Edey has now won the award in back to back years.

The Big Ten announced their male and female athletes of the year today. Both of these choices were…slam dunks. Sorry, I had to. The winners were obvious if you’ve paid attention to Big Ten basketball at all this past year. Caitlin Clark of Iowa (and now the Indiana Fever) won the Female Athlete of the Year award while Zach Edey took home the Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year award. Both well deserved awards.

Zach Edey also won the award last year making him just the second repeat winner of the award in its 43 year history. Who is the other one you may be thinking to yourself right now? I assure you I could give you 30 guesses and you wouldn’t get it right. Former Ohio State Wrestler by the name of Kyle Snyder who won the award in 2017 and 2018 is the only other two time winner. Never would’ve guessed. Edey is also the third Boilermaker to win the award following in the footsteps of Glenn Robinson (1994) and David Boudia (2011).

Edey of course was the star of the 2023-2024 Purdue men’s basketball team that made their first Final Four appearance since 1980 and made it all the way to the National Championship game before falling to UConn. Here’s a lovely excerpt from the Big Ten release on Edey’s achievement: