Florida State national champ from Winfield wins Alabama amateur athlete honor
When you're considered the best in your sport, it's the ultimate compliment.
The Heisman Trophy. The Naismith or Wooden. The Golden Spikes. They all correspond with the most valuable player, the player of the year, or the outstanding player depending on the specific sport and award criteria.
In track and field, it's known as the Bowerman Award, and last year it went to Trey Cunningham, a hurdles ace for Florida State, who hails from Winfield, Ala.
For piecing together one of the greatest hurdle seasons in collegiate history, Cunningham was named the Amateur Athlete of the Year by the Alabama Sports Writers Association on Tuesday. In close voting, he edged last year's winner, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, the 2021 Heisman winner who was the first-overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft.
"Hurdlers like to race because it’s a rhythm thing," Cunningham told Let'sRun.com last year. "And once you find the rhythm, you don’t want to stop."
He didn't. Before wrapping up his collegiate career and signing a professional deal with adidas, Cunningham won NCAA titles in the 60-meter hurdles indoors and 110 hurdles outdoors, while moving to second on the all-time NCAA list in both events (7.38 seconds in the 60, 13.00 in the 110).
For an encore, he finished second at both the USATF Championships and the World Championships.
Cunningham had just as much academic success as well. He was named the National Indoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year to go along with his ACC Indoor and Outdoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards.
He's continued to train in Tallahassee, Fla., while wrapping up his master's degree in sport management, although his thesis has had more to do with mental side of his sport and how one's personality can be an indicator of competitive burnout.
"So I’m using the big five: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, and out of those five, two of them are showing strong signs – it’s conscientiousness and neuroticism," he said. "So neuroticism is positively correlated with burnout. So if you’re more inclined to be negatively responding to things, it makes sense. And then conscientiousness is negatively related to it."
Cunningham was also named the 2022 Track and Field News National Athlete of the Year, the 2022 ACC Men’s Outdoor Track Performer of the Year, and the 2022 USTFCCCA Outdoor South Region Track Athlete of the Year.
Previous winners of AWSA Amateur Athlete of the Year
2021 Bryce Young
2020 DeVonta Smith
2019 Derrick Brown
2018 Casey Mize
2017 Minkah Fitzpatrick
2016 Jonathan Allen
2015 Derrick Henry
2014 Amari Cooper
2013 Jameis Winston
2012 Brooke Pancake
2011 Trent Richardson
2010 Cam Newton
2009 Mark Ingram II
2008 DeWanna Bonner
2007 Pat White
2006 JaMarcus Russell
2005 DeMeco Ryans
2004 Jason Campbell
2003 Philip Rivers
2002 Andree Pickens
2001 Gabe Cross
2000 Gabe Cross
1999 Chris Samuels
1998 Tee Martin
1997 Tim Hudson
1996 Meredith Willard
1995 Ronald McKinnon
1994 Jay Barker
1993 Niesa Johnson
1992 Dee Foster
1991 Tim VanEgmond
1990 Phillip Doyle
1989 Gary Hollingsworth
1988 Derrick Thomas
1987 Mike Turk
1986 Cornelius Bennett
1985 Bo Jackson
1984 Rowdy Gaines
1983 David Magadan
1982 Randy Campbell
1981 Ed Lett
1980 Rowdy Gaines
1979 Joe Cribbs
1978 Reginald King
1977 Ozzie Newsome
1976 Harvey Glance
1975 Leon Douglas
1974 Jerry Pate
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Track star Trey Cunningham wins AWSA Amateur athlete honor for 2023