Duke golf All-American Celine Boutier, who got my vote, came in third for top female ACC athlete. She won two national player of the year awards. Basketball is a higher profile sport so it was going to be hard to unseat Thomas.
Winston, who quarterbacked Florida State to the 2013 national football championship and played a key role as a reliever on the Seminoles’ nationally-ranked baseball team, earned the 61st Anthony J. McKevlin Award as the conference’s premier male athlete.
Thomas claimed the 24th Mary Garber Award as the conference’s finest female athlete after becoming the second player in conference history to be voted the ACC Women’s Basketball Player of the Year for a third straight season and leading the Terrapins to the 2014 NCAA Final Four.
The awards are given in memory of distinguished journalists from the region. McKevlin was a sports editor in Raleigh, N.C., and Garber, of the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, was a pioneer as one of the first female sports journalists in the nation.
Winston, of Bessmer, Alabama, became the youngest player to win the Heisman Trophy (19 years, 342 days) and just the second freshman to receive the honor. A dazzling playmaker, he led the Seminoles to a 14-0 record and engineered the game-winning drive in a 34-31 win over Auburn in the 2013 VIZIO BCS National Championship Game.
Named the offensive MVP of the national title game, Winston also received the Davey O’Brien Award and the Manning Award as the nation’s best quarterback. The overall ACC Player of the Year, ACC Offensive Player of the Year and ACC Rookie of the Year, Winston shattered the ACC record, Florida State record and national freshman record for touchdown passes (40) and broke the national freshman record for passing yards (4,057). He led the nation and set the ACC record for pass efficiency rating at 184.8.
Winston was a consensus All-America selection, the 2013 Walter Camp Player of the Year and an All-ACC Academic Team member.
On the baseball diamond, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound Winston made 24 relief appearances and led the Seminoles in saves with seven while posting a 1-0 record and 1.08 ERA. He struck out 31 batters while walking just seven allowing 18 hits in 33.1 innings pitched.
Winston was the choice of 22 of the 41 ACSMA voters casting ballots for the McKevlin Award. Pitt football All-America tackle Aaron Donald placed second with four votes.
Maryland’s Thomas led her team in scoring with 19.0 points per game and in rebounding with 10.9 per contest as the Terrapins posted a 28-7 record. In the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, Thomas passed Juan Dixon as Maryland’s all-time leading basketball scorer (male or female). She ended her career with 2,356 career points and as the school’s leading career rebounder with 1,235.
A consensus All-American, the 6-foot 2 Thomas led the ACC with 28 double-doubles in 35 games played in 2013-14 and led the nation with four triple-doubles. She is one of just three players in NCAA history with six or more triple-doubles in her career. The Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, native also ranked fifth among ACC players in assists (4.1 per game) and shot 51.3 percent from the floor.
In April, Thomas was selected fourth overall by the New York Liberty in the WNBA draft and traded to the Connecticut Sun minutes later in a blockbuster deal.
Thomas received 15 votes in the Garber Award balloting. Virginia soccer All-American Morgan Brian placed second with 10 votes, and Duke golf All-American Celine Boutier was named on eight ballots.