Hickok Belt

The S. Rae Hickok Professional Athlete of the Year award, known as the Hickok Belt, is a trophy that originally was awarded for 27 years (from 1950 to 1976) to the top professional athlete of the year in the United States, and was re-established in 2012. It was created by Ray and Alan Hickok[1] in honor of their father, Stephen Rae Hickok, who had died unexpectedly in 1945[1] and was the founder of the Hickok Manufacturing Company of Rochester, New York, which made belts—hence the choice of a belt as a trophy.[2]

The trophy was an alligator-skin belt with a solid-gold buckle, an encrusted 4-carat (800 mg) diamond, and 26 gem chips. It was valued at over $10,000 in the currency of the time[3] (US$90,000 to $140,000 in 2011 dollars)[1] and its presentation was a major event in sporting news of the day.[4]

For the first 21 years, from 1950 to 1970, it was awarded in Rochester at the annual Rochester Press-Radio Club dinner (an event that continues today). After the Hickok company was taken over by the Tandy Corporation, the award was presented in larger cities such as Chicago or New York. The last award was made in 1976.

In 2010, Tony Liccione, the president of the Rochester Boxing Hall of Fame, announced plans to reinstate the Hickok Belt starting in 2012.[5] The mold used for the belt starting in 1951 (the 1950 belt spelled Mr. Hickok's name as "Ray") has been found and will likely be used again.[5] Liccione planned to invite the 18 surviving belt winners (except O.J. Simpson, who at the time was incarcerated in Nevada) to the Comeback Dinner, which was held on October 16, 2011 at St. John Fisher College.[5][6]

Since being re-established in 2012, the award has been given based on a vote by the National Sports Media Association;[7] however, there have been no award ceremonies or belt presentations.[8] A 20-member panel chooses one athlete each month, with the twelve monthly winners being eligible for the award at the end of the calendar year.[7] Of the awards given since 2012, two have been presented to LeBron James.

Winners
Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax was the award's only two-time winner prior to the award's revival in 2012
For a biographical sketch of each winner from 1950 to 1976, see footnote.[9]
YearWinnerSport
1950Phil RizzutoBaseball
1951Allie ReynoldsBaseball
1952Rocky MarcianoBoxing
1953Ben HoganGolf
1954Willie MaysBaseball
1955Otto GrahamFootball
1956Mickey MantleBaseball
1957Carmen BasilioBoxing
1958Bob TurleyBaseball
1959Ingemar JohanssonBoxing
1960Arnold PalmerGolf
1961Roger MarisBaseball
1962Maury WillsBaseball
1963Sandy KoufaxBaseball
1964Jim BrownFootball
1965Sandy Koufax (2)Baseball
1966Frank RobinsonBaseball
1967Carl YastrzemskiBaseball
1968Joe NamathFootball
1969Tom SeaverBaseball
1970Brooks RobinsonBaseball
1971Lee TrevinoGolf
1972Steve CarltonBaseball
1973O. J. SimpsonFootball
1974Muhammad AliBoxing
1975Pete RoseBaseball
1976Ken StablerFootball

Revived belt
LeBron James – a two-time Hickok Belt winner since the award's revival.
YearWinnerSportMonthly winners
2012 LeBron James Basketball
2013 LeBron James (2) Basketball
2014 Madison Bumgarner Baseball
2015 Stephen Curry Basketball
2016 Michael Phelps Swimming
2017 José Altuve Baseball
2018 Patrick Mahomes Football
2019 Kawhi Leonard Basketball
2020
  • Patrick Mahomes
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References
  1. "The Storied History of the Award that Made Sports History: The Backstory on the Hickok Belt, the Crown Jewel of the Sports World". HickokBelt.com. Liccione Enterprises. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
  2. Morrell, Alan (October 23, 2016). "Whatever Happened To ... the Hickok Belt". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York: Gannet Company. pp. 8A–9A. Archived from the original on October 24, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  3. "Hickok Award to Yankee Star". The Windsor Daily Star. Associated Press. January 22, 1957. p. 18. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  4. Matthews, Bob (October 12, 2010). "Hickok Belt is returning to Rochester". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. Gannett Company. pp. 1A, 4A. Archived from the original on October 15, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
  5. Bradley, Steve (October 13, 2010). "Hickok Belt mold to be used again". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. Gannett Company. pp. 1D, 2D. Archived from the original on October 15, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
  6. "The Belt is Back". Hickok Belt official website. Liccione Enterprises. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  7. Adams, Thomas (September 19, 2011). "Efforts underway to bring back the Hickok Belt". Rochester Business Journal. Rochester, New York. Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2011.
  8. Morrell, Alan. "Whatever Happened To ... the Hickok Belt". commercial appeal. commercialappeal.com. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  9. "The Sports Legends on Sports' Most Prestigious Short List: Meet the 26 Winners of the Original The Hickok Belt Award". HickokBelt.com. Liccione Enterprises. Retrieved January 11, 2017.

External reference
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