2009 ESPY Awards

The 2009 ESPY Awards (for the 2008 Olympics and the 2009) were announced from Nokia Theatre on July 15 and showed during the telecast on ESPN, July 19. It was co-presented by Under Armour and Land Rover.

Voting

The ESPY nomination show was televised on Friday, June 26, 2009, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Fans voted online at www.espys.tv or via mobile phone at www.espn.mobi. The voting started on June 25 and ended on July 11, 2009.^[1]

Categories

There are 37 categories and 3 special awards. The winners are listed first in bold. Other nominees are in alphabetical order.^[2]

Best Male Athlete	Best Female Athlete
Michael Phelps — Swimming [3] Kobe Bryant — NBA Basketball LeBron James — NBA Basketball Jimmie Johnson — Auto Racing	Nastia Liukin — Gymnastics Natalie Coughlin — Swimming Maya Moore — NCAA Basketball Candace Parker — WNBA Basketball Serena Williams — Tennis
Best Moment	Best Team
US Swim team wins thrilling finish in Olympic relay Tim Tebow’s speech Hélio Castroneves wins the Indy 500	Los Angeles Lakers Connecticut Huskies women's basketball North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball Philadelphia Phillies Pittsburgh Penguins Pittsburgh Steelers
Best Coach-Manager	Best Game
Phil Jackson — Los Angeles Lakers Geno Auriemma — Connecticut Huskies women's basketball Dan Bylsma — Pittsburgh Penguins Joe Maddon — Tampa Bay Rays Mike Tomlin — Pittsburgh Steelers	Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Arizona Cardinals, Super Bowl XLIII Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal, 2008 Wimbledon Final Syracuse vs. Connecticut, 2009 Big East Tournament Quarterfinals
Best Championship Performance	Best Play
Michael Phelps — Swimming Kobe Bryant - Los Angeles Lakers Cole Hamels - Philadelphia Phillies Misty May-Treanor & Kerri Walsh — Beach Volleyball	Roethlisberger to Holmes, Super Bowl XLIII Winning Touchdown Alexander Ovechkin vs. New York Rangers Pacquiao KO’s Hatton Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree makes game-winning catch vs. Texas
Best Upset	Best Breakthrough Athlete
United States Soccer shocks  Spain in the Confederations Cup semifinals Mine That Bird Oregon State stuns then #1 USC Trojans Tampa Bay Rays win the American League Championship Series	Matt Ryan — Atlanta Falcons Shawn Johnson — Gymnastics Evan Longoria — Tampa Bay Rays Derrick Rose — Chicago Bulls
Best Record Breaking Performance	Best Sports Movie
Michael Phelps — Swimming Usain Bolt — Track & Field Larry Fitzgerald — Arizona Cardinals Phil Jackson — Los Angeles Lakers	The Express: The Ernie Davis Story Sugar (2008 film) The Wrestler (2008 film)
Best Male College Athlete	Best Female College Athlete
Tim Tebow — Florida Gators football Sam Bradford — Oklahoma Sooners football Matt Gilroy — Boston University Hockey Blake Griffin — Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball Stephen Strasburg — San Diego State Baseball	Maya Moore — Connecticut Huskies women's basketball Kerri Hanks — Notre Dame Women's Soccer Courtney Kupets — Georgia Gymnastics Danielle Lawrie — Washington Softball Dana Vollmer — California Swimming
Best Male Athlete With A Disability	Best Female Athlete With A Disability
