Caitlyn Jenner will receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for sport at the 2015 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles. It will be Jenner’s public debut since transitioning from male to female. It’s expected that all her children and grandchildren will be there to help herJenner celebrate the award. The show will be broadcast on ABC, which is a sister company to ESPN, under Disney’s big umbrella.
ESPN executives have denied that giving the award to Jenner is a “ratings ploy.” But obviously ratings are a consideration and Jenner is a major “get,” as they say. Comedian Joel McHale will host — and Jenner may need a little extra courage to get through some of the satirist’s barbed jokes. (McHale reportedly rejected a joke relating Patriots’ QB Tom Brady’s deflated balls to Jenner’s experience.) Diane Sawyer, it’s claimed, did not pay for her famous first interview with Caitlyn Jenner. It’s not clear how much ESPN is paying to have the entire Jenner-Kardashian clan show up for the show. But they don’t work for free. Jenner joins these previous winners of the Arthur Ashe Courage.
1993 – Jim Valvano
1994 – Steve Palermo
1995 – Howard Cosell
1996 – Loretta Claiborne
1997 – Muhammad Ali
1998 – Dean Smith
1999 – Billie Jean King
2000 – William David Sanders
2001 – Cathy Freeman
2002 – Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett, and Jeremy Glick
2003 – Pat Tillman and Kevin Tillman
2004 – George Weah
2005 – Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah and Jim MacLaren
2006 – Roia Ahmad and Shamila Kohestani
2007 – Trevor Ringland and David Cullen from Peace Players International
2008 – Tommie Smith and John Carlos
2009 – Nelson Mandela
2010 – Family of Ed Thomas
2011 – Dewey Bozella
2012 – Pat Summitt
2013 – Robin Roberts
2014 – Michael Sam
2015 – Caitlyn Jenner
