Sporting News Sportsman of the Year.

Sporting News Sportsman of the Year. This award was first presented in 1968 and was known as the Sporting News Man of the Year before 1993. It is awarded for character as well as athletic achievement.. Year Name Sport 1968 Denny McLain baseball 1969 Tom Seaver baseball 1970 John Wooden basketball 1971 Lee Trevino golf 1972 Charles O. Finley baseball 1973 O. J. Simpson football 1974 Lou Brock baseball 1975 Archie Griffin football 1976 Larry O'Brien basketball 1977 Steve Cauthen horse racing 1978 Ron Guidry baseball 1979 Willie Stargell baseball 1980 George Brett baseball 1981 Wayne Gretzky hockey 1982 Whitey Herzog baseball 1983 Bowie Kuhn baseball 1984 Peter Ueberroth president of LA Olympics Organizing Committee 1985 Pete Rose baseball 1986 Larry Bird basketball 1987 no award given 1 988 Jackie Joyner-Kersee track and field 1989 Joe Montana football 1990 Nolan Ryan baseball 1991 Michael Jordan basketball 1992 Mike Krzyzewski basketball 1993 Cito Gaston and Pat Gillick baseball 1994 Emmitt Smith football 1995 Cal Ripken, Jr. baseball 1996 Joe Torre baseball 1997 Mark McGwire baseball 1998 Mark McGwire baseball (shared) Sammy Sosa baseball 1999 New York Yankees baseball 2000 Kurt Warner football (shared) Marshall Faulk football 2001 Curt Schilling baseball 2002 Tyrone Willingham football 2003 Jack McKeon baseball (shared) Dick Vermeil football 2004 Tom Brady football 2005 Matt Leinart football 2006 LaDainian Tomlinson football 2007 Tom Brady football Source: The Sporting News.