51st Milward Simpson Award Winner Reaction [VIDEO]
The winners of the 51st Milward Simpson Awards for outstanding female and male athlete of the year in Wyoming were handed out last Saturday in Cody. Ellie Talich from Cody and Beck Haswell from Sheridan were the two winners. Talich became the third winner for CHS, and Haswell was the sixth in school history.
WyoPreps visited with the two winners after the ceremony. Haswell was in attendance, but Talich was not, due to prior plans. We visited with Ellie on Monday while she was traveling. WyoPreps got their reaction to winning the honor, had them reflect on their high school career, what stood out, what it means to them to win this award, and more.
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The Milward Simpson Award was started in 1976 to honor multi-sport, all-around, high school athletes in Wyoming. It's named after one of Wyoming's greatest athletes. Milward was a team captain for the University of Wyoming football, basketball, and baseball teams and earned varsity letters in each sport from 1917 to 1921. As a halfback in football, he became the first Wyoming native to earn All-America honors. He turned down a professional baseball contract to attend Harvard Law School. Simpson was inducted into the UW Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996. He served as an administrator and politician. That included stints as the President of the UW Board of Trustees, the Governor of Wyoming (1954-58), and later as a U.S. Senator (1962-67).
WyoPreps will have more on the 2026 and 51st Milward Simpson Award.
Milward Simpson Awards ceremony 2026
Gallery Credit: David Settle, WyoPreps.com
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