Photo by: U.S. Air Force photo by Justin R
COLORADO SPORTS HALL OF FAME HONORS NUGGETS AND 2023 ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
1/17/2024 1:42:00 PM | Football
Air Force senior Trey Taylor honored as an athlete of the year
DENVER — The NBA champion Denver Nuggets, U.S. Open winner Wyndham Clark and the all-time leader in World Cup alpine ski victories Mikaela Shiffrin will be among those honored at the 59th annual Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Induction & Awards Banquet, set for April 17 at the Hilton Denver City Center (1701 California St.).
Following voting on Tuesday, the Selection Committee of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame named the Nuggets winners of the King of the Hill Award after capturing the NBA title for the first time in 2023. The Selection Committee also picked Clark and Shiffrin the co-Professional Athletes of the Year, Trey Taylor of the Air Force Academy (football) and McKenna Hofschild of Colorado State (basketball) College Athletes of the Year, and Walker Martin of Eaton (baseball) and Hailey Maestretti of Lutheran (softball) High School Athletes of the Year. Alpine skier and certified therapeutic horseback riding instructor Allie Johnson will be the recipient of the Hall of Fame's Athlete with Disabilities Award.
The Nuggets, Clark, Shiffrin, the other 2023 Athletes of the Year and Johnson will be honored at the 2024 banquet along with the newest Colorado Sports Hall of Fame inductees: Tony Boselli, Rudy Carey, Barney Chavous, Woody Paige and Scott Stocker.
In their 47th season competing in the NBA, the Nuggets finally won a league title in 2023. In fact, the team established the standard for most seasons prior to a franchise's first NBA title. Denver went 46, and the next most are Cleveland (45) and Detroit (40).
The Nuggets went 16-4 in their playoff run, including defeating Miami 4-1 in the NBA Finals. In the two decades since the NBA went to four best-of-seven series en route to the title, the Nuggets and the 2007 San Antonio Spurs had the second-best playoff record en route to the crown. The best? The 2017 Golden State Warriors went 16-1 in the postseason.
Three days after clinching the NBA title, the Nuggets drew an estimated 750,000 people to their parade in Civic Center Park.
Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokić was named the Finals MVP. In the series against the Heat, he averaged 30.2 points, 14 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game. Meanwhile, his Robin, Jamal Murray, ended up at 21.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg and 10 apg in the series against the Heat. Jokić and Murray because the first teammates to post triple-doubles in the same NBA Finals game. In Game 3, Jokić finished with 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists, and Murray with 34, 10 and 10.
Jokić became the first player in NBA history to lead the playoffs in all three of the following categories — points (600), rebounds (269) and assists (190).
With the victory, Stan Kroenke had four of his teams win league titles in the course of 16 months:
* L.A. Rams in NFL in early 2022.
* Colorado Avalanche in NHL in 2022
* Colorado Mammoth in National Lacrosse League in 2022
* Denver Nuggets in NBA in 2023
The King of the Hill Award will be presented for the second straight year after previously not being awarded since 2017. Last year the Colorado Avalanche, and University of Denver and Denver East hockey teams earned KOH honors after each claiming titles.
Wyndham Clark, a Denver native and Valor Christian graduate, recorded his first PGA Tour victory in May — at the Wells Fargo Championship. A month and a half later, he not only added win No. 2, but it came in a major championship as he fended off Rory McIlroy to capture the U.S. Open. He thus became the third person in the last 50 years to grow up in Colorado and go on to win a U.S. Open, joining Colorado Sports Hall of Famers Hale Irwin (3 titles) and Steve Jones (1). He went on to represent the U.S. in the Ryder Cup, becoming the first Colorado high school graduate to do so since Irwin in 1991. Clark finished 2023 No. 10 in the world golf rankings. Late in the year, he was voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame at age 29, joining Irwin and Jennifer Kupcho in earning that honor while in their 20s.
