When the great Canadian athlete, referee, war veteran, and newspaper columnist Lou Marsh passed away unexpectedly in 1936, his paper the Toronto Star dedicated 11 pages to their fallen employee. Sensing that Marsh's greatness could possibly be extended in memoriam, the editors devised the Lou Marsh Trophy, which would be awarded in Marsh's honor to Canada's greatest athlete each year. It has been given out every year since then, except between 1942 and 1944 due to World War II.

The trophy itself is black marble, and at top reads "With Pick and Shovel" (the name of Marsh's column). It is given out each year in December after a vote by a group of 11 newspeople at various outlets across Canada.

Its most frequent winner was, aptly, The Great One Wayne Gretzky, who took home the trophy 4 times, while noted figure skater Barbara Ann Scott took home the award 3 times. Despite Gretzky's dominance of the trophy, though, was a bit of an aberration, as the trophy has been quite often awarded to non-hockey athletes despite the prevalence of hockey stars from Canada. For example, Bobby Orr, Maurice Richard, and Mario Lemieux only won one award each despite their dominance of the NHL during their careers, while little-known jocky Sandy Hawley captured the trophy twice. Additionally, the trophy voters prefer amateur athletes to professionals, and in Olympic years it is almost guaranteed that one of the many competing Canucks will take home the prize.

And now the list of Lou Marsh Trophy winners:

1936
Phil Edwards (Track and field)
1937
Marshall Cleland (Equestrian)
1938
Bobby Pearce (Rowing)
1939
Bob Pirie (Swimming)
1940
Gérard Côté (Marathon)
1941
Theo Dubois (Rowing)
1942
Not awarded
1943
Not awarded
1944
Not awarded
1945
Barbara Ann Scott (Figure skating)
1946
Joe Krol (Football)
1947
Barbara Ann Scott (Figure skating)
1948
Barbara Ann Scott (Figure skating)
1949
Cliff Lumsdon (Swimming)
1950
Bob McFarlane (Football & track and field)
1951
Marlene Streit (Golf)
1952
George Genereux (Shooting)
1953
Doug Hepburn (Weightlifting)
1954
Marilyn Bell (Swimming)
1955
Beth Whittall (Swimming)
1956
Marlene Streit (Golf)
1957
Maurice Richard (Ice hockey)
1958
Lucille Wheeler (Alpine skiing)
1959
Barbara Wagner & Bob Paul (Figure skating)
1960
Ann Heggtveit (Alpine skiing)
1961
Bruce Kidd (Track and field)
1962
Donald Jackson (Figure skating)
1963
Bill Crothers (Track and field)
1964
Roger Jackson & George Hungerford (Rowing)
1965
Petra Burka (Figure skating)
1966
Elaine Tanner (Swimming)
1967
Nancy Greene (Alpine skiing)
1968
Nancy Greene (Alpine skiing)
1969
Russ Jackson (Football)
1970
Bobby Orr (Ice hockey)
1971
Hervé Filion (Harness racing)
1972
Phil Esposito (Ice hockey)
1973
Sandy Hawley (Horse racing)
1974
Ferguson Jenkins (Baseball)
1975
Bobby Clarke (Ice hockey)
1976
Sandy Hawley (Horse racing)
1977
Guy Lafleur (Ice hockey)
1978
Graham Smith (Swimming)
1978
Ken Read (Alpine skiing)
1979
Sandra Post (Golf)
1980
Terry Fox (Marathon of Hope)
1981
Susan Nattrass (Shooting)
1982
Wayne Gretzky (Ice hockey)
1983
Rick Hansen (Wheelchair racing)
1983
Wayne Gretzky (Ice hockey)
1984
Gaétan Boucher (Speed skating)
1985
Wayne Gretzky (Ice hockey)
1986
Ben Johnson (Track and field)
1987
Ben Johnson (Track and field)
1988
Carolyn Waldo (Synchronized swimming)
1989
Wayne Gretzky (Ice hockey)
1990
Kurt Browning (Figure skating)
1991
Silken Laumann (Rowing)
1992
Mark Tewksbury (Swimming)
1993
Mario Lemieux (Ice Hockey)
1994
Myriam Bédard (Biathlon)
1995
Jacques Villeneuve (Auto racing)
1996
Donovan Bailey (Track and field)
1997
Jacques Villeneuve (Auto racing)
1998
Larry Walker (Baseball)
1999
Caroline Brunet (Kayaking)
2000
Daniel Igali (Wrestling)
2001
Jamie Salé & David Pelletier (Figure skating)
2002
Catriona Le May Doan (Speed skating)
2003
Mike Weir (Golf)
2004
Adam van Koeverden (Kayaking)
2005
Steve Nash (Basketball)
2006
Cindy Klassen (Speed skating)
2007
Sidney Crosby (Ice hockey)

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.