[EDIT 6/12/2018: Modifying characters that don't show up right in some kinds of formatting, correcting typo in the second Merckx item]
Sorry for the delay. I'll add more links soon, and maybe add cricket and such to the list of odds and ends.
TENNIS
The best of the men is Jimmy Connors, who has won three of the four majors. This is one of ten times so far that one man has won three or more Grand Slam singles titles.
The French Open champion is 18-year-old Bjorn Borg, with his first of six titles at Roland Garros and his first of eleven Grand Slam titles.
Chris Evert wins the French Open and the title at Wimbledon, and these are the first of what will be 18 Grand Slam singles titles. At one point winning 55 consecutive matches and setting a record that will stand for a decade, Evert is the AP Female Athlete of the Year.
Evonne Goolagong wins the Australian Open, while Billie Jean King adds a fourth US Open title.
Connors and Evert winning their respective titles at Wimbledon is noteworthy because the two are engaged at the time, although the planned November wedding does not come to fruition.
Connors is the annual men's #1 for the first of five times, and King is the women's #1 for the last of five times. Connors's first time at the weekly #1 is July 29, and he will stay there for 160 consecutive weeks. The last time Ilie Nastase is #1 is the week of June 2 (40 weeks total), while John Newcombe's eight-week reign starts June 9 and ends when Connors takes over.
India refuses to play South Africa at the Davis Cup final, so the nation that's dead to the world wins by default.
Australia wins the Federation Cup, the women's equivalent of the Davis Cup, by defeating the United States in the final.
Guillermo Vilas defeats Nastase at the final of the Tennis Masters Cup. Goolagong beats Evert at the WTA Championship.
Newcombe now has three singles titles and six doubles titles at Wimbledon. The doubles championship with Tony Roche this year is the fifth and last for the pair. By 1976, Newcombe and Roche will have a record 16 titles in Grand Slam doubles events.
Goolagong and Peggy Michel win women's doubles in Australia and England, Evert and Olga Morozova win in France, and King and Rosemary Casals win in the U.S.
While Evert's star is rising, another star is born. Martina Navratilova wins her first singles title in Orlando, and she also gets her first taste of Grand Slam glory in the French Open mixed doubles tournament, which she and Ivan Molina of Colombia win.
BOXING
Muhammad Ali (216 1/2 pounds, 32 years old) is once again world champion after knocking out George Foreman (220 pounds, 26 years old) in the eighth round at Kinshasa Oct. 30. Ali uses the "rope-a-dope" strategy, wherein he lies on the ropes and takes blows, bringing Foreman to keep punching and get tired. The "Rumble in the Jungle" is Don King's first big promotion, and it's the Fight of the Year as selected by Ring Magazine, which names Ali Fighter of the Year.
Before all that, Foreman (224 3/4 pounds, 25 years old) defends his title March 26 at Caracas by TKOing Ken Norton (212 1/4 pounds, 30 years old) in two rounds.
Ali's second match against Joe Frazier, Jan. 28 in New York, ends in 12 rounds with Ali winning by unanimous decision.
The AP and the UPI both name Ali Male Athlete of the Year, Sports Illustrated names him Sportsman of the Year, and he also wins the Hickok Belt (a professional sports award given every year from 1950-1976). The Sporting News, however, chooses Lou Brock instead.
Roberto Duran is in the process of setting a lightweight title defenses record. Among his twelve from 1972 to 1979 are an eleventh-round knockout delivered to Esteban de Jesus March 16 and a first-round kayo on Masataka Takayama Dec. 21.
Carlos Monzon is also in the middle of a record-setting run of 14 title defenses as a middleweight (1970-1977) as he defeats Jose Napoles in the sixth round Feb. 9 and knocks out Tony Mundine in the seventh round Oct. 4. His wife shot him in the leg in '73.
WORLD FOOTBALL LEAGUE
The WFL is formed for the 1974 season with twelve teams. The regular season is 20 games from July to November, and there are no preseason exhibition games in this first season. In "World Bowl I," held Dec. 5 at Legion Field, the Birmingham Americans win 22-21 against the visiting Florida Blazers.
In this league, touchdowns are worth seven points, and the PAT, or "action point," has to be run or passed. Also, regular-season games as well as playoff games can go to overtime.
The three MVPs of the WFL are Southern California Sun quarterback Tony Adams, Memphis Southmen running back J.J. Jennings, and Blazers running back Tommy Reamon. Only Reamon will play in the NFL.
During the season, the New York Stars become the Charlotte Hornets, and the Houston Texans become the Shreveport Steamer. The Detroit Wheels (1-13) and Jacksonville Sharks (3-11) cease to play after 14 games, although the Wheels would be back in '75.
