Frank Gore wins the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award

I know this will probably be stunning to most of you, but an Indianapolis Colts player actually won an award at tonight’s NFL Honors show: running back Frank Gore was named the recipient of the 2016 Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award.

This is an incredibly well-deserved honor for Gore, who has always displayed class and sportsmanship since joining the Colts. Even though things on the field weren’t going as Gore would have liked - he joined the Colts hoping to win a Super Bowl and has endured back-to-back seasons of missing the playoffs. But Gore continued to go all-out and play his hardest, and that’s to be commended.

The Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award is named for Steelers owner Art Rooney, is voted on by NFL players and is given to those who display sportsmanship and fair play on the field. In the past, Larry Fitzgerald (2014) and Charles Woodson (2015) won the award, and just like they both were very deserving, so is Frank Gore this year.

Gore had a successful season this year, rushing for 1,025 yards and four touchdowns (averaging 3.9 yards per carry) while also catching 38 passes for 277 yards and four scores. He was the first Colts back to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since 2007, and he did it at the age of 33 - becoming the oldest back to reach that milestone since 1984. And all the while, his team was having a rough season, but Gore kept playing hard and doing it with class. He’s an incredibly deserving recipient of this award.