Chuck Taylor Most Valuable Player Award

Chuck Taylor MVP Award

Awarded for	The MVP of the NAIA men's national basketball tournament
Country	United States
Presented by	Converse
History
First award	1939
Most recent	Samaje Morgan, College of Idaho

The Chuck Taylor Most Valuable Player Award was created to honor the most valuable player of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) men's basketball national tournaments. Established in 1939 and later named as an homage to the Chuck Taylor All-Stars, an iconic basketball shoe in the early 20th century, it has been awarded every year with the exceptions of 1944 due to World War II and 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. ^[1] Between the 1991–92 and 2019–20 seasons, the NAIA was split into Division I and Division II. ^[2] Each division subsequently held their own national tournament, with MVPs awarded for them respectively. ^[2] Starting with the 2020–21 season, the NAIA returned to non-divisional classifications. ^[2]

Chuck Taylor MVPs

Gus Doerner, Evansville, 1942

Belus Smawley, Appalachian State, 1943

Fred Lewis, Eastern Kentucky, 1945

Hal Haskins, Hamline, 1949

Scotty Steagall, Millikin, 1951

Dick Barnett, Tennessee State, 1958 & 1959

Charles Hardnett, Grambling State, 1961

Zelmo Beaty, Prairie View A&M, 1962

Lloyd Free, Guilford, 1973

Bayard Forrest, Grand Canyon, 1975

Terry Porter, Wisconsin–Stevens Point, 1984

Robert Whaley, Walsh, 2005

Non-divisional era (1939–1991, 2021–present)

Year	Most Valuable Player	Team	Reference
1939	Edgar Hinshaw	Southwestern (KS)	[3]
1940	Mel Waits	Tarkio (MO)	[3]
1941	Charles Thomas	Northwestern State (LA)	[3]
1942	Gus Doerner	Evansville (IN)	[3]
1943	Belus Smawley	Appalachian State (NC)	[3]
1944	Tournament canceled due to World War II [3]
1945	Fred Lewis	Eastern Kentucky	[3]
1946	Gene Stotlar	Southern Illinois	[3]
1947	Irvin Leifer	Eastern Washington	[3]
1948	Duane Klueh	Indiana State	[3]
1949	Hal Haskins	Hamline (MN)	[3]
1950	Lenny Rzeszewski	Indiana State	[3]
1951	Scotty Steagall	Millikin (IL)	[3]
1952	Bennie Purcell	Murray State (KY)	[3]
1953	Jerry Anderson	Missouri State	[3]
1954	Jerry Anderson (2)	Missouri State	[3]
1955	Jim Miller	Texas A&M–Commerce	[3]
1956	Bill Reigel	McNeese (LA)	[3]
1957	Jim Spivey	Southeastern Oklahoma State	[3]
1958	Dick Barnett	Tennessee State	[3]
1959	Dick Barnett (2)	Tennessee State	[3]
1960	Charles Sharp	Texas State	[3]
1961	Charles Hardnett	Grambling State (LA)	[3]
1962	Zelmo Beaty	Prairie View A&M (TX)	[3]
1963	Lucious Jackson	UT Rio Grande Valley (TX)	[3]
1964	Lucious Jackson (2)	UT Rio Grande Valley (TX)	[3]
1965	Ken Wilburn	Central State (OH)	[3]
1966	Al Tucker	Oklahoma Baptist	[3]
1967	Al Tucker (2)	Oklahoma Baptist	[3]
1968	John Jamerson	Fairmont State (WV)	[3]
1969	Jake Ford	Maryland Eastern Shore	[3]
1970	Greg Hyder	Eastern New Mexico	[3]
1971	Travis Grant	Kentucky State	[3]
1972	Travis Grant (2)	Kentucky State	[3]
1973	Lloyd Free	Guilford (NC)	[3]
1974	Foots Walker	West Georgia	[3]
1975	Bayard Forrest	Grand Canyon (AZ)	[3]
1976	Joe Pace	Coppin State (MD)	[3]
1977	Alonzo Bradley	Texas Southern	[3]
1978	Tom Ritzdorf	Nebraska–Kearney	[3]
1979	Lawrence Washington	Drury (MO)	[3]
1980	LeRoy Jackson	Cameron (OK)	[3]
1981	George Torres	Southern Nazarene (OK)	[3]
1982	Mike Gibson	USC Upstate (SC)	[4]
1983	Stephen Yetman	Charleston (SC)	[5]
1984	Terry Porter	Wisconsin–Stevens Point	[6]
1985	Edgar Eason	Fort Hays State (KS)	[7]
1986	John Kimbrell	Lipscomb (TN)	[8]
1987	Tom Meier	Washburn (KS)	[9]
1988	Rodney Johns	Grand Canyon (AZ)	[10]
1989	Vernell Kemp	East Central (OK)	[11]
1990	Stacy Butler	Birmingham–Southern (AL)	[12]
1991	Eric Manuel	Oklahoma City	[13]
1992– 2020	Split into NAIA Divisions I and II [2]
2021	James Jones	Shawnee State (OH)	[14]
2022	Myles Burns	Loyola (LA)	[15]
2023	Charles Elzie	College of Idaho	[16]
2024	Hunter Scurlock	Freed–Hardeman (TN)	[17]
2025	Samaje Morgan	College of Idaho	[18]