The Southmen are originally to be the Toronto Northmen, but the Canadian government rejects that idea.
In one draft, teams select players from college, while another involves NFL and CFL players. Sixteen NFL players and a CFL player jump from their leagues to the WFL in the first season.
The Texans select USC star Lynn Swann with the 24th pick in the college draft, but of course, he doesn't sign.
Among the players picked in the pro draft: Raiders QB Ken Stabler, Jets QB Joe Namath, Chargers QB Dan Fouts, Rams DE Jack Youngblood, Raiders DB Jack Tatum, Steelers DT Joe Greene, and Vikings OT Ron Yary. The second overall pick is Dolphins FB Larry Csonka, whom the Southmen will sign the next season.
The man behind this league is Gary L. Davidson, who was also one of the fathers of the ABA and the WHA. The WFL will not survive an entire 1975 season, so the rule of threes does not quite apply here.
OTHER
Future NFL coach Marv Levy is coach of the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes. He wins the Grey Cup for the first time in 1974, as his Alouettes defeat the Edmonton Eskimos 20-7 in Vancouver.
Evel Knievel makes three appearances on Wide World of Sports. He successfully jumps eleven Mack trucks, then thirteen Mack trucks, but crashes trying to jump over the Snake River Canyon.
Speaking of Wide World of Sports, that program wins the Emmy in its category for '73-74 and will win in the Edited Program division of sports for '74-75.
Kyle Rote, Jr. of the NASL's Dallas Tornado wins the second annual Superstars multi-sport competition on ABC. This is the first year the obstacle course is used.
Jim McKay wins his fourth Emmy for Outstanding Host/Commentator, while Keith Jackson wins his third of five National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association awards for sportscaster of the year.
Dorothy Hamill wins her first of three US figure skating championships.
Melissa Militano and new partner Johnny Johns win their first of two US titles in pairs figure skating. She had won a title with her brother Mark the previous year.
At the World Figure Skating Championships, Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaytsev win their second of six pairs titles together; this is the sixth of ten for Rodnina. At those same championships, Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov win their fifth consecutive ice-dancing crown.
Eddy Merckx wins the Tour de France for the fifth time, tying Jacques Anquetil's record. He finishes the 4098-km route (about 2,546 miles) in 116 hours, 16 minutes, and 58 seconds. The Belgian cyclist has also won five Tours of Italy and a Tour of Spain, giving him a total of eleven victories among those three events, a record not equaled. Merckx has worn the yellow jersey for a record 111 days, also not equaled.
Merckx wins the Tour of Italy for the fifth time this year and joins a club whose membership otherwise consists of only Alfredo Binda and Alfredo Coppi. He's also the third three-time winner of the UCI Road World Championship, the other two being Binda and Rik van Steenbergen.
In rugby, Ireland has sole possession of the Five Nations championship for the first time since 1951. All five nations tied for the championship in '73.
Romania wins the men's team handball world championship for the fourth time, a record no one else will reach until 1999.
Earl Anthony earns many bowling honors for the first time: winner at the PBA National Championship, winner at the Firestone Tournament of Champions, money leader, and Bowler of the Year.
Bobby Fischer, eight-time US chess champion (1958-1966), continues his reign as world champion (1972-1975).
ADDITION 6/1/2014: Fischer briefly gives up the championship in June due to a difference of opinion in how his title defense match should go. In November, he plays against Anatoly Karpov to remain champion. In '75, Karpov will be awarded the title when Fischer doesn't show up. But Fischer makes chess popular enough for a book called How to Beat Bobby Fischer, published in 1974.
In Mexico City, the Polish team wins the men's volleyball world championship, defeating the Soviet Union in the final, while the reigning Olympic champion Japanese team finishes third. In Guadalajara, Japan's women defeat the Soviets, also reigning Olympic champions, for the world title.
Winston is the first commercial sponsor of a beach volleyball tournament; the event is held in San Diego.
France wins its seventh freshwater fishing championship.
On August 1, Peter Gulgin catches a three-pound rock bass in Ontario's York River. The record catch for that type of fish will be tied in 1998.
Tommy Martin, with a total of 33 pounds and 7 ounces of bass caught, wins the BASS Masters Classic.
In rodeo, Tom Ferguson begins a six-year string of All-Around Champion Cowboy titles.
Eleven-year-old Curt Yarborough of Elk Grove, California, wins the All-American Soap Box Derby; Bret Yarborough had done so the year before, when he was 11.
