Best Play ESPY Award
The Best Play ESPY Award has been conferred annually since 2002 on the play in a single regular season or playoff game contested professionally under the auspices of one of the four major leagues in the United States and Canada or collegiately under the auspices of the National Collegiate Athletic Association adjudged to be the most outstanding or best.
Between 2002 and 2004, the award voting panel comprised variously fans; sportswriters and broadcasters, sports executives, and retired sportspersons, termed collectively experts; and ESPN personalities, but balloting thereafter has been exclusively by fans over the Internet from amongst choices selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee. The ESPY Awards ceremony is conducted in July and awards conferred reflect performance and achievement over the twelve months previous to presentation.[1] In the last few years, the format has been: sixteen plays are placed in brackets (1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, etc.) The winners in voting then advance to the second round. The winners go to the finals, where voters select Best Play. Since 2022, there has been no elimination format.
List of winners
| Year | Game or event | Competing teams | Date | Venue | League or governing body | Sport | Play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Game three of the 2001 American League Division Series | New York Yankees
|
October 13, 2001 | Network Associates Coliseum (Oakland, California) | Major League Baseball | Baseball | Assist by Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter to catcher Jorge Posada in the game's seventh inning (known thereafter as The Flip) |
| 2003 | 2002 regular season Division I-A game | LSU Tigers
|
November 9, 2002 | Commonwealth Stadium (Lexington, Kentucky) | National Collegiate Athletic Association | American football | Seventy-four-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass from Tigers quarterback Marcus Randall to wide receiver Devery Henderson upon the expiration of regulation time for a Tigers win (known thereafter as the Bluegrass Miracle). |
| 2004 | 2003 regular season game | New Orleans Saints
|
December 21, 2003 | Alltel Stadium (Jacksonville, Florida) | National Football League | American football | Forty-two-yard forward pass from Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks to wide receiver Donte' Stallworth and laterals from Stallworth to wide receiver Michael Lewis to running back Deuce McAllister to wide receiver Jerome Pathon totaling thirty-three yards for a touchdown to draw the Saints within one point of the Jaguars upon the expiration of regulation time (known thereafter as the River City Relay). |
| 2005 | Class 4A state championship game | Eastview High School Lightning
|
March 20, 2005 | Target Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota) | Minnesota State High School League | Basketball | Eighteen-foot two-point field goal by Royals shooting guard Blake Hoffarber while sitting down upon the expiration of a first overtime to draw the Royals equal with the Lightning and to force a second overtime. |
| 2006 | 2005 regular season Division I-A game | Southern Miss Golden Eagles
|
September 10, 2005 | Bryant–Denny Stadium (Tuscaloosa, Alabama) | National Collegiate Athletic Association | American football | Fourth-down reception by Crimson Tide wide receiver Tyrone Prothro of a 42-yard pass from quarterback Brodie Croyle over Golden Eagles cornerback Jasper Faulk, with Prothro catching the ball behind Faulk's back. |
| 2007 | 2007 Fiesta Bowl | Boise State Broncos
|
January 1, 2007 | University of Phoenix Stadium (Glendale, Arizona) | National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I FBS | American football | Three-yard rush by Broncos running back Ian Johnson for a two-point conversion on a variant of the Statue of Liberty play executed from a play-action fake undertaken by quarterback Jared Zabransky for a Broncos overtime win. |
| 2008 | Super Bowl XLII | New York Giants
|
February 3, 2008 | University of Phoenix Stadium (Glendale, Arizona) | National Football League | American football | Thirty-two-yard reception over Patriots strong safety Rodney Harrison by reserve wide receiver David Tyree of a third-down pass completed by Giants quarterback Eli Manning whilst under threat of sack from Patriots defensive ends Richard Seymour and Jarvis Green and outside linebacker Adalius Thomas, undertaken from the Giants' forty-four-yard line with one minute, fifteen seconds to play in the fourth quarter and the team trailing 14-10 (The Helmet Catch). |
| 2009 | Super Bowl XLIII | Pittsburgh Steelers
|
February 1, 2009 | Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, Florida) | National Football League | American football | Six-yard reception by Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger with 35 seconds left giving the Steelers a 27-23 lead over the Cardinals. |
| 2010 | 2009 regular season game | Minnesota Vikings
|
