• Tour de France - Live television shots came to the TdF. The limited race action came from the famous climb of the Col d'Aubisque.
• China - Communist leader Mao presents the “Great Leap Forward” to encourage the industrialization of China.
• Cuba - Rebel leader Fidel Castro ousts the mafia corrupted dictator Fulgencio Batista and wins total control of the island nation.
• NFL - the National Football League's championship game, viewed by millions of fans on TV, is won by the Baltimore Colts in “sudden death” overtime. The game generated such interest that CBS signed a long term TV contract for the hot NFL product. The game was named ""The Greatest Game Ever Played".
• Munich, Germany - an airplane carrying the Manchester United FC crashed in a blizzard taking off from Munich Airport.
• North Pole - the Nautilus submarine journeys under the North Pole.
• Music - January 20, 1958, Elvis Presley is drafted into military service. March 24, 1958, the U.S. Army officially inducted the “King of Rock & Roll” Elvis Presley as a private at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.
• Basketball - January 9, Oscar Robertson scored 56 points against Seton Hall who scored 54 points as a team.
• Music - Jan 10, Jerry Lee Lewis' hit song "Great Balls of Fire" reached number 1 on the United Kingdom’s pop charts.
• Baseball - Jan 28, Brooklyn Dodger’s Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella is injured in an automobile accident leaving him paralyzed.
• Formula 1/ Cuba - Feb 23, Cuban Fidel Castro led rebels kidnaped five-time World driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio. Fangio was released by the rebels 28 hours later.
• Statehood - Jul 7, President Eisenhower signed a bill approving statehood for Alaskan.
Notable Deaths -
William L C "Big Bill" Broonzy, 1903-1958, US blues singer/guitarist, died from throat cancer at 65.
