Randy Hollis: Others were more deserving of Ashe Courage Award than Caitlyn Jenner

Each year since 1993, the ESPN cable television network has presented its annual ESPY Awards in a broadcast that has, at different times, brought very poignant and memorable moments to viewers.

It started with Jim Valvano's impassioned speech at the first ESPY Awards broadcast, less than two months before his death at the cruel hands of cancer in 1993, and has since evolved as a great way to honor the outstanding contributions made by male and female athletes in each major sport, as well as the best coach/manager team, game, play, performance, upset, comeback, moment and sports movie of the past year.

Yes, there's a category for just about everybody.

And one of the night's special honors is the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, which is not limited to sports-related people and is presented to an individual whose contribution transcends sports.

Past winners of the Arthur Ashe Award include iconic figures such as Muhammad Ali, Dean Smith, Billie Jean King, Pat Summitt and Nelson Mandela, true heroes like Pat Tillman, who left behind an NFL career to join the U.S. Army and was killed in Afghanistan; Dave Sanders, a teacher and coach whose valiant efforts helped save lives at the Columbine High School shootings before he was fatally shot himself; and four brave men who, as passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93, courageously tried to reclaim the aircraft from terrorist hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001.

Yes, these award-winners and others on the list have defined human courage in many different yet equally amazing ways.

And the winner of this year's Arthur Ashe Courage Award, to be presented on July 15, will be … Caitlyn Jenner?

OK, I've always had tremendous admiration for the former Bruce Jenner, who was declared "the world's greatest athlete" when he won the Olympic decathlon in 1976, long before he had to endure a life spent "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and a houseful of women who have become a bunch of wealthy, big-time celebrities for absolutely no apparent reason.

And while I admit I've struggled a bit with Jenner's recent announcement that she is now a transgender woman who has taken several steps toward transitioning into being a woman for the remainder of his life, that is certainly his/her right and she is entitled to do so whether old-fashioned, insensitive neanderthals like myself understand it or not.

What I don't understand, however, is why Jenner would be honored with this coveted award at the ESPYs when it seems that others were much more deserving.

What about Lauren Hill, the young woman who fulfilled her dream to play college basketball despite terminal brain cancer that took her life at age 19 earlier this year?

What about victims of the Boston Marathon bombing who lost limbs and loved ones, and whose lives where changed forever by the events of that tragic day?

I believe those people showed the type of courage that the late Arthur Ashe, an African-American who overcame racial prejudice to become a tennis champion, would have truly admired.

Sadly, Ashe's life ended much too soon in 1993 when he contracted HIV from a blood transfusion he received during heart bypass surgery. He died from AIDS-related pneumonia at the age of 49.

Jenner's decision to announce his transgender decision to the world certainly took some courage, too. In making the ESPY announcement, a press release stated she was given the award because "she has shown the courage to embrace a truth that had been hidden for years, and to embark on a journey that may not only give comfort to those facing similar circumstances, but can also help to educate people on the challenges that the transgender community faces."

Jenner will be the third consecutive openly LGBT person to receive the Ashe Award following football player Michael Sam last year and anchorwoman Robin Roberts in 2013. Roberts also endured a well-publicized battle with breast cancer.

I'm sorry, but it seems that honoring Jenner with this year's award is a bit over the top.

Longtime broadcaster Bob Costas has his own ideas about why Jenner was selected for the Ashe Award. And in his mind, it's all about the "wow" factor that'll help drive the program's TV ratings.

Costas was recently interviewed on the Dan Patrick radio show and, in an article by Austin Knoblauch of the Los Angeles Times, Costas criticized ESPN for having ulterior motives and said that he, too, felt there were others more deserving of this special recognition.

“It strikes me that awarding the Arthur Ashe award to Caitlyn Jenner is just a crass exploitation play," Costas said. "It’s a tabloid play. In the broad world of sports, I’m pretty sure they could have found — and this is not anything against Caitlyn Jenner — I’m pretty sure they could have found someone who was much closer to being actively involved in sports, who would have been deserving of what that award represents.

“That’s not to say that it doesn’t take some measure of personal courage to do what Caitlyn Jenner has done, but I think that every year we look across the landscape of sports, and we find prominent people and kids in high school and amateur athletes who I think more closely fit the description of what they’re looking for or should be looking for there.

“And I think this is a play to pump up audience the way lots of things are put on television, to attract eyeballs — not because of the validity, but because of whatever the kind of gawker factor is,” he said.

Indeed, this shouldn't be about the "gawker factor" or attracting eyeballs and higher TV ratings at all.

It should be about someone like Hill who stared death in the face and showed amazing courage in a battle she couldn't win — not someone who obviously made a challenging, life-changing decision, but is a publicity hound who's looking for new-found notoriety, paving the way for their own TV show or seeking a lucrative book deal that will surely come.

EMAIL: rhollis@desnews.com