Sean Johnson's seventh season in net for the Chicago Fire culminated in receipt of Section 8 Chicago's 2016 Player of the Year award, an honor Johnson officially received Saturday at The Globe Pub in Chicago.
Awarded by the club's Independent Supporters' Association since 2009, the Supporters' Player of the Year award is determined through fan vote and recognizes a season characterized by consistent performance along with a demonstrated commitment to the club, its tradition and its supporter-base.
The award also carries with it a $1,000 donation to the charity of the honoree's choice. In a touching gesture, Johnson made known Saturday that this year's funds would be directed to the LampStrong Foundation, the charitable effort spearheaded by Johnson's fellow Fire netminder and the 2016 MLS WORKS Humanitarian of the Year, Matt Lampson.
A fixture in goal for the Fire since arriving into the club as a rookie in 2010, Johnson started 22 MLS matches this season and earned five shutouts, along the way raising his career total of competitive appearances for the club to 196. Johnson joins the all-time list of Supporters' Player of the Year Award recipients that also features C.J. Brown (2009, 2010), Dominic Oduro (2011), Patrick Nyarko (2012), Mike Magee (2013), Lovel Palmer (2014) and David Accam (2015).
