Last night, ESPN's 25th annual ESPYS awards took place with future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning hosting the event. Many of the best athletes in the world were on hand for the star-studded event held at the Microsoft Theatre. Apart from the sports awards, there were other awards given out for the night that will be discussed.
Notable Individual Awards Winners
Coming off of his MVP season and being only the second player ever to average a triple-double, Russell Westbrook won the award for Best Male Athlete. However, LeBron James was the one to take home the award for Best NBA Player, doing so for the sixth time.
Many around the NBA still consider him to still be the best player in the league and clearly the fans who voted agreed.
In the other major sports, Sidney Crosby took home Best NHL Player for the ninth time, even though Connor McDavid won the Hart Memorial Trophy. However, Crosby won the Conn Smythe Trophy and Stanley Cup for the second consecutive year. Aaron Rodgers won the award for Best NFL Player, despite Matt Ryan winning MVP and Tom Brady leading his team to a championship while winning Super Bowl MVP. American League MVP Mike Trout won the award for Best MLB Player for the second time. He was the only player in the four major North American sports to win MVP and the ESPY in his respective sport.
Michael Phelps won the award for Best Male U.S. Olympian for the fourth time, while also winning the award for Record-Breaking Performance for the third time. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he won five gold medals and one silver to add to his already historic haul. Simone Biles took home the award for Best Female Athlete and Best Female U.S.
Olympian. She won four gold medals and one bronze in Rio while becoming most decorated American gymnast of all-time. Biles also set the American record for most gold medals in women's gymnastics at a single Olympic Games.
Other award winners
Saints superfan, 15-year-old Jarrius Robertson, received the Jimmy V Perseverance Award.
He has gone through two liver transplants while battling biliary atresia, with him not having been expected to survive. He has since set up a foundation called "It Takes Lives to Save Lives." Eunice Kennedy Shriver posthumously received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award due to her work founding and nationalizing the Special Olympics. Former First Lady Michelle Obama honored her and the award was presented to her son, Tim Shriver.
Legendary Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully, who retired last year after 67 years, received the Icon Award. U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant Israel Del Toro received the Pat Tillman Award. He was seriously injured in a car bomb in Afghanistan in 2005. He lost his fingers, suffered burns on over 80% of his body and went into a coma for three months.
Doctors told him he would probably never walk or breathe on his own, but he did both. He competed in the Invictus Games, winning a silver medal for powerlifting in 2014 and a gold medal in shot put last year.
