Syl Apps Athlete of the Year Award

Last updated

The Syl Apps Athlete of the Year Award, began in 1998 and is awarded by the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame to Ontario's Athlete of the Year. It is named in for Syl Apps, an Olympic and Commonwealth Games pole vaulter and Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1940s.

Contents

The award is made based on voting by Ontario-based sports writers, broadcasters and personalities who have covered sports in Ontario for at least 10 years, as well as members of the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors and the Hall's Advisory Board. The award is for outstanding and memorable contributions to Ontario sports during the previous calendar year. Athletes may be eligible for the award if they are Ontario-born or Ontario-based. [1]

Online Voting

In 2015, the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame started to poll the public of Ontario to vote online for the next Syl Apps Athlete of the Year award recipient. In its first year, Brooke Henderson was selected by the voters of Ontario as the athlete that best deserved the honour. She received an overwhelming majority of the votes, beating out professional and amateur athletes including Kyle Lowry, Milos Raonic, and Russell Martin. [2]

In 2016, the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame recognized Brad Sinopoli, a Canadian football wide receiver who was playing for the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League, as the Syl Apps Athlete of the Year. The online public vote to determine the award recipient concluded on March 31, 2016 with Sinopoli edging out other top professional competitors such as Andre De Grasse, Brooke Henderson and Kadeisha Buchanan to win. He received nearly 30% of total votes cast. [3]

Winners

Milos Raonic, 2013 and 2014 winner Milos Raonic 2, Wimbledon 2013 - Diliff.jpg
Milos Raonic, 2013 and 2014 winner
Key
YearWinnerSportWin #
1997 Roger Clemens Baseball 2
1998 Roger Clemens Baseball 2
1999 Mike Weir Golf 3
2000 Mike Weir Golf 3
2001 Vince Carter Basketball 1
2002 Steve Yzerman Hockey 1
2003 Mike Weir Golf 3
2004 Adam Van Koeverden Rowing 3
2005 Damon Allen Canadian football 3
2006None--
2007None--
2008 Eric Lamaze Equestrian 1
2009 Daniel Nestor Tennis 2
2010 Joey Votto Baseball 1
2011 Patrick Chan Figure skating 3
2012 Rosie MacLennan Trampoline gymnastics 1
2013 Milos Raonic Tennis 2
2014 Milos Raonic Tennis 2
2015 Brooke Henderson * Golf 1
2016 Brad Sinopoli * Canadian football 1
2017 Penny Oleksiak Swimming1
2018 Joey Votto Baseball1
2019 Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir Figure skating1
2020 Bianca Andreescu Tennis1
2021 Damian Warner Track and field 1
2022 Summer McIntosh Swimming 1

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa Renegades</span> Canadian Football League franchise (2002–2006)

The Ottawa Renegades were a Canadian Football League franchise based in Ottawa, Ontario founded in 2002, six years after the storied Ottawa Rough Riders folded. After four seasons, the Renegades franchise was suspended indefinitely by the league due to financial instability, and its players were absorbed by the other teams in a dispersal draft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syl Apps</span> Canadian ice hockey player and politician

Charles Joseph Sylvanus Apps, was a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1936 to 1948, an Olympic pole vaulter and a Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament in Ontario. In 2017 Apps was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada's Sports Hall of Fame</span> Sports hall of fame in Alberta, Canada

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canada, it serves as a hall of fame and museum for accomplished Canadian athletes, and sports builders and officials.

The Lew Hayman Trophy is a Canadian Football League trophy, awarded to the outstanding Canadian player in the East Division. Each team in the East Division nominates a player, from which the winner is chosen. Either the winner of the Hayman trophy or the Dr. Beattie Martin Trophy will also win the Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Canadian award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillian Apps</span> Canadian ice hockey player (born 1983)

Gillian Mary Apps is a women's ice hockey player. Apps was a member of the Canadian National Hockey Team that won back to back Gold Medals in three consecutive Olympic Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Gabriel</span> Canadian gridiron football player (born 1948)

Anthony Michael Peter Gabriel is a former professional Canadian football pass receiver who played in the Canadian Football League from 1971 to 1981. He played for both the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Ottawa Rough Riders. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in August 1985. In 2014, he was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobbie Rosenfeld Award</span>

The Bobbie Rosenfeld Award is an annual award given to Canada's female athlete of the year. The sports writers of the Canadian Press (CP) first conducted a poll to determine the nation's top female in 1932, naming track star Hilda Strike the winner. The CP formalized the poll into an award in 1978, presenting their winner a plaque. It was named after Bobbie Rosenfeld, an all-around athlete and Olympic track and field champion whom the news organization had named its top athlete of the half-century in 1950. The award is separate from the Northern Star Award, in which a select panel of sports writers vote for their top overall athlete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa Redblacks</span> Canadian professional football team

The Ottawa Redblacks are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brad Sinopoli</span>

Bradley Sinopoli is a former Canadian football wide receiver who played for nine years in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was originally a quarterback with the Calgary Stampeders before being converted to wide receiver in 2013. He then joined the Ottawa Redblacks where he was twice named the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian, was named an East Division All-Star three times, and a CFL All-Star in 2018. He won two Grey Cup championships, after winning with the Stampeders in 2014 and with the Redblacks in 2016, the latter of which he was also named the game's Most Valuable Canadian.

