Syl Apps Athlete of the Year Award

The Syl Apps Athlete of the Year Award, began in 1998 and is awarded by the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame to Ontario's Athlete of the Year. It is named in for Syl Apps, an Olympic and Commonwealth Games pole vaulter and Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1940s.

The award is made based on voting by Ontario-based sports writers, broadcasters and personalities who have covered sports in Ontario for at least 10 years, as well as members of the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors and the Hall's Advisory Board. The award is for outstanding and memorable contributions to Ontario sports during the previous calendar year. Athletes may be eligible for the award if they are Ontario-born or Ontario-based.^[1]