1968 – Denny McLain, Detroit Tigers 1969 – Tom Seaver, New York Mets 1970 – John Wooden, UCLA basketball 1971 – Lee Trevino, golf 1972 – Charlie Finley, Oakland A's 1973 – O. J. Simpson, Buffalo Bills 1974 – Lou Brock, St. Louis Cardinals 1975 – Archie Griffin, Ohio State football 1976 – Larry O'Brien, National Basketball Association commissioner 1977 – Steve Cauthen, horse racing 1978 – Ron Guidry, New York Yankees 1979 – Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh Pirates 1980 – George Brett, Kansas City Royals 1981 – Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers 1982 – Whitey Herzog, St Cardinals 1983 – Bowie Kuhn, Major League Baseball commissioner 1984 – Peter Ueberroth, Olympics organizer 1985 – Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds 1986 – Larry Bird, Boston Celtics 1987 – (none) 1988 – Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympics 1989 – Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers 1990 – Nolan Ryan, Texas Rangers 1991 – Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls 1992 – Mike Krzyzewski, Duke basketball 1993 – Cito Gaston and Pat Gillick, Toronto Blue Jays 1994 – Emmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys 1995 – Cal Ripken, Baltimore Orioles 1996 – Joe Torre, New York Yankees 1997 – Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals 1998 – Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals, and Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs (see also 1998 Major League Baseball home run record chase) 1999 – New York Yankees 2000 – Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner, St. Louis Rams 2001 – Curt Schilling, Arizona Diamondbacks 2002 – Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame football 2003 – Dick Vermeil, Kansas City Chiefs, and Jack McKeon, Florida Marlins 2004 – Tom Brady, New England Patriots 2005 – Matt Leinart, USC football 2006 – LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers 2007 – Tom Brady, New England Patriots 2008 – Eli Manning, New York Giants