Drew Brees Named Sportsman of the Year
Sports Illustrated group editor Terry McDonell announced Tuesday that Drew Brees is the 2010 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year.
Brees is the 57th honoree since the magazine’s founding in 1954, joining a transcendent group of athletes and sports figures including Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe, Jack Nicklaus, Derek Jeter, John Wooden and Cal Ripken Jr. to receive the award.
The billing on the Sportsman cover, The Saints’ Super Bowl-Winning Quarterback Continues to Inspire a City on the Rebound, encapsulates what Brees means to his team and his town.
[ Also Read: Football Players Unite to Block the Lockout ]“Drew’s accomplishments go far beyond delivering a Super Bowl title to a notoriously long-suffering franchise,” McDonell said. “He has been a driving force in a battered city’s ongoing efforts to rebuild and renew while simultaneously resurrecting his own career.”
As Senior Writer Tim Layden chronicles in the Sportsman cover story, Brees was coming off a devastating shoulder injury and his career was at a crossroads when he joined the New Orleans Saints in 2006, moving to a city that had become a shell of itself in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
[ Also Read: Wilson Golf Re-signs Ricky Barnes to Multiyear Deal ]Brees told Layden: “I needed New Orleans just as much as New Orleans needed me. People in New Orleans needed somebody to care about them. And it was the one place that cared about me.”
From 2006–09, Brees threw for the most yards (18,298) and tied for the most touchdown passes (122, with Peyton Manning) of any quarterback in the NFL.
He was at the height of his brilliance during New Orleans’ championship run in 2010—the first in the team’s 47-year history—culminating in an MVP performance during the Saints’ 31–17 upset of the Colts in Super Bowl XLIV.
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Yet while solid quarterbacking alone would have been enough to deify Brees in New Orleans, it is Brees the person who has earned the lasting trust and love of the city, explains Sports Illustrated.
Brees is the sixth quarterback to win the award and the third in the past six years.
The five previous quarterbacks to be named Sportsman of the Year are Terry Baker of Oregon State (’62), Terry Bradshaw of the Steelers (along with Pittsburgh Pirates’ star Willie Stargel (’79), Joe Montana of the 49ers (’90), Tom Brady of the Patriots (’05) and Brett Favre of the Packers (’07).
Sports Illustrated (SI) is a multimedia sports brand.
