Who was awarded the Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in 1976?

Caitlyn Marie Jenner (born William Bruce Jenner, October 28, 1949) is an American media personality, socialite, political candidate, and retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete. Assigned male at birth, Jenner publicly came out as a trans woman in April 2015, announcing her new name of Caitlyn Marie in July.

Jenner played college football for the Graceland Yellowjackets before incurring a knee injury that required surgery. Convinced by Olympic decathlete Jack Parker's coach, L. D. Weldon, to try the decathlon, Jenner had a six-year decathlon career, culminating in winning the men's decathlon event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, setting a third successive world record and gaining fame as "an all-American hero".

Jenner became a national hero and received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. She was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1976.

The first Athlete of the Year award in the United States was initiated by the Associated Press (AP) in 1931. The awards are voted on annually by a panel of AP sports editors from across the United States, covering mainly American sports. As a result, a large majority of the winners have been Americans.