American Pharoah Nominated for Sportsman of the Year

Triple Crown and Grand Slam Champion American Pharoah is among 12 sports stars to be nominated for the 2015 Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year Award. Since the award’s inception in 1954, no thoroughbred has ever won the honor.

In 1973, Triple Crown winner Secretariat had captivated the country with his high profile owner Penny Tweedy, who we now know as Penny Chenery, and with his 31 length triumph in the Belmont Stakes. That year, Formula One world champion driver Jackie Stewart was named Sportsman of the Year.

Seattle Slew was the next Triple Crown winner in 1977, and he too, did not win the award. He lost to Steve Cauthen, who is the only horse racing personality to ever be named Sportsman of the Year. In that year, the seventeen-year-old Cauthen was the leading jockey in the nation and the Eclipse Award winner. He won 467 races and became the first jockey to amass purses of over $6,000,000. The following year he would win the Triple Crown with Affirmed.

In 1978, Affirmed also did not win the honor, even with Steve Cauthen in the saddle. That year, the award went to Jack Nicklaus, the winner of the British Open.

If American Pharoah is to become the first four-legged Sportsman of the Year he will have to defeat the following more traditional sportsmen: Simone Biles, Usain Bolt, Stephen Curry, Thomas Davis, Novak Djokovic, the Kansas City Royals, Carli Lloyd, Lionel Messi, Ronda Rousey, Jordan Spieth, and Serena Williams.

The editors of Sports Illustrated will make the choice of the award winner, but they will take into consideration the voice of the fans. If you would like to cast a vote for American Pharoah, click here.