1974 in Michigan

← 1973 1972 1971 1974 in Michigan → 1975 1976 1977
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	History of Michigan Historical outline of Michigan List of years in Michigan 1974 in the United States

Events from the year 1974 in Michigan.

The Associated Press (AP) selected the top news stories of 1974 in Michigan as follows:^[1]

1. Gerald Ford's elevation to President of the United States after the resignation of Richard Nixon;
2. The decline of the automobile industry tied to the 1973 oil crisis with layoffs of more than 200,000 automobile workers;
3. The re-election of William Milliken as Governor of Michigan despite a general tide in favor of Democrats;
4. The United States Supreme Court ruling in Milliken v. Bradley reversing a lower court order requiring cross-district busing of public school students among 53 school districts in metropolitan Detroit and instead directing the creation of a desegregation plan limited to the Detroit schools;
5. Voters' repeal of the state sales tax on food and drugs;
6. Gasoline shortage;
7. Contaminated feed forces the slaughter of thousands of farm animals;
8. Democrats take the Fifth and Eighth Congressional Districts and then hold them in post-Watergate elections resulting in Democrats taking control of the Michigan Legislature and the state's Congressional delegation;
9. The worst snowstorm of the century hit southern Michigan; and
10. Utilities suffered lower profit margins and were granted large rate increases.

The AP also selected the state's top sports stories of 1974 as follows:^[2]

1. Al Kaline's retiring after 21 years with 3,007 hits and 399 home runs;
2. The 1974 Michigan Wolverines football team compiling a 10–0 record before losing to Ohio State on November 23;
3. The death of Detroit Lions head coach Don McCafferty on July 28;
4. The 1974 Michigan State Spartans football team compiling a 7–3–1 record and upsetting No. 1 ranked Ohio State on November 9;
5. The 1974 Central Michigan Chippewas football team winning the NCAA Division II Football Championship;
6. The 1973–74 Detroit Pistons compiling a 52–30 record, the best in franchise history to that point;
7. The rise and fall of the Detroit Wheels of the World Football League;
8. The 1974 Detroit Lions compiling a 7–7 record under new head coach Rick Forzano;
9. Hudson High School won the Class C state football championship and kept its winning streak alive; and
10. John Hiller of the Detroit Tigers set an American League record with 17 wins as a relief pitcher and was named to the All-Star team.

The year's highlights in Michigan music included the releases of Stevie Wonder's Fulfillingness' First Finale which reached #1 and won the Grammy for Album of the Year, Grand Funk Railroad's Shinin' On album with the #1 hit The Loco-Motion, and Aretha Franklin's Let Me in Your Life album that reached #1 on Billboard's R&B albums chart.