1976 in Michigan

Decades:	1950s; 1960s; 1970s; 1980s; 1990s;
See also:	History of Michigan; Historical outline of Michigan; List of years in Michigan; 1976 in the United States;

Events from the year 1976 in Michigan.

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The Associated Press (AP) selected the top Michigan news stories of 1976 as follows:^[1]

United Auto Workers strikes against Ford Motor Company lasting 28 days (from September 14 to October 12) and General Motors lasting 12 hours (from midnight until noon on November 19);^[2]^[3]^[4]
A forest fire lasting for two months from July until September that blackened 65,000 acres in the Seney National Wildlife Refuge in the Upper Peninsula with state and federal firefighting costs reaching $7.5 million;^[5]^[6]
Continued fallout from the Michigan polybrominated biphenyl contamination incident in which the flame retardant chemical was mixed with livestock feed, distributed to Michigan farms, and fed to 1.5 million chickens, 30,000 cattle, 5,900 pigs, and 1,470 sheep;^[7]^[8]
Voter approval on November 2 of a ballot proposal banning throwaway beverage containers;^[9]
Gerald Ford's November 2 loss to Jimmy Carter in the 1976 U.S. Presidential election, though Ford took Michigan's 21 electoral votes with 51.8% of the state's votes to 46.4% for Carter;
A March 3 ice storm that left 200,000 homes in southern Michigan without power and caused millions of dollars in damage;^[10]
Congressman Donald Riegle's election to replace retiring U.S. Senator Philip Hart after defeating Secretary of State Richard H. Austin and Congressman James G. O'Hara in the Democratic primary on August 3 and Marvin Esch in the general election on November 2;^[11]^[12]
A violent melee on August 15 that erupted following a concert at Cobo Hall featuring Average White Band and Kool & the Gang with multiple robberies and beatings and two gang rapes;^[13]^[14]
The prosecution of two Filipina nurses, Filipina Narciso and Leonora Perez, in the Ann Arbor Hospital Murders in which 10 patients at the Veterans Hospital in Ann Arbor died mysteriously from respiratory failure;^[15]^[16] and
The state's fiscal year is extended by three months to avoid a deficit.

The AP also selected the state's top sports stories as follows:^[17]

The success of rookie pitcher Mark Fidrych who won 19 games for the Detroit Tigers,^[18] was the starting pitcher for the American League in the All-Star Game,^[19] led the American League with a 2.34 earned run average,^[20] and was named American League Rookie of the Year;^[21]
The NCAA's imposition of three years of probation against the Michigan State Spartans football team for illegal recruiting and the firing of head coach Denny Stolz and athletic director Burt Smith;^[22]^[23]
The 1976 Michigan Wolverines football team that compiled a compiled a 10–1 record in the regular season and was ranked No. 1 before being upset by Purdue;^[24]
The 1975–76 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team that compiled a 25–7 record and advanced to the Final Four, losing to Indiana in the championship game;^[25]
Ron LeFlore compiling a 30-game hitting streak, the longest in the American League in 27 years, and stealing 56 bases for the Detroit Tigers;^[26]^[27]
Detroit speedskater Sheila Young winning gold, silver and bronze medals at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria;^[28]
Rick Forzano's resignation as head coach of the Detroit Lions on October 4,^[29] the hiring of Tommy Hudspeth as head coach on October 5,^[30] and the team compiling a 6–8 record;^[31]
The 1975-76 Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball team compiling a 25–3 record and advancing to the Sweet 16 round of the 1976 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament before narrowly losing to No. 2 ranked Marquette;^[32]^[33]
The Detroit Pistons selection of Marvin Barnes on August 5 with the fourth overall pick in the ABA dispersal draft;^[34] and
Bo Schembechler undergoing open heart surgery to perform four bypasses on May 20 and deciding to continue coaching.^[35]^[36]^[37]

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1970 Rank	City	County	1960 Pop.	1970 Pop.	1980 Pop.	Change 1970-80
1	Detroit	Wayne	1,670,144	1,514,063	1,203,368	−20.5%
2	Grand Rapids	Kent	177,313	197,649	181,843	−8.0%
3	Flint	Genesee	196,940	193,317	159,611	−17.4%
4	Warren	Macomb	89,246	179,260	161,134	−10.1%
5	Lansing	Ingham	107,807	131,403	130,414	−0.8%
6	Livonia	Wayne	66,702	110,109	104,814	−4.8%
7	Dearborn	Wayne	112,007	104,199	90,660	−13.0%
8	Ann Arbor	Washtenaw	67,340	100,035	107,969	7.9%
9	Saginaw	Saginaw	98,265	91,849	77,508	−15.6%
10	St. Clair Shores	Macomb	76,657	88,093	76,210	−13.5%
11	Westland	Wayne	60,743	86,749	84,603	−2.5%
12	Royal Oak	Oakland	80,612	86,238	70,893	−17.8%
13	Kalamazoo	Kalamazoo	82,089	85,555	79,722	−6.8%
14	Pontiac	Oakland	82,233	85,279	76,715	−10.0%
15	Dearborn Heights	Wayne	61,118	80,069	67,706	−15.4%
16	Taylor	Wayne	na	70,020	77,568	10.8%

1970 Rank	County	Largest city	1960 Pop.	1970 Pop.	1980 Pop.	Change 1970-80
1	Wayne	Detroit	2,666,297	2,666,751	2,337,891	−12.3%
2	Oakland	Pontiac	690,259	907,871	1,011,793	11.4%
3	Macomb	Warren	405,804	625,309	694,600	11.1%
4	Genesee	Flint	374,313	444,341	450,449	1.4%
5	Kent	Grand Rapids	363,187	411,044	444,506	8.1%
6	Ingham	Lansing	211,296	261,039	275,520	5.5%
7	Washtenaw	Ann Arbor	172,440	234,103	264,748	13.1%
8	Saginaw	Saginaw	190,752	219,743	228,059	3.8%
9	Kalamazoo	Kalamazoo	169,712	201,550	212,378	5.4%
10	Berrien	Benton Harbor	149,865	163,875	171,276	4.5%
11	Muskegon	Muskegon	129,943	157,426	157,589	0.1%
12	Jackson	Jackson	131,994	143,274	151,495	5.7%
13	Calhoun	Battle Creek	138,858	141,963	141,557	−0.3%
14	Ottawa	Holland	98,719	128,181	157,174	22.6%
15	St. Clair	Port Huron	107,201	120,175	138,802	15.5%
16	Monroe	Monroe	101,120	118,479	134,659	13.7%
17	Bay	Bay City	107,042	117,339	119,881	2.2%

1976 in Michigan

Office holders

State office holders

Mayors of major cities

Federal office holders

Population

Cities

Counties

Sports

Baseball

American football

Basketball

Ice hockey

Other

Music

Chronology of events

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Births

Gallery of 1976 births

Deaths

Gallery of 1976 deaths

References

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