The Lionel Conacher Award is an annual award given to Canada's male athlete of the year. The sports writers of the Canadian Press (CP) first conducted a poll to determine the nation's top athlete, of either gender, in 1932. Separate polls for the best male and female athletes were conducted beginning the following year. The CP formalized the poll into an award in 1978, presenting their winner a plaque. It was named after Lionel Conacher, a multi-sport 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.
The poll was suspended for four years during the Second World War after the CP decided it could not name a sporting "hero" at a time when Canadian soldiers were fighting in Europe. Football player Joe Krol became the first repeat winner following the war, earning top spot in both 1946 and 1947. Hockey star Maurice Richard was the first three-time winner in 1958, and baseball pitcher Ferguson Jenkins the first four-time winner in 1974. Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky has won the most Lionel Conacher Awards, finishing top of the poll six times in the 1980s, and in 1999 was named the Canadian Press Athlete of the Century.
The most recent winner is basketball player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Voting
The winner was originally selected following a straight vote of each writer's top choice. Golfer Ross Somerville won the inaugural poll after becoming the first Canadian to win the United States Amateur Championship. By 1936, the poll was conducted via a points system where each writer ranked their top three choices. Their first choice received three points, second choice two, and third choice one point. This points system has remained since. In 2001 golfer Mike Weir defeated hockey player Joe Sakic by two points in one of the closest votes in the award's history. He did so despite earning 13 fewer first place votes than Sakic.
Historically, the poll has not been limited to Canadians. Foreign-born athletes who were outstanding performers in Canadian sport have also gained consideration. Football player Fritz Hanson, a native of Minnesota, was named top athlete in 1939, while American Don Jones finished fourth in voting in 1971 on the strength of his performances with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. The poll became increasingly dominated by professional athletes since the 1960s – only three amateurs won the award between 1965 and 1984.
Winners have represented a broad spectrum of sports. Individual sport winners include weightlifter Doug Hepburn in 1953, figure skater Kurt Browning in 1990 and 1991, and most recently, gymnast Kyle Shewfelt in 2004. Participants in one of North America's "major league" team sports won each year between 2005 and 2010. National Hockey League player Sidney Crosby and National Basketball Association player Steve Nash have each won three times overall and Major League Baseball player Justin Morneau won in 2008. Overall, hockey players have finished at the top of the annual polls the most times at 26. Track and field is second with 13 winners and football third with 10.
List of winners
YearWinnerSportWin #Achievement 1932 Golf 1 First Canadian winner of the United States Amateur Championship 1933 Track and field 1 Canadian and American champion, second place in the Boston Marathon 1934 Track and field 1 Winner of the marathon at the 1934 British Empire Games 1935 Track and field 1 Winner of marathon in Berwick, Pennsylvania despite suffering from hernia 1936 Track and field 1 Bronze medal winner in 800 metre race at the 1936 Summer Olympics 1937 Hockey 1 National Hockey League rookie of the year 1938 Football 1 Top-scorer in Eastern Canada 1939 Football 1 Led the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to championship in the 27th Grey Cup 1940 Track and field 1 Winner of the Boston Marathon and United States Amateur Athletic Union title 1941 Football 1 Led Ottawa Rough Riders to appearance in the 29th Grey Cup game 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 Football 1 Led Toronto Argonauts to championship in the 34th Grey Cup 1947 Football 2 Led Toronto Argonauts to third consecutive Grey Cup championship 1948 Hockey 1 First player to be named both most valuable and most sportsmanlike player in National Hockey League history 1949 Football 1 Led Montreal Alouettes to championship in the 37th Grey Cup 1950 Athlete of the half-century Multiple — Also football player of half-century; Member of Grey Cup, Stanley Cup, and Little World Series championship teams, Canadian light-heavyweight boxing champion 1951 1952 Hockey 1 Broke Nels Stewart's National Hockey League record of 344 goals 1953 Weightlifting 1 Canadian, British Empire and World champion at 90+ kg 1954 Track and field 1 Bronze medal winner and Canadian record breaker in the "Miracle Mile" race at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games 1955 Football 1 Broke four Western Interprovincial Football Union records during season 1956 Hockey 1 Led Montreal Canadiens to Stanley Cup championship 1957 Hockey 2 Scored 500th career National Hockey League goal 1958 Hockey 3 Returned from severe Achilles injury to lead Montreal Canadiens to Stanley Cup championship 1959 Football 1 Starting quarterback for the Ottawa Rough Riders 1960 Football 1 Set Canadian football record with 287 rushing yards in one game 1961 Track and field 1 Broke numerous Canadian and American track records 1962 Track and field 2 Won gold and bronze medals at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games 1963 Hockey 1 Broke Maurice Richard's National Hockey League record of 544 career goals 1964 Track and field 1 Silver medalist in 800 metre race at 1964 Summer Olympics 1965 Hockey 1 Voted most valuable and most gentlemanly player in the National Hockey League 1966 Hockey 2 Set National Hockey League records with 54 goals and 97 points in one season 1967 Baseball 1 First Canadian pitcher to win 20 Major League Baseball games in 50 years 1968 Baseball 2 Second