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ESPY’s Honor First Openly Gay College Football Player

Michael Sam announced to the world earlier this year that he is a gay man. It came as a surprise to many because he became the first openly gay college football player and is now the first openly gay NFL player.

He was presented with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the annual ESPY Awards on Wednesday night in Los Angeles. Sam was drafted this year by the St. Louis Rams and is a defensive end. He was presented the award by Dwayne Johnson.

We have embedded video of his speech in this post and it is a must watch for anyone dealing with the struggles that Sam has had to endure during his lifetime, especially the past couple of years.

Sam ended his emotional, poignant and inspirational speech with the following:

“Standing here tonight, looking out on all these legends who have already achieved so much is one of the thrills of my life. I promise to spend the rest of my life trying to do my best to live up to this honor and become the best football player I can. And finally, to anyone out there, especially young people, feeling like they don’t fit in and would never be accepted, please know this: Great things can happen when you have the courage to be yourself.

Thank you and God bless.”

Jim Vassallo: Jim is a freelance writer based out of the suburbs of Philadelphia in New Jersey. Jim earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and minor in Journalism from Rowan University in 2008. While in school he was the Assistant Sports Director at WGLS for two years and the Sports Director for one year. He also covered the football, baseball, softball and both basketball teams for the school newspaper 'The Whit.' Jim lives in New Jersey with his wife Nicole, son Tony and dog Phoebe.

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