Big Ten Athlete of the Year

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

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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.[1] 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.[2]

Winners

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Male

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Officially known as the Big Ten Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year award

Year Athlete(s) School Sport(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 Steve Alford Indiana Basketball
1988 Jim Abbott Michigan Baseball
1989 Glen Rice Basketball
1990 Anthony Thompson Indiana Football
1991 Mike Barrowman Michigan Swimming and diving
1992 Desmond Howard Football
1993 John Roethlisberger Minnesota Gymnastics
1994 Glenn Robinson Purdue Basketball
1995 Tom Dolan Michigan Swimming and diving
1996 Eddie George Ohio State Football
1997 Blaine Wilson Gymnastics
1998 Charles Woodson Michigan Football
1999 Luke Donald Northwestern Golf
2000 Ron Dayne Wisconsin Football
2001 Ryan Miller Michigan State Ice hockey
2002 Jordan Leopold Minnesota
2003 Amer Delić Illinois Tennis
Matt Lackey Wrestling
2004 Damion Hahn Minnesota
2005 Luis Vargas Penn State Gymnastics
2006 Peter Vanderkaay Michigan Swimming and diving
2007 Cole Konrad[3] Minnesota Wrestling
2008 Brent Metcalf[4] Iowa
2009 Jake Herbert[5] Northwestern
2010 Evan Turner[6] Ohio State Basketball
2011 David Boudia[7] Purdue Swimming and diving
2012 Draymond Green Michigan State Basketball
2013 Derek Drouin[8] Indiana Track and field
2014 David Taylor[9] Penn State Wrestling
2015 Logan Stieber[10] Ohio State
2016 Denzel Valentine[11] Michigan State Basketball
2017 Kyle Snyder[12][13] Ohio State Wrestling
2018
2019 Bo Nickal[14] Penn State
2020 Chase Young[15] Ohio State Football
2021 Luka Garza[16] Iowa Basketball
2022 Gable Steveson[17] Minnesota Wrestling
2023 Zach Edey[18][19] Purdue Basketball
2024

Female

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Year Athlete(s) School Sport(s)
1983 Judi Brown Michigan State Track and field
1984 Lisa Ishikawa Northwestern Softball
1985 Cathy Branta Wisconsin Track and field / Cross country
1986 Stephanie Herbst
1987 Jennifer Averill Northwestern Field hockey / Lacrosse
1988 Suzy Favor Wisconsin Track and field / Cross country
1989
1990
1991 Julie Farrell-Ovenhouse Michigan State Swimming and diving
Joy Holmes Purdue Basketball
1992 MaChelle Joseph
1993 Lara Hooiveld Michigan Swimming and diving
1994 Kristy Gleason Iowa Field hockey
1995 Laura Davis Ohio State Volleyball
1996 Olga Kalinovskaya Penn State Fencing
1997 Gretchen Hegener Minnesota Swimming and diving
Kathy Butler Wisconsin Track and field
1998 Sara Griffin Michigan Softball
1999 Stephanie White-McCarty Purdue Basketball
2000 Lauren Cacciamani Penn State Volleyball
2001 Katie Douglas Purdue Basketball
2002 Christie Welsh Penn State Soccer
2003 Perdita Felicien Illinois Track and field
2004 Kelly Mazzante Penn State Basketball
2005 Jennie Ritter Michigan Softball
2006 Tiffany Weimer Penn State Soccer
2007 Jessica Davenport Ohio State Basketball
2008 Hannah Nielsen Northwestern Lacrosse
2009 María Hernández Purdue Golf
2010 Megan Hodge Penn State Volleyball
2011 Shannon Smith Northwestern Lacrosse
2012 Christina Manning Ohio State Track and field
2013 Amanda Kessel Minnesota Ice hockey
2014 Dani Bunch[9] Purdue Track and field
2015 Taylor Cummings[10] Maryland Lacrosse
2016 Rachel Banham[11] Minnesota Basketball
2017 Lilly King[12][13] Indiana Swimming and diving
2018
2019 Megan Gustafson[14] Iowa Basketball
2020 Dana Rettke[15] Wisconsin Volleyball
2021 Sarah Bacon[16] Minnesota Swimming and diving
2022 Dana Rettke[17] Wisconsin Volleyball
2023 Caitlin Clark[18][19] Iowa Basketball
2024

References

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  1. ^ "Big Ten Athlete of the Year" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-30. Retrieved 2014-01-22.
  2. ^ "Suzy Favor Hamilton, who admitted to being prostitute, has her name removed from Big Ten award". Fox News. Archived from the original on July 5, 2013. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  3. ^ "2007 Big Ten Athlete of the Year". Archived from the original on 2009-04-14. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  4. ^ "2008 Big Ten Athlete of the Year". Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  5. ^ "2009 Big Ten Athlete of the Year". Archived from the original on 2009-06-24. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  6. ^ "Turner Selected Big Ten's Best Male Athlete for 2010". WBNS-10TV. 2010-06-24. Archived from the original on 2018-10-23. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
  7. ^ "Boudia Becomes First Diver To Win Big Ten's Jesse Owens Athlete of the Year Award". Purdue University. 2011-06-20. Archived from the original on 2018-10-23. Retrieved 2018-10-22.
  8. ^ "Indiana's Drouin and Minnesota's Kessel Named Big Ten Athletes of the Year". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2013-06-26. Archived from the original on 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2013-06-27.
  9. ^ a b "Penn State's Taylor and Purdue's Bunch Named Big Ten Athletes of the Year". BigTen.org. CBS Interactive. 2014-06-23. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
  10. ^ a b "Big Ten Names Athletes of the Year". BigTen.org. June 24, 2015. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  11. ^ a b "Valentine, Banham Win 2016 Big Ten Men's, Women's Athlete of the Year". BTN.com. June 22, 2016. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Indiana's King and Ohio State's Snyder Named Big Ten Athletes of the Year". BigTen.org. June 28, 2017. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Indiana's King and Ohio State's Snyder Repeat as Big Ten Athletes of the Year". BigTen.org. June 28, 2018. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  14. ^ a b "Iowa's Gustafson and Penn State's Nickal Named Big Ten Athletes of the Year". BigTen.org. July 2, 2019. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  15. ^ a b "Ohio State's Young, Wisconsin's Rettke Named Big Ten Athletes of the Year". BigTen.org. Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  16. ^ a b "Iowa's Garza, Minnesota's Bacon Named Big Ten Athletes of the Year". BigTen.org. July 21, 2021. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  17. ^ a b "Minnesota's Steveson, Wisconsin's Rettke Named Big Ten Athletes of the Year". Big Ten. June 29, 2022. Archived from the original on June 29, 2022. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
  18. ^ a b "Iowa's Clark, Purdue's Edey Named Big Ten Athletes of the Year" (Press release). Big Ten Conference. June 29, 2023. Archived from the original on August 14, 2023. Retrieved August 14, 2023.
  19. ^ a b "Purdue's Edey, Iowa's Clark Named Big Ten Athletes of the Year". Big Ten. June 27, 2024. Retrieved June 29, 2024.