Divisional era (1992–2020)

NAIA Division I Year Most Valuable Player Team Reference 1992 Smokey McCovery Oklahoma City [19] 1993 Lemar Young Hawaii Pacific [20] 1994 Kevin Franklin Oklahoma City [21] 1995 James Cason Birmingham–Southern (AL) [22] 1996 Reggie Garrett Oklahoma City [23] 1997 James Harris Life (GA) [24] 1998 Will Carlton Georgetown (KY) [25] 1999 Corey Evans Life (GA) [26] 2000 Jimmie Hunter Life (GA) [27] 2001 Paul Little Faulkner (AL) [28] 2002 Michael Williamson USAO (OK) [29] 2003 Raynardo Curry Mountain State (WV) [30] 2004 Zach Moss Mountain State (WV) [31] 2005 Brandon Cole John Brown (AR) [32] 2006 Evan Patterson Texas Wesleyan [33] 2007 Kameron Gray Oklahoma City [34] 2008 Kameron Gray (2) Oklahoma City [34] 2009 Devin Uskoski Rocky Mountain (MT) [35] 2010 Nate Brumfield Oklahoma Baptist [36] 2011 Trevor Setty Pikeville (KY) [37] 2012 Cameron Gliddon Concordia (CA) [38] 2013 Monty Wilson Georgetown (KY) [39] 2014 Preston Wynne Vanguard (CA) [40] 2015 Jordan Bowling Dalton State (GA) [41] 2016 Devonse Reed Mid-America Christian (OK) [42] 2017 Dion Rogers Texas Wesleyan [43] 2018 LT Davis Graceland (MO) [44] 2019 Chris Coffey Georgetown (KY) [45] 2020 Tournament canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic [1]

NAIA Division II Year Most Valuable Player Team Reference 1992 David James Grace (IN) [46] 1993 Mike Ward Willamette (OR) [47] 1994 Chris Peterson Eureka (IL) [48] 1995 Mark Galloway Bethel (IN) [49] 1996 Damon Archibald College of Idaho [50] 1997 Rico Swanson Bethel (IN) [51] 1998 Rico Swanson (2) Bethel (IN) [51] 1999 Mike Long Cornerstone (MI) [52] 2000 Jason Cruse Embry–Riddle (FL) [53] 2001 Brandon Woudstra Northwestern (IA) [54] 2002 Daniel Cutbirth Evangel (MO) [55] 2003 Brandon Woudstra (2) Northwestern (IA) [56] 2004 Kevin Baker Oregon Tech [57] 2005 Robert Whaley Walsh (OH) [58] 2006 Michael Bonaparte College of the Ozarks (MO) [59] 2007 Adam Hepker MidAmerica Nazarene (KS) [60] 2008 Ryan Fiegi Oregon Tech [61] 2009 Steve Briggs Oklahoma Wesleyan [62] 2010 DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis Saint Francis (IN) [63] 2011 Caleb Simons Cornerstone (MI) [64] 2012 Bobby Hunter Oregon Tech [65] 2013 Darren Moore Cardinal Stritch (WI) [66] 2014 Jordan Weidner Indiana Wesleyan [67] 2015 Kyle Steigenga Cornerstone (MI) [68] 2016 Jonny Marlin Indiana Wesleyan [69] 2017 Paul Stone Union (KY) [70] 2018 Kyle Mangas Indiana Wesleyan [71] 2019 Paul Marandet Spring Arbor (MI) [72] 2020 Tournament canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic [1]

See also

• NCAA Division I basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player – the equivalent award in NCAA Division I men's and women's tournaments

References

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