Oh well. Just goes to show what name recognition (and a more popular sport) gets you. The Amateur Athletic Union’s Sullivan Award went to some football type named Tebow today. Phil “The Legend” Raschker, our 61-going-on-21 superstar, was a finalist for the second time in five years. Whatever. She has plenty of time to win the award for “America’s top amateur.” Actually, Phil may outlive the AAU’s trademark honor. This story talks about how low-profile this former “Oscar for amateurs” has become. Here’s a story on the Tebow kid, who is 20 years old. Hey, Tim! In 41 years, Phil will still be able to kick your butt!

Here’s the “who-cares-about-Sullivan?” story:

AAU seeks higher profile for Sullivan Award; UF’s Tim Tebow a finalist
Dave Curtis
Sentinel Staff Writer
April 1, 2008
The Amateur Athletic Union advertises its Sullivan Award as one of American sports’ most prestigious prizes. Its winners make up a timeline of outstanding achievement through the decades — golf’s Bobby Jones, track’s Wilma Rudolph, basketball’s Bill Walton, figure skating’s Michelle Kwan.
So when quizzed about the award last week, Florida Coach Urban Meyer, a self-proclaimed fan of most things sports, was . . . well, he was clueless.
Reporter: “Do you know anything about the Sullivan Award?”
Meyer: [shaking his head, “No.”]
Reporter: “Do you know what it is?
Meyer: “No. What is it?”
Reporter: “It goes to the best amateur athlete in the country. Tim [Tebow] is going to win it next week.”
Meyer: “Yeah. I don’t know about it.”
Tebow, who accounted for 55 touchdowns last season and became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy, is one of five finalists and the favorite to win the 78th Sullivan, to be presented tonight in New York City. The award should rival the Heisman on Tebow’s mantel — it has a longer history, and its recipients might be more accomplished in their sports and in the world.
But over the last two decades, the Sullivan has developed a big-time image problem. Once coveted by many of the nation’s top athletes, the award has become a mystery even to its finalists.
“Someone told me, ‘You’re a finalist! I saw it in USA Today!’ ” Virginia Tech softball pitching ace Angela Tincher said. “I didn’t know what they were talking about. I had to go look up what the award was.”
Even AAU officials concede that their prize has lost some steam in this new century. They pin the drop in popularity to two factors — a dearth of individual awards, and fewer amateur athletes.
“The flavor of the award is still there,” Sullivan Award national chair Louis Stout said. “We want to honor the top amateurs. Now some of those people might not be as popular as they once were.”
Athletes turning pro early has no doubt reduced the quality of candidates for the award each year. Thirty-three of the award’s 77 winners have come from track and field. But thanks to the race to turn pro, the sport has been without a Sullivan recipient since sprinter Michael Johnson in 1996.
Basketball players such as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James skipped college, missing their windows to claim the award. And football has produced just four winners, most recently Peyton Manning in 1997.
Other than Tebow, this year’s finalists appear high on success and low on pizzazz. Tincher is joined by Michigan State ice hockey goalie Jeff Lerg, Oklahoma gymnastics champ Jonathan Horton, and Philippa Raschker, a 61-year-old with 12 world records in masters’ track and field. Try getting a flinch from the casual sports fan after dropping those four names.
“They don’t really publicize the award too well,” Hokies softball coach Scot Thomas said. “It was a great honor to know that Angela was up for it. But I didn’t know what it was, either.”
Sousa said the folks behind the Sullivan have worked to raise the award’s profile. The vote, once open just to college administrators, AAU officials and United States Olympic Committee members, is now available to anyone in the country via the Internet or text message. The “fan ballot” counted for one-third of the total vote. (Voting for this year’s award closed March 10).
The fan input should swing toward American Idol-popular Tebow, and Stout said having the Heisman Trophy winner double as the Sullivan winner for the third time (Doc Blanchard, 1945, and Charlie Ward, 1993) would help boost the prize’s profile. But making the Sullivan popular again is far from the top priority for Stout and his staff.
“I hope the award is always about what it is about now,” said Stout, stressing the importance of amateurism. “If that young man or lady is a dynamic person, then they will get plenty of recognition.”