Associated Press Athlete of the Year
Encyclopedia
The first Athlete of the Year
Athlete of the Year
Athlete of the Year is an award given by various sports organizations for the athlete whom they have determined to be deserving of such recognition....

award in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 was initiated by the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 (AP) in 1931. At a time when women in sports
Women's sports
Women's sports include amateur and professional competitions in virtually all sports. Female participation in sports rose dramatically in the twentieth century, especially in the last quarter, reflecting changes in modern societies that emphasized gender parity...

 were never given the same recognition as men, the AP offered a male and a female athlete of the year
Athlete of the Year
Athlete of the Year is an award given by various sports organizations for the athlete whom they have determined to be deserving of such recognition....

 award to either a professional or amateur athlete. The awards are voted on annually by a panel of AP sports editors from across the United States.

A large majority of the winners, as one would expect from an award given by an American organization, have been Americans (this bias is also reflected in the list of recipients of the Sportsman of the Year
Sportsman of the Year
Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated magazine has annually presented the "Sportsman of the Year" award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Americans are eligible, though in the past the...

 award given by the American magazine Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

). However, non-Americans are also eligible for the honor, and have won on a few occasions, but the list of recipients reflects the award's American perspective.

List of award winners

Year Male Female
1931   Pepper Martin
Pepper Martin
Johnny Leonard Roosevelt "Pepper" Martin was an American professional baseball player and minor league manager. He was known as the Wild Horse of the Osage because of his daring, aggressive baserunning abilities. Martin played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman and an outfielder for the St...

 
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 
  Helene Madison
Helene Madison
Helene Madison was an American swimmer. She won three gold medals in freestyle at the 1932 Summer Olympic Games, becoming, along with Romeo Neri of Italy, the most successful athlete there. She was born in Madison, Wisconsin.In sixteen months in 1930 and 1931, she broke sixteen world records in...

 
Swimming
1932   Gene Sarazen
Gene Sarazen
Gene Sarazen was an American professional golfer, one of the world's top players in the 1920s and 1930s. He is one of five golfers to win all the current major championships in his career, the Career Grand Slam:U.S...

 
PGA golf   Babe Didrikson
Babe Zaharias
Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias was an American athlete who achieved outstanding success in golf, basketball, and track and field...

 
Track and field
1933   Carl Hubbell
Carl Hubbell
Carl Owen Hubbell was an American baseball player. He was a member of the New York Giants in the National League from 1928 to 1943, and remained on the Giants' payroll for the rest of his life, long after their move to San Francisco.Twice voted the National League's Most Valuable Player, Hubbell...

 
Major League Baseball   Helen Jacobs
Helen Jacobs
Helen Hull Jacobs was a World No. 1 American female tennis player who won ten Grand Slam titles. She was born in Globe, Arizona, United States.- Tennis career :...

 
Tennis
1934   Dizzy Dean
Dizzy Dean
Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He was the last National League pitcher to win 30 games in one season. Dean was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953....

 
Major League Baseball   Virginia Van Wie
Virginia Van Wie
Virginia Van Wie was an American amateur golfer, best known for winning three U.S. Women's Amateurs, 1932-34. The Illinois-born golfer was the daughter of wealthy parents, and learned the game at the Beverly Country Club, and during the summers, she would go with her parents to summer homes in...

 
Golf
1935   Joe Louis
Joe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow , better known as Joe Louis, was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. He is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time...

 
Boxing   Helen Wills Moody
Helen Wills Moody
Helen Newington Wills Roark , also known as Helen Wills Moody, was an American tennis player. She has been described as "the first American born woman to achieve international celebrity as an athlete."-Biography:...

 
Tennis
1936   Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens
James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was an American track and field athlete who specialized in the sprints and the long jump. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the...

 
Track and field   Helen Stephens
Helen Stephens
Helen Herring Stephens was an American athlete, a double Olympic champion in 1936.Stephens, nicknamed the 'Fulton Flash' after her birthplace Fulton, Missouri, was a strong athlete in sprint events - she never lost a race in her entire career - but also in weight events like the shot put and...

