Caitlin Clark wasn’t in attendance for the 2024 EPSY Awards, however she nonetheless had an enormous night time.
The WNBA star, 22, received two awards — the primary of which she earned through the Thursday, July 11, crimson carpet broadcast. She took house the trophy for Finest Faculty Athlete Girls’s Sports activities earlier than Serena Williams took the stage to host the present.
As soon as the awards ceremony received underway, Clark obtained her second award for Finest Report-Breaking Efficiency, beating out the NFL’s Christian McCaffrey. Regardless of being out of state, she shared a digital message for her acceptance speech.
“I simply wished to say thanks for this recognition. Clearly, I couldn’t be there tonight,” she informed the viewers, noting, “I’m a bit bit busy in Indianapolis.”
She gushed: “This award means so much not solely to myself however to my teammates and coaches that I had on the College of Iowa. It’s particular for all of us and it was a particular 12 months in girls’s athletics. Thanks, ESPN.”
Clark concluded, “I simply wish to give a shout-out to all of the nominees and award winners tonight. I’m unhappy I couldn’t be there however I hope you all have an incredible night time.”
Forward of the occasion, Clark was probably the most nominated athlete, racking up three nods for Finest Athlete, Girls’s Sports activities, Finest Faculty Athlete, Girls’s Sports activities and Finest Report-Breaking Efficiency for turning into the NCAA’s All-Time Scoring Chief.
Clark’s recognition has been on the rise since her spectacular run enjoying faculty basketball on the College of Iowa. In April, she was chosen because the No. 1 general choose within the 2024 WNBA draft, and he or she made her skilled debut with the Indiana Fever the next month.
Regardless of her ubiquity as of late, Clark didn’t make the U.S. girls’s basketball workforce for the 2024 Paris Olympics. In June, she reacted to being left off of the roster.
“I’m excited for the ladies [who] are on the workforce,” Clark informed Indy Star sports activities reporter Chloe Peterson on the time. “I do know it’s probably the most aggressive workforce on the earth and I do know it may have gone both approach with me being on the workforce [or] me not being on the workforce. I’m excited for them.”
She added: “I’m going to be rooting them on to win gold. I used to be a child that grew up watching the Olympics, so it’ll be enjoyable to observe them.”
Clark insisted that she had “no disappointment” over not incomes a spot on the workforce.
“I feel it offers you one thing to work for. You understand, it’s a dream and hopefully someday I’ll be there,” she continued. “I feel it’s just a bit extra motivation … and hopefully in 4 years — when 4 years comes again round — I could be there.”
Amid her rising affect on the sports activities world, some have criticized Clark’s recognition, claiming that her race has factored into it. Nevertheless, Stephen A. Smith defended Clark in an unique interview with Us Weekly.
“I feel, as a society, we have now to develop up,” he mentioned in Could. “Race is at all times a part we will’t ignore, however it doesn’t at all times need to be unfavourable. If you have a look at Caitlin Clark — sure, she’s white, and sure, she’s getting a degree of shine that others earlier than her didn’t get who occurred to be Black they usually have been terrific gamers — however that’s an indictment towards society.”
Smith, 56, famous that the media “goes to go the place the story is” and Clark “has accomplished an exceptional job turning herself right into a story,” including, “She occurs to be white, but in addition occurs to be a terrific basketball participant, a terrific individual with terrific household background with terrific marketability belongings.”