Following his decision to come out and become the first openly gay player in the NLF, Michael Sam was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPY’s Wednesday night.
After a video reel of Sam’s life was aired, he kissed his boyfriend, Vito Cammisano, and proceeded to walk onto the stage at the Nokia Theater and accept the award from former wrestler and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Fighting back tears, the Missouri defensive linemen said, “”This year I had a lot of experience being part of something bigger than myself. At times, I felt like I’d been living in a massive storm, … but the lessons learned — love, respect and being true to yourself — will never leave me.”
Sam then proceeded to quote Arthur Ashe, “Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can,” continuing on, “Those are the words to live by, whether you’re black or white, young or old, straight or gay. Football raised me, football taught me about hard work. “
Looking back to February when the Texas native came out, he said that he didn’t think he was being particularly courageous enough to be awarder at the ESPY’s. “When I came out, I thought I had told all my truth and that’s all that matters. I didn’t know at the time that I was trying to be an inspiration to anyone… I have no regrets.”
Check out the full acceptance speech:
