See all 80 Kentuckians who received votes for 2021 Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year

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2021 Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year

The Lexington Herald-Leader revealed the winner of its 41st annual Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year award on Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. Click below to read more about the winner of the 2021 honor, view the complete voting totals and see reaction from the media members who contributed to the balloting.

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See all 80 Kentuckians who received votes for 2021 Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year

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Final voting

One hundred fifty-nine current and former media members from across Kentucky helped select the 2021 Lexington Herald-Leader Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year. Voters submitted up to 10 names. Points were awarded in the following manner: 12 for a first-place vote; 10 for second; eight for third; seven for fourth; six for fifth; five for sixth; four for seventh; three for eighth; two for ninth; one for 10th. First-place votes in parentheses:

x-tie broken by number of first-place votes received

Others receiving first-place votes in order of total points received: Walker Buehler, baseball (1), 76; Ja Morant, basketball (1), 64; Preston Spradlin, basketball (1), 47; Philip Haywood, football (1), 30; Justin Haddix, football (1), 29; Matthew Robertson, bass fishing (1), 12.

Others named on at least two ballots: Justin Thomas, golf, 75; Ben Rhodes, auto racing, 66; Dana Evans, basketball, 60; Scott Davenport, basketball, 51; Kayla Kowalik, softball, 49; Harry Mullins, rifle, 48; Kevin Wallace, football, 47; Reed Sheppard, basketball, 42; Jeff Brohm, football, 41;

Kendra Harrison, track & field, 40; Chris Oliver, football, 40; Isaac Dixon, football, 35; Julius Randle, basketball, 34; Tori Dilfer, volleyball, 32; Donna Moir, basketball, 30; Nick Albiero, swimming, 29; Johni Broome, basketball, 29; Malik Cunningham, football, 29; Christopher Rodriguez, football, 29;

Sophie Galloway, track & field, basketball, 27; Daylen Lile, baseball, 27; Jeff Walz, basketball, 27; Sam Vinson, basketball, 24; Will Levis, football 24; Avery Skinner, volleyball, 21; Travis Hudson, volleyball, 19; Ben Johnson, basketball, 19; Cameron Dukes, football, 17; Liam Draxl, tennis, 13; Dane Key, football, 13; Jerreth Sterns, football, 13; Riley Gaines, swimming, 12; Charles Bassey, basketball, 11; Cam Hergott, football, 11;

Jaime Gordon, volleyball, 10; Trey Sweeney, baseball, 10; Donovan Mitchell, basketball, 9; Abby Steiner, track & field, 9; Anna Stevenson, volleyball, 9; Lars Jorgensen, swimming, 8; Terry Taylor, basketball, 7; Grace Berger, basketball, 6; Michael Mayer, football, 6; Brandon Smith, football, 6; Brandon Reed, wrestling, 5; Essential Quality, horse racing, 4; Carlik Jones, basketball, 4; Jalen Boyd, football, 2; Paige Briggs, volleyball, 2.

Ballot leaders

Candidates included on the most ballots:

Voting by region

How the leaders fared in each region of the state (Eastern Kentucky is the 606 and 859 area codes outside of Lexington; Western Kentucky is the 502 and 270 area codes outside of Louisville)

Past winners

All-time results in Lexington Herald-Leader Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year Award voting:

Note: The award was known as Kentucky Sportsman of the Year from 1981-2015.

This story was originally published January 25, 2022 at 9:13 AM.

Mark Story

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-444-4731

Mark Story has worked in the Lexington Herald-Leader sports department since Aug. 27, 1990, and has been a Herald-Leader sports columnist since 2001. I have covered every Kentucky-Louisville football game since 1994, every UK-U of L basketball game but three since 1996-97 and every Kentucky Derby since 1994. Support my work with a digital subscription