CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Browns defensive end Myles Garrett added to his trophy case and the Browns also took home hardware Tuesday night.
Garrett took home the Pro Athlete of the Year Award and the Browns playoff season was named the Moment of the Year at the 24th Greater Cleveland Sports Awards held at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Garrett beat out Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor and Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell.
Browns executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry accepted the award on Garrett’s behalf from new Guardians manager Stephen Vogt.
“Everybody knows how dominant of a player he is on the field and how important he is to our success defensively and really just as a team,” Berry said. “But the other aspect is just his leadership and he's really one of our tone setters for our culture, and so we couldn't be more proud of accepting this award on his behalf.”
Garrett led the Browns defense to a No. 1 overall ranking for the first time since 1955 this past season with 14.0 sacks, 30 QB hits, 17 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles.
Garrett, who is a candidate for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, is the only active player in the NFL with at least 10 sacks in each of the last six seasons.
The Browns feel the time has come for the 2017 No. 1 overall pick out of Texas A&M to be recognized for his dominance on the field at NFL Honors next month.
“We feel like his work on the field hasn't always been nationally recognized, to be quite honest,” Berry said. “And so just having a historically great player on a historically great defense and everything we were able to accomplish this year with him being a huge part of it, it would be really important to us organizationally [for him to win].”
Berry helped construct his second playoff team in four years through a mountain of adversity that saw 15 players suffer season-ending injuries since training camp and Joe Flacco signed in mid-November to salvage their playoff dreams.
The playoff clinching win over the Jets was the culmination of an improbable season that was recognized.
“It’s an incredible honor to receive it from the [Greater Cleveland] Sports Commission,” Berry said. “I think that Thursday night against the Jets was not just special for us organizationally, but really across the city and our fan base there was just a level of excitement and electricity in the air that honestly can't be replicated or duplicated. In terms of moving forward, our goal every year will be to win the division, and we really do want to have more of these special moments on a yearly basis to share with our fans and ultimately have deep playoff runs.”
Browns left guard Joel Bitonio, sporting a walking boot after he suffered a high ankle sprain in their playoff loss at Houston, accepted the Moment of the Year award on behalf of the organization.
“It's an honor to represent the Cleveland Browns, especially this year,” Bitonio said. “We had so many guys fight through so much. The ultimate goal is to find any way to win, and I think we represented that obviously didn't end how we wanted to, but I think the culture and the lessons we learned this year is going to carry us into the future.”
Flacco had arguably the best five-week stretch of his career throwing for 1,616 yards and 13 touchdowns to help the Browns win four in a row, culminating in the clinching win over the Jets. Like heads coach Kevin Stefanski and Berry, Bitonio would love to see Flacco return for an encore in 2024.
“Everybody has a lot of respect for Joe,” Bitonio said. “He bonded with the locker room, he put in the work with us and he won some games and we appreciate that. And he's a guy that I think you keep in the locker room if you can, but he's going to probably have some opportunities out there to make some things happen and we'll see what happens. We obviously know Deshaun's our guy going into next year, but if Joe wants to be part of the room and kind of help build that room, I think everybody would be open to that.”
The awards ceremony was hosted by ESPN’s Holly Rowe.
Cleveland Heights’ Marquise Davis took home Male High School Athlete of the Year honors. Davis, who was the runner up for Mr. Ohio Football was named the Gatorade Ohio Football Player of the Year after leading his team to a 10-1 record with 2,228 rushing yards where he averaged 8.8 yards per carry and scored 35 touchdowns. David also tallied 55 solo tackles, four tackles for loss, a sack and three interceptions on defense.
Rocky River’s Sophia Sindelar won the Female High School Athlete of the Year award. Sindelar was named the Division II Player of the Year, Ms. Ohio Soccer, First-Team All-Ohio and was an All-American after leading her school to the state championship match.
The Case Western Reserve men’s tennis team was recognized as the Male Collegiate Athlete of the Year and Cleveland State basketball star Destiny Leo was named the Female Collegiate Athlete of the Year winner. Leo was the 2023 Horizon League Player of the Year and averaged 17.9 points per game while shooting 43% from the field.
Renee Powell, who became the second African American woman to compete on the LPGA tour in 1967, received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Powell was raised on Clearview Golf Club in East Canton, Ohio, which was built by her father, William “Bill” Powell, and was the first golf facility designed, constructed, owned and operated by an African American. In her post playing days, Powell has dedicated her time to diversifying the game of golf and focusing on inclusion. Powell became an international Goodwill Ambassador and traveled over 25 times to Africa where she hosted golf clinics. Powell launched Clearview HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) in 2011 as a cost-free golf program specifically for female veterans. Powell currently sits on several boards including Mercy Medical Center, Pathway Caring for Children and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Avon Lake’s Olivia Slivinski received the Courage Award after overcoming multiple significant injuries to continue competitive swimming. Slivinski suffered left and right ACL tears as well as a dislocation of her right shoulder over a two-and-a-half-year period that required five surgeries.
Jeannie Rice, a 75-year-old long distance runner from Mentor, Ohio, received the Senior Athlete Award and SPIRE Academy was recognized with the Sports Development Award.