# 2019 ESPY Awards

The 2019 ESPY Awards were presented at the 27th annual ESPY Awards show, held on July 10, 2019, at 5 pm Pacific at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles and broadcast on television nationwide in the United States on ABC at 8 pm Eastern/7 pm Central. Tracy Morgan served as the host.

## Winners and nominees

| Best Male Athlete Giannis Antetokounmpo – Milwaukee Bucks, NBA Mookie Betts – Boston Red Sox, MLB Brooks Koepka – Golf Patrick Mahomes – Kansas City Chiefs, NFL | Best Female Athlete Alex Morgan - Orlando Pride, United States women's national soccer team Simone Biles – Gymnast Mikaela Shiffrin – Skiing Breanna Stewart – Seattle Storm, WNBA; Dynamo Kursk, EuroLeague Women; United States women's national basketball team |
| Best Breakthrough Athlete Saquon Barkley – New York Giants, NFL Naomi Osaka – Tennis Christian Yelich – Milwaukee Brewers, MLB Trae Young – Atlanta Hawks, NBA | Best Team U.S. Women's Soccer Team – FIFA Boston Red Sox – MLB New England Patriots – NFL Clemson Tigers – NCAA Division I FBS football Toronto Raptors – NBA Baylor Lady Bears – NCAA women's basketball Virginia Cavaliers – NCAA men's basketball |
| Best Game Los Angeles Rams defeat Kansas City Chiefs 54–51 on Monday Night Football Texas A&M defeats LSU 74–72 in seven overtimes in highest scoring NCAA FBS game in history Notre Dame defeats UConn 81–76 in the 2019 NCAA Women's Final Four | Best Play (Elimination Format) Katelyn Ohashi (UCLA) scores a Perfect 10 in gymnastics floor exercise Miracle in Miami (advanced to Finals) Kawhi Leonard's game-winning buzzer-beater that advanced the Toronto Raptors to the Eastern Conference finals (advanced to Finals) Derrick Henry runs for an NFL record tying 99-yard TD (advanced to Finals) Wayne Rooney single-handedly won a game for D.C. United Andrew Benintendi calls game Damian Lillard's buzzer-beater that sent the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference playoffs and eliminated the Oklahoma City Thunder (advanced to Round 2) Midlothian, Virginia QB Brendon Clark throws a 48-yard TD pass to Kevin Henderson that popped behind his opponent's head Texas Tech wide receiver T. J. Vasher does his best Odell Beckham Jr. imitation (advanced to Round 2) Kinsley Washington singled home Jacqui Prober to win UCLA's 12th Women's College World Series softball title Julie Ertz scores a goal against Brazil early in the second half of their Tournament of Nations match (advanced to Round 2) Texas A&M's Infinite Tucker goes for the gold at the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships Arike Ogunbowale behind-the-back pass (advanced to Round 2) Kihei Clark and Mamadi Diakite save Virginia at the buzzer in the Elite Eight Wilmington Charter's Taylor Gillis with a sensational catch North Shore Senior High School wins Texas state title with Hail Mary pass |
| Best College Athlete Zion Williamson – Duke Blue Devils Rachel Garcia – UCLA Bruins Sabrina Ionescu – Oregon Ducks Kyler Murray – Oklahoma Sooners | Best Record-Breaking Performance Drew Brees surpassing Peyton Manning's 71,940 NFL passing yards on Monday Night Football; he also surpassed Brett Favre's completion record Matthew Boling breaks the national high school record for the boys' 100 meter dash. Sabrina Ionescu scoring her 13th triple double in her NCAA career, making her the record holder for most triple doubles, male or female, in NCAA history Klay Thompson scoring 14 3-point field goals in an NBA game, breaking Stephen Curry's previous record |
| Best NFL Player Patrick Mahomes – Kansas City Chiefs Drew Brees – New Orleans Saints Aaron Donald – Los Angeles Rams Todd Gurley – Los Angeles Rams | Best MLB Player Christian Yelich – Milwaukee Brewers Mookie Betts – Boston Red Sox Jacob DeGrom – New York Mets Blake Snell – Tampa Bay Rays |
| Best NBA Player Giannis Antetokounmpo – Milwaukee Bucks Kevin Durant – Golden State Warriors Paul George – Oklahoma City Thunder James Harden – Houston Rockets | Best NHL Player Alexander Ovechkin – Washington Capitals Nikita Kucherov – Tampa Bay Lightning Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers Nathan McKinnon – Colorado Avalanche |
| Best MLS Player Zlatan Ibrahimović – LA Galaxy Josef Martínez – Atlanta United Aaron Long – New York Red Bulls Wayne Rooney – D.C. United | Best NWSL Player Sam Kerr – Chicago Red Stars Abby Erceg – North Carolina Courage Adrianna Franch – Portland Thorns Lindsey Horan – Portland Thorns |
