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Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta and Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Eric Berry captured the first three awards presented during Wednesday night's ESPY Awards in Los Angeles. Curry took home the evening's first award in the Record-Breaking Performance category.
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Curry, who won his second straight NBA MVP Award this past season, broke his own record for most 3-pointers made in a season with 402. That is over 100 more than the previous record of 286 he made in the 2014-15 season.
"We had a great year, we got beat by a great team," Curry said regarding Golden State's defeat in a seven-game series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in this year's NBA Finals.
Arrieta won the award for Best Breakthrough Athlete. He beat out MMA star Conor McGregor, gold-medal-winning snowboarder Chloe Kim, and NBA Rookie of the Year Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Arrieta, who was not on hand to accept his award, had 22 wins and a 1.77 ERA last season while winning the 2015 National League Cy Young Award. He threw his second career no-hitter in April of this season.
Berry won the award for Best Comeback Athlete. Diagnosed in November 2014 with Hodgkin's lymphoma, Berry missed the remainder of that season, but returned in 2015 and earned his fourth career Pro Bowl selection.
"I'm not accepting this award for me," Berry said. "I'm accepting this for all the fighters out there.
LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love of the Cavaliers accepted the Best Moment Award. The trio helped make Cleveland a championship city for the first time in over 50 years. They overcome a 3-1 series deficit against the Warriors in the Finals to win the franchise's first NBA championship.
Aaron Rodgers' 61-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to Richard Rodgers that gave the Green Bay Packers a victory over the Detroit Lions won the ESPY for Best Play.
Down by two points, the Packers had the ball at their own 39-yard line. They got an untimed down as the result of a facemask penalty on the previous play.
Rodgers sprinted all the way to his right and moved toward the line of scrimmage, and threw a high pass toward the end zone. Rodgers grabbed it before it could be knocked down for the game-winning score.
Sergeant Elizabeth Marks was awarded the Pat Tillman Award for Service. She overcame injury while serving in Iraq and lung disease and became a world-class paraswimmer.
Turner Sports reporter Craig Sager was the recipient of the Jimmy V Perseverance Award. The 64-year-old Sager has continued to work despite a recurrence of leukemia. He was sidelined for 11 months while undergoing treatment and having a bone marrow transplant from his son, but then returned as TNT's sideline reporter for NBA games. He revealed in April that his cancer was no longer in remission.
"You try to live a lifetime of moments in three weeks, but then you say, 'The hell with three weeks!' " Sager said, regarding the prognosis. "I will continue to keep fighting, sucking the marrow out of life as life sucks the marrow out of me. To everybody out there, we are making progress -- incredible progress. ... We are going to find a cure for cancer. But we need your help."
Vice President Joe Biden presented the award, and he described Sager as a man of "courage and loyalty with a hell of a team behind him."
The family of Zaevion Dobson accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage Award on his behalf.
Dobson, a 15-year-old high school football player, was shot and killed while trying to protect girls from gunfire.
