History
The award was created by Ray and Alan Hickok in honor of their father, Stephen Rae Hickok, who died unexpectedly in December 1945. [1] [2] The elder Hickok had founded the Hickok Manufacturing Company of Rochester, New York, which made belts—hence the choice of a belt for the trophy. [3] The first recipient was baseball player Phil Rizzuto, who received the award for 1950 during a charity dinner event in Rochester on January 22, 1951. [4] He narrowly bested golfer Ben Hogan. [a] Rizzuto's belt is now in the collection of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. [5]
News reports indicate that the Hickok family had previously awarded other belts to boxers, independent of the annual athlete of the year award. Examples include the presentation of "a solid gold and jewel-studded championship belt" to Jake LaMotta in June 1949 at the conclusion of a bout at Detroit's Briggs Stadium, [6] and a belt given to a Rochester-area boxer named Mike Conroy in 1927. [7]
The annual award winner received an alligator skin belt with a solid gold buckle, an encrusted 4-carat (0.80 g) diamond, and 26 gem chips. It was valued at $10,000 in 1951 ($121,141 in ), [8] and its presentation was a major event in sporting news of the day. [9] A simpler alligator skin belt with an engraved buckle of 10 karat gold was apparently awarded to monthly winners—examples include one presented to Otto Graham in recognition of his December 1954 monthly award, which was sold at auction in April 2001, [10] and one presented to Elgin Baylor in recognition of his March 1959 award, which was sold at auction in 2013. [11] [12]
A group of 200 sportswriters throughout the U.S. selected monthly winners, with an athlete of the year selected from those honorees. [8] [b] For the first 21 years, from 1950 to 1970, the belt was awarded in Rochester at the annual Rochester Press-Radio Club dinner. After the Hickok company was taken over by the Tandy Corporation, the award was presented in larger cities such as Chicago or New York. After the 1976 annual award was presented, monthly awards were issued through October 1977 (naming a winner for the prior month), then halted. [14] The award remained dormant until being revived in 2012.
During the first 27 years the annual award was presented, it was won 15 times by baseball players, five times by football players, four times by boxers, and three times by golfers. The only two-time winner was Sandy Koufax, in 1963 and 1965.
Revival
In 2010, Tony Liccione, the president of the Rochester Boxing Hall of Fame, announced plans to reinstate the Hickok Belt starting in 2012. [15] The mold for the belt used from 1951 onward [c] was found and planned to be used again. [15] Liccione invited the 18 surviving belt winners (except O. J. Simpson, who at the time was incarcerated in Nevada) to a "comeback dinner", which was held on October 16, 2011, at St. John Fisher College in Rochester. [15] [16] Attendees included Johnny Antonelli, Carmen Basilio (1957 winner), Jim Brown (1964 winner), George Chuvalo, Meadowlark Lemon, and Bob Turley (1958 winner). [17]
Upon being re-established in 2012, the award was based on a vote by the National Sports Media Association; [18] however, there were no public award ceremonies or belt presentations. [19] A 20-member panel selected one athlete each month, with the 12 monthly winners being eligible for the annual award. [18]
For the 2012–2024 belts, five winners have been basketball players, five have been baseball players, two have been football players, and one has been a swimmer. There have been three two-time winners: LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes, and Shohei Ohtani.
Tony Liccione died in February 2025. [17] Monthly awards since that time are lacking, [20] leaving the future of the annual award uncertain.
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