Hickok Belt
American sports trophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The S. Rae Hickok Professional Athlete of the Year award, commonly known as the Hickok Belt, is a trophy awarded to the top professional athlete of the year in the United States. First awarded from 1950 to 1976, it was dormant until being revived in 2012. The most recent recipient is 2024 winner Shohei Ohtani.
Phil Rizzuto, the first recipient of the award | |
| Awarded for | Top professional athlete |
|---|---|
| Nickname | Hickok Belt |
| Sponsored by | Ray and Alan Hickok (original) |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | National Sports Media Association (current) |
| History | |
| First award | 1950 (not awarded 1977–2011) |
| First winner | Phil Rizzuto |
| Most wins | 2, by Sandy Koufax, LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes, and Shohei Ohtani |
| Most recent | Shohei Ohtani (2024) |
History
The award was created by Ray and Alan Hickok in honor of their father, Stephen Rae Hickok, who died unexpectedly in December 1945.[1][2] The elder Hickok had founded the Hickok Jewelry Manufacturing Company[3] of Rochester, New York, which made belts—hence the choice of a belt for the trophy.[4] The first recipient was baseball player Phil Rizzuto, who received the award for 1950 during a charity dinner event in Rochester on January 22, 1951.[5] He narrowly bested golfer Ben Hogan.[a] Rizzuto's belt is now in the collection of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.[6]
News reports indicate that the Hickok family had previously awarded other belts to boxers, independent of the annual athlete of the year award. Examples include the presentation of "a solid gold and jewel-studded championship belt" to Jake LaMotta in June 1949 at the conclusion of a bout at Detroit's Briggs Stadium,[7] and a belt given to a Rochester-area boxer named Mike Conroy in 1927.[8]
The annual award winner received an alligator skin belt with a solid gold buckle, an encrusted 4-carat (0.80 g) diamond, and 26 gem chips. It was valued at $10,000 in 1951 ($124,038 in 2025),[9] and its presentation was a major event in sporting news of the day.[10] A simpler alligator skin belt with an engraved buckle of 10 karat gold was apparently awarded to monthly winners—examples include one presented to Otto Graham in recognition of his December 1954 monthly award, which was sold at auction in April 2001,[11] and one presented to Elgin Baylor in recognition of his March 1959 award, which was sold at auction in 2013.[12][13]
A group of 200 sportswriters throughout the U.S. selected monthly winners, with an athlete of the year selected from those honorees.[9][b] For the first 21 years, from 1950 to 1970, the belt was awarded in Rochester at the annual Rochester Press-Radio Club dinner. After the Hickok company was taken over by the Tandy Corporation, the award was presented in larger cities such as Chicago or New York. After the 1976 annual award was presented, monthly awards were issued through October 1977 (naming a winner for the prior month), then halted.[15] The award remained dormant until being revived in 2012.
During the first 27 years the annual award was presented, it was won 15 times by baseball players, five times by football players, four times by boxers, and three times by golfers. The only two-time winner was Sandy Koufax, in 1963 and 1965.
Revival
In 2010, Tony Liccione, the president of the Rochester Boxing Hall of Fame, announced plans to reinstate the Hickok Belt starting in 2012.[16] The mold for the belt used from 1951 onward[c] was found and planned to be used again.[16] Liccione invited the 18 surviving belt winners (except O. J. Simpson, who at the time was incarcerated in Nevada) to a "comeback dinner", which was held on October 16, 2011, at St. John Fisher College in Rochester.[16][17] Attendees included Johnny Antonelli, Carmen Basilio (1957 winner), Jim Brown (1964 winner), George Chuvalo, Meadowlark Lemon, and Bob Turley (1958 winner).[18]
Upon being re-established in 2012, the award was based on a vote by the National Sports Media Association;[19] however, there were no public award ceremonies or belt presentations.[20] A 20-member panel selected one athlete each month, with the 12 monthly winners being eligible for the annual award.[19]
For the 2012–2024 belts, five winners have been basketball players, five have been baseball players, two have been football players, and one has been a swimmer. There have been three two-time winners: LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes, and Shohei Ohtani.
Tony Liccione died in February 2025.[18] Monthly awards since that time are lacking,[21] leaving the future of the annual award uncertain.
Winners
1950–1976
The following athletes won the award during its original term. Contemporary newspaper reports indicate that monthly winners were also named,[22] only some of whom are included in this table.
Source:[51]
2012–present
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Source:[51]
Notes
- Annual voting does not appear to have been strictly limited to monthly winners, as 1951 annual voting included Bobby Thomson, Stan Musial, Joe DiMaggio, and Terry Sawchuk, none of whom were a monthly winner during 1951.[14]
- Top vote-getter for March 1950 was college basketball coach Nat Holman, who had guided the CCNY Beavers to the NCAA title, but he was ruled ineligible "because he could not be classed as a professional athlete."[23]
- Graham's belt is now in the collection of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.[38]
- In July 2016, the belt awarded to Maris was stolen from The Roger Maris Museum, located in Fargo, North Dakota.[39] In 2023, following arrests, it was reported that "the belt was cut in half" and would not be returning to the museum.[40]
- Monthly awards were temporarily suspended during 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the suspension of sporting events.[52]
- Baseball Almanac indicates that monthly awards were discontinued after January 2025.[21]