Speedy B named area’s best
Ticats receiver Brandon Banks wins Golden Horseshoe Athlete of the Year
Earlier this week, an unlikely sporting hero from southern Ontario was jetted down to Raleigh to be feted for his starring role with one of that area’s sports teams.
On Thursday night, the roles were reversed.
Just days after Zamboni driver David Ayers took his place as an honorary North Carolinian, native Tar Heel Brandon Banks flew north to cement — further cement — his place as an honorary Hamiltonian when he was named Golden Horseshoe Athlete of the Year.
The 32-year-old fan favourite becomes the first Hamilton Tiger-Cat to claim the award. In fact, he’s the first pro team athlete to take it home. Only two football players have ever won in the 25 years it’s been given out: Jesse Lumsden and Kyle Quinlan, both for their seasons with the McMaster Marauders.
In winning the title as the top jock from (or representing) the Hamilton-Burlington area, Banks knocked off NBA star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and WNBA star Kia Nurse, making this arguably the most-competitive class of finalists ever. And likely spurring the mostvigorous debate about whether the voters got it right.
Gilgeous-Alexander may be the best Canadian basketball player alive right now. In just his second year in the pros, the Oklahoma City Thunder guard looks like one of the absolute steals of the 2018 draft and a guy everyone in this city is going to boast about for years.
He was a finalist for this award last year.
Nurse’s resumé is frankly becoming ridiculous. A national champi
on in college, a star on the national team that just qualified for the Olympics, an all-star with the New York Liberty and a champion with the Canberra Capitals in the Australian pro league where she was named MVP a couple weeks ago, if she hasn’t done it all she’s getting very close.
She won the award in 2015 and has been a finalist in 2013, ’14 and now ’19.
Either could have won. There will be those who argue one or the other should have won. That’s fair. This was an impossible choice. You could sit around and hash this one out for days. The voting results aren’t made public but The Spectator has learned this one was really tight.
As it should’ve been. That being the case, is it really fair to say — as we did off the top — that this award celebrated Banks’ unlikely starring role? Was it really unlikely?
Uh, have you seen pro football players in person? They tend to be large humans. He is not. At five-foot-seven and 150 pounds, he’s tiny for his sport. Unless he’s a gymnast or a jockey, he’d be tiny for any sport. There are offensive linemen whose calves outweigh him.
The only people to have won this award he wouldn’t have to look up to are Laura Fortino and Alena Sharp at five-footfour and five-foot-six. Surviving in football at his size is impressive. Thriving is remarkable. Yet that’s what he did in 2019.
He was chosen as the CFL’s most outstanding player. He led the league in receiving yards and receptions. He broke team receiving, touchdown returns and punt return yards. Simply put, he was the most-dangerous player on the field whenever he was on it.
If you’re looking for something to break the tie between these three, perhaps the physical shortcomings he’s had to overcome to do what he does could be it.
Funny thing though, it’s an Olympic year and Nurse will have a huge hand in any success Canada has in Tokyo. GilgeousAlexander is only getting better and he, too, could be playing at the Olympics. And the Ticats remain favourites to win the Grey Cup which would presumably need Banks to be great once more.
So whether you agree or disagree with the choice, don’t be shocked if these same three athletes are the finalists again next year. When we can start the debate once more.