Jason Collins, who died on May 12 at 47 years old after a battle with stage 4 glioblastoma, was honored Wednesday night at the 2026 ESPYS with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, the most meaningful award ESPN gives in sports.
His twin brother Jarron accepted it at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York, where the show aired live on ABC.
The award recognizes what Collins did in April 2013 when he became the first active player in any of the four major North American professional sports to publicly come out as gay, writing a first-person cover story in Sports Illustrated that changed the conversation in professional sports permanently and irreversibly.
He was 34 at the time. He had one year left in a 13-year NBA career. He did it anyway.
"It is profoundly bittersweet but deeply meaningful to accept the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage on my brother's behalf," Jarron said in his statement, "celebrating a legacy of visibility, strength, and love that will endure forever."
Collins was diagnosed with glioblastoma in late 2025 and immediately chose to share the diagnosis publicly, approaching a devastating terminal illness the same way he had approached coming out.
With honesty, with the explicit goal of helping others facing similar situations, and without asking for privacy he could have claimed. He died 47 years old in May.
The ESPYS were hosted by Marcello Hernández of Saturday Night Live. Jim Abbott received the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance. Scott Ruskan received the Pat Tillman Award for Service.