Jewel of the Sports World: The Story of the Hickok Belt

For a quarter century, the winner of the S. Rae Hickok Professional Athlete of the Year award received the most renowned prize for sports in America. It was the Hickok Belt an alligator-skin belt with a 5-pound, solid gold buckle encrusted with diamonds, rubies and sapphires. New York Yankee slugger Mickey Mantle won the Hickok in 1956, boxer Carmen Basilio in 1957, golfer Arnold Palmer in 1960, NFL running back Jim Brown in 1964, and baseball legend Sandy Koufax hit the jackpot twice in 1963 and 1965. Nationally recognized sports columnist and author Scott Pitoniak tells the story of the award, the winners and its history in Jewel of the Sports World: The Story of the Hickok Belt Award. The book includes a foreword by Muhammad Ali (who won in 1974) and is published by RIT Press, a scholarly publishing enterprise at Rochester Institute of Technology.