September 27, 2009 | Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (Minneapolis, Minnesota) | National Football League | American football | Thirty-two-yard reception by Vikings wide receiver Greg Lewis from quarterback Brett Favre with two seconds left giving the Vikings a 27-24 lead over the 49ers. |
| 2011 | 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup Quarterfinal | United States
|
July 10, 2011 | Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion (Dresden, Germany) | FIFA | Soccer | Goal by forward Abby Wambach off cross from midfielder Megan Rapinoe in the last minute of stoppage time, with the United States down 2–1 and playing a woman down in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. The United States would later go on to win in a penalty shoot-out to advance to the semifinals. |
| 2012 | 2011–12 regular season game | Indiana Hoosiers
|
December 10, 2011 | Assembly Hall (Bloomington, Indiana) | NCAA men's basketball | Basketball | Indiana junior forward Christian Watford sank a 3-pointer with no time left on the clock, leading the Hoosiers to a 73–72 upset over previously-unbeaten No. 1 Kentucky. Indiana fans stormed the floor of Assembly Hall as the win propelled the Hoosiers' comeback season to the Sweet 16. |
| 2013 | 2013 Outback Bowl | South Carolina Gamecocks
|
January 1, 2013 | Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, Florida) | National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision | American football | South Carolina sophomore defensive end Jadeveon Clowney made a vicious tackle on Michigan running back Vincent Smith in the fourth quarter. The hit was so devastating that Smith lost both his helmet and the football; Clowney then recovered the fumble with one hand. On the next play, the Gamecocks scored a touchdown that gave them the momentum they needed to win the game. |
| 2014 | 2013 Iron Bowl | Auburn Tigers
|
November 30, 2013 | Jordan–Hare Stadium (Auburn, Alabama) | National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision | American football | Auburn cornerback Chris Davis caught a missed Alabama field goal at the back of the end zone as time ran out and ran it back 109 (officially 100) yards for the game-winning touchdown. It kept Auburn's chances for the national championship alive (known thereafter as Kick Bama Kick by Auburn fans, or more neutrally as Kick Six). |
| 2015 | 2014 regular season game | New York Giants
|
November 23, 2014 | MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, New Jersey) | National Football League | American football | Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. caught a one-handed 43-yard touchdown reception hailed as the "catch of the year". |
| 2016 | 2015 regular season game | Green Bay Packers
|
December 3, 2015 | Ford Field (Detroit, Michigan) | National Football League | American football | Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw a 61-yard Hail Mary TD pass to Richard Rodgers II to win 27-23. The Packers scored two touchdowns in the last three-plus minutes to win the game. Known as the Miracle in Motown. |
| 2017 | 2016 divisional playoff game | Green Bay Packers
|
January 15, 2017 | AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas) | National Football League | American football | Aaron Rodgers threw a 35-yard pass to Jared Cook which Cook caught while he was going out of bounds. That play led to Mason Crosby kicking the field goal that won the game for the Packers 34–31. |
| 2018 | 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship Game | Notre Dame Fighting Irish
|
April 1, 2018 | Nationwide Arena (Columbus, Ohio) | NCAA | College basketball | Arike Ogunbowale hit a three-point shot as time expired to give the Fighting Irish a 61-58 victory over Mississippi State, which gave Notre Dame their second NCAA women's basketball title. Two days earlier, her buzzer-beater gave the Irish a win over the previously unbeaten UConn Huskies.[2] |
| 2019 | 2019 Collegiate Challenge | UCLA Bruins, Michigan State Spartans, California Bears, UC Davis Aggies | January 12, 2019 | Honda Center (Anaheim, California) | NCAA | Artistic gymnastics | UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi scored a perfect 10 in the floor exercises. The performance went viral, getting millions of views on YouTube. Earlier in the pre-show, it won the first-ever ESPY for Best Viral Moment. The play was the lowest-remaining seed in the field at Number 5. |
| 2020 | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic
| ||||||
| 2021 | Women's Soccer bronze medal match at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics | United States women's soccer team
|
August 5, 2021 | Saitama Stadium (Saitama, Japan) | International Olympic Committee | Soccer | Megan Rapinoe scored a goal directly off a corner kick that propelled the U.S. to a bronze medal. |
See also
Notes
- ^ Because of the rescheduling of the ESPY Awards ceremony, the award presented in 2002 was given in consideration of performance betwixt February 2001 and June 2002.
- ^ "Ogunbowale wins ESPY for Best Play". WNDU. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
References
- Enumeration of past winners from HickokSports.com at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived 2002-02-23)