LeBron James Named ‘Sportsman of the Year’ By Sports Illustrated

A regular season MVP, a Finals MVP, an NBA championship and an Olympic Gold Medal. It was a pretty good year for LeBron James, huh? SI seemed to think so, and named him its “Sportsman of the Year”. Read this great feature on ‘Bron getting this much-deserved accolade. More from the Sun-Sentinel: “A year that produced his first NBA championship and later an Olympic gold medal is ending with LeBron James at the top of the sporting world by at least one account. Monday, it was revealed that the Heat forward has been named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year. James follows in the footsteps of teammate Dwyane Wade, who won the award in 2006 after the Heat won the first of the franchise’s two championships. Among previous winners were Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe and Wayne Gretzky. College basketball coaches Mike Krzyzewski, who coached James in the London Olympics, and Pat Summitt shared the honor last year. James became the six professional basketball player named Sportsman of the Year, joining Wade, Tim Duncan and David Robinson (’03), Michael Jordan (’91), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (’85) and Bill Russell (’68). According to the magazine the award is presented, ‘to the transcendent athlete, coach or team who by virtue of their superior athletic achievement and comportment took us all to a higher place.’ The award first was handed out in 1954.”