Mikaela Shiffrin, who grew up in Eagle-Vail, became the all-time World Cup victory leader in alpine skiing by notching win No. 87 in March in Are, Sweden, three days shy of her 28th birthday. That moved her out of a tie with Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark, who competed in the 1970s and '80s. Lindsey Vonn, who grew up in Vail and retired in 2019, held the women's WC record with 82 wins until Shiffrin surpassed her. Shiffrin now sits at 93 World Cup victories, including 56 in the slalom. Shiffrin also owns two Olympic gold medals and seven world championships victories.
Trey Taylor, a senior safety at Air Force, earned the Jim Thorpe Award for top defensive back in the country, based on performance on the field, athletic ability and character. Taylor became the first Falcon to win a major college football award since Chad Hennings, the Outland Trophy recipient in 1987. In a 2023 season in which the Falcons went 9-4, Taylor chalked up 71 tackles, three interceptions, four passes broken up and his first career touchdown. He allowed just 18 receptions. He was named a third-team All-American by the Associated Press. Also, Taylor received the Defender of the Nation Award, presented to a college football player from one of the nation's service academies based on exceptional leadership qualities, performance on and off the field, and a high standard of integrity.
McKenna Hofschild, a 5-foot-2 point guard in her final season for the CSU women's basketball team, was the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year and an AP honorable mention All-American in 2023 as she averaged 20.6 points and 7.2 assists in the 2022-23 campaign. And so far this season, she's stepped it up another notch, with norms of 23.9 points and 8.4 assists. Hofschild, who started her career at Seton Hall before transferring to CSU, earlier this season became the CSU's women's basketball program's all-time assist leader. Through 3 1/2 seasons with the Rams, she's sitting at 1,837 points and 678 assists.
Walker Martin led the nation's high school baseball ranks with 20 home runs to go along with 75 runs batted in in 2023. After his senior season at Eaton, he was picked in the second round of the MLB draft by the San Francisco Giants, who took him No. 52 overall. Martin was the highest baseball player drafted out of a Colorado high school since Darnell McDonald in 1997. At one point as a senior shortstop, Martin went yard in nine consecutive games in 2023. He led Eaton to three straight 3A state baseball titles. And he owned a whopping .633 batting average as a senior, when he was named the Gatorade baseball player of the year for Colorado. Martin also played quarterback, helping Eaton to three straight 2A state football championships.
Hailey Maestretti led Lutheran to three consecutive state titles in softball, as a senior returning from a broken arm in the preseason to strike out 11 batters in the championship-clinching game. Maestretti subsequently was named the 2023 Gatorade Player of the Year in Colorado softball. In her senior season, the left-hander compiled a 2.24 earned-run average — while pitching more than 200 innings — and batted .392. She'll play her college softball at Utah.
Allie Johnson, an upper-limb amputee from birth, competed in the 2022 Paralympics in Beijing. She's also proud of serving as a disability-rights advocate who hopes to teach anyone who was "born different" to embrace uniqueness and that their difference is their greatest strength. In 2018, at age 22, Johnson began ski racing with the National Sports Center for the Disabled and immediately loved the sport. But two years later, she crashed in a downhill race and sustained multiple fractures of the lower leg. After three surgeries and hundreds of hours of physical therapy, Johnson was back on the slopes in 2021 and qualified for the four-person female U.S. Paralympic team in 2022. During her first year on the World Cup circuit, Johnson earned the overall crystal bronze medal in giant slalom, having finished on the podium four times in World Cup races. She now volunteers for the Sisters in Sports organization, helping support current and future female athletes in their journey. Johnson's mantra is "ski like a girl" and she hopes to continue to demonstrate all that women with disabilities are capable of.
Tickets for the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Banquet are $250 each and sponsor tables start at $3,000. For additional ticket and table information, please contact the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame (www.coloradosports.org or 720-258-3535).
The Colorado Sports Hall of Fame & Museum is located at Gate 1 on the west side of Empower Field at Mile High at 1701 Bryant Street in Denver.
