NEW YORK – Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds, who scored more touchdowns than any player in major college football history, and UConn forward Breanna Stewart, the most decorated college basketball player of all time, were named Sunday as co-winners of the AAU Sullivan Award, which is presented by the Amateur Athletic Union to the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.
Reynolds and Stewart earned the Sullivan Award from a field of seven finalists that included Alabama football player Derrick Henry, Nebraska volleyball player Mikaela Foecke, speed skating world champion Brittany Bowe, wrestler Jordan Burroughs and gymnast Simone Biles.
"We are unbelievably honored to call both Keenan and Breanna winners of the 86th AAU Sullivan Award," said Melissa Willis, AAU Sullivan Award national chair. "They represent everything that is good about amateur athletics. They are not only phenomenal athletes, but extraordinary people as well."
Reynolds scored an NCAA-record 88 touchdowns in his four-year career at Navy and finished his career as college football's all-time leader for rushing yards by a quarterback (4,559). The 2015 American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, Reynolds led the Midshipmen to a school-record 11 wins in Navy's first season as a conference member, capped by a win against Pittsburgh in the Military Bowl. He helped Navy to a No. 18 ranking in the final Associated Press poll, its highest ranking in more than 50 years, and finished fifth in the balloting for the 2015 Heisman Trophy. He went on to serve as captain of the East-West Shrine Game and earned the Pat Tillman Award, which goes to the player who best exemplifies character, intelligence, sportsmanship and service.
Stewart, a three-time American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, completed her four-year career this past Tuesday by leading UConn to a fourth straight NCAA championship, becoming the first player in college basketball history to be named Final Four Most Outstanding Player four times. She swept all of the major national player of the year awards for the second straight year as she accepted the John R. Wooden Award, the Naismith Trophy, the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award and the Associated Press Player of the Year award as the nation's top player. She is the only player in NCAA history to register 300 career blocks and 300 career assists and finished her career second on UConn's all-time chart with 2,676 points. She was a combined 151-5 in her four years with the Huskies.
This year marks the second time that two individuals have shared the Sullivan Award (basketball players Coco Miller and Kelly Miller won in 1999). The
list of previous winners includes legends such as Bobby Jones (1930), Wilma Rudolph (1961), Mark Spitz (1970), Bruce Jenner (1976), Carl Lewis (1981), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1986), Florence Griffith-Joyner (1988), Janet Evans (1989), Michael Phelps (2003) and Missy Franklin (2012).
The Sullivan Award has been presented since 1930 as a salute to the founder and past president of the Amateur Athletic Union, James E. Sullivan, to an athlete whose outstanding athletic accomplishments are complemented by qualities of leadership, character and sportsmanship.
The Sullivan Award selections join an impressive list of accomplishments by American Athletic Conference teams and student-athletes in the near-three-year history of the conference. Since the start of the 2013-14 academic year, The American has two New Year's Six bowl victories (Houston over Florida State in 2015 and UCF over Baylor in 2013) and four NCAA basketball championships (UConn men in 2014 and UConn women in 2014, 2015 and 2016). The American is one of six finalists - and the only college sports entity - for the 2016 Sports Business Awards League of the Year honor, along with Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, the National Basketball Association and the PGA Tour.