South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley received the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at Thursday night’s ESPY Awards.
Staley joins a list of recipients that includes Dick Vitale, who is battling cancer, Liam Hendricks, Jim Kelly, the late Stuart Scott and Craig Sager, and Eric LeGrand, who was left paralyzed after being tackled during a Rutgers University football game.
The coach received the award, named after basketball coach Jim Valvano after his famous speech at the 1993 ESPYS, in recognition of his leadership in women’s sports and his work to fight cancer.
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Dawn Staley accepts the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance onstage at the 2024 ESPY Awards held at the Dolby Theatre on July 11, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Fraser Harrison/Getty Images)
In her impassioned acceptance speech, she called for equal pay.
“How can you tell them to do it the right way and not fight injustice?” Staley said. “How can you tell them not to cheat and not cut corners and not fight fairness? How can you tell them they can climb as high as they want and be anything they want and not fight fairness?”
“How can I not fight the wage gap when I’m doing the same job, getting paid less but winning more? They’re looking at me. I can’t ask them to stand up if I’m sitting, and I can’t ask them to speak up and make a change if I can only whisper. So when someone tells me to ‘shut up and coach,’ I just say ‘no, I have a job to do.'”
Dawn Staley speaks at the ESPYS. (Getty Images/Frank Micelotta)
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Staley’s salary of $3.1 million this year is the second-highest among women’s coaches but 38th among men’s coaches, according to USA Today.
Earlier this week, she asked President Barack Obama whether the United States could “borrow” his wife, Michelle, “for just four years.”
She also recently voiced her support for transgender women in girls’ and women’s sports.
“I believe that if you’re a woman, you should be able to play. If you identify as a woman and you want to play the sport or vice versa, you should be able to play. That’s my opinion,” Staley said. During the March Madness Tournament.
When asked if she thought transgender women should be able to play women’s college basketball, Staley replied, “I do.”
Aubrianna Hall, Chloe Kitt, Raven Johnson, Dawn Staley, Sania Feagin, Te Hina Paopao, Tessa Johnson, Ashlyn Watkins, Mileycia Fulwilly, Adele Tuck and Sakima Walker attend the 2024 ESPY Awards at the Dolby Theatre on July 11, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for W+P)
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Staley and the Gamecocks completed a perfect season by defeating Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in the national championship in April, which was Staley’s third championship and second in three seasons.
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