CHICAGO (March 16, 2022) — In its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Cam Whitmore of Archbishop Spalding High School is the 2021-22 Gatorade Maryland Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Whitmore is the second Gatorade Maryland Boys Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Archbishop Spalding High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Whitmore as Maryland’s best high school boys basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March, Whitmore joins an elite alumni association of state award winners in 12 sports, including Jayson Tatum (2015-16, Chaminade College Preparatory School, Mo.), Karl Anthony Towns (2012-13 & 2013-14, St. Joseph High School, N.J.), Jabari Parker (2011-12, Simeon Career Academy, Ill.) and Dwight Howard (2003-04, Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, Ga.).
The 6-foot-7, 210-pound senior forward and guard averaged 21.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game this past season, leading the Cavaliers (25-10) to the semifinals of both the MIAA A Conference and Baltimore Catholic League tournaments. A McDonald’s All-American Game selection and a two-time BCL Player of the Year, Whitmore also recorded 2.3 assists and 1.6 steals per game. Ranked as the nation’s No. 15 recruit in the Class of 2022 by 247Sports.com, he concluded his prep basketball career with 1,252 points.
A baritone saxophonist, Whitmore has volunteered locally as a youth basketball coach. “What makes Cam so good is his athleticism and quickness,” said Josh Pratt, head coach of Archbishop Spalding High School. “He’s very skilled in the open court with his size and strength, and he can finish around the basket and take the contact. He’s also an underrated passer and jump-shooter.”
Whitmore has maintained a 3.0 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball on scholarship at Villanova University this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Whitmore joins recent Gatorade Maryland Boys Basketball Players of the Year Jordan Hawkins (2020-21, DeMatha Catholic High School), Hunter Dickinson (2019-20, DeMatha Catholic High School), Justin Moore (2018-19, DeMatha Catholic High School) and Jalen Smith (2017-18, Mount Saint Joseph High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
Gatorade has a long-standing history of serving athlete communities and understands how sports instill valuable lifelong skills on and off the court. Through Gatorade’s “Play it Forward” platform, Whitmore has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national organization of their choosing that helps young athletes realize the benefits of playing sports. Whitmore is also eligible to submit a short video explaining why the organization they chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $3.5 million across more than 1,300 organizations.
Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and Twitter at twitter.com/Gatorade