Events in Sport
- Jan 1 19th Fiesta Bowl: #5 Florida State beats #6 Nebraska, 41-17
- Jan 1 56th Orange Bowl: #4 Notre Dame beats #1 Colorado, 21-6
- Jan 1 56th Sugar Bowl: #2 Miami beats #7 Alabama, 33-25
- Jan 1 76th Rose Bowl: #12 Southern California beats #3 Michigan, 17-10
Hopman Cup
Jan 1 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: Arantxa Sánchez Vicario beats American Pam Shriver 6-3, 6-3 to clinch 2-1 win for Spain's first title
Hall of Fame
Jan 9 Jim Palmer & Joe Morgan elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
Sports History
Jan 11 NHL New York Islander Pat LaFontaine sets team record of scoring goals in 11 straight games
AFC Championship
Jan 14 AFC Championship, Mile High Stadium, Denver: Denver Broncos beat Cleveland Browns 37-21
- Jan 14 NFC Championship, Candlestick Park, SF: San Francisco 49ers beat Los Angeles Rams, 30-3
Boxing Title Fight
Jan 15 42 year old former world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman stops Gerry Cooney in 2 rounds in Atlantic City in a non-title bout; Cooney's last fight
- Jan 15 Golden State coach Don Nelson becomes 2nd man in NBA history to appear in 1,000 games both as a player and coach (joining Lenny Wilkens) as the Warriors lose to the Indiana Pacers, 144-105
- Jan 15 In a bizarre twist in the NHL, Washington Capitals fire coach Brian Murray, who had been head coach since 1981; replace him with his brother Terry, who had been coaching in the minors
- Jan 15 In a shrewd move, Detroit Tigers sign 1st baseman Cecil Fielder who spent previous season in Japan; hits 51 homers this MLB season and becomes a premier power hitter for most of the 1990s
- Jan 19 Police break up protests in Johannesburg against the cricket players defying a boycott on playing in apartheid South Africa
NHL All-Star Game
Jan 21 41st NHL All-Star Game, Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, PA: Wales beats Campbell, 12-7; MVP: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins, C
- Jan 21 Bob Goodenow succeeds Alan Eagleson as NHL players association executive director
Sports History
Jan 21 John McEnroe becomes 1st ever player to be expelled from the Australian Open
Sports History
Jan 22 Wasim Akram scores Test century (123) at Adelaide
- Jan 22 Will Clark, NL's MVP signs a $15M 4-year contract with SF Giants
- Jan 23 Australian cricketer Dean Jones scores twin test tons vs. Pakistan at Adelaide Oval
- Jan 24 LAs' Pat Riley becomes the 13th and fastest coach to reach the 500-victory plateau as the Lakers down the Indiana Pacers, 120-111; Riley (500-184) surpasses Don Nelson (500-317) to reach milestone
- Jan 26 Boston Red Sox hires Elaine Weddington as asst GM (highest-ranking African American female in a major-league front office)
Australian Open Women's Tennis
Jan 27 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Steffi Graf beats American Mary Joe Fernández 6-3, 6-4 for her 3rd consecutive Australian singles crown
Australian Men's Tennis Open
Jan 28 Australian Open Men's Tennis: American-based Czech star Ivan Lendl of wins 8th and last career Grand Slam title; beats Stefan Edberg 4-6, 7-6, 5-2; Edberg retires injured
Super Bowl
Jan 28 Super Bowl XXIV, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, LA: San Francisco 49ers beat Denver Broncos, 55-10; MVP: Joe Montana, SF, QB
NHL Record
Jan 30 LA center Wayne Gretzky sets NHL record by scoring his 100th point of the season for the 11th straight season; milestone comes with an assist in a 5-2 Kings' win over visiting New Jersey Devils
- Jan 31 1st ever all-sports daily "National" begins publishing
Birthdays in Sport
- Jan 3 Yoichiro Kakitani, Japanese soccer midfielder (18 caps; Cerezo Osaka), born in Osaka, Japan
- Jan 4 Toni Kroos, German soccer midfielder (106 caps, FIFA World Cup 2014; Bayern Munich, Real Madrid), born in Greifswald, Germany
- Jan 7 Elene Gedevanishvili, Georgian figure skater, born in Tbilisi, Georgia
- Jan 7 Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austrian ski jumper, born in Tyrol, Austria
- Jan 10 Tao Li, Singaporean Olympic swimmer, born in Wuhan, China
- Jan 12 Sergey Karjakin, Ukrainian chess player, born in Simferopol
- Jan 15 Fernando Forestieri, Italian footballer, born in Rosario, Argentina
- Jan 18 Gift Ngoepe, South African-born baseball player, 1st black African to play in Major League Baseball, born in Pietersburg, South Africa
Divorces in Sport
Jimmy Johnson
Jan 17 NFL coach Jimmy Johnson (46) divorces Linda Kay Cooper after 26 years of marriage
Deaths in Sport
- Jan 1 Joe Hardstaff Jr., English cricket batsman (23 Tests, 1,636 runs @ 46.74; Nottinghamshire CCC), dies at 78
Bronko Nagurski
Jan 7 Bronko Nagurski, Canadian-American College and Pro Football Hall of Fame fullback (Chicago Bears), dies at 81
