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Zaevion Dobson, teenage high school football player, to receive Arthur Ashe Courage Award

This year's Arthur Ashe Courage Award is free from controversy.

ESPN announced Tuesday that Zaevion Dobson, a 15-year-old high school football player who died last December while shielding three girls from gunfire, will receive the award at the ESPYs on July 13.

"There's nothing more courageous than somebody sacrificing their own life for somebody else," Maura Mandt, executive producer for the ESPYs, said in a statement.

ESPN drew criticism last year when selecting Caitlyn Jenner for the award following her gender transition. Jenner received the award over basketball player Lauren Hill, who died at the age of 19 after battling a brain tumor, and Noah Galloway, an Iraqi war veteran who lost two limbs but continued to enter athletic competitions.