The Fifth Annual Boston Sports Awards were handed out on Monday, honoring the best Boston area high school, college, and professional athletes of 2002.
The high school and college awards, hosted by New England Cable News’ Jimmy Young, were given out at The Rack on Monday afternoon. Boston University had two nominees for the college awards but came up empty.
Ryan Whitney, a sophomore defenseman for the Icedogs, received a nomination for Male Collegiate Athlete of the Year, and Katie Terhune, a junior guard for the BU women’s basketball team, received the same nomination on the women’s side.
However, the award recipients were both from Boston College, as football running back Derrick Knight and basketball guard Brianne Stepherson took home the hardware.
Later Monday evening, at the Roxy, the professional awards were presented by ESPN anchor Steve Levy and WCVB-TV sportscaster Kristen Mastroianni. Notable attendees were Joe Thornton, PJ Stock and Nick Boynton of the Bruins, Lawyer Milloy of the Patriots, Lou Merloni of the Red Sox, broadcaster and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti, and former Red Sox Luis Tiant.
The Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots unsurprisingly stole the show, as Milloy grabbed Veteran of the Year, quarterback Tom Brady took home Player of the Year, Coach Bill Belichick was named Coach of the Year, and Cappelletti was honored as Legend of the Year.
Milloy was the only Patriot in attendance to accept an award in person.
‘This is the first time I’ve really felt old,’ Milloy said in his acceptance speech. ‘It was a great ride last year; I think I grew as a leader. This team definitely grew as a team.’
The Major League Soccer championship runner-up New England Revolution also took home two awards. Forward Taylor Twellman’s first-year performance was good enough for Rookie of the Year, and midfielder Jay Heaps proudly accepted the Ron Burton Sr. Community Hero of the Year award.
‘I grew up in the area, so as an athlete we have to give back to the community,’ Heaps said.
The other two awards, Acquisition of the Year and Sportsman of the Year, were given to Sarah Dacey of the Boston Breakers and Lou Merloni of the Boston Red Sox, respectively. Merloni accepted the award to chants of ‘Looou’ from the crowd at the Roxy.
Proceeds of the event went to The V Foundation for cancer research, named after college basketball coach and ESPN anchor Jim Valvano, who lost his life to cancer in 1993.
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