As those of you who follow the United States Sports Academy’s monthly online Athlete of the Month ballot are aware, mass sports cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused the institution to suspend its ballot for the first time in the program’s history.
The Athlete of the Month ballot is one of the many fun things we do here at the Academy. Our Athlete of the Month Committee goes to great lengths to produce a monthly ballot that features six males and six females who represent sport at its highest levels from around the world. That ballot is then released to our email distribution lists numbering more than 15,000 names and attracting votes from every corner of the globe.
Even though the sports world has been at a standstill because of the ongoing global health crisis, some of you still took the time to let us know who you think should be our next Athlete of the Month.
Below is a selection of nominations submitted through the Academy’s online Athlete of the Month submission form.
- “I nominate soccer player Ronaldinho because he is the best player in the world.”
- “I nominate Elkin Serna (Paralympic athlete from Colombia). Because, regardless of condition, race, gender, the good athlete has to be valued. We have an obligation to be more inclusive in sport and to deeply value those who are not limited by their disability impediment to being an example to follow.”
- “I nominate Roger Goodell. The Commissioner of the NFL did a great job in conducting the NFL Draft in April. Even though he is not an athlete, there are currently no sports being played and the NFL Draft is the closest thing to a sporting event that I can think of. Thanks.”
- “Jeff Henderson is a graduate of Stillman College. He is the Rio Olympic gold medalist in the long jump as a member of Team USA. His gold was the first for Team USA in the long jump since 2004. His coach is Al Joyner. He won the gold medal for his mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s. He won the silver medal in the 2019 outdoor world championships. Jeff’s mother, Debra Henderson, is in the late stages of the disease.”
- “Michael Jordan, because even though he has been retired his documentary, “The Last Dance,” on ESPN has given people something to look forward to for at least 5 weeks. I am not sure many retired athletes would be able to create so much buzz talking about their playing days as Michael Jordan has.”
- “I nominate just about any of them who get out there to participate! It’ll take a special kind of grit and determination to walk out onto the field of play in the face of the pandemic.”
As the sports world begins to open back up in the next few months, we hope to be able to continue our online Athlete of the Month ballot program. In the meantime, we encourage you to submit your own nominations here.
In closing, we do want to thank all of you who have participated in the voting over the years and we look forward to putting up our monthly ballots again soon.
Stay safe everyone!
I nominate Michael ” AIR” Jeffrey Jordan # 23, better known as the ” Black Cat” or ” Black Jesus”, as illustrated in the ” Last Dance ” sports documentary. The greatest basketball player all-time=G. O. A. T!!