Nothing against Caitlyn Jenner, but here are four more deserving award recipients
By now you’ve heard the story. ESPN has awarded Caitlyn Jenner the Arthur Ashe Courage Award which it will present at the Espy awards.
Strength in the face of adversity. Courage in the face of peril and the willingness to stand up for their beliefs no matter what the cost.”
ESPN went for ratings and headlines instead of honoring real heroes. With that in mind, I submit to you four better — and more deserving choices which it will
Very disappointed in @espn who went with a meaningless headline over real life heroes like #LaurenHillESPY & #NoahGalloway..It’s wrong!
— Jeremy (@JKMJX24) June 8, 2015
Noah Galloway
On December 19, 2005, Noah Galloway was severely injured in an IED attack in Iraq.. He lost his left arm above the elbow and his left leg above the knee; his right leg and jaw were badly injured, the latter having to be wired shut He was unconscious for five days. Today, He runs marathons, competes in Crossfir events, and compted in the 58-hour Death Race. He also finished third in ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.
Galloway founded the No Excuses Charitable Fund. The fund, which assists organizations he feels are important, has aided Operation Enduring Warrior and also local programs including those for children at the YMCA of the town where he lives, Alabaster, Alabama.
Lauren Hill
19-year old Lauren Jill died of brain cancer this April. But not before realizing her dream of playing college basketball as a freshman at Mount St. Jospeh. Through her charity, Club 22, she raised funds to find a cure for diffuse itinsic pontine glioma — the type of cancer has was diagnosed with two years earlier. The foundation has received $6 million in research grants and is funding $2.7 million in research currently.
Hunter Gandee
15-year old Hunter Gandee walked more than 40 miles carrying his 8-year old brother Braden on his back. Braden has cerebral palsy.
I wanted to show people the struggles Braden has to go through daily,” Gandee told ABC News. “We can make the world a better place for people with cerebal palsy.”
Braden weighs 60 pounds.
Past recipients of the Arthur Ashe Award include Muhammed Ali, Pat Tillman, and Michael Sams. The Award also has been given to non-athletes, including Robin Roberts and Nelson Mandela. With that in mind, there are hundreds — or thousands — of veterans that are more deserving of this award. If you go to the Medal of Honors webpage, you can literally find as many as you want. Here is just one such story.
Corporal Jason Dunham
Corporal Dunham gave his life for his country and saved others while serving as a Rifle Squad Leader in the Marines. While on a recon mission in Iraq, he threw himself on a live grenade.
Discovering seven Iraqi vehicles in a column attempting to depart, Corporal Dunham and his team stopped the vehicles to search them for weapons. As they approached the vehicles, an insurgent leaped out and attacked Corporal Dunham. Corporal Dunham wrestled the insurgent to the ground and in the ensuing struggle saw the insurgent release a grenade. Corporal Dunham immediately alerted his fellow Marines to the threat. Aware of the imminent danger and without hesitation, Corporal Dunham covered the grenade with his helmet and body, bearing the brunt of the explosion and shielding his Marines from the blast. In an ultimate and selfless act of bravery in which he was mortally wounded, he saved the lives of at least two fellow Marines.
Bob Costas, while recognizing Jenner, his past accomplishments, and the steps he’s made, called the selection a “crass exploitation play” while appearing on the Dan Patrick show. Here’s an excerpt:
It strikes me that awarding the Arthur Ashe award to Caitlyn Jenner is just a crass exploitation play. It’s a tabloid play. In the broad world of sports, I’m pretty sure they could have found — and this is not anything against Caitlyn Jenner — I’m pretty sure they could have found someone who was much closer to actively involved in sports, who would have been deserving of what that award represents. That’s not to say that it doesn’t take some measure of personal courage to do what Caitlyn Jenner has done, but I think that every year we look across the landscape of sports, and we find prominent people and kids in high-school and amateur athletes who I think more closely fit the description of what they’re looking for or should be looking for there. And I think this is a play to pump up audience the way lots of things are put on television, to attract eyeballs, not because of the validity, but because of whatever the kind of gawker factor is.