 
Track and field
1937   Don Budge
Don Budge
John Donald Budge was an American tennis champion who was a World No. 1 player for five years, first as an amateur and then as a professional...

 
Tennis   Katherine Rawls
Katherine Rawls
Katherine Louise Rawls was a multiple United States national champion in swimming and diving in the 1930s.-Swimming career:...

 
Swimming
1938   Don Budge Tennis   Patty Berg
Patty Berg
Patricia Jane Berg was an American professional golfer and a founding member and then leading player on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Her 15 major title wins remains the all-time record for most major wins by a female golfer...

 
Golf
1939   Nile Kinnick
Nile Kinnick
Nile Clarke Kinnick, Jr. was a student and a college football player at the University of Iowa. He won the 1939 Heisman Trophy and was a consensus All-American. He died during a training flight while serving as a U.S Navy aviator in World War II...

 
College football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 
  Alice Marble
Alice Marble
Alice Marble was a World No. 1 American tennis player who won 18 Grand Slam championships : 5 in Singles, 6 in Women's Doubles, and 7 in Mixed Doubles.-Early life:Born in the small town of Beckwourth, Plumas County, California, Marble moved with her family at the age of...

 
Tennis
1940   Tom Harmon
Tom Harmon
Thomas Dudley Harmon was a star player in American college football, a sports broadcaster, and patriarch of a family of American actors...

 
College football   Alice Marble Tennis
1941   Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...

 
Major League Baseball   Betty Hicks Newell
Betty Hicks Newell
Elizabeth M. "Betty" Hicks was an American professional golfer, golf coach and teacher, aviator, and author. She also competed under her married name, Betty Hicks Newell....

 
Golf
1942   Frank Sinkwich
Frank Sinkwich
Frank Francis Sinkwich Sr. won the 1942 Heisman Trophy as a player for the University of Georgia, making him the first recipient from the Southeastern Conference. In the course of a brief but celebrated career in professional football, Sinkwich was selected for the National Football League Most...

 
College football  Gloria Callen
Gloria Callen
Gloria Callen, a backstroke swimmer from the United States, was the 1942 Associated Press Athlete of the Year.-Biography:"Glamorous" Gloria Marie Callen was born in 1922. She married Herbert Erskine Jones Jr. in 1944....

 
Swimming
1943   Gunder Hägg
Gunder Hägg
Gunder Hägg was a Swedish runner and multiple world record breaker of the 1940s. Gunder Hägg set over a dozen middle distance world records at events ranging from 1500 metres to 5000 meters, including three at both the 1500 meters and the mile, one at 3000 meters and one at 5000 meters.Hägg and...

 
Track and field   Patty Berg
Patty Berg
Patricia Jane Berg was an American professional golfer and a founding member and then leading player on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Her 15 major title wins remains the all-time record for most major wins by a female golfer...

 
Golf
1944   Byron Nelson
Byron Nelson
John Byron Nelson, Jr. was an American PGA Tour golfer between 1935 and 1946.Nelson and two other well known golfers of the time, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, were born within seven months of each other in 1912...

 
PGA golf   Ann Curtis
Ann Curtis
Ann Curtis is a former competitive swimmer and Olympic Gold Medal winner for the United States. She was coached by Charlie Sava and was a member of the San Francisco Crystal Plunge team. Curtis participated in London’s 1948 Olympic Games winning the gold medal in the 400 m freestyle...

 
Swimming
1945   Byron Nelson PGA golf   Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Babe Zaharias
Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias was an American athlete who achieved outstanding success in golf, basketball, and track and field...

 
Golf
1946   Glenn Davis  College football   Babe Didrikson Zaharias Golf
1947   Johnny Lujack
Johnny Lujack
John Christopher Lujack Jr. is a former American football quarterback and 1947 Heisman Trophy winner.Lujack was born on January 4, 1925, in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He played college football for the University of Notre Dame, and professionally for the Chicago Bears. Lujack was the first of...