Jason Lester — Ironman Jeremy Campbell — Track & Field Will Groulx — Wheelchair Rugby Oscar Pistorius — Track & Field	Erin Popovich — Swimming Jessica Long — Swimming Maureen McKinnon-Tucker — Sailing Asya Miller — Goalball
Best Male International Athlete	Best Female International Athlete
Usain Bolt ( JAM), Track & Field Pau Gasol ( ESP), Basketball Lionel Messi ( ARG), Soccer Rafael Nadal ( ESP), Tennis Cristiano Ronaldo ( POR), Soccer	Lorena Ochoa ( MEX), Golf Yelena Isinbayeva ( RUS), Pole Vault Marta ( BRA), Soccer Stephanie Rice ( AUS), Swimming Dinara Safina ( RUS), Tennis
Best MLB Player	Best NBA Player
Albert Pujols — St. Louis Cardinals Roy Halladay — Toronto Blue Jays Ryan Howard — Philadelphia Phillies Dustin Pedroia — Boston Red Sox Francisco Rodriguez — Los Angeles Angels/New York Mets	LeBron James — Cleveland Cavaliers Kobe Bryant — Los Angeles Lakers Dwight Howard — Orlando Magic Dwyane Wade — Miami Heat
Best WNBA Player	Best NFL Player
Candace Parker — Los Angeles Sparks Deanna Nolan — Detroit Shock Diana Taurasi — Phoenix Mercury Lindsay Whalen — Connecticut Sun	Larry Fitzgerald — Arizona Cardinals James Harrison — Pittsburgh Steelers Peyton Manning — Indianapolis Colts Adrian Peterson — Minnesota Vikings Kurt Warner — Arizona Cardinals
Best NHL Player	Best MLS Player
Sidney Crosby — Pittsburgh Penguins Pavel Datsyuk — Detroit Red Wings Evgeni Malkin — Pittsburgh Penguins Alexander Ovechkin — Washington Capitals	Landon Donovan — Los Angeles Galaxy Juan Pablo Angel — New York Red Bulls Jon Busch — Chicago Fire Kenny Cooper — FC Dallas Guillermo Barros Schelotto — Columbus Crew
Best Male Action Sports Athlete	Best Female Action Sports Athlete
Shaun White — Snowboarding/Skateboarding Ryan Sheckler — Skateboarding Kelly Slater — Surfing James Stewart Jr. — Motocross	Maya Gabeira — Surfing Torah Bright — Snowboarding Sarah Burke — Skiing Ashley Fiolek — Motocross
Best US Male Olympian	Best US Female Olympian
Michael Phelps — Swimming Bryan Clay — Track & Field LaShawn Merritt — Track & Field Angelo Taylor — Track & Field	Shawn Johnson — Gymnastics Natalie Coughlin — Swimming Dawn Harper — Track & Field Nastia Liukin — Gymnastics
Best Bowler	Best Driver
Norm Duke Chris Barnes Wes Malott	Jimmie Johnson Hélio Castroneves Scott Dixon Lewis Hamilton Tony Schumacher
Best Fighter	Best Male Golfer
Manny Pacquiao — Boxing Lyoto Machida — MMA Shane Mosley — Boxing Anderson Silva — MMA	Tiger Woods Pádraig Harrington Phil Mickelson
Best Female Golfer	Best Jockey
Lorena Ochoa Paula Creamer Suzann Pettersen	Calvin Borel Garrett Gomez Mike Smith
Best Male Tennis Player	Best Female Tennis Player
Roger Federer Rafael Nadal	Serena Williams Svetlana Kuznetsova Dinara Safina
Under Armour All-America Moment	Special Awards
Andre Debose & Russell Shepard — Football Jake Bernhardt — Lacrosse Tara Glover — Softball David Renfroe — Baseball Hannah Werth — Volleyball	Arthur Ashe Courage Award: President Nelson Mandela Jimmy V Award For Perseverance: Don Meyer, Northern State University coach Best Comeback: Dara Torres, Swimming

In Memoriam

• Ron Snidow
• Dom DiMaggio
• Gene Upshaw
• Jack Kemp
• Lou Saban
• Sammy Baugh
• Doc Blanchard
• Paul Newman
• Mark Fidrych
• Nick Adenhart
• Arturo Gatti
• Schlumbergera
• Skip Caray
• Harry Kalas
• Kay Yow
• Chuck Daly
• Steve McNair
• Alex Macgregor Gee