Anquan Boldin, Tamika Catchings, John Cena and Henrik Lundqvist are the athlete finalists for the inaugural Sports Humanitarian of the Year Awards, which will be held July 14 in Los Angeles.
Team nominees include the Chicago Bulls, Portland Timbers, San Francisco 49ers and WWE. The awards show, presented by ESPN and PlayStation, will be broadcast on July 23 on ESPN (8:30 p.m. ET).
Multiple sports-related leagues and/or governing bodies — including MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, NHL, USOC, USTA, WNBA, WWE and the Women’s Sports Foundation — nominated athletes, teams and community members for the awards. The nominees are people and teams who are “using the power of sports to transform lives and uplift communities,” according to the announcement.
There will also be four inaugural “Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award” honorees, recognized “for taking risks and using innovation to help the disadvantaged,” ESPN said in a statement.
Boldin, the San Francisco 49ers wide receiver, has a foundation that helps fund after-school programs, scholarships and annual summer enrichment programs in Baltimore, South Florida and San Francisco. He is also an Oxfam Ambassador and has testified before Congress on human rights protections in Africa.
Catchings, of the Indiana Fever, who grew up with a hearing impairment, utilizes her Catch the Stars Foundation to promote fitness, literacy and mentoring to youth in Indianapolis. Catchings has served on the U.S. Department of State’s Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports.
WWE star John Cena has granted more than 500 wishes for children as part of the Make-A-Wish organization over the past 10 years. He’s also been an advocate in the battle against breast cancer.
Lundqvist, the New York Rangers goaltender, has been an advocate for children in New York City, the Dominican Republic and Sweden through his Henrik Lundqvist Foundation and via the Garden of Dreams Foundation. He also has been part of the Young Ambassadors Program, helping select a group of young adults to complete community service projects and volunteer work.
For the team nominees, the Bulls organized more than 100 community events focused on youth education, health and wellness, violence prevention and the military with more than 30,000 people impacted.
The Portland Timbers have given more than $2.4 million in cash and in-kind donations since their founding in 2011, including their philanthropic work through the Portland Timbers Community Fund, the club’s field-grants program, and various experiential and charitable activities.
The 49ers sponsor the San Francisco 49ers Academy, a middle school for low-income students in East Palo Alto, California. In addition, since 1992, the 49ers’ foundation has donated $30.6 million to support nonprofits, including $4.6 million in 2014.
WWE’s community relations department has granted more than 6,000 wishes to children through Make-A-Wish, in addition to launching its own anti-bullying program, Be a STAR, which has reached more than 100,000 children from all 50 U.S. states and 100 countries.
Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award honorees include Always for its “Like a Girl” campaign, Major League Baseball commissioner emeritus Bud Selig and his wife Sue, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and You Can Play, an organization inspired by the late Brendan Burke and his father, Calgary Flames president of hockey operations Brian Burke, that is working to change the sometimes homophobic culture of sports locker rooms.
The event will be hosted by Laila Ali.
“Through their selflessness and compassion, the Sports Humanitarian of the Year Award honorees are improving lives of many around the world,” ESPN president John Skipper said. “The awards pay tribute to some incredible individuals and organizations and the extraordinary impact of their efforts on society.”
