Sporting News Athlete of the Year

The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a print magazine. It became the dominant American publication covering baseball, acquiring the nickname "The Bible of Baseball."

From 2002 to February 2022, it was known simply as ''Sporting News''. In December 2012, ''Sporting News'' ended print publication and shifted to a digital-only publication. It currently has editions in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Japan.

History

Early history

*March 17, 1886: ''The Sporting News'' (''TSN''), founded in St. Louis by Alfred H. Spink, a director of the St. Louis Browns baseball team, publishes its first edition. The weekly newspaper sells for 5 cents. Baseball, horse racing and professional wrestling received the most coverage in the first issue. Meanwhile, the sporting weeklies ''Clipper'' and ''Sporting Life'' were based in New York and Philadelphia. By World War I, ''TSN'' would be the only national baseball newspaper.
*1901: The American League, another rival to baseball's National League, begins playing. ''TSN'' was a vocal supporter of the new league and its founder, Ban Johnson. Both parties advocated cleaning up the sport, in particular ridding it of liquor sales, gambling and assaults on umpires.
*1903: ''TSN'' editor Arthur Flanner helps draft the National Agreement, a document that brought a truce between the AL and NL and helped bring about the modern World Series.
*1904: New York photographer Charles Conlon begins taking portraits of major league players as they pass through the city's three ballparks: the Polo Grounds, Yankee Stadium and Ebbets Field. His images, many of which were featured in ''TSN'', have become treasured symbols of baseball's past.
*1914: Alfred's son, J.G. Taylor Spink, takes over the paper.
*1936: ''TSN'' names its first major league Sporting News Player of the Year Award, Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants. It is the oldest and most prestigious award given to the single player in MLB who had the most outstanding season. To this day, it remains voted on by MLB players.
*1942: After decades of being intertwined with baseball, ''TSN'' adds in-season football coverage.
*1946: ''TSN'' expands its football coverage with an eight-page tabloid publication titled ''The Quarterback''. The tab is later renamed the ''All-Sports News'' as coverage of other sports is added, including professional and college basketball and hockey.
*1962: J.G. Taylor Spink dies. His son C.C. Johnson Spink takes over the publication. In 1962, after Spink's death, the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) instituted the J. G. Taylor Spink Award as the highest award given to its members. Spink was also the first recipient.
*1967: ''TSN'' publishes its first full-color photo, a cover image of Orioles star Frank Robinson.
*1977: The Spink family sells ''TSN'' to Times Mirror in 1977.
*1981: C.C. Johnson Spink sells ''TSN'' to Tribune Company.
*1991: ''The Sporting News'' transitions to a glossy, full-color all-sports magazine.
*1996: ''The Sporting News'' comes online, serving as a sports content provider for AOL. The following year, it launches sportingnews.com.
*2000: Tribune Company sells ''TSN'' to Vulcan Inc., headed by tech billionaire Paul Allen. The following year, the company acquired the One on One Sports radio network, renaming it Sporting News Radio.
*2002: The magazine drops the definite article from its name and becomes just ''Sporting News'' (''SN''). Subsequent covers reflect the change.
*2006: Vulcan sells ''SN'' to Advance Media, which places the publication under the supervision of American City Business Journals (ACBJ).
*2007: ''Sporting News'' begins its move from St. Louis, where it had been based since its founding, to ACBJ's headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. The publication leaves St. Louis for good in 2008, when it also became a bi-weekly publication.

Transition to digital publication

In 2011, ''Sporting News'' announced a deal to take over editorial control of AOL's sports website FanHouse. In December 2012, after 126 years, ''Sporting News'' published its final issue as a print publication, and shifted to becoming a digital-only publication.

The following March, ACBJ contributed ''Sporting News'' into a joint venture with the U.S. assets of sports data company Perform Group, known as Perform Sporting News Limited and doing business as Sporting News Media. Perform owned 65% of Sporting News Media. ''Sporting News'' would join Perform Group's other domestic properties, such as its video syndication unit ePlayer and its soccer website Goal.com. The deal excluded the magazine's ''Sporting News Yearbooks'' unit and ''NASCAR Illustrated''. Almost immediately after the venture was established, ''Sporting News'' laid off 13 staff writers. Perform Group acquired the remainder of Sporting News Media in 2015.

Under Perform's ownership, ''Sporting News'' shifted to a more tabloid-like editorial direction. The site introduced a new logo and website design in 2016. Following Perform's acquisition of ACBJ's remaining stake, it began to align itself more closely with the company's other units, including replacing Associated Press articles with Perform's own Omnisport wire service for articles and video content (which began to constitute a sizable portion of the site's overall content). ''Sporting News'' also began to introduce new localized versions in other markets, with a focus on countries where it had launched its sports streaming service DAZN. These sites are, in turn, used to promote the DAZN service. Perform Media president Juan Delgado explained that the company was trying to preserve the heritage of the ''Sporting News'' brand by still publishing original content, while also publishing content oriented towards social media to appeal to younger users.

Later history

In September 2018, Perform Group spun out its consumer properties, including ''Sporting News'' and DAZN, into a new company known as DAZN Group. The remaining sports data business became Perform Content, and was sold in 2019 to Vista Equity Partners and merged with STATS LLC.

In the summer of 2020, Lindenwood University of St. Charles, Missouri, acquired the archives collection of ''The Sporting News'' from ACBJ. The collection was described as consisting of "10,000+ books on baseball, football, hockey, basketball, NCAA, and other sports."

In December 2020, DAZN Group sold Sporting News to a private investment consortium, which became Sporting News Holdings.

