Golden Horseshoe Athlete of the Year
SPORTS
If you’re going to give out a prize for something based on performance and you want people to pay attention and acknowledge that it matters, there is really only one criterion. Make it credible. The choice can’t be patronizing. It can’t be seen as myopic, rewarding small-potatoes hometown stars over those excelling on the world stage. On the flip side, it can’t honour big-names simply because of their fame. It simply has to be legit. When you hear the name or names — and possibly the explanation behind the choices — you should simply nod and quietly say, “Yes.”
By choosing basketball star Danielle Boiago, Olympic wrestler Michelle Fazzari and racquetball legend Mike Green as finalists this year, the Golden Horseshoe Athlete of the Year committee has done that and continued its long streak of getting it right.
These really are this area’s best from the past year of sports.
What’s that? You don’t know those names? Or you’ve heard about those athletes but don’t know a whole lot about them?
Well, they were exactly the correct choices.
The past 12 months didn’t offer a signature moment that stole the local spotlight and sucked up all the oxygen in the room. There was no assist on an Olympic gold medalwinning goal (Laura Fortino), no PGA Tour win (Mac Hughes) and no game-of-her-life in a Pan Am Games gold-medal contest (Kia Nurse) or single-handed dismantling of the world’s top team in an Olympic soccer match (Melissa Tancredi).
However, there were three wonderful achievements that capped three incredible careers.
Boiago not only earned Canadian university honours for player of the year — as well as Ontario player of the year and defensive player of the year — but she set the school’s scoring record. Obliterated it, actually. Her 1,719 points sit 430 ahead of her closest pursuer.
Add first place in steals, second in assists and third in rebounds (despite being just five-foot-seven) and she is pretty clearly the greatest female basketball player to ever suit up for the Marauders. Which is saying something since women have been playing basketball at Mac for nearly 50 years.
A year after competing in the Olympics at Rio, Fazzari won a series of significant international events. Then she put a giant exclamation point beside her year by taking bronze at the world championship. It was her first medal at that level and marked a signature moment for the 30-year-old.
Considering she was returning after a six-month sabbatical from the sport — and coming back from a serious knee injury before that — it’s not just a terrific tale of winning but a triumph of overcoming massive obstacles, as well.
Then there’s Green. He won his first Canadian racquetball title back in 2000 when Boiago was six years old. Last year, he won his record 10th doubles championship and 11th singles crown. At 44, facing opponents young enough to be his kids.
It seems remarkable that someone who has won 21 national titles in anything remains virtually unknown in his hometown, but that’s his lot in a sport that generally gets about as much attention as Scandinavian Cheese Rolling. Yet, here he is, finally earning his first nomination for this prize.
It’s true that all three are being honoured in some sense for the fullness of their career. Normally, that’s not what this award is for, of course. But none of the three are legacy picks alone. All three had remarkable years in 2017.
The winner will be announced Feb. 22.
Lesser known doesn’t mean lesser accomplished. Or lesser worthy. These were the right choices for this year. Good on the committee for getting it right. And good on the three athletes for earning the nod.