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Syl Apps Athlete of the Year Award

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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.

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

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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

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Milos Raonic, 2013 and 2014 winner
Key
  • * = Voted by the Ontario public in online poll
Year Winner Sport Win #
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
2006 None - -
2007 None - -
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 Swimming 1
2018 Joey Votto Baseball 1
2019 Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir Figure skating 1
2020 Bianca Andreescu Tennis 1
2021 Damian Warner Track and field 1
2022 Summer McIntosh Swimming 1

References

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  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.