 
College football   Babe Didrikson Zaharias Golf
1948   Lou Boudreau
Lou Boudreau
Louis "Lou" Boudreau was an American Major League Baseball player and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970...

 
Major League Baseball   Fanny Blankers-Koen
Fanny Blankers-Koen
Francina "Fanny" Elsje Blankers-Koen was a Dutch athlete, best known for winning four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. She accomplished this as a 30 year old mother of two, during a time when many disregarded women's athletics...

 
Track and field
1949   Leon Hart
Leon Hart
Leon Joseph Hart was an American football tight end and defensive end. He was raised in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh....

 
College football   Marlene Bauer  Golf
1950   Jim Konstanty
Jim Konstanty
Casimir James "Jim" Konstanty was an American relief pitcher in Major League Baseball and National League Most Valuable Player of 1950. He played for the Cincinnati Reds , Boston Braves , Philadelphia Phillies , New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals...

 
Major League Baseball   Babe Didrikson Zaharias LPGA
LPGA
The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters is in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...

 golf
1951   Dick Kazmaier
Dick Kazmaier
Richard Kazmaier was an American football player for Princeton University from 1949 through 1951 and winner of the 1951 Heisman Trophy. As a halfback, kicker and quarterback, he ended his career third all time in Princeton history with over 4000 yards of offense and 55 touchdowns...

 
College football   Maureen Connolly
Maureen Connolly
Maureen Catherine Connolly Brinker was an American tennis player who was the first woman to win all four Grand Slam tournaments during the same calendar year.-Biography:...

 
Tennis
1952   Bob Mathias
Bob Mathias
Robert Bruce "Bob" Mathias was an American decathlete, two-time Olympic gold medalist, actor and United States Congressman representing the state of California.-Early life and athletic career:...

 
Track and field   Maureen Connolly Tennis
1953   Ben Hogan
Ben Hogan
William Ben Hogan was an American golfer, generally considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game...

 
PGA golf   Maureen Connolly Tennis
1954   Willie Mays
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...

 
Major League Baseball   Babe Didrikson Zaharias LPGA golf
1955   Howard "Hopalong" Cassady  College football   Patty Berg
Patty Berg
Patricia Jane Berg was an American professional golfer and a founding member and then leading player on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Her 15 major title wins remains the all-time record for most major wins by a female golfer...

 
LPGA golf
1956   Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle
Mickey Charles Mantle was an American professional baseball player. Mantle is regarded by many to be the greatest switch hitter of all time, and one of the greatest players in baseball history. Mantle was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.Mantle was noted for his hitting...

 
Major League Baseball   Pat McCormick
Pat McCormick (diver)
Patricia Joan McCormick is a retired female diver from the United States, who won a total number of four gold medals by winning both diving events at two consecutive Summer Olympics ....

 
Diving
1957   Ted Williams
Ted Williams
Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...

 
Major League Baseball   Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson was a World No. 1 American sportswoman who became the first African-American woman to be a competitor on the world tennis tour and the first to win a Grand Slam title in 1956. She is sometimes referred to as "the Jackie Robinson of tennis" for breaking the color barrier...

 
Tennis
1958   Herb Elliott
Herb Elliott
Herbert James "Herb" Elliott AC MBE is a former Australian athlete, one of the world's greatest middle distance runners...

 
Track and field   Althea Gibson Tennis
1959   Ingemar Johansson
Ingemar Johansson
Jens Ingemar Johansson was a Swedish boxer and former heavyweight champion of the world. Johansson was the fifth heavyweight champion born outside the United States. In 1959 he defeated Floyd Patterson by TKO in the third round, after flooring Patterson seven times in that round, to win the World...

 
Boxing   Maria Bueno
Maria Bueno
Maria Esther Andion Bueno is a former professional tennis player from Brazil. During her 11-year career , she won 19 Major titles ....

 
Tennis
1960   Rafer Johnson
Rafer Johnson
Rafer Lewis Johnson is an American former decathlete and film actor.-Biography:Johnson was born in Hillsboro, Texas, but the family moved to Kingsburg, California, when he was nine. For a while, they were the only black family in the town. A versatile athlete, he played on Kingsburg High School's...

