Time Magazine’s Athlete of the Year…Caitlin Clark...Why Caitlin over Ohtani, or even the most expensive pro athlete ever – Juan Soto?

Could it be that she was the fastest player ever, regardless of age, to reach 350 points and 150 assists in a WNBA season? Could it be that she received the most All-Star Game votes ever with more than 700,000? Or is it just that she now owns more than a dozen records in the WNBA either overall or by a rookie?

Caitlin Clark was named Time’s Athlete of The Year based on her WNBA play, her completion of attaining almost every NCAA scoring record by either a male or female player, and the fact that she has become one of the biggest sports icons in current times.

She signed the biggest Nike endorsement deal ever for a women’s basketball player. She impacted the valuation of the WNBA just by showing up, with attendance jumping 48% from last season. Teams had to move from their home courts to larger arenas to accommodate the hoards of fans demanding to see her play.

Records, contracts, endorsement deals, commercials, A-list party invites; it all catapulted Caitlin into the limelight with a fervor that seemed only surpassed by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. She was everywhere. But for all her amazing attributes and physical successes, she was also tossed into a conversation that she was not ready for. She was riding some of the success of the WNBA’s rise over the last few years and the successes of those athletes that have spent years, even decades, building. People started talking about her only getting some of these accolades because she was “white” and that started a movement that brought race into the arena and to the forefront of WNBA games with athletes being taunted for their race, their sexual orientation, their education, and more. Her success caused conversations and changes that she had no idea were ahead of her as she stepped into the WNBA.

Caitlin’s success made her have to endure basketball pressures, social pressures and moral pressures all while having just graduated college and turned pro within weeks of her final NCAA game and her first game as a member of the Indiana Fever.

Somehow, she found a way to continue to drive for excellence on the court, follow the guidance of the WNBA’s marketing & public relations officers, deal with endorsements/contracts and invest in the people around her to help her maneuver through the good and the ugly of American society.

She has stood tall, trying to stay out of the fray, paying homage to those who have paved the way for her successes and learning to continue going through life with a golden rule from kindergarten to guide her, “treat everyone with the same respect”…She has acknowledged that being white comes with a privilege and she is choosing to use it to make sure that she does her best to even the ground I, if she can.

For all of this to have happened in less than one year and to be still standing in the good graces of the world, she, Caitlin Clark, was named “Athlete of The Year” and I think it actually was well-deserved; an amazing feat for a 22-year-old.