A meme has been making the rounds on social media saying that amputee runner Noah Galloway was the runner-up to Caitlyn Jenner for the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Below is the meme that has people upset and ESPN in hot water despite its best efforts to dispel the myth of a "runner-up" for the award.
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Noah Galloway 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/svsHE4IFAH
— Earl Dibbles Jr (@EarlDibblesJr) June 2, 2015
This is real courage. #NoahGalloway not #CaitlynJenner pic.twitter.com/NgDKBrmews
— Tim Walton (@TimWaltonTV) June 2, 2015
https://twitter.com/LANURSE1/status/605903383719870464
It took only a few hours for people to express anger that Galloway, who lost parts of his left arm and leg in an explosion while on active duty in Iraq and took third place in "Dancing With The Stars," would not be receiving the award.
But an ESPN representative confirmed to Business Insider on Wednesday morning that there is no such thing as a runner-up for the Arthur Ashe Award. The organization is not currently going into further detail about how the award's recipient is selected, but the process does not result in winners and runners-up the way a vote does.
Snopes.com traces a tweet back to Boston radio personality and columnist Gerry Callahan who sent it out suggesting there was a runner-up for the award.
Caitlyn Jenner wins Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
And the runner-up is .... pic.twitter.com/DKUdnPT8Gx— Gerry Callahan (@GerryCallahan) June 1, 2015
It's not clear if he was being sarcastic or not, but it picked up steam and got a lot of people peeved. Lauren Hill was another name that came up as a worthy recipient and as a matter of fact, ESPN usually honors those who are fighting cancer with the Jimmy V Perseverance Award, which is named after Jim Valvano, a North Carolina State basketball coach and ESPN commentator who died of cancer in 1993.
Jenner is scheduled to receive the award on July 15th at the ESPYs.