 
Track and field   Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Glodean Rudolph was an American athlete. Rudolph was considered the fastest woman in the world in the 1960s and competed in two Olympic Games, in 1956 and in 1960....

 
Track and field
1961   Roger Maris
Roger Maris
Roger Eugene Maris was an American Major League Baseball right fielder. During the 1961 season, he hit a record 61 home runs for the New York Yankees, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 home runs...

 
Major League Baseball   Wilma Rudolph Track and field
1962   Maury Wills
Maury Wills
Maurice Morning "Maury" Wills is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and switch-hitting batter who played most prominently with the Los Angeles Dodgers , and also with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Montreal Expos...

 
Major League Baseball   Dawn Fraser
Dawn Fraser
Dawn Fraser AO, MBE is an Australian champion swimmer. She is one of only two swimmers to win the same Olympic event three times – in her case the 100 meters freestyle....

 
Swimming
1963   Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax
Sanford "Sandy" Koufax is a former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers...

 
Major League Baseball   Mickey Wright
Mickey Wright
Mary Kathryn "Mickey" Wright is an American professional golfer. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.-Early life:...

 
LPGA golf
1964   Don Schollander
Don Schollander
Donald Arthur Schollander is a former Olympic swimmer for the United States. He won total of five gold medals and one silver medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics...

 
Swimming   Mickey Wright LPGA golf
1965   Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax
Sanford "Sandy" Koufax is a former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers...

 
Major League Baseball   Kathy Whitworth
Kathy Whitworth
Kathy Whitworth is an American professional golfer. Throughout her playing career she won 88 LPGA Tour tournaments, more than anyone else has won on either the LPGA Tour or the PGA Tour. In 1981 she became the first woman to reach career earnings of $1 million on the LPGA Tour...

 
LPGA golf
1966   Frank Robinson
Frank Robinson
Frank Robinson , is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He played from 1956–1976, most notably for the Cincinnati Reds and the Baltimore Orioles. He is the only player to win league MVP honors in both the National and American Leagues...

 
Major League Baseball   Kathy Whitworth LPGA golf
1967   Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Yastrzemski
Carl Michael Yastrzemski is a former American Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year baseball career with the Boston Red Sox . He was primarily a left fielder, with part of his later career...

 
Major League Baseball   Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...

 
Tennis
1968   Denny McLain
Denny McLain
Dennis Dale "Denny" McLain is a former American professional baseball player, and the last major league pitcher to win 30 or more games during a season —a feat accomplished by only thirteen players in the 20th century....

 
Major League Baseball   Peggy Fleming
Peggy Fleming
Peggy Gail Fleming is an American figure skater. She is the 1968 Olympic Champion in Ladies' singles and a three-time World Champion...

 
Figure skating
1969   Tom Seaver
Tom Seaver
George Thomas "Tom" Seaver , nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "The Franchise", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched from 1967-1986 for four different teams in his career, but is noted primarily for his time with the New York Mets...

 
Major League Baseball   Debbie Meyer
Debbie Meyer
Deborah Elizabeth Meyer is a former American swimmer who won the 200, 400, and 800 m swimming events at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City...

 
Swimming
1970   George Blanda
George Blanda
George Frederick Blanda was a collegiate and professional football quarterback and placekicker...

 
National Football League   Chi Cheng  Track and field
1971   Lee Trevino
Lee Trevino
Lee Buck Trevino is an American professional golfer. He is an icon for Mexican Americans, and is often referred to as "The Merry Mex" and "Supermex". He won six major championships over the course of his career.-Early life:...

 
PGA golf   Evonne Goolagong
Evonne Goolagong
Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley, AO, MBE is a former World No. 1 Australian female tennis player. She was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s, when she won 14 Grand Slam titles: seven in singles , six in women's doubles, and one in mixed doubles.-Early life:Goolagong is the...

 
Tennis
1972   Mark Spitz
Mark Spitz
Mark Andrew Spitz is a retired American swimmer. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement only surpassed by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Olympics....

