Banks, Brisco-Hooks and Benoit Are Favored to Win the Sullivan Award

If past history is any indication, Willie Banks, Valerie Brisco-Hooks and Joan Benoit-Samuelson are the favorites to be named the winner of the Sullivan award as the nation’s top amateur athlete Monday night.

Of the past 55 winners of the award given by The Amateur Athletic Union to the individual voted the top amateur performer in the past year, 32 have come from track and field. Aquatics is a distant second with 11, including diver Greg Louganis who was selected for the award last year.

This year’s list of 10 finalists also includes swimmer Matt Biondi, wrestler Mike Houck, snynchronized swimmer Sarah Josephson, diver Michele Mitchell, golfer Scott Verplank, volleyballer Charles Kiraly and USC basketball player Cheryl Miller.

Brisco-Hooks, 25, and Benoit-Samuelson, 28, were both finalists when Louganis was presented the prestigious award after being a finalist five other times.

Banks, 29, is the only nominee who has said he won’t be able to attend the annual Sullivan Dinner at the Indiana Convention Center. He’ll be represented by his parents. Banks made himself a strong candidate in the national voting by setting a world record in the triple jump with a 58-foot-11 1/2 inch.

The UCLA graduate from Los Angeles, who is also a lawyer, finished first in 21 of 25 meets last year. He established the world mark in winning The Athletics Congress national championship and also recorded victories in the USA-Soviet Union-Japan meet and World Cup competition.

Brisco-Hooks, of Los Angeles, was a triple gold medalist in the 1984 Olympics. She then set four world marks during the 1985 indoor season. And after missing the outdoor nationals with a injury, had the fastest 200-meter time (21.98 seconds) by an American during the outdoor season and the fastest 400-meter time (49.56) in the United States.

Benoit-Samuelson, of Freeport, Maine, followed her 1984 Olympic marathon victory with firsts at a variety of distances last year. She set a world record for a loop course in winning the America’s Marathon in Chicago with a time of 2 hours, 21.21 seconds. She also finished first last year in distance events held in Davenport, Iowa; Falmouth, Mass.; and San Francisco.

The award, presented annually since 1930 in honor of AAU founder and former president James E. Sullivan, is presented to the athlete who received the most points in voting by more than 2,400 participants.

This is the eighth year it is being announced at a banquet. A capacity crowd of 1,000 is expected to be on hand for the announcement, including decathloner Rafer Johnson--the 1960 winner of the award who is now a businessman in Van Nuys. Sportscaster Chris Schenkel will emcee the event.

Only six women have won the award, starting with swimmer Ann Curtis in 1944 and ending with distance runner Mark Decker Slaney in 1982. The other winning women are diver Patty McCormick, sprinter Wilma Rudolph, swimmer Debbie Meyer and swimmer Tracy Caulkins--who became the youngest winner ever when she was selected as a 16-year-old in 1978.