her Grand Slam; beats Julia Sampson 6-3, 6-2
Australian Men's Tennis Open
Jan 17 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: In an all-Australian final Ken Rosewall wins his first Grand Slam title; beats Mervyn Rose 6-0, 6-3, 6-4
Ken Rosewall
Event of Interest
Jan 19 Jesse Owens named Illinois Athletic Commission secretary
Jesse Owens
- Jan 22 1953 NFL Draft: Harry Babcock from University of Georgia first pick by San Francisco 49ers
- Jan 23 Future Australian cricket captain and coach Bobby Simpson makes his 1st-class debut for NSW at 16 years and 357 days
- Jan 23 NFL Dallas Texans become Baltimore Colts (now Indianapolis Colts)
- Jan 23 NFL's National & American conference become Eastern & Western conference
Event of Interest
Jan 31 New York, Cleveland, & Boston retaliate at Bill Veeck, forcing the Browns to play afternoon games to avoid sharing TV revenues
Bill Veeck
Birthdays in Sport
- Jan 1 Zenon Plech, Polish motorcycle speedway rider (World C'ship individual 1979, pairs 1980 runner-up), born in Zwierzyn, Poland (d. 2020)
- Jan 3 Angelo Parisi, French judoka (Olympic gold heavyweight 1980), born in Arpino, Italy
- Jan 3 Peter Taylor, English soccer winger (4 caps; Crystal Palace, Tottenham Hotspur) and manager (Leicester City, Hull, Crystal Palace), born in Rochford, England
- Jan 4 Norberto Alonso, Argentine soccer midfielder (19 caps; River Plate), born in Vicente López, Argentina
- Jan 7 Agha Zahid, Pakistani cricketer (open batting for Pak v WI 1975, scored 14 & 1), born in Lahore, Pakistan
- Jan 8 Bruce Sutter, American baseball pitcher (Cubs, Cards, Braves), born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
- Jan 10 Bobby Rahal, American racing car driver & team owner (over 15 wins), born in Medina, Ohio
- Jan 13 Bob Baffert, American Racing Hall of Fame trainer (Triple Crown 2015, 18), born in Nogales, Arizona
- Jan 15 Randy White, American NFL tackle (Dallas Cowboys), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Jan 19 Richard Legendre, Canadian tennis player & politician, born in Montreal, Quebec
Paul Allen
Jan 21 Paul Allen, American business magnate (co-founder Microsoft, owner Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle Seahawks), born in Seattle, Washington (d. 2018)
Paul Allen
Weddings in Sport
Wedding of Interest
Jan 15 Cricketer Richie Benaud (22) weds Marcia Lavender at the Wesley Church in Sydney, Australia
Richie Benaud
Deaths in Sport
- Jan 24 Ben Taylor, American Baseball Hall of Fame 1st baseman (Indianapolis ABCs) and manager (Washington Potomacs, Baltimore Black Sox), dies of pneumonia at 64
