NEW: Los Angeles, June 27 — Danielle Green Wins Pat Tillman Award for Service at ESPYs — A Spartan Warrior’s Journey of Triumph, Resilience, and Unstoppable Hope!
In a night filled with emotion, pride, and celebration of human spirit, Danielle Green — a former Notre Dame basketball standout, Iraq War veteran, and tireless advocate for wounded warriors — took center stage at the 2025 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles, earning this year’s Pat Tillman Award for Service. Green, whose journey has touched millions across the globe, was honored for her extraordinary courage, lifelong resilience, and unwavering commitment to empowering others.
A proud graduate of the University of Notre Dame and U.S. Army veteran, Danielle Green lost her dominant arm in a 2004 rocket-propelled grenade attack in Baghdad while serving as a military police officer. That moment, though tragic, was not the end of her story—it was the beginning of an awe-inspiring second chapter. Rather than surrender to despair, Green embraced her identity as a warrior, channeling her pain into purpose.
But Green’s ties to the Michigan State Spartan family run deep through her years of community service and collaboration with veteran outreach programs at the university. Her spirit, strength, and humanitarian reach earned her honorary Spartan status in 2022, a title she wears with pride. “You don’t have to be born a Spartan to fight like one,” she once said during a commencement address at MSU. “It’s about grit, service, and lifting up the next person. That’s the true victory.”
In her moving acceptance speech at the ESPYs, Green paid tribute to Pat Tillman, saying, “He gave everything for something bigger than himself. That’s the example I try to live by. If my journey inspires just one person to rise again, then I’ve done something right.”
Now a national motivational speaker and counselor for disabled veterans, Danielle Green continues to impact countless lives through the VA, her nonprofit Forward Always, and her powerful storytelling.
In honoring her with the Pat Tillman Award for Service, the ESPYs didn’t just recognize her sacrifice — they celebrated an enduring legacy of courage, service, and humanity.
Danielle Green: A true American hero. A Spartan in spirit. A light that refuses to dim.
