While the 2019 ESPYs honored both the Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski and the Celtics’ Bill Russell, one Boston sports figure served as a special inspiration to an award winner Wednesday night.
Rob Mendez, a football coach at Prospect Hill High School in California, called Patriots quarterback Tom Brady his source of “inspiration” on the football field. Mendez, born with tetra-amelia syndrome that left him without arms or legs, was awarded the 2019 Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.
After the award ceremony, Mendez talked about how Brady inspired him and why he would give the Patriots QB his own ESPY award:
Jimmy V Award winner Rob Mendez says if he could, he'd give an ESPY to Tom Brady for being an inspiration.