Since its inception in 1965, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame has inducted 281 individuals prior to 2024. The first class of inductees featured Earl "Dutch" Clark, Jack Dempsey and former Supreme Court Justice Byron "Whizzer" White.
Following voting on Tuesday, the Selection Committee of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame named the Nuggets winners of the King of the Hill Award after capturing the NBA title for the first time in 2023. The Selection Committee also picked Clark and Shiffrin the co-Professional Athletes of the Year, Trey Taylor of the Air Force Academy (football) and McKenna Hofschild of Colorado State (basketball) College Athletes of the Year, and Walker Martin of Eaton (baseball) and Hailey Maestretti of Lutheran (softball) High School Athletes of the Year. Alpine skier and certified therapeutic horseback riding instructor Allie Johnson will be the recipient of the Hall of Fame's Athlete with Disabilities Award.
The Nuggets, Clark, Shiffrin, the other 2023 Athletes of the Year and Johnson will be honored at the 2024 banquet along with the newest Colorado Sports Hall of Fame inductees: Tony Boselli, Rudy Carey, Barney Chavous, Woody Paige and Scott Stocker.
In their 47th season competing in the NBA, the Nuggets finally won a league title in 2023. In fact, the team established the standard for most seasons prior to a franchise's first NBA title. Denver went 46, and the next most are Cleveland (45) and Detroit (40).
The Nuggets went 16-4 in their playoff run, including defeating Miami 4-1 in the NBA Finals. In the two decades since the NBA went to four best-of-seven series en route to the title, the Nuggets and the 2007 San Antonio Spurs had the second-best playoff record en route to the crown. The best? The 2017 Golden State Warriors went 16-1 in the postseason.
Three days after clinching the NBA title, the Nuggets drew an estimated 750,000 people to their parade in Civic Center Park.
Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokić was named the Finals MVP. In the series against the Heat, he averaged 30.2 points, 14 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game. Meanwhile, his Robin, Jamal Murray, ended up at 21.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg and 10 apg in the series against the Heat. Jokić and Murray because the first teammates to post triple-doubles in the same NBA Finals game. In Game 3, Jokić finished with 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists, and Murray with 34, 10 and 10.
Jokić became the first player in NBA history to lead the playoffs in all three of the following categories — points (600), rebounds (269) and assists (190).
With the victory, Stan Kroenke had four of his teams win league titles in the course of 16 months:
* L.A. Rams in NFL in early 2022.
* Colorado Avalanche in NHL in 2022
* Colorado Mammoth in National Lacrosse League in 2022
* Denver Nuggets in NBA in 2023
The King of the Hill Award will be presented for the second straight year after previously not being awarded since 2017. Last year the Colorado Avalanche, and University of Denver and Denver East hockey teams earned KOH honors after each claiming titles.
Wyndham Clark, a Denver native and Valor Christian graduate, recorded his first PGA Tour victory in May — at the Wells Fargo Championship. A month and a half later, he not only added win No. 2, but it came in a major championship as he fended off Rory McIlroy to capture the U.S. Open. He thus became the third person in the last 50 years to grow up in Colorado and go on to win a U.S. Open, joining Colorado Sports Hall of Famers Hale Irwin (3 titles) and Steve Jones (1). He went on to represent the U.S. in the Ryder Cup, becoming the first Colorado high school graduate to do so since Irwin in 1991. Clark finished 2023 No. 10 in the world golf rankings. Late in the year, he was voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame at age 29, joining Irwin and Jennifer Kupcho in earning that honor while in their 20s.
Mikaela Shiffrin, who grew up in Eagle-Vail, became the all-time World Cup victory leader in alpine skiing by notching win No. 87 in March in Are, Sweden, three days shy of her 28th birthday. That moved her out of a tie with Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark, who competed in the 1970s and '80s. Lindsey Vonn, who grew up in Vail and retired in 2019, held the women's WC record with 82 wins until Shiffrin surpassed her. Shiffrin now sits at 93 World Cup victories, including 56 in the slalom. Shiffrin also owns two Olympic gold medals and seven world championships victories.