Toshimitsu Ogata, going by the ring name Kitanoumi, reaches the highest rank in sumo in July at the age of 21 years and 61 days. For decades, he is the youngest yokozuna.
With Ted Hood as skipper, Courageous defeats the Australian yacht Southern Cross 4-0 for the America's Cup. That boat will win the Cup again in 1977 with Ted Turner as skipper.
The Women's Sports Foundation is established.
The Track and Field Hall of Fame is founded. Its first class includes Babe Didrikson, Ray Ewry, Rafer Johnson, Bob Mathias, Al Oerter, Jesse Owens, and Wilma Rudolph.
The USOC launches its Athlete of the Year awards.
UPI also launches Athlete of the Year awards. The female winner is Irina Szewinska of track and field.
At the Bislett Games in Oslo, Rick Wohlhuter runs 1000m in 2 minutes and 13.9 seconds, a world record for now and still a U.S. record for this event that isn't run often. Wohlhuter wins the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award for best amateur athlete.
In Knoxville, Ivory Crockett sets a world record in the hundred-yard dash May 11 with an even nine seconds.
Neil Cusack of Ireland wins the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:13:39. Miki Gorman is the third women's champion with the first time under 3 hours for a woman, 2:47:11.
East German Reinhard Theimer throws a hammer 251'3" on July 4, beating the world record – held by West German Walter Schmidt since 1971 – by 8 inches. Soviet Aleksey Spiridonov breaks this new record Sept. 11 by 2 1/4 inches.
In power boat racing, George Henley drives Pay 'N Pak to the APBA Gold Cup, and will do so again next year.
At the World Gymnastics Championships, the all-around winners are Shigeru Kasamatsu (also the winner for floor exercise and vault) and Ludmilla Tourischeva (also the winner for floor exercise and balance beam). In between Olympic triumphs, Olga Korbut wins the vault at the world championships.
Johns Hopkins University wins its first of many NCAA lacrosse championships.
The Wisconsin Badgers win the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Varsity Eights for the second of three times in a row. They cover 2,000 meters in 6 minutes and 33 seconds.
USC snaps Indiana's six-year streak as NCAA swimming champions.
The college tennis champions are Stanford. The individual champion is Stanford's John Whitlinger.
Gustavo Thoeni reaches nine events won in his career in the Alpine Skiing World Cup, which is a record at the time. Fellow Italian Piero Gros wins the Alpine World Cup season title, which Thoeni won in the three years before and will win in '75.
Also in alpine skiing, Ingemar Stenmark wins his first of what will be 86 slalom and giant slalom races, and Franz Klammer wins his first of what will be 25 World Cup downhill races.
The women's winner of the Alpine World Cup for the fourth of five times in a row is Annemarie Moser-Proell. In January, she also wins her eleventh consecutive downhill race.
Magglio Ordonez is born Jan. 28 in Caracas, Venezuela.
Steve Nash is born Feb. 7 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Seattle Slew is foaled Feb. 15 in Ravenna, Texas.
Bobby Abreu is born March 11 in Aragua, Venezuela.
Dave Mirra is born April 4 in Chittenango, New York.
Danny Way, future pro skateboarder, is born April 15 in Portland, Oregon.
Hideki Matsui is born June 12 in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.
Derek Jeter is born June 26 in Pequannock, New Jersey.
Maurice Greene, future Olympic sprinting champion, is born July 23 in Kansas City, Kansas.
Krisztine Egerszegi, future Olympic champion swimmer, is born August 16 in Budapest, Hungary.
Hicham El Guerrouj, future mile runner, is born Sept. 14 in Berkane, Morocco.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is born Oct. 10 in Concord, North Carolina.
Paul Kariya is born Oct. 16 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Karrie Webb is born Dec. 21 in Ayr, Queensland, Australia.
On March 3, English rugby fans are among those killed on a flight from Paris to London that crashes right after takeoff. With 346 deaths, it is for three years the crash with the most deaths ever.
World Football League fan site
These boxers and others on BoxRec.com
Volleyball World Championships results on Volleyball.org
Hammer throw world record progression on HammerThrow.eu
The Rumble in the Jungle, according to History
Rumble in the Jungle photos on the Sports Illustrated site
Bios of Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert on ESPN SportsCentury
Eddy Merckx bio on CyclingHallOfFame.com, a fan site
A whole website dedicated to the Snake River Canyon jump
Knievel jump photo at Sports Illustrated
Rick Wohlhuter bio at US Track & Field
Bobby Fischer as SI described him
COMING IN JUNE: The world of soccer 40 years ago, including the World Cup
