As 2024 comes to a close, SI is recognizing the top performer in each sport—athletes who have excelled on the field through record-breaking or championship performances, or those who have distinguished themselves through significant off-field achievements as well.
In August 2023, Jake Dionne was on a gap year from college as he recovered from his second round of treatment for leukemia. The initial round of chemotherapy had him in the hospital for a month, with the only respite being the short hallway he could walk outside of his tiny room and the nights spent playing Fortnite after he managed to get a PlayStation smuggled in. Because he wasn’t yet in remission, he had to get injections for CAR T-cell therapy.
