Sports Illustrated held its 2017 Sportsman of the Year award Tuesday night (Dec. 5) at the Barclays Center in New York, with actor and comedian Joel McHale holding down the hosting duties. Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt and Houston Astros second baseman José Altuve jointly won the top award, with Colin Kaepernick, Joel Embiid, and others honored at the event across various designations.
From SI‘s press office:
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED honored the 2017 Sportsperson of the Year recipients, Houston athletes J.J. Watt of the Texans and José Altuve of the World Series Champion Astros, at the star-studded 2017 Sportsperson of the Year Award Show at Barclays Center in New York on Tuesday night. Houston native Michael Strahan presented the award to the two athletes with a speech which recognized their tremendous contributions to the Houston community.
“I don’t think I could accept this award without mentioning the 200,000 people who donated to the fund…without mentioning all the firefighters and policeman, and all the people who got their own boats and went out in the streets to help save people. This award is about humans being good to help other humans and I think it’s incredible,” said Watt.
The taped show will be broadcast this week on Friday, December 8 at 8PM ET on NBCSN, and Saturday, December 9 via the Univision Deportes Network at the same time. Below and on the following pages are select images from the event, including other honorees such as Maya Moore, Carlos Beltran, and 10-year-old Maxwell “Bunchie” Young.
To learn more about this year’s honorees, follow this link.
NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 05: J.J. Watt (R) and Jose Altuve receive the Sportsperson of the Year Award during SPORTS ILLUSTRATED 2017 Sportsperson of the Year Show on December 5, 2017 at Barclays Center in New York City. Tune in to NBCSN on December 8 at 8 p.m. ET or Univision Deportes Network on December 9 at 8 p.m. ET to watch the one hour SPORTS ILLUSTRATED Sportsperson of the Year special. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated)
NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 05: Colin Kaepernick receives the SI Muhammad Ali Legacy Award with Beyonce and Trevor Noah during SPORTS ILLUSTRATED 2017 Sportsperson of the Year Show on December 5, 2017 at Barclays Center in New York City. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated)
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Photo: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated
