This year's Dapper Dan awards have a decidedly Pitt lean.
Steelers running back and former Pitt star James Conner was named the Sportsman of the Year, and Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke was selected as Sportswoman of the Year for 2018 in the annual awards, which will be given by Dapper Dan Charities at its annual banquet Feb. 20.
Conner, who became the Steelers' starting running back this season after Le'Veon Bell elected to hold out, has amassed 1,376 yards from scrimmage and 13 touchdowns and was named the AFC's starting running back for the Pro Bowl, despite missing the past three games with an ankle injury.
The second-year pro has accomplished those feats bouncing back from missing most of his rookie season after undergoing knee surgery. Conner's path to the pros, from growing up in Erie through four years at Pitt, has been well-documented. He was the 2014 ACC Player of the Year before overcoming a knee injury and Hodgkin's lymphoma that was diagnosed while he was hurt during his junior season. He returned in 2016 to again take All-ACC honors, leading the Steelers to select him in the third round of the 2017 draft.
Lyke, who was hired as Pitt's AD in March 2017, is being honored for the ongoing efforts to overhaul the school's athletic department during a period of sweeping changes.
In 2018, Lyke announced the school's Victory Heights initiative that will upgrade Fitzgerald Field House and other campus facilities, some of which are nearing 75 years old. She was also responsible for the well-received hirings of basketball coaches Jeff Capel and Lance White. The Panthers also have new coaching leadership in women's soccer, gymnastics, baseball, softball and wrestling since Lyke was hired. During the past year, Pitt's softball and football teams won their first ACC Coastal Division titles, and the volleyball team achieved its second straight ACC title and climbed to a program-high No. 6 national ranking during a 30-2 season.
Dapper Dan Charities was founded in 1936 by former Post-Gazette sports editor Al Abrams as a non-profit community sports club, and it began awarding its Sportsman of the Year in 1939 with then-light heavyweight world champion Billy Conn taking the first honor. The organization, which is the primary funding source for the Boys and Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania's sports programs, added the Sportswoman of the Year in 1999.
Last year's winners were Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Robert Morris hockey player Brittany Howard.
