• On January 1,Sportswriters vote the University of Pittsburgh as college football's top team for the 1976 season.
• On January 9, the Oakland Raiders win their first NFL championship before a record Super Bowl XI crowd of 81 million television viewers. It is the largest audience ever to watch a sporting event. They beat the Minnesota Vikings 32 - 14.
• Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore goes before a firing squad at his own request January 17 in Utah after a 10-year moratorium on capital punishment in America.
• James Earl Carter, Jr. is inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States on January 20. Walter Mondale is the Vice President.
• Roots premiers on January 23 with LeVar Burton, Ben Vereen, Cicely Tyson, and Maya Angelou.
• On February 3, U.S. figure skating champions are Linda Fratianne, Charles Tickner, and Randy Gardner and Tai Babilonia in the pairs. Judi Genovese and Kent Weigle win the ice dancing competition.
• A Chicago rush-hour elevated train, struck from behind February 4, plunges into a busy Loop intersection, killing 11 passengers and pedestrians, injuring 189.
• Annie opens on April 21 at the Alvin Theater, with Andrea McArdle as the cartoon character "Little Orphan Annie."
• Star Wars  premiers in theaters on May 25.
• On May 29, The U.S. race-car driver A. J. Foyt becomes the first person to win the Indianapolis 500 for four times.
• On June 11 Seattle Slew won the Belmont Stakes taking the third and final leg of the Triple Crown. 
• The Portland Trailblazers beat the Philadelphia 76ers to win the NBA Finals.
• On July 13 New York City experiences a blackout that lasts for 25 hours. There is widespread looting and violence.
• Oil from Alaska's Prudhoe Bay fields on the Arctic Ocean begin moving via pipeline on July 20 to the ice-free port of Valdez on Prince William Sound in Alaska. The pipeline is 789 miles long and cost $9.7 billion.
• Rock music pioneer Elvis Presley dies at his Memphis mansion, Graceland, August 16, he is only 42.
• President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian Chief of Government Omar Torrijos sign the Panama Canal Treaty and Neutrality Treaty on September 7. This agreement gives Panama control over the canal by the year 2000.
• On September 26 Laker Airways Skytrain service between London and New York begins in September with low fares. Skytrain passengers line up for seats and most Laker flights are full. Service on Laker Airways will continue for only a few years before other carriers force it out of business.
• On October 1, at Giants Stadium, New Jersey, New York Cosmos play Santos FC to mark the retirement of the Brazilian soccer player Pelé who, since making his debut in 1956, has scored 1,281 goals in 1,363 competitive matches.
• Bing Crosby collapses on a golf course in Madrid on October 14 and dies at age 73.
• Reggie Jackson of the New York Yankees hits home runs in three consecutive at-bats against the Los Angeles Dodgers, to help the Yankees clinch their first World Series since 1958. The New York Yankees win the World Series, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games to 2 on October 18.
• November 20, Walter Peyton of the Chicago Bears breaks the National Football League (NFL) against the Minnesota Vikings.
• On December 10, The British punk group the Sex Pistols releases the album Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols. The BBC ban their single "God Save the Queen," but it is top of the charts during the Queen's silver jubilee celebrations.
• Charlie Chaplin dies at his Swiss estate December 25 at age 88.
• Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and his band Wings have a hit with "Mull of Kintyre,"  co written by McCartney and band-member Denny Laine. Over 2.5 million copies are sold. In 1977, Dr. Damadian completes construction of the first whole-body MRI scanner, which he dubs the "Indomitable."
• The first official skateboarding world championships are held at Long Beach, California.
• The film Annie Hall, directed by Woody Allen, is released in the United States. Allen costars with Diane Keaton. The film will win Academy Awards for best picture, best director, best actress, and best original screenplay.
• The film Star Wars, directed by George Lucas, is released in the United States. It stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Alec Guinness.
• The film Looking for Mr. Goodbar, directed by Richard Brooks, is released in the United States. It stars Diane Keaton and Richard Gere.
• The film The Goodbye Girl, directed by Herbert Ross and scripted by Neil Simon, is released in the United States. It stars Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason.
• The Food and Drug Administration proposes a ban on saccharin for fear that it might cause cancer. At the time, saccharin is the only available substitute to sugar.
• Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta and Karen Lynn Gorley, music and lyrics by The Bee Gees, songs that include "Stayin’ Alive" and "How Deep Is Your Love." 
• West Virginia’s New River Gorge Bridge is completed at Fayetteville; 1,700 feet long, it is the world’s longest steel arch bridge.
• ATM's are introduced.

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