John Gilmour was a gifted young athlete whose career was interrupted by WWII. During his service, he was a POW and returned to Perth virtually blind and emaciated. He resumed his career against all physical odds and from 1946 became a world-class runner, holding records from 1500 metres to the marathon.
This award was for the best performance of the year up to 2019. From 2020 it has been awarded to the MAWA Athlete of the Year.
A list of the winners appears below:
| 1995-1996 | Roy Fearnall |
| 1996-1997 | David Clive |
| 1997-1998 | David Carr |
| 1998-1999 | David Clive |
| 1999-2000 | David Carr |
| 2000-2001 | Lyn Ventris |
| 2001-2002 | David Carr |
| 2002-2003 | David Carr |
| 2003-2004 | David Carr |
| 2004-2005 | Lyn Ventris |
| 2005-2006 | Lyn Ventris |
| 2006-2007 | Lyn Ventris |
| 2007-2008 | David Carr |
| 2008-2009 | David Carr |
| 2009-2010 | David Carr |
| 2010-2011 | Lyn Ventris |
| 2011-2012 | Lyn Ventris |
| 2012-2013 | Lyn Ventris |
| 2013-2014 | David Carr |
| 2014-2015 | David Carr |
| 2015-2016 | Wendy Seegers & Rob Colling (joint winners) |
| 2016-2017 | David Carr |
| 2017-2018 | Lyn Ventris |
| 2018-2019 | Melissa Foster |
| 2019-2020 | Paul Jeffery |
| 2020-2021 | Barbara Blurton |
| 2021-2022 | Todd Davey |
| 2022-2023 | David Carr* |
* Awarded pothumously