It’s tough wading in Marsh voting

To understand the complex process of selecting the Lou Marsh Trophy, you only need to go back to the beginning. It’s always been complicated. Back in 1936, it was a middle-distance runner named Phil Edwards who became the first winner of the Lou Marsh as Canada’s athlete of the year.

Edwards was a marvelously intriguing story, a man who didn’t even have Canadian roots. He was born in what was then British Guyana and moved to the U.S. after high school to attend New York University, where he became a noted track and field athlete.

Unable to compete for the U.S. because he was a British subject, he was lured north to compete for Canada and competed in the 1928 and 1932 Summer Olympics, and the notorious 1936 Games in Berlin.

He won five bronze medals at various distances, including the 800 metres in 1936, and became known as the Man of Bronze. No golds, no world records. But at the time, his achievements were noteworthy in a sports world that was just starting to get used to the idea of professionalism.

Edwards went on to become a noted doctor, a graduate of McGill University and a specialist in tropical and chest diseases. He died on Sept. 7, 1971, and The Canadian Press supplied an obituary that ran in The New York Times that noted he was of “mixed Negro, Indian and white blood.” Yes, the times they do change.

Edwards represented an extraordinary life lived, to be sure. That he was recognized with the first Lou Marsh Trophy at a time when Eddie Shore had been voted the NHL’s most valuable player and the Leafs’ Charlie Conacher was atop the goal-scoring lists tells you something about the way in which sports were compared and valued at the time.

The next year, an equestrian named Marshal Cleland won the award, with three titles at the Royal Winter Fair a major part of his achievements as a member of the Canadian Army team.

The war then intervened, and it wasn’t until Joe Krol of the Toronto Argonauts won the award in 1946 that a professional athlete was recognized, and not until 1957, when Maurice Richard won, that an NHL player captured the prestigious award.

The Lou Marsh Trophy voting committee will again assemble on Tuesday to pick Canada’s athlete of the year for 2017. All that history, both from sporting legends of long ago and from sports heroes of more recent times, will go into the process of picking a winner for the 77th time.

Some years it seems if not easy, relatively straightforward. In 2015, Carey Price was the best goalie on the planet and had won a boatload of NHL awards. Last year, swimmer Penny Oleksiak had captured the country’s hearts and imagination at the Rio Olympics, and was a runaway winner.

The award used to be voted upon by a small handful of Toronto-based voters. In recent years, we’ve added more voters to represent more parts of the country, hopefully to make sure the Lou Marsh reflects a broader perspective, and on Tuesday upwards of 30 media people will cast their vote.

Unlike the last two years, it’s expected to be anything but straightforward, another year when the way in which voters weigh the value and importance of different achievements in very different sports could produce an intriguing result.

Remember 2014? That was the year when Eugenie Bouchard went to the final at Wimbledon. But the Lou Marsh went to bobsledder Kaillie Humphries for her extraordinary performance in Sochi at the Olympics.

Pro tennis versus Olympic bobsledding? Hardly a simple comparison.

That, however, is what we do every year. This year, you’ve got NHLers like Hart Trophy winner Connor McDavid and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sidney Crosby, who took the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup again. First baseman Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds, the 2010 Lou Marsh winner, had yet another splendid year.

Denis Shapovalov burst into prominence on the pro tennis tour. Ghislaine Landry was a finalist for player of the year in rugby women’s sevens. Ellie Black became the first Canadian gymnast to ever win a medal at the world championships. Crosscountry skier Alex Harvey became the first North American to win the 50-kilometre race at the world championships since they started holding the race in 1925. Moguls star Mikael Kingsbury won yet another Crystal Globe. Wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos won four gold medals at the world championships. Bur- geoning basketball star R.J. Barrett, just turned 17, took Canada to gold at the world under-19 championship.

Brooke Henderson won another LPGA tournament. Backstroker Kylie Masse won gold at the world championships. Andrew Harris of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers led the CFL in rushing and set a record for receptions by a running back. Erik Guay, at 35, won the super-G at the world championships, the oldest world champion in alpine skiing.

Get the idea? Without an overwhelming favourite, it’s going to be a massive challenge to sort out all these achievements and pinpoint one athlete of distinction.

Back in 1936, Edwards wasn’t the most famous Canadian athlete alive. At a time when the CFL was still more than two decades away from being formed and Charlie Conacher’s older brother Lionel played hockey, football and lacrosse at elite levels, it’s hard to fully understand what mattered in sports to Canadians at that time.

These days, it’s not much easier. Barbara Ann Scott won the Lou Marsh three times for her figure skating brilliance, but there are many more female athletes competing in many more sports now than in her time. We worship our fabulously rich NHL, NBA and MLB stars, but still see quality and honour in the athletes that pursue disciplines that almost never make headlines.

It’s a tricky business. Always has been. Damien Cox is the co-host of Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The FAN. He spent nearly 30 years covering a variety of sports for The Star. Follow him @DamoSpin. His column appears Tuesday and Saturday.