Sean May Named ACC Male Athlete of the Year

Posted on July 19, 2005

Sean May, the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Final Four, has won the McKevlin Award as the 2005 Atlantic Coast Conference Male Athlete of the Year. The award was voted upon by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association and has been given each year since 1954.

This is the 13th time a Tar Heel has won the McKevlin Award, but May is only the second UNC recipient in the past 20 years. He is the first Tar Heel to win Male Athlete of the Year honors since basketball player Antawn Jamison in 1998.

May was selected by the Charlotte Bobcats in the first round of the NBA draft on June 28.

The Bloomington, Ind., native led Carolina to a 33-4 record, ACC regular-season title and NCAA championship. He scored 26 points and had 10 rebounds in the NCAA final against No. 1 ranked Illinois. May made 10 of 11 shots from the floor against the Illini, the second-highest field goal percentage in NCAA title game history (.909).

Tar Heel head coach Roy Williams ’72 congratulated May, saying, “This is a hard-earned and well-deserved recognition of what was truly a great, great year. He is a fantastic young man who has represented Carolina with class for three years, and he will continue to do so for many years to come.”

May set a single-season UNC record with 397 rebounds (breaking Jamison’s previous mark of 389) and became the first Tar Heel in 33 years to finish his career averaging a double-double in points and rebounds (15.8 points per game and 10.0 rebounds per game).

May is the seventh basketball player to win ACC Male Athlete of the Year honors in the same season in which he was not named the ACC Basketball Player of the Year (others from UNC include Charlie Scott ’70, Phil Ford ’78 and James Worthy ’85). The award is named for Anthony J. McKevlin, former sports editor of The News and Observer in Raleigh.

May recorded 41 votes. Duke lacrosse player Matt Danowski was second with 11 votes and was followed by Virginia football player Heath Miller (7), Virginia Tech track and field performer Spyridon Jullien (4), NC State basketball player Julius Hodge (3), Georgia Tech golfer Roberto Castro (2), Miami football player Antrel Rolle (2), Florida State track and field performer Walter Dix (1) and Maryland soccer player Jason Garey (1).

NCAA champion gymnast Courtney Bumpers of UNC tied for fourth in the voting for the Mary Garber Award as the 2005 ACC Female Athlete of the Year. Wake Forest field hockey player Kelly Dostal was the winner with 18 votes. Bumpers received six votes.

Carolina’s ACC Male Athlete of the Year Award winners over the years:

1957: Lennie Rosenbluth ’57 (basketball)
1966: Danny Talbott ’67 (football and baseball)
1968: Larry Miller ’68 (basketball)
1970: Charlie Scott ’70 (basketball)
1971: Don McCauley ’71 (football)
1974: Tony Waldrop ’74 (track)
1977 and 1978: Phil Ford ’78 (basketball)
1982: James Worthy ’85 (basketball)
1984: Michael Jordan ’86 (basketball)
1985: B.J. Surhoff ’86 (baseball)
1998: Antawn Jamison ’99 (basketball)
2005: Sean May (basketball)

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