For more than half a century, The Sporting News has been honoring an individual or individuals as the standout sports personality or personalities of the year.
What began as “Man of the Year” evolved into “Sportsman of the Year” and, finally, more recently Athlete of the Year.
College basketball stars Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Angel Reese of LSU are Sporting News’ 2023 Athletes of the Year.
MORE: Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are The Sporting News Athletes of the Year
The award is relatively young in TSN's awards portfolio, given that The Sporting News has been handing out awards in baseball since the 1930s and in football since the 1940s.
History of The Sporting News' Athlete of the Year awards
The Sporting News began selecting annually an individual or individuals as the standout sports personality beginning in 1968 when TSN chose the Tigers’ Denny McLain, who went 31-6 that year to become the first MLB pitcher to reach the 30-victory mark since 1934.
Across the early decades of the annual award, there were commissioners, coaches, a golfer, an Olympic athlete, a thoroughbred jockey, as well as an expected array of baseball, basketball and football players.
Beginning in the mid-2000s, TSN began focusing more closely on the people who actually competed in the games, rather than coaches, commissioners, executives and other non-athletes.
And, in fact, for three years, beginning in 2008, The Sporting News expanded the award to honor a professional athlete, a college athlete and a high school athlete.
Against the backdrop of a changing media landscape, The Sporting News didn’t hand out the annual honor from 2013 to 2020. But TSN’s Athlete of the Year returned in 2021 to recognize the singular talent that is Shohei Ohtani.
Who votes on The Sporting News' Athlete of the Year awards?
Unlike most of our sport-by-sport awards that are voted on by players, coaches and executives from respective leagues, The Sporting News’ Athlete of the Year is decided by the staff.
A multi-step process of voting takes place over several weeks, as the merits of several candidates are considered.
For most of the award’s history, it was limited to North American candidates, but now that The Sporting News has more than a dozen editions in multiple languages, TSN takes a more global approach (PSG’s and Argentina’s Lionel Messi won in 2022).
Sporting News Athlete of the Year
1968 — Denny McLain, Detroit Tigers
1969 — Tom Seaver, New York Mets
1970 — John Wooden, UCLA Bruins
1971 — Lee Trevino, golf
1972 — Charlie Finley, Oakland Athletics
1973 — O.J. Simpson, Buffalo Bills
1974 — Lou Brock, St. Louis Cardinals
1975 — Archie Griffin, Ohio State Buckeyes
1976 — Larry O’Brien, NBA
1977 — Steve Cauthen, horse racing
1978 — Ron Guidry, New York Yankees
1979 — Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh Pirates
1980 — George Brett, Kansas City Royals
1981 — Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers
1982 — Whitey Herzog, St. Louis Cardinals
1983 — Bowie Kuhn, MLB
1984 — Peter Ueberroth, Los Angeles Olympics
1985 — Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds
1986 — Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
1987 — No honoree
1988 — Jackie Joyner-Kersee, track and field
1989 — Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers
1990 — Nolan Ryan, Texas Rangers
1991 — Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
1992 — Mike Krzyzewski, Duke Blue Devils
1993 — Cito Gaston and Pat Gillick, Toronto Blue Jays
1994 — Emmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys
1995 — Cal Ripken Jr., Baltimore Orioles
1996 — Joe Torre, New York Yankees
1997 — Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals
1998 — Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals, and Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs
1999 — New York Yankees
2000 — Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner, St. Louis Rams
2001 — Curt Schilling, Arizona Diamondbacks
2002 — Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame Fighting Irish
2003 — Dick Vermeil, St. Louis Rams, and Jack McKeon, Kansas City Royals
2004 — Tom Brady, New England Patriots
2005 — Matt Leinart, USC Trojans
2006 — LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers
2007 — Tom Brady, New England Patriots
2008 — Pro Athlete: Eli Manning, New York Giants; College Athlete: Stephen Curry, Davidson Wildcats; High School Athlete: Manti Te’o, Honolulu Punahou (Hawaii) HS football
2009 — Pro Athlete: Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees; College Athlete: Colt McCoy, Texas Longhorns; High School Athlete: Harrison Barnes, Ames (Iowa) HS basketball
2010 — Pro Athlete: Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies; Kyle Singer, Duke Blue Devils; High School Athlete: Mike Bellamy, Punta Gorda Charlotte (Florida) HS football
2011 — Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
2012 — LeBron James, Miami Heat
2013-2020 — No honorees
2021 — Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels
2022 — Lionel Messi, Paris Saint-Germain
2023 — Caitlin Clark, Iowa Hawkeyes, and Angel Reese, LSU Tigers