 
Swimming   Olga Korbut
Olga Korbut
Olga Valentinovna Korbut , also known as the Sparrow from Minsk, is a Belarusian, Soviet-born gymnast who won four gold medals and two silver medals at the Summer Olympics, in which she competed in 1972 and 1976 for the USSR team....

 
Gymnastics
1973   O.J. Simpson  National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 
  Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...

 
Tennis
1974   Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...

 
Boxing   Chris Evert
Chris Evert
Christine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...

 
Tennis
1975   Fred Lynn
Fred Lynn
Fredric Michael "Fred" Lynn is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox , California Angels , Baltimore Orioles , Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres .Fred Lynn was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in and to the College Baseball Hall of Fame...

 
Major League Baseball   Chris Evert Tennis
1976   Bruce Jenner
Bruce Jenner
William Bruce Jenner is a former U.S. track and field athlete, motivational speaker, socialite and television personality. He won the gold medal for decathlon in the Montreal 1976 Summer Olympics....

 
Track and field   Nadia Comăneci
Nadia Comaneci
Nadia Elena Comăneci is a Romanian gymnast, winner of three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the first female gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She is also the winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer...

 
Gymnastics
1977   Steve Cauthen
Steve Cauthen
Steve Cauthen is a retired American jockey.Cauthen, the son of a trainer and a farrier, grew up in Walton, Kentucky around horses, which made race-riding a logical career choice. He rode his first race on May 12, 1976 at Churchill Downs; he finished last, riding King of Swat...

 
Horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 
  Chris Evert Tennis
1978   Ron Guidry
Ron Guidry
Ronald Ames Guidry , nicknamed "Louisiana Lightning" and "Gator", is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He played his entire 14-year baseball career for the New York Yankees...

 
Major League Baseball   Nancy Lopez
Nancy Lopez
Nancy Marie Lopez is an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1977 and won 48 LPGA Tour events during her LPGA career, including three major championships.-Amateur career:...

 
LPGA golf
1979   Willie Stargell
Willie Stargell
Wilver Dornell "Willie" Stargell , nicknamed "Pops" in the later years of his career, was a Major League Baseball left fielder and first baseman. He played his entire 21-year baseball career with the Pittsburgh Pirates...

 
Major League Baseball   Tracy Austin
Tracy Austin
Tracy Ann Austin Holt is a former World No. 1 female professional tennis player from the United States who won the women's singles title at the US Open in 1979 and 1981 and the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 1980, before a series of injuries cut her career short.-To 1980:Austin defeated...

 
Tennis
1980   U.S. Olympic hockey team
Miracle on Ice
The "Miracle on Ice" is the name in American popular culture for a medal-round men's ice hockey game during the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, on Friday, February 22...

 
Ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 
  Chris Evert Tennis
1981   John McEnroe
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...

 
Tennis   Tracy Austin Tennis
1982   Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...

 
NHL ice hockey   Mary Decker
Mary Decker
Mary Slaney is an American former track athlete. During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships, and set 17 official and unofficial world records and 36 US national records.-Biography:Mary Decker was born in Bunnvale, Hunterdon County, New...

 
Track and field
1983   Carl Lewis
Carl Lewis
Frederick Carlton "Carl" Lewis is an American former track and field athlete, who won 10 Olympic medals including 9 gold, and 10 World Championships medals, of which 8 were gold. His career spanned from 1979 when he first achieved a world ranking to 1996 when he last won an Olympic title and...

 
Track and field   Martina Navratilova  Tennis
1984   Carl Lewis Track and field   Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton is an American gymnast and Olympic gold medalist. She was the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title, after 14 Eastern Bloc countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.-Personal life:Retton was born in Fairmont, West...

 
Gymnastics
1985   Dwight Gooden
Dwight Gooden
Dwight Eugene Gooden , nicknamed "Doc Gooden" or "Dr. K", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He was one of the most dominant and feared pitchers in the National League in the middle and late 1980s.-Career:...

