U.S. Women: Mia Hamm Wins 1998 Female Athlete of the Year Award

U.S. women’s national team forward Mia Hamm has won the 1998 Chevrolet/U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year award. The annual award, based on competing and excelling at the highest level of soccer offered by U.S. Soccer for the calendar year, was presented today in Orlando, Fla. The awards, accolades and broken records just keep on coming for Hamm, who has won the Chevrolet/U.S. Soccer honor five years in a row. In September, she became only the third player in international soccer history to score more than 100 goals and finished with 20 goals and 20 assists in 1998, making it her most prolific year ever. Her 101 career goals make her the all-time women’s national team leading scorer and leave her just eight goals shy of breaking the world record of 108 goals set by Elisabetta Vignotto of Italy. Her 100th goal came on Sept. 18, 1998 in Rochester, N.Y., in front of a sold out crowd of 14,000 at Frontier Field. “It was a fantastic night, certainly one that I will remember forever,” said Hamm. “The crowd was great and it was a lot of fun, but it was even better because I could share it with my teammates. I wouldn’t have scored any goals without them and it’s a credit to this team that we can have moments like that.” On top of all her individual efforts, she helped the USA establish the best single season record in U.S. women’s national team history at 22-1-2. The award marks a U.S. Soccer record fifth consecutive year she has been so recognized. “This year’s award could have gone to a number of her teammates,” said U.S. women’s national team coach Tony DiCicco, citing Kristine Lilly and Joy Fawcett as examples. “But the simple fact of the matter is Mia just got better in 1998. She had the greatest year of any women’s player in the history of the game.” Criteria for the Chevrolet/U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award is broken into three categories: (a) competing at an exceptional national team level during the previous calendar year; (b) exhibiting decorum on and off the field which reflects well on U.S. Soccer; and (c) contributing toward the growth, development and popularization of soccer in the United States. Voting for the award was representative of U.S. Soccer’s general secretariat, including department heads from within the Federation’s headquarters, as well as current U.S. national team head coaches and the chairman of the national team’s committee. All-Time Chevrolet/U.S. Soccer Female Award Winners