Sports Illustrated - USA (2020-12)

standards for greatness on and

off the field are recognizable

across generations.

There’s also something to be

said for fresh perspectives, which

brings us to the artwork on the

five covers for this issue. The

portraits of our SOTYs are the work

of Alexis Franklin, a 24-year-old

digital painter from Dallas. Art isn’t

even Franklin’s day job; she works

full-time as a videographer for her

church. But she gained renown

earlier this year for her stunning

covers of Anita Hill (Time) and

Breonna Taylor (O, The Oprah

Magazine); we felt the emotion and

depth she conveys by infusing an

ancient art form with cutting-edge

technology would perfectly capture

the spirit of our honorees. As you

can see from the finished products:

Franklin and her objective have

become one.

imagining how to tell the stories of

the 2020 Sportspersons of the Year:

LeBron James, Naomi Osaka,

Patrick Mahomes, Breanna Stewart

and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. As

you will see beginning on page 46,

they are each being honored

not only for a championship

performance this year, but also for

turning their athletic fame into a

platform for social activism.

That is a journey Abdul-Jabbar

knows well. And so we asked

him to ref lect on the impact and

accomplishments of another

Sportsperson coming off a Lakers

championship and Finals MVP;

the parallels between Abdul-Jabbar

and James only begin there.

Likewise, each of our honorees is

being recognized in this issue by

one of their athletic and activist

forebears, someone who started

down a similar road years before.

Martina Navratilova, the great

tennis champion and social

activist, on Osaka. Doug Williams,

the first Black quarterback to win

the Super Bowl, on Mahomes.

Megan Rapinoe, our 2019

Sportsperson of the Year and an

outspoken advocate of equal rights,

on Stewart. Jenny Thompson, an

eight-time Olympic gold medalist

swimmer turned doctor, on

Duvernay-Tardif. Their essays are

more than appreciations by fellow

champions. They’re a reminder

of the ties between eras: Sports

and challenges change, but the

TIES

THAT

BIND

BY THE EDITORS OF

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

HIRTY-FIVE YEARS

ago this month, fresh off

leading the Lakers to an

NBA title and earning Finals MVP

honors, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was

named Sports Illustr ated’s

Sportsperson of the Year. The

consummate athlete-philosopher of

our time was typically thoughtful

in his interviews for Gary Smith’s

profile, never more so than when

describing his mindset while

hoisting one of his trademark

skyhooks: “You center on your

inner calm and your target, isolate

everything else until you and your

objective become one.”

It was as if Abdul-Jabbar had

let readers into a secret club

reserved for athletic royalty,

granting poetic insight into the

type of focus it takes to be the

best. That kind of connection

was on our minds when we were

DECEMBER 2020 9

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STATE OF THE ART

Franklin, a digital painter,

created the five cover

images for this issue.