 
Major League Baseball   Nancy Lopez LPGA golf
1986   Larry Bird
Larry Bird
Larry Joe Bird is a former American NBA basketball player and coach. Drafted into the NBA sixth overall by the Boston Celtics in 1978, Bird started at small forward and power forward for thirteen seasons, spearheading one of the NBA's most formidable frontcourts that included center Robert Parish...

 
NBA    Martina Navratilova Tennis
1987   Ben Johnson  Track and field   Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kersee is a retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those four different events...

 
Track and field
1988   Orel Hershiser
Orel Hershiser
Orel Leonard Hershiser IV is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He is currently an analyst for Baseball Tonight and Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN and a professional poker player for...

 
Major League Baseball   Florence Griffith Joyner  Track and field
1989   Joe Montana
Joe Montana
Joseph Clifford "Joe" Montana, Jr. , nicknamed Joe Cool, Golden Joe, The Golden Great and Comeback Joe, is a retired American football player. Montana started his NFL career in 1979 with the San Francisco 49ers, where he played quarterback for the next 14 seasons...

 
National Football League   Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...

 
Tennis
1990   Joe Montana National Football League   Beth Daniel
Beth Daniel
Beth Daniel is an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1979 and won 33 LPGA Tour events, including one major championship, during her career. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame....

 
LPGA golf
1991   Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...

 
NBA basketball   Monica Seles
Monica Seles
Monica Seles is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was born in Novi Sad, Serbia, former Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007...

 
Tennis
1992   Michael Jordan NBA basketball Monica Seles Tennis
1993   Michael Jordan NBA basketball   Sheryl Swoopes
Sheryl Swoopes
Sheryl Denise Swoopes is an American professional basketball player who, subsequent to being waived into free agency, signed to re-join the WNBA to play with the Tulsa Shock in 2011. She was the first player to be signed in the WNBA when it was created. She has won three Olympic Gold Medals and...

 
College basketball
1994   George Foreman
George Foreman
George Edward Foreman is an American two-time former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Olympic gold medalist, ordained Baptist minister, author and successful entrepreneur...

 
Boxing   Bonnie Blair
Bonnie Blair
Bonnie Kathleen Blair is a retired American speedskater. She is one of the top skaters of her time, and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. Blair competed for the United States in four Olympics, and in her Olympic career won five gold medals and one bronze medal.-Career:Blair...

 
Speed skating
1995   Cal Ripken, Jr.
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Calvin Edwin "Cal" Ripken, Jr. , nicknamed "Iron Man", is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and third baseman. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Baltimore Orioles ....

 
Major League Baseball   Rebecca Lobo
Rebecca Lobo
Rebecca Rose Lobo-Rushin is an American television basketball analyst and a former player in the professional Women's National Basketball Association from 1997 to 2003...

 
College basketball
1996   Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson (athlete)
Michael Duane Johnson is a retired American sprinter. He won four Olympic gold medals and eight world championship gold medals. Johnson currently holds the world and Olympic records in the 400 m and 4 x 400 meters relay. He formerly held the world and Olympic record in the 200 m, and the world...

 
Track and field   Amy Van Dyken
Amy Van Dyken
Amy Van Dyken is an American swimmer who has six career Olympic gold medals. Four of these gold medals came in the 1996 Summer Olympics, making her the first American woman to accomplish such a feat and the most successful athlete at the 1996 Summer Olympics...

 
Swimming
1997   Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...

 
PGA golf   Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...

 
Tennis
1998   Mark McGwire
Mark McGwire
Mark David McGwire , nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseball player who played his major league career with the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. He is currently the hitting coach for the St...

 
Major League Baseball   Se Ri Pak
Se Ri Pak
Pak Se Ri is a South Korean professional golfer, playing on the LPGA Tour. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in November 2007.-Career overview:...