Athlete of the Year

Sportsman of the Year

From 1968 to 2008, the magazine selected one or more individuals as ''Sportsman of the Year''. On four occasions, the award was shared by two recipients. Twice, in 1993 and 2000, the award went to a pair of sportsmen within the same organization. In 1999, the honor was given to a whole team. No winner was chosen in 1987.

On December 18, 2007, the magazine announced New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as 2007 Sportsman of the Year, making Brady the first to repeat as a recipient of individual honors. Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals was also honored twice, but shared his second award with Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs.

In 2009, the award was replaced by two awards: "Pro Athlete of the Year" and "College Athlete of the Year". These in turn were replaced by a singular "Athlete of the Year" award starting in 2011.

*1968 – Denny McLain, Detroit Tigers
*1969 – Tom Seaver, New York Mets
*1970 – John Wooden, UCLA basketball
*1971 – Lee Trevino, golf
*1972 – Charlie Finley, Oakland A's
*1973 – O. J. Simpson, Buffalo Bills
*1974 – Lou Brock, St. Louis Cardinals
*1975 – Archie Griffin, Ohio State football
*1976 – Larry O'Brien, National Basketball Association commissioner
*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, Major League Baseball commissioner
*1984 – Peter Ueberroth, Olympics organizer
*1985 – Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds
*1986 – Larry Bird, Boston Celtics
*1987 – ''(none)''
*1988 – Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympics
*1989 – Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers
*1990 – Nolan Ryan, Texas Rangers
*1991 – Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
*1992 – Mike Krzyzewski, Duke basketball
*1993 – Cito Gaston and Pat Gillick, Toronto Blue Jays
*1994 – Emmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys
*1995 – Cal Ripken, 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 (see also 1998 Major League Baseball home run record chase)
*1999 – New York Yankees
*2000 – Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner, St. Louis Rams
*2001 – Curt Schilling, Arizona Diamondbacks
*2002 – Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame football
*2003 – Dick Vermeil, Kansas City Chiefs, and Jack McKeon, Florida Marlins
*2004 – Tom Brady, New England Patriots
*2005 – Matt Leinart, USC football
*2006 – LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers
*2007 – Tom Brady, New England Patriots
*2008 – Eli Manning, New York Giants

Pro Athlete of the Year

*2009 – Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees
*2010 – Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies

College Athlete of the Year

*2009 – Colt McCoy, Texas football
*2010 – Kyle Singler, Duke men's basketball

Athlete of the Year

Beginning in 2011, the awards were merged back into a singular selection, ''Athlete of the Year''.
*2011 – Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
*2012 – LeBron James, Miami Heat
*2021 – Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels

Sport-specific awards

Major League Baseball

''SN'' sponsors its own annual Team, Player, Pitcher, Rookie, Reliever, Comeback Player, Manager, and Executive of the Year awards. Many fans once held the newspaper's baseball awards at equal or higher esteem than those of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Prior to 2005, the ''SN'' Comeback Player Award was generally recognized as the principal award of its type, as MLB did not give such an award until that year.

* ''The Sporting News'' Most Valuable Player Award (discontinued in 1946)
* ''Sporting News'' Player of the Year (all positions; in MLB)
* ''Sporting News'' Pitcher of the Year (in each league)
* ''Sporting News'' Rookie of the Year (from 1963 through 2003, there were two categories: Rookie Pitcher of the Year and Rookie Player of the Year)
* ''Sporting News'' Reliever of the Year (discontinued in 2011)
* ''Sporting News'' Comeback Player of the Year
* ''Sporting News'' Manager of the Year (in each league (1986–present); in MLB (1936–1985))
* ''Sporting News'' Executive of the Year (in MLB)

Minor League Baseball

* ''The Sporting News'' Minor League Player of the Year Award (1936–2007)

Basketball

*''Sporting News'' NBA Executive of the Year Award (1973–2008)
* ''Sporting News'' Men's College Basketball Player of the Year
* ''Sporting News'' Men’s College Basketball Coach of the Year Award

NFL

* ''Sporting News'' NFL Player of the Year Award (1954–1969 and since 1980)
** ''Sporting News'' AFC and NFC player of the year awards (1970–1979)
* ''Sporting News'' NFL Rookie of the Year Award
* ''Sporting News'' NFL Coach of the Year (since 1947)
* ''Sporting News'' All-Pro Team (since 1980)From the 1950s through 1979, ''The Sporting News'' published All-Conference teams. In 1980 it began choosing an All-Pro team.
* ''Sporting News'' All-Conference Team (from 1950s till 1979) (defunct)

College football awards

* ''Sporting News'' College Football Player of the Year (1942)
* ''Sporting News'' All-America Team (1934)
* ''Sporting News'' College Football Coach of the Year

Also, between 1975 and 2005, Sporting News conducted an annual poll and named a national champion for Division I-A (now Division I FBS). It is regarded as a "major selector" in NCAA official records books.

Notable staff

* Thomas G. Osenton, president and chief operating officer of Sporting News Publishing Company and publisher of ''The Sporting News'' weekly
* Bob Ferguson, journalist and author of ''Who's Who In Canadian Sport''

Footnotes

External links

*{{Official website, www.sportingnews.com

1886 establishments in Missouri
2012 disestablishments in North Carolina
American football mass media
Baseball magazines
Basketball magazines
Biweekly magazines published in the United States
College basketball mass media in the United States
College football mass media
Defunct magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 1886
Magazines disestablished in 2012
Magazines published in North Carolina
Magazines published in St. Louis
National Hockey League mass media
Online magazines with defunct print editions
Sports magazines published in the United States
Webby Award winners
Weekly magazines published in the United States