Best of Philly

Best Athlete

2024 Best Golf Swing

Zoey Smith

Michael Smith was a basketball player as a kid, but he taught himself the game of golf when his daughter Zoey showed an interest in the game as a four-year-old. When Michael died unexpectedly in 2019, Zoey abruptly quit golfing — it just wasn’t the same without him. But the athletic director at her high school, the Science Leadership Academy at Beeber, coaxed her to pick up her clubs again, and last fall, she became the only player on its spanking-new girls golf team. How’d that work out? Pretty darned well: The sophomore won the Public League individual championship despite being the youngest competitor there. Fore! Read More »

2024 Best Sports Revolution

Phils Pitching Staff

There’s a lot of baseball left to play this season, but we’re ready to award Best Sports Revolution to the Phillies pitching staff, led by coaches Caleb Cotham and Brian Kaplan. The brain trust’s secret sauce has kept stars Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola at peak performance while elevating promising slingers Ranger Suárez, Cristopher Sánchez, Jeff Hoffman, José Alvarado, Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering into the stratosphere. At press time, Phils’ pitchers stand heads and shoulders (and elbows) above the rest of the league. (Take a look at other Phillies winners throughout Best of Philly’s 50 years here.) Read More »

2024 Best NHL Pride Ambassador

Scott Laughton

Last year, when the NHL announced that it was outlawing Pride practice jerseys and rainbow stick tape, longtime Flyer Scott Laughton was the first player to call bullshit. He announced that he’d use the tape anyway and dared the league to do something about it. The league quickly and rightly reversed course. The veteran center has been a leader in this arena off the ice as well, from supporting the You Can Play campaign to donating to related causes to raising the rainbow flag outside the Wells Fargo Center. Lots to be proud of. Read More »

2024 Best Sorta Homecoming

Saquon Barkley

We were gutted when Mount Airy native D’Andre Swift left the Eagles in free agency. Not surprising, given how Howie Roseman values running backs. So imagine our shock when Roseman yoinked former Nittany Lion Barkley from the Giants and signed him to a big contract. We’ll still miss our Swift, but Barkley grew up in the Lehigh Valley, which offsets the whole former G-man thing. Read More »

2024 Best Sports Role Model

Lane Johnson

The Eagles offensive tackle, embarking on his 12th season, has been refreshingly open of late about his mental health challenges and even took a three-game leave of absence in 2021 to deal with them. That’s why he’s teamed up with Kooth, a digital mental health service for tweens, teens and young adults, to destigmatize mental illness and encourage finding help. He calls depression and anxiety his “monster” and assures young people, “There is power in telling your story.” Fly, Eagle, fly! Read More »

2024 Best Grappler

Joey Bachmann

Still preening about your high school sports career? This Quakertown wrestler really has something to crow about. The 15-year-old student at Faith Christian Academy was ranked first in the nation in his 106-pound weight class last season by every single ranking service — and proved it by winning the gold medal at the state championship in Hershey in March. His budding career has already taken him to competitions in Mexico and Turkey. Now, what were you saying about riding the bench in the big playoff game? Read More »

2023 Best Sports Performance

Jalen Hurts

The thing we love most about Hurts is that as good as his season was — and it was incredibly good — he never seemed satisfied. His interviews after every contest, nearly all of them wins, focused not only on what went right out on the field but also on what didn’t. It’s why the team seemed to improve each week and why, despite the most heartbreaking of Super Bowl losses, we feel he’s the on-the-field leader who can finish the job. Read More »

2023 Best Monument With a Kick

Cabrini University’s Fredia Gibbs statue

Delco has produced its fair share of star athletes. The most recent to be honored in the form of a dynamic bronze statue (and the state’s first of a female athlete): Cabrini alum and International Sport Kickboxing Association world title holder Fredia Gibbs. The Chester native originally made a name for herself in basketball — first playing for Cabrini, then professionally in Europe. After her return to the U.S., Gibbs took up kickboxing and recorded eight straight victories with 15 KOs. “The Most Dangerous Woman in the World,” indeed. Read More »

2023 Best Miracle on Ice

Isabeau Levito

What a year it’s been for Mount Holly’s Isabeau Levito, who won a gold medal in the Philadelphia Summer International ice-skating competition, silver in the 2022 Skate America and MK John Wilson Trophy events, and then gold in the U.S. Figure Skating Championship, among other honors. She’s all of 16 years old. Read More »

2023 Best Homecoming

Haason Reddick

We were excited when the Eagles inked the Camden native/Temple alum edge rusher ahead of the 2022 season. Then he went on a sacking spree (19.5 between the regular season and playoffs!) that led the Birds all the way to the Super Bowl, and we lost our minds. No pressure, but we’re expecting similarly big things from another local product: onetime St. Joe’s Prep star D’Andre Swift, whom the Eagles stole in a draft-day trade in April. Read More »