 
LPGA golf
1999   Tiger Woods PGA golf   U.S. women's soccer team
United States women's national soccer team
The United States women's national soccer team represents the United States in international soccer competition and is controlled by U.S. Soccer. The U.S. team won the first ever Women's World Cup in 1991, and has since been a superpower in women's soccer. It is currently ranked first in the world...

 
soccer
2000   Tiger Woods PGA golf   Marion Jones
Marion Jones
Marion Lois Jones , also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is a former world champion track and field athlete, and a former professional basketball player for Tulsa Shock in the WNBA...

 
Track and field
2001   Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds...

 
Major League Baseball   Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Marie Capriati is a former world number one ranked professional tennis player, and the winner of three women's singles championships in Grand Slam tournaments. Capriati made her professional debut in 1990 at the age of 14 when she reached the finals of the hard court tournament in Boca...

 
Tennis
2002   Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...

 
Cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...

 
  Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...

 
Tennis
2003   Lance Armstrong Cycling   Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam
Annika Sörenstam is a Swedish-American professional golfer whose achievements rank her as one of the most successful golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer...

 
LPGA golf
2004   Lance Armstrong Cycling   Annika Sörenstam LPGA golf
2005   Lance Armstrong Cycling   Annika Sörenstam LPGA golf
2006   Tiger Woods PGA golf   Lorena Ochoa
Lorena Ochoa
Lorena Ochoa Reyes is a Mexican professional golfer who played on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour from 2003 to 2010, and was the top-ranked female golfer in the world for over three years, from April 2007 to her retirement in May 2010...

 
LPGA golf
2007   Tom Brady
Tom Brady
Thomas Edward Patrick "Tom" Brady, Jr. is an American football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League . After playing college football at Michigan, Brady was drafted by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft.He has played in four Super Bowls,...

 
National Football League   Lorena Ochoa LPGA golf
2008   Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...

 
Swimming   Candace Parker
Candace Parker
Candace Nicole Parker is an All-American basketball player for the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks and is also the younger sister of NBA player Anthony Parker. She was drafted to the team from Tennessee in 2008...

 
WNBA
2009   Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Kenneth Johnson is an American NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race car driver. He currently drives the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports....

 
NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...

 
  Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...

 
Tennis
2010   Drew Brees
Drew Brees
Drew Christopher Brees is a quarterback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft. He played college football at Purdue....

 
National Football League   Lindsey Vonn  Skiing

See also

  • Athlete of the Year
    Athlete of the Year
    Athlete of the Year is an award given by various sports organizations for the athlete whom they have determined to be deserving of such recognition....

  • Best Female Athlete ESPY Award
    Best Female Athlete ESPY Award
    The Best Female Athlete ESPY Award, known alternatively as the Outstanding Female Athlete ESPY Award, has been presented annually since 1993 to the female, irrespective of nationality or sport contested, adjudged to be the best athlete in a given calendar year.Between 1993 and 2004, the award...

  • Best Male Athlete ESPY Award
    Best Male Athlete ESPY Award
    The Best Male Athlete ESPY Award, known alternatively as the Outstanding Male Athlete ESPY Award, has been presented annually since 1993 to the male voted irrespective of nationality or sport contested, adjudged to be the best athlete in a given calendar year.Between 1993 and 2004, the award...

  • Sporting News Sportsman/Pro Athlete of the Year
  • Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year
    Sportsman of the Year
    Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated magazine has annually presented the "Sportsman of the Year" award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Americans are eligible, though in the past the...

  • United Press International Athlete of the Year Award
    United Press International Athlete of the Year Award
    The United Press International Athlete of the Year Award was conferred annually between 1974 and 1995 one each to the individuals adjudged, without restriction to nationality or sport contested, to be the male and female athlete of the year by a panel of sportswriters and editors constituted under...

     (UPI) (defunct)
  • Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year
    Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year
    -List of winners and nominees:-Trivia:-See also:*Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year*L'Équipe Champion of Champions Award*Athlete of the Year-References:...

     (Laureus World Sports Academy)
  • Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year
    Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year
    List of winners and nominees of the Laureus World Sports Awards: Sportswoman of the Year-List of winners and nominees:-Statistics:Nominations*By sport:...

  • BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year
  • L'Équipe Champion of Champions
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