The Big Ten Athlete of the Year award is given annually to the top male and female collegiate athletes in the Big Ten Conference. It was first awarded in 1982, with winners being selected by a panel of conference media members from nominations submitted by each school.
History In 1982, the Big Ten Conference established their athlete of the year award, with the winners being selected by a panel of conference media members from nominations submitted by each school. The award for male winners is named after Ohio State track star Jesse Owens. The woman's award was previously known as the Suzy Favor Athlete of the Year before it was revealed in 2012 that Favor had worked as a prostitute for a Las Vegas escort service. The Big Ten removed her name from the women's award in July 2013 as a result.
Winners Male Officially known as the Big Ten Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year award YearAthlete(s)SchoolSport(s) 1982 Jim Spivey Indiana Track and field, cross country 1983 Ed Banach Iowa Wrestling 1984 Sunder Nix Indiana Track and field 1985 Barry Davis Iowa Wrestling 1986 Chuck Long Football 1987 Indiana Basketball 1988 Michigan Baseball 1989 Basketball 1990 Indiana Football 1991 Michigan Swimming and diving 1992 Football 1993 Minnesota Gymnastics 1994 Purdue Basketball 1995 Michigan Swimming and diving 1996 Ohio State Football 1997 Gymnastics 1998 Michigan Football 1999 Northwestern Golf 2000 Wisconsin Football 2001 Michigan State Ice hockey 2002 Minnesota2003 Illinois Tennis Wrestling 2004 Minnesota 2005 Luis Vargas Penn State Gymnastics 2006 Peter Vanderkaay Michigan Swimming and diving 2007 Cole Konrad Minnesota Wrestling 2008 Brent Metcalf Iowa 2009 Jake Herbert Northwestern 2010 Ohio State Basketball 2011 Purdue Swimming and diving 2012 Michigan State Basketball 2013 Indiana Track and field 2014 Penn State Wrestling 2015 Ohio State 2016 Michigan State Basketball 2017 Ohio State Wrestling 2018 2019 Penn State 2020 Ohio State Football 2021 Iowa Basketball 2022 Minnesota Wrestling 2023 Purdue Basketball2024 2025 Penn State Wrestling 2026 Indiana Football
Female YearAthlete(s)SchoolSport(s)1983 Judi Brown Michigan State Track and field1984 Lisa Ishikawa Northwestern Softball1985 Cathy Branta Wisconsin Track and field / Cross country1986 Stephanie Herbst1987 Jennifer Averill Northwestern Field hockey / Lacrosse1988 Wisconsin Track and field / Cross country1989 1990 1991 Julie Farrell-Ovenhouse Michigan State Swimming and diving Joy Holmes Purdue Basketball1992 MaChelle Joseph 1993 Lara Hooiveld Michigan Swimming and diving1994 Kristy Gleason Iowa Field hockey1995 Laura Davis Ohio State Volleyball1996 Olga Kalinovskaya Penn State Fencing1997 Gretchen Hegener Minnesota Swimming and diving Kathy Butler Wisconsin Track and field1998 Sara Griffin Michigan Softball1999 Purdue Basketball2000 Lauren Cacciamani Penn State Volleyball2001 Katie Douglas Purdue Basketball2002 Christie Welsh Penn State Soccer2003 Perdita Felicien Illinois Track and field2004 Kelly Mazzante Penn State Basketball2005 Jennie Ritter Michigan Softball2006 Tiffany Weimer Penn State Soccer2007 Jessica Davenport Ohio State Basketball2008 Hannah Nielsen Northwestern Lacrosse2009 María Hernández Purdue Golf2010 Megan Hodge Penn State Volleyball2011 Shannon Smith Northwestern Lacrosse2012 Christina Manning Ohio State Track and field2013 Minnesota Ice hockey 2014 Purdue Track and field 2015 Maryland Lacrosse 2016 Minnesota Basketball 2017 Indiana Swimming and diving 2018 2019 Iowa Basketball 2020 Wisconsin Volleyball 2021 Minnesota Swimming and diving 2022 Wisconsin Volleyball 2023 Iowa Basketball2024 2025 USC Basketball 2026 UCLA Basketball
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