Trey Taylor, a senior safety at Air Force, earned the Jim Thorpe Award for top defensive back in the country, based on performance on the field, athletic ability and character. Taylor became the first Falcon to win a major college football award since Chad Hennings, the Outland Trophy recipient in 1987. In a 2023 season in which the Falcons went 9-4, Taylor chalked up 71 tackles, three interceptions, four passes broken up and his first career touchdown. He allowed just 18 receptions. He was named a third-team All-American by the Associated Press. Also, Taylor received the Defender of the Nation Award, presented to a college football player from one of the nation's service academies based on exceptional leadership qualities, performance on and off the field, and a high standard of integrity.
McKenna Hofschild, a 5-foot-2 point guard in her final season for the CSU women's basketball team, was the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year and an AP honorable mention All-American in 2023 as she averaged 20.6 points and 7.2 assists in the 2022-23 campaign. And so far this season, she's stepped it up another notch, with norms of 23.9 points and 8.4 assists. Hofschild, who started her career at Seton Hall before transferring to CSU, earlier this season became the CSU's women's basketball program's all-time assist leader. Through 3 1/2 seasons with the Rams, she's sitting at 1,837 points and 678 assists.
Walker Martin led the nation's high school baseball ranks with 20 home runs to go along with 75 runs batted in in 2023. After his senior season at Eaton, he was picked in the second round of the MLB draft by the San Francisco Giants, who took him No. 52 overall. Martin was the highest baseball player drafted out of a Colorado high school since Darnell McDonald in 1997. At one point as a senior shortstop, Martin went yard in nine consecutive games in 2023. He led Eaton to three straight 3A state baseball titles. And he owned a whopping .633 batting average as a senior, when he was named the Gatorade baseball player of the year for Colorado. Martin also played quarterback, helping Eaton to three straight 2A state football championships.
Hailey Maestretti led Lutheran to three consecutive state titles in softball, as a senior returning from a broken arm in the preseason to strike out 11 batters in the championship-clinching game. Maestretti subsequently was named the 2023 Gatorade Player of the Year in Colorado softball. In her senior season, the left-hander compiled a 2.24 earned-run average — while pitching more than 200 innings — and batted .392. She'll play her college softball at Utah.
Allie Johnson, an upper-limb amputee from birth, competed in the 2022 Paralympics in Beijing. She's also proud of serving as a disability-rights advocate who hopes to teach anyone who was "born different" to embrace uniqueness and that their difference is their greatest strength. In 2018, at age 22, Johnson began ski racing with the National Sports Center for the Disabled and immediately loved the sport. But two years later, she crashed in a downhill race and sustained multiple fractures of the lower leg. After three surgeries and hundreds of hours of physical therapy, Johnson was back on the slopes in 2021 and qualified for the four-person female U.S. Paralympic team in 2022. During her first year on the World Cup circuit, Johnson earned the overall crystal bronze medal in giant slalom, having finished on the podium four times in World Cup races. She now volunteers for the Sisters in Sports organization, helping support current and future female athletes in their journey. Johnson's mantra is "ski like a girl" and she hopes to continue to demonstrate all that women with disabilities are capable of.
Tickets for the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame Banquet are $250 each and sponsor tables start at $3,000. For additional ticket and table information, please contact the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame (www.coloradosports.org or 720-258-3535).
The Colorado Sports Hall of Fame & Museum is located at Gate 1 on the west side of Empower Field at Mile High at 1701 Bryant Street in Denver.
Since its inception in 1965, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame has inducted 281 individuals prior to 2024. The first class of inductees featured Earl "Dutch" Clark, Jack Dempsey and former Supreme Court Justice Byron "Whizzer" White.
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