1 year ago
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ESPN News Services
Jul 16, 2025, 11:36 PM ET
LOS ANGELES -- NBA Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Olympic champion gymnast Simone Biles won arsenic champion antheral and pistillate athletes astatine the ESPYS connected Wednesday night.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the NBA title past period portion piling up hardware arsenic league MVP and scoring champion.
"It's a imagination travel existent and for dreams to travel existent it takes a village," helium said, thanking his wife, parents, member and others. "Those names astir apt don't mean overmuch but to maine they mean everything."
Biles, an 11-time Olympic medalist, besides claimed the night's archetypal award, champion title show for her efforts astatine the Paris Games. She won 3 golds and a metallic portion helping the U.S. triumph its archetypal squad rubric since 2016.
"That was precise unexpected, particularly successful a class of each men," Biles said aft kissing her husband, Chicago Bears information Jonathan Owens.
She bushed retired Stephen Curry, Freddie Freeman and Rory McIlroy for her champion title show award.
The Philadelphia Eagles, who won the franchise's 2nd Super Bowl successful February, claimed champion squad honors, beating retired 9 different nominees, including the Thunder, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Florida Panthers, the Ohio State shot squad and the U.S. nationalist women's shot team.
Biles' Olympic teammate, Suni Lee, won the champion comeback grant for overcoming 2 uncommon kidney diseases. She brought 1 of her doctors to the show.
Arthur Ashe Award for Courage
Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson accepted the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage from constituent defender Russell Westbrook.
Robertson was president of the NBA Players' Association astatine the clip of a landmark antitrust suit against the NBA successful 1970. It led to an extended betterment of the league's strict escaped bureau and draught rules and yet to higher salaries for each players.
The 86-year-old Robertson, a 12-time All Star known arsenic The Big O during his career, was the archetypal Black president of immoderate sports labour union.
"I knew determination was enactment to do. There was a hopeless request for players to person much vocation security, improved moving conditions and different accommodations," helium said. "In life, it's important to beryllium persistent oregon arsenic I person been called stubborn. Stubborn astir what you judge in."
Icon Award
Retired WNBA prima Diana Taurasi and retired USWNT prima Alex Morgan shared the Icon Award successful designation of their careers and large interaction connected sports.
The women touched their trophies unneurotic successful a toast.
"Our ngo has ever been precise similar," Morgan said. "We fought to permission our crippled successful a amended spot than wherever we recovered it conscionable arsenic a procreation earlier america did. We're lasting connected the shoulders of giants."
Taurasi, who retired successful February aft a 20-year hoops career, mentioned her parents who immigrated to the U.S. from Argentina. She besides had words for the adjacent generation.
"Keep going, don't hold for idiosyncratic to manus you anything, outwork them, beryllium loyal, bring that damn occurrence each day," she said. "We're impervious you tin bash it. We did it our way. No shortcuts, nary apologies, and nary regrets."
Pat Tillman Award for Service
Former athletes David Walters and Erin Regan accepted the Pat Tillman Award for Service, fixed to those who person served successful a mode that honors the bequest of the erstwhile NFL subordinate and U.S. Army Ranger.
Walters, 37, earned a golden medal astatine the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was a seven-time satellite championships medalist. He's present a Los Angeles metropolis firefighter.
Regan, 45, was a Wake Forest shot subordinate who spent 1 play successful the pros earlier retiring to articulation the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Both Walters and Regan fought the deadly and destructive wildfires successful Pacific Palisades and Altadena successful January.
Jimmy V Award
An affectional Katie Schumacher-Cawley accepted the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance with her hubby and children joining successful the lasting ovation. The Penn State women's volleyball manager was diagnosed with Stage 2 bosom crab successful September. She continued coaching without missing a signifier and became the archetypal pistillate to usher a squad to the NCAA nationalist championship.
"Cancer changed my beingness but it didn't instrumentality it. It didn't instrumentality my belief, it didn't instrumentality my tone and it didn't instrumentality my team," she said.
Gatorade Male and Female Players of the Year
Basketball subordinate Cameron Boozer and way and tract jock Jane Hedengren were named the Gatorade Best Male and Female Players of the Year.
Boozer volition beryllium playing astatine Duke successful the fall, pursuing successful the collegiate footsteps of his father, Carlos, a erstwhile NBA All-Star.
Hedengren volition vie for BYU successful her hometown of Provo, Utah.
Host Shane Gillis' awkward monologue
Comedian Shane Gillis ' opening monologue arsenic big of the amusement that honors the past year's apical athletes and sports moments went implicit awkwardly.
Early on, helium called retired assorted celebrated faces successful the Dolby Theatre crowd, including Taurasi. Gillis said, "Give it up for her" aft calling her "Deanna." The camera showed an unsmiling Taurasi shaking her head. Gillis rapidly caught his mistake, saying, "My atrocious connected that."
Gillis moved connected to WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark, who wasn't connected hand.
"When Caitlin Clark retires from the WNBA, she's going to enactment astatine a Waffle House truthful she tin proceed doing what she loves most: fist warring Black women," helium joked.
While immoderate successful the assemblage laughed, others appeared uncomfortable.
Gillis plowed connected for 10 minutes, with jokes astir President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, whose enactment trafficking probe has roiled the Justice Department and FBI.
Gillis' show drew mixed reviews connected societal media, with immoderate calling him "hilarious" and others "cringey."
Gillis' archetypal gag astir North Carolina manager Bill Belichick and his 24-year-old woman Jordon Hudson drew a batch of laughs.
"A bookie is what Bill Belichick reads to his woman earlier bedtime," helium said.
But the laughter lessened arsenic Gillis continued.
Before closing it out, a smiling Gillis said, "I spot a batch of you don't similar maine and that's OK. That's it for me. That went astir precisely however we each thought it was going to go. I don't cognize wherefore this happened."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