consecutive 20-win season 1969 Football 2 Canadian Football League's most outstanding player and Canadian, led the Ottawa Rough Riders to championship in the 57th Grey Cup 1970 Hockey 1 National Hockey League's most valuable player in both the regular season and playoffs, top defenceman and scoring leader 1971 Baseball 3 First Canadian winner of Major League Baseball's Cy Young Award 1972 Hockey 1 National Hockey League scoring champion and led Team Canada to victory over the Soviet Union in the Summit Series 1973 Hockey 2 Noted leader and goal scorer in the National Hockey League1974 Baseball 4 Seventh 20-win season in eight years, also named comeback player of the year 1975 Hockey 1 National Hockey League's most valuable player and led Philadelphia Flyers to Stanley Cup championship 1976 Track and field 1 Silver medalist in the high-jump at the 1976 Summer Olympics 1977 Hockey 1 National Hockey League scoring leader and led Montreal Canadiens to Stanley Cup championship 1978 Swimming 1 Won six gold medals at 1978 Commonwealth Games and won gold medal with world record performance at the world championship 1979 Auto racing 1 Won three Formula One races and finished second in driver's championship 1980 Hockey 1 Named most valuable and most gentlemanly player in the National Hockey League 1981 Hockey 2 Set National Hockey League scoring records of 109 assists and 164 points in one season 1982 Hockey 3 Set National Hockey League scoring records of 92 goals, 120 assists, 212 points and fastest to 50 goals in league history 1983 Hockey 4 National Hockey League scoring leader 1984 Swimming 1 Double gold medalist and set two world records at the 1984 Summer Olympics 1985 Hockey 5 Led Edmonton Oilers to Stanley Cup championship 1986 Track and field 1 Double gold medalist at the 1986 Commonwealth Games and named "fastest man in the world" 1987 Track and field 2 Set world record in the 100 metre race at 1987 IAAF World Championships 1988 Hockey 1 National Hockey League most valuable player and scoring leader 1989 Hockey 6 Broke Gordie Howe's National Hockey League record of 1850 career points 1990 Figure skating 1 Canadian and world champion 1991 Figure skating 2 Canadian and world champion 1992 Swimming 1 Gold and bronze medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics 1993 Hockey 2 Overcame Hodgkin's lymphoma to win National Hockey League scoring title 1994 Figure skating 1 World Champion and silver medalist at the 1994 Winter Olympics 1995 Auto racing 1 First Canadian to win the Indianapolis 500 1996 Track and field 1 Double gold medalist and set 100 metre world record at 1996 Summer Olympics 1997 Auto racing 2 Formula One World Champion 1998 Baseball 1 National League batting champion 1999 Athlete of the Century Hockey — National Hockey League's all-time leader in goals, assists and points, four time Stanley Cup champion, named most valuable player nine times, league scoring leader ten times 2000 Golf 1 Winner of a World Golf Championships event 2001 Golf 2 Winner of the PGA Tour Championship 2002 Basketball 1 National Basketball Association All-Star and named to All-NBA Team 2003 Golf 3 Winner of the Masters Tournament 2004 Gymnastics 1 Gold medal winner at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2005 Basketball 2 First Canadian to be named the National Basketball Association's most valuable player 2006 Basketball 3 Second consecutive National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award 2007 Hockey 1 National Hockey League's most valuable player 2008 Baseball 1 Second place in voting for American League Most Valuable Player Award 2009 Hockey 2 Led the Pittsburgh Penguins to Stanley Cup championship 2010 Hockey 3 Scored gold medal-winning goal at the 2010 Winter Olympics 2011 Figure skating 1 Finished 2011 undefeated in competition. He was the 2011 World Champion (setting three scoring records), Canadian Champion and he won an additional three ISU Grand Prix events. 2012 Cycling 1 Became the first Canadian to win a Grand Tour when he won the Giro d'Italia 2013 Tennis 1 Became the first Canadian to reach the ATP's Top 10, help Canada Davis Cup team to reach first semifinal after 100 years, won two events and made the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. 2014 Tennis 2 At Wimbledon 2014 he made it to the final four; first Canadian to reach a Grand Slam semifinal. 2015 Hockey 1 Multiple NHL awards. 2016 Track and field 1 Won three medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics. 2017 Tennis 1 Reached the semifinals at the Rogers Cup, Montreal's Masters 1000 event, and got to the fourth round of the US open. 2018 Freestyle skiing 1 Gold medal in 2018 Winter Olympics, Men's Mogul. 2019 Freestyle skiing 2 Dominating much of the 2019 World Cup circuit in moguls, including the world championship in both single and dual moguls 2020 Soccer 1 Fullback for Bayern Munich. Won the 2019–20 Champions League, 2019–20 Bundesliga, Bundesliga Rookie of the Year Award and became the first North American player named to the FIFPRO World XI team 2021 Track and Field 1 2020 Olympic decathlon champion, fourth decathlete in history to record a score above 9000 points, set a world decathlon best in the long jump. 2022 Tennis 1 Won four ATP-tour titles plus the Davis Cup. 2023 Basketball 1 Led Canada to its first-ever medal at the FIBA World Cup, and qualifying for the Summer Olympics for the first time in 24 years. Named to both the World Cup All-Tournament Team and the 2023 All-NBA Team. 2024 Track and Field 1 Became the first Canadian to win the Olympic gold medal in men's hammer throw at the 2024 Summer Olympics. 2025 Basketball 2 Led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the NBA title, whilst being the top scorer in the regular season and winning both the NBA Most Valuable Player and NBA Finals Most Valuable Player awards.
See also Bobbie Rosenfeld Award Canadian Press Team of the Year Award Velma Springstead Trophy
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