In the days since the Parkland, Florida high school shooting that left 17 fatalities in its wake, Stoneman Douglas High School football coach Aaron Feis is being heralded as a hero after he gave his own life to protect students. There's a public campaign push to honor him posthumously with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at this year's ESPY Awards.
Rappers Drake and Lil Yachty both told TMZSports they think the coach definitely deserves the honorary ESPY after heading directly into harm's way by tracking the shooter, Nikolas Cruz, in a golf cart, and then chasing him on foot before being killed.
After being told about the campaign, Lil Yachty saw it as great move. “I think that’s amazing. For someone to do that in real life, he had a good heart. He was more than just a coach. In my eyes, you do something like that, you’re a superhero," he told TMZ. "If the ESPYs [don't] do it, that’s a problem. Give the man an award.”
Drake, who hosted the ESPYs in 2014, simply said "I agree" when paparazzi asked him about the idea when they briefly caught him in West Hollywood. A source with ESPY connections told TMZ that Feis is a "no-brainer" for the award, but the committee won't discuss nominees until April. Previous winners of the award include Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Caitlyn Jenner, and Michael Sam.
At Feis' funeral, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel delivered a moving speech about him and his bravery. “Before you even heard how he died, you knew he died putting himself in harm’s way to save others. That’s who he was,” he said “[He died] running toward danger while others were correctly running away from danger.”