The 2015 CFL season was the 62nd season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 58th Canadian Football League season. The Edmonton Eskimos won the 103rd Grey Cup on November 29, defeating the Ottawa Redblacks 26–20 in Winnipeg. The schedule was released February 13, 2015 and the regular season began on June 25, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa Gee-Gees football</span>

The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees football team represents the University of Ottawa in the sport of Canadian football. The Gee-Gees compete in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) conference of U Sports. Football at the University of Ottawa began in 1881, it was one of the first established football programs in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ontario Sports Hall of Fame</span>

The Ontario Sports Hall of Fame is an association dedicated to honouring athletes and personalities with outstanding achievement in sports in Ontario, Canada. The hall of fame was established in 1994 by Bruce Prentice, following his 15-year tenure as founder and president of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame (CBHF). The inaugural class of honoured members was inducted in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Ottawa Redblacks season</span>

The 2015 Ottawa Redblacks season was the second season for the team in the Canadian Football League. The Redblacks improved upon their unimpressive 2–16 record from 2014 after just five games when they collected their third win in week five against the Calgary Stampeders. Ottawa clinched a playoff berth in week 17 with a victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on October 16, 2015. The Redblacks became the first Ottawa-based CFL team to have a winning record since 1979. They were also the first Ottawa-based CFL team to finish first in East Division since the 1978 Rough Riders and the first Ottawa-based team ever to finish with at least 12 regular season wins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooke Henderson</span> Canadian professional golfer (born 1997)

Brooke Mackenzie Henderson is a Canadian professional golfer on the LPGA Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lemar Durant</span> Canadian football player (born 1992)

Lemar Durant is a former Canadian football wide receiver who played seven seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He attended Simon Fraser University, where he played college football for the Simon Fraser Clan. He was drafted by the Calgary Stampeders in the second round of the 2015 CFL Draft. Durant has also been a member of the BC Lions and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and Ottawa Redblacks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">104th Grey Cup</span> 2016 Canadian Football championship game

The 104th Grey Cup was a Canadian football game that was played on November 27, 2016, between the Calgary Stampeders and the Ottawa Redblacks, that decided the champion for the 2016 CFL season. In an upset, the Redblacks defeated the heavily favoured Stampeders 39–33 in overtime to win a championship in just their third season of existence. This was the third Grey Cup game to go into overtime. This also marked a first that a CFL team won its division with a losing record (8–9–1) and became the 3rd worst team to win the Grey Cup.

The 2016 CFL season was the 63rd season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 59th Canadian Football League season. Toronto hosted the 104th Grey Cup on November 27. The regular season began on June 23 and ended on November 5.

The 2017 CFL season was the 64th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 60th season of the Canadian Football League. The regular season began on June 22 and concluded on November 4. The playoffs commenced on November 12 and concluded on November 26 with the Toronto Argonauts defeating the Calgary Stampeders to win the 105th Grey Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 CFL season</span> Sports season

The 2018 CFL season was the 65th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 61st Canadian Football League season. Edmonton hosted the 106th Grey Cup on November 25, 2018. The CFL announced that this season will move to a 21-week regular season to increase player rest time and reduce short turnaround-times for games. Given the change, the regular season began on June 14, 2018, one week earlier than usual, and concluded on November 3, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Ferguson (journalist)</span> Canadian sports journalist and writer

Robert Ferguson was a Canadian sports journalist and writer. He began in journalism with The London Free Press from 1952 to 1964, and was colour commentator for baseball games broadcast on CFPL (AM). He also served as the official statistician of the Intercounty Baseball League from 1958 to 1966, and owned the London Pontiacs in the same league during the 1963 and 1964 seasons. He later worked for the Ottawa Citizen from 1967 to 1996, and was the paper's first writer assigned to cover the Montreal Expos. He believed in giving angry athletes a second chance at a better quote to avoid making the player look bad, and was a board member for Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. He wrote Who's Who in Canadian Sport, a book of biographies for Canadian sports persons; first published in 1977, with subsequent volumes in 1985, 1999 and 2005. His career was recognized with induction into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame in 2009, as a builder in the media category.

References

  1. "Syl Apps Athlete of the Year Award". oshof.ca. Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  2. "Brooke Henderson wins Syl Apps Ontario Athlete of the Year Award". Golf Association of Ontario. April 23, 2015.
  3. "Redblacks receiver Brad Sinopoli voted Ontario athlete of year for 2015". Ottawa Citizen. April 18, 2016.