| Best International Men's Soccer Player Lionel Messi – FC Barcelona/Argentina Kylian Mbappé – Paris Saint-Germain F.C./France Cristiano Ronaldo – Juventus FC/Portugal Virgil Van Dijk – Liverpool F.C./Netherlands | Best International Women's Soccer Player Sam Kerr – Chicago Red Stars/Perth Glory/Australia Pernille Harder – VfL Wolfsburg/Denmark Ada Hegerberg – Olympique Lyonnais/Norway Lucy Bronze – Olympique Lyonnais/England |
| Best WNBA Player Breanna Stewart – Seattle Storm Elena Delle Donne – Washington Mystics Candace Parker – Los Angeles Sparks Diana Taurasi – Phoenix Mercury | Best Driver Kyle Busch – NASCAR Scott Dixon – IndyCar Lewis Hamilton – Formula One Steve Torrence – NHRA |
| Best Male Golfer Brooks Koepka Francesco Molinari Justin Rose Tiger Woods | Best Female Golfer Brooke Henderson Ariya Jutanugarn Jin-Young Ko Sung Hyun Park |
| Best Boxer Canelo Álvarez Terence Crawford Vasily Lomachenko Oleksandr Usyk | Best MMA Fighter Daniel Cormier Israel Adesanya Henry Cejudo Amanda Nunes |
| Best Jockey Mike E. Smith Florent Geroux Irad Ortiz Jr. José Ortiz | Best Upset Andy Ruiz Jr. defeats Anthony Joshua in a heavyweight title fight Columbus Blue Jackets sweep the top-seeded Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs Old Domininon defeats #13 Virginia Tech Naomi Osaka beats Serena Williams at the 2018 US Open |
| Best Male Action Sports Athlete Nyjah Huston – Skateboarding Scotty James – Snowboarding Gabriel Medina – Surfing Tom Pagès – Freestyle Motocross | Best Female Action Sports Athlete Chloe Kim – Snowboarding Stephanie Gilmore – Surfing Zoi Sadowski-Synnott – Snowboarding Kelly Sildaru – Skiing |
| Best Male Athlete with a Disability Mark Barr – triathlon Declan Farmer – sledge hockey Daniel Romanchuk – marathon racing Oz Sanchez – cycling | Best Female Athlete with a Disability Allysa Seely – triathlon Oksana Masters – Nordic skiing Tatyana McFadden – marathon racing Shawn Morelli – cycling |
| Best Viral Moment Katelyn Ohashi scores a perfect 10 in gymnastics Texas A&M athlete Infinite Tucker lunges for the gold at the SEC Championships Sister Mary Jo's first pitch at a Chicago White Sox game is a curveball | Best WWE Moment Roman Reigns returns to action following a recurrence of leukemia Becky Lynch wins Raw and SmackDown Women's titles at the main event of WrestleMania 35 Kofi Kingston wins the WWE Championship after 11 years at WrestleMania 35 Ronda Rousey wins the Raw Women's title at Summerslam |
| Best Bowler Norm Duke Jason Belmonte Jakob Butturff Anthony Simonsen | Best Esports Moment (Elimination format) OLarry returns to NBA 2K League following Jacksonville Landing shooting SonicFox winning Evo after switching sides Team Liquid upsets defending world champ Invictus Gaming at MSI Cloud9 wins CS:GO Boston Major Astralis winning Katowice Invictus Gaming League of Legends World Championship Spitfire win inaugural Overwatch League championship Serral winning StarCraft at BlizzCon Shanghai Dragons end 42-game losing streak Team OG wins The International and $11 million from qualifiers Chiquita Evans becoming the first woman in the NBA 2K League Leffen finally winning EVO in what could be Super Smash Bros: Melee's last year at the event Ninja Fortnite win with Marshmello at E3 ProAM Chritobin Madden Challenge walk off G2 Esports wins Rainbow Six world championship Mongausse winning Summer Skirmish from out of nowhere |
| Best Male Tennis Player Roger Federer Novak Djokovic Rafael Nadal Stefanos Tsitsipas | Best Female Tennis Player Serena Williams Naomi Osaka Simona Halep Petra Kvitová |

## Honorary awards
### Arthur Ashe Award for Courage

* Bill Russell

### Best Coach

* Jim Calhoun

### Best Comeback

* St. Louis Blues come from being at the bottom of the NHL standings to win the Stanley Cup

### Best Moment

* Rob Gronkowski, Lindsey Vonn and Dwyane Wade for their careers

### Capital One Cup

* Men: Virginia Cavaliers
* Women: Stanford Cardinal

### Jimmy V Award

* Rob Mendez

### Pat Tillman Award for Service

* Kirstie Ennis

## In Memoriam

The 2019 ESPY Awards was the first time that there was no "In Memoriam" segment aired live. The segment was replaced by a segment honoring players' assistance within their communities with a performance of "In Times Like These" by Grammy award-winning Gospel singer Tori Kelly, taking place during the award segment for the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, which was awarded to NBA legend and Civil Rights activist Bill Russell.