L.A. County firefighters to receive Pat Tillman Award at ESPYs

In January, while forest fires were tearing the largest in Los Angeles, more than 7,500 emergency staff would mobilize – confronting heat and extreme winds, trying to contain devastation.

Among them was held an Olympic gold medalist and a professional football champion.

The David Walters and Erin Régan County firefighters, former athletes who were among the 7,500 emergency staff who responded to January fires in southern California, earned them the Pat Tillman Prize for this year for a service that will be presented to the Espi Awards.

The prize – named after Tillman, the former Arizona Cardinals Safety who left the NFL to enlist in the army after the terrorist attacks of September 11 and was killed in combat – famous those who have deep ties with sports that served others, embodying the heritage of Tillman.

Years before joining the fire service, Walters helped the United States win the Gold Medal of the 4×200 meter Free Relais at the 2008 Beijing Games. He swam the main leg in the preliminaries, helping the team establish an Olympic record that paved the way to a world record in the final.

During the fires, Walters told the exhausting conditions while the crews were fighting that burned nearly 38,000 acres – claiming the lives of 30 people and destroying houses, businesses and monuments in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades.

“We are trying about keeping what is left here,” Walters said in Newsnation. “So, we are not going. We stay in our position – that’s right, I slept on the bed of the pipe last night, staying ready to do what we can do.”

Walters told ESPN that it was honored to serve Los Angeles.

“It was a difficult year, but also enriching by watching the Los Angeles community meeting to support their neighbors,” he said in the Espn prize.

REGAN, who joined the department in 2008, anchored the Washington Freedom to a female united football assN. Title after a goalkeeper stellar as a goalkeeper in Wake Forest, where she won the honors of the first All-ECC team and broke several school records.

Apart from the tasks of the fire station, Reban defends the female representation in the service of the firefighters. She co -founded the girls’ fire camp, a day program, presenting young girls to fight fire, and launched the Women’s Fire Prep Academy, offering mentoring and practical training for budding firefighters.

“My career choice was inspired by the history of my family’s public service, so receiving this award is a tribute to the many major influences that have shaped my education,” said Ress in the announcement of the ESPN Prize. “As the first speakers, we are proud of hard work and serve others, and I am really humiliated to be recognized alongside incredible heroes like Pat Tillman.”

Les Espy, led by actor Shane Gillis, will be broadcast on ABC and Stream on ESPN + on July 16 at 8 p.m. PDT.