Best Male Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award

The Best Male Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of a male individual from the world of disabled sports.^[1] Established with the aid of disability advocate and former United States Paralympic soccer player Eli Wolff,^[2] the accolade's trophy, designed by sculptor Lawrence Nowlan,^[3] is presented to the disabled sportsman adjudged to be the best at the annual ESPY Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.^[1] The Best Male Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award was first bestowed as part of the ESPY Awards in 2005 after the non-gender specific Best Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award was presented the previous three years (all won by sportsmen).^[4] Balloting for the award is undertaken by fans over the Internet from between three and five choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee, which is composed of a panel of experts.^[1] It is conferred in July to reflect performance and achievement over the preceding twelve months.^[5]

Best Male Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award
Awarded for	best disabled male athlete
Country	United States
Presented by	ESPN
First award	2005
Currently held by	Brad Snyder (USA)
Website	www.espn.co.uk/espys/

The inaugural winner of the Best Male Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award in 2005 was Paralympic track and field competitor Marlon Shirley, who won two medals at the 2004 Summer Paralympics and was the first para-athlete to go below eleven seconds in the men's 100-meter category with a time of 10.97 seconds.^[6] In 2015, South African wheelchair racer Krige Schabort was selected as the recipient of the award. As of 2018^[update], he is the only athlete born outside of the United States to have won the accolade,^[7] though three additional foreign sportsmen have earned nominations. Track and field athletes have won more awards than any other sport with four with three triathlon winners and two winners each coming in sledge hockey, mixed martial arts, and wrestling. It was not awarded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[8] The most recent winner of the award was American para-swimmer Brad Snyder in 2022.^[9]

Winners and nominees

Best Male Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award winners and nominees

Year	Image	Athlete	Nationality	Sport	Nominees	Refs
2005	–	Marlon Shirley	United States	Paralympic track and field	Rudy Garcia-Tolson ( USA) – Swimming Paul Martin ( USA) – Cycling	[6][10]
2006	–	Bobby Martin	United States	American football	Steve Cook ( USA) – Cross-country skiing Anthony Robles ( USA) – Wrestling	[11][12]
2007		Casey Tibbs	United States	Paralympic track and field	Robin Ammerlaan ( NED) – Wheelchair tennis Josh George ( USA) – Paralympic track and field Krige Schabort ( RSA) – Wheelchair racing	[13][14]
2008	–	Ryan Kocer	United States	Wrestling	Philip Scholz ( USA) – Swimming Matt Scott ( USA) – Wheelchair basketball Marthell Vazquez ( USA) – Soccer	[15][16]
2009		Jason P. Lester	United States	Triathlon	Jeremy Campbell ( USA) – Paralympic track and field Will Groulx ( USA – Wheelchair rugby Oscar Pistorius ( RSA) – Paralympic track and field	[17][18]
2010		Steve Cash	United States	Sledge hockey	Rudy Garcia-Tolson ( USA) – Triathlon Andy Soule ( USA) – Cross-country skiing	[19][20]
2011	–	Anthony Robles	United States	Wrestling	Chris Devlin-Young ( USA) – Alpine skiing Aaron Scheidies ( USA) – Triathlon Jerome Singleton ( USA) – Paralympic track and field Steve Wampler ( USA) – Climbing	[21][22]
2012		Kyle Maynard	United States	Mixed martial arts	Baxter Humby ( CAN) – Mixed martial arts Raymond Martin ( USA) – Wheelchair racing Oz Sanchez ( USA – Cycling Tyler Walker ( USA) – Alpine skiing	[4][23]
2013	–	Jeremy Campbell	United States	Paralympic track and field	Jeff Fabry ( USA) – Archery Raymond Martin ( USA) – Wheelchair racing Brad Snyder ( USA) – Swimming Tyler Walker ( USA) – Alpine skiing	[24][25]
2014		Declan Farmer	United States	Sledge hockey	Mark Bathum ( USA) – Alpine skiing Raymond Martin ( USA) – Wheelchair racing Mike Shea ( USA) – Snowboarding Evan Strong ( USA) – Boardercross	[26][27]
2015	–	Krige Schabort	South Africa	Wheelchair racing	Joseph Berenyi ( USA – Cycling Josh Pauls ( USA) – Sledge hockey Mike Shea ( USA) – Snowboarding Andy Soule ( USA) – Cross-country skiing	[7][28]
2016		Richard Browne	United States	Paralympic track and field	Joseph Berenyi ( USA) – Cycling Aaron Fotheringham ( USA) – Skateboarding/BMX Nikko Landeros ( USA) – Sledge hockey Brad Snyder ( USA) – Swimming	[29][30]
2017		Steve Serio	United States	Wheelchair basketball	Will Groulx ( USA) – Cycling Mike Minor ( USA) – Snowboarding Brad Snyder ( USA) – Swimming Roderick Townsend-Roberts ( USA) – Paralympic track and field	[31][32]
2018	–	Mike Schultz	United States	Snowboarding	Daniel Cnossen ( USA) – Biathlon Declan Farmer ( USA) – Sledge hockey Andrew Kurka ( USA) – Alpine skiing	[33][34]
2019	–	Mark Barr	United States	Triathlon	Declan Farmer ( USA) – Sledge hockey Daniel Romanchuk ( USA) – Marathon Oz Sanchez ( USA) – Cycling	[35][36]
2020	Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic					[8]
2021	–	Chris Nikic	United States	Triathlon	Evan Austin ( USA) – Swimming Jesse Billauer ( USA) – Surfing Keith Gabel ( USA) – Snowboarding	[37][38]
2022		Brad Snyder	United States	Triathlon and swimming	Declan Farmer ( USA) – Sledge hockey Nick Mayhugh ( USA) – Paralympic track and field Ian Seidenfeld ( USA) – Para table tennis	[9][39]

Statistics

Multiple winners and nominees Name Wins Nominations Jeremy Campbell 1 2 Anthony Robles 1 2 Declan Farmer 1 4 Krige Schabort 1 2 Mark Barr 1 1 Raymond Martin 0 3 Brad Snyder 0 3 Joseph Berenyi 0 2 Rudy Garcia-Tolson 0 2 Will Groulx 0 2 Mike Shea 0 2 Andy Soule 0 2 Tyler Walker 0 2

Winners by sport Sport Winners Nominations Paralympic track and field 4 10 Triathlon 4 5 Sledge hockey 2 7 Mixed martial arts 2 3 Wrestling 2 3 Swimming 1 6 Snowboarding 1 5 Wheelchair racing 1 5 Wheelchair basketball 1 2 American football 1 1 Alpine skiing 0 5 Cycling 0 6 Cross-country skiing 0 3 Archery 0 1 Biathlon 0 1 Boardercross 0 1 Marathon 0 1 Soccer 0 1 Surfing 0 1 Table tennis 0 1 Wheelchair rugby 0 1 Wheelchair tennis 0 1

See also

• Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award
• United States Olympic Committee Paralympian of the Year Award
• Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability