At this time of year, people are apt to make lists of their favorite people and moments of the past year. Sports writers are no different. Over the course of a year, we see many things that inspire us and others that make our blood boil. Such is the nature of life. Such is the nature of sports.
With that in mind, I would like to discuss people in sports who have grabbed our attention this year. And sometimes not in a good way. You may recognize these folks, or it could be your first acquaintance with them. So, without further ado, I give you Greg’s 1st Annual List of Sports Heros and Zeros. This will be a two-part series. We started with the Zeros; now, let’s celebrate our Sports Heros of 2024.
Sports Heros of 2024
Travis Hunter
The Heisman Trophy-winning, two-way Colorado football star Travis Hunter is a throwback to a bygone era. In the age of sports specialization, Hunter excelled on both sides of the ball. During the 2024 season, he played nearly 1,400 scrimmage snaps on offense and defense. This was almost 400 snaps more than any other player in the country. Hunter became the first player in college football history to win the Chuck Bednarik Award as the nation’s top defensive player and the Fred Biletnikoff Award as the country’s best wide receiver.
His statistics for the year will make you do a double-take. He caught 96 passes for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdown receptions. He also added one rushing touchdown to his impressive statistics. As a defensive back, he recorded four interceptions, one forced fumble, and 35 total tackles. His coach, Deion Sanders, said this about Hunter before his last collegiate game.
“It’s gonna be something to behold. I don’t know how I’m gonna handle it. I know Travis is gonna trigger me. I know it because he always does, and he’s gonna bring tears out of my eyes. But I don’t look forward to it. But I do, because that means they’re going to another level, another chapter of life. And they’re gonna soar.”
This elite athlete regularly stops to have his photo taken with adorning fans, especially his younger fans. And in an age where colleges are bidding for athletes through their NIL funds, Hunter takes no money from the Buffaloes’ NIL fund. In fact, he is one of their biggest boosters, and his contributions pay for 10-15 players on Colorado’s roster. Travis Hunter truly is a Renaissance man.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh
This past summer, I brought you the incredible story of the Ukrainian Olympic athlete Yaroslava Mahuchikh. His amazing story of perseverance on her way to Olympic Gold was one of the year’s most inspiring stories. Her ability to train and perform under the dire circumstances of her life will be a story for the ages.
Yaroslava won the Olympic Gold Medal in the high jump this past summer at the Paris Summer Games. Remarkably, her Ukrainian teammate, Iryna Gerashchenko, won a bronze medal in the same event. This would have been an extraordinary feat in and of itself, but her journey to the Olympics might be the most important part of the story. Because currently, she is an athlete who cannot train or perform in her own country.
Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she has been forced to train in distant lands away from her family. In addition to Germany, she has trained in Portugal, Estonia, and Belgium while also competing in track meets all over Europe. She gets back to her home in Dnipro occasionally, but she is never certain if she will be able to come home again.
Since then, she has won several European competitions and was recently named one of the World Athletes of the Year by the World Athletics Organization. Her prestigious career continues, but as always, her heart remains in Ukraine.
Caitlin Clark and Simone Biles
I was not going to add these two phenomenal athletes to the list, and I fully realize that choosing two athletes for one spot is a cop-out. But when it came down to it, how could you ignore two of the biggest record-breaking sports figures and culturally significant individuals from the past year?
Clark has taken women’s basketball to new heights, and her influence has been felt on and off the court. From her senior year at Iowa through her first season with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, Clark has packed sold-out arenas and prompted millions of television viewers to tune into her games. She has set numerous NCAA and WNBA records. And she signed a reported $28 million endorsement deal with Nike, the largest ever for a women’s basketball player.
Off the court, she has been a role model to hundreds of young female athletes who flock to her games just to get a peak at their idol. After the NCAA Championship game last spring, Dawn Staley, the opposing coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks, said it best when she spoke to the crowd and praised Caitlin, “I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport.”
Simone Biles’s story is a familiar but inspirational one. Initially scorned for withdrawing from the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Biles became a prominent face and voice in combating the stigma of mental illness. She is now revered for her bravery and honesty in bringing this important topic to the forefront. But many doubted that she could make a successful comeback at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The rest, of course, is history; she not only returned to the Summer Games but dominated them. First, she competed in four events and helped the United States team defeat Italy for the gold medal. She then went on to win the All-Around Final after suffering a setback on the uneven bars. With that win, she became the third woman in Olympic history to win two All-Around titles. She won a gold medal in the vault exercise and barely lost to Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade in the floor exercise final, where she took the silver.
Biles’ 11 Olympic and 30 World Championship medals make her the most decorated gymnast of all time. And her 11 medals ties her with Vera Caslavska as the second most decorated Olympic female gymnast. In 2022, President Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest award a United States civilian can receive.
