The Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada’s best athlete, as decided by a committee of Canadian sports journalists convened by the Toronto Star. The award is named after Louis Edwin Marsh, a former sports editor with the Toronto Star. It was first awarded in 1936. More recently, there have been calls to rename the award, due to Marsh’s long, documented history of promoting racism and discrimination in his columns. In November 2021, the Toronto Star agreed to assess “whether it is appropriate and fitting to continue to have his name associated with the award.”
Louis Edwin Marsh
Louis Edwin Marsh died on 5 March 1936 after 43 years as a journalist. At the time, he was regarded as the dean of Canadian sports journalism. In his youth, he was an excellent all-around athlete. He played on the Toronto Senior Argonaut football team and was a good sprinter and strong swimmer. He was credited with some 15 rescues in the water. He raced iceboats and small speedboats, for which he coined the term "sea fleas," and was a highly regarded referee in boxing and ice hockey. His daily sports column, called “With Pick and Shovel,” appeared in the Toronto Star from 1925 to 1936.
However, in recent years calls have grown to rename the award, due to Marsh’s long, documented history of promoting racist, anti-Semitic and discriminatory attitudes in his column. In February 2021, Dr. Janice Forsyth, associate professor of sociology at Western University, published a study of Marsh’s body of work that shows, in her words, “just how hostile his sports reporting was.” As Global News’ Mike Drolet put it, “What [Marsh] routinely wrote about the great [Onondaga] runner Tom Longboat, among others, is unprintable today.” (See Tom Longboat.) Marsh also opposed calls for Canada to boycott the 1936 Olympic Summer Games in Berlin, Germany, and referred to Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jewish people as “an internal German matter.”
In November 2021, the Toronto Star agreed to assess “whether it is appropriate and fitting to continue to have his name associated with the award.” It was expected that the name of the award would soon be changed.

Lou Marsh Trophy
Made of black marble, the Lou Marsh Trophy stands about 75 cm high. The words "With Pick and Shovel" appear above the engraved names of the winners, which include the first recipient, track athlete Dr. Phillip Edwards (1936), swimmer Marilyn Bell and figure skater Petra Burka. Hockey star Wayne Gretzky received the award the most times, four, followed by figure skater Barbara Ann Scott with three. A number of athletes have twice received the trophy: golfer Marlene Streit, skier Nancy Greene, jockey Sandy Hawley, sprinter Ben Johnson, auto racer Jacques Villeneuve and hockey player Sidney Crosby. The Lou Marsh Trophy has been shared on two occasions: between skier Ken Read and swimmer Graham Smith in 1978, and between Gretzky and wheelchair racer Rick Hansen in 1983.
The trophy is kept on exhibit at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Lou Marsh Trophy Winners
Year
|
Athlete | Sport |
1936 | Phil Edwards | Track and Field |
1937 | W. Marshall Cleland | Equestrian |
1938 | Bob Pearce | Rowing |
1939 | Bob Pirie | Swimming |
1940 | Gérard Côté | Track and Field |
1941 | Theo Dubois | Rowing |
1942 | Not awarded | |
1943 | Not awarded | |
1944 | Not awarded | |
1945 | Barbara Ann Scott | Figure Skating |
1946 | Joe Kroll | Football |
1947 | Barbara Ann Scott | Figure Skating |
1948 | Barbara Ann Scott | Figure Skating |
1949 | Cliff Lumsden | 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 | Hockey |
1958 | Lucille Wheeler | Skiing |
1959 | Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul | Figure Skating |
1960 | Ann Heggtveit | Skiing |
1961 | Bruce Kidd | Track and Field |
1962 | Don Jackson | Figure Skating |
1963 | Bill Crothers | Track and Field |
1964 | George Hungerford and Roger Jackson | Rowing |
1965 | Petra Burka | Figure Skating |
1966 | Elaine Tanner | Swimming |
1967 | Nancy Greene | Skiing |
1968 | Nancy Greene | Skiing |
1969 | Russ Jackson | Football |
1970 | Bobby Orr | Hockey |
1971 | Hervé Filion | Harness Racing |
1972 | Phil Esposito | Hockey |
1973 | Sandy Hawley | Horse Racing |
1974 | Ferguson Jenkins | Baseball |
1975 | Bobby Clarke | Hockey |
1976 | Sandy Hawley | Horse Racing |
1977 | Guy Lafleur | Hockey |
1978 |
Ken Read
Graham Smith |
Skiing
Swimming |
1979 | Sandra Post | Golf |
1980 | Terry Fox | Marathon of Hope |
1981 | Susan Nattrass | Shooting |
1982 | Wayne Gretzky | Hockey |
1983 |
Wayne Gretzky
Rick Hansen |
Hockey
Wheelchair Racing |
1984 | Gaetan Boucher | Speed Skating |
1985 | Wayne Gretzky | Hockey |
1986 | Ben Johnson | Track and Field |
1987 | Ben Johnson | Track and Field |
1988 | Carolyn Waldo | Synchronized Swimming |
1989 | Wayne Gretzky | Hockey |
1990 | Kurt Browning | Figure Skating |
1991 | Silken Laumann | Rowing |
1992 | Mark Tewksbury | Swimming |
1993 | Mario Lemieux | 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 | Kayak |
2000 | Daniel Igali | Wrestling |
2001 | Jamie Salé and David Pelletier | Figure Skating |
2002 | Catriona Le May Doan |
Speed Skating |
2003 | Mike Weir | Golf |
2004 | Adam van Koeverden | Kayak |
2005 | Steve Nash | Basketball |
2006 | Cindy Klassen | Speed Skating |
2007 | Sidney Crosby | Hockey |
2008 | Chantal Petitclerc | Wheelchair Racing |
2009 | Sidney Crosby | Hockey |
2010 | Joey Votto | Baseball |
2011 | Patrick Chan | Figure Skating |
2012 | Christine Sinclair | Soccer |
2013 | Jon Cornish | Football |
2014 | Kaillie Humphries | Bobsleigh |
2015 | Carey Price | Hockey |
2016 | Penny Oleksiak | Swimming |
2017 | Joey Votto | Baseball |
2018 | Mikael Kingsbury | Freestyle Skiing |
2019 | Bianca Andreescu | Tennis |
2020 | Alphonso Davies
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif |
Soccer
Football |
2021 | Damian Warner | Track and Field |