WATCH: Olympic Gold Medal Winning Swimmer Wins Pat Tillman Award for Service at the ESPYS

While Virginia swimmer Gretchen Walsh somehow did not win Female College Athlete of the Year, in spite of an all-time great season, swimmers were still represented on the stage on Wednesday evening at the 2025 ESPY Awards. Los Angeles firefighter/former World Record holding swimmer Dave Walters and fire fighter-paramedic/former professional soccer goalie Erin Regan were honored with the Pat Tillman Award for their work during the fires that ripped through Los Angeles County earlier this year.

The award show is ESPN’s annual sports awards gala, and in addition to the honors given out for peak athletic performance on the field of play, there are a handful of honorary awards for perseverance and performance off the pitch.

One of those is the Pat Tillman Award for Service, named after former professional football player Pat Tillman, who left the NFL career at its peak to serve in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was killed in 2004 by friendly fire when he was 27. He was honored with the Silver Star and Purple Heart posthumously.

Walters and Regan both served during the fires in LA County in January, which burned over 57,000 acres, destroyed more than 18,000 homes and structures, and killed at least 30 people.

Walters, 37, swam at the University of Texas and was a member of the 2008 Summer Olympic Team. There, he earned an Olympic gold medal by swimming a leg in the heats of the American 800 free relay. He also swam the anchor leg of the American 400 medley relay at the 2009 World Championships that held the record until it was broken by another American relay 12 years later in Tokyo.

In college, he was a four time Big 12 champion, six-time All-American, and the 2008 NCAA Champion in the 200 yard freestyle.

He became a firefighter a decade ago after retiring from his competitive swimming career.

Regan, meanwhile, played collegiate soccer at Wake Forest and was drafted to play for the Washington Freedom in the 2003 WUSA pro soccer season.

She became a firefighter in 2008; by 2016, she was one of just 38 female firefighters among 4,000 who worked for the LA County Fire Department.

Both individuals recognized their peers in the LA County Fire Department for the award.

“Erin and I are honored to stand here, not for ourselves, but for all the men and women who put duty above all else in these critical days, meeting the moment with skill and strength,” Walters said on stage. “This award is a tribute to the unwavering commitment, grit, and the bond we forged over the years of service, and lessons Erin and I learned in the pool, on the field, and in the firehouse.”

Walters dedicated the award to his mom, who recently died by suicide, and made a call for everyone to work together on improving the mental health of everyone.

“We recognize this is not an individual award,” Regan said after receiving the honor. “It’s a team award. And we are proud to be representatives of our respective departments and every single firefighter that was out there in January.”

Regan talked about how the values she learned in sports have carried over into firefighting, saying that “bus rides became fire engine rides.”

Watch Walters and Regan Receive Their Awards Below

Watch the pair describe their experiences fighting the fires.

Walsh, the only other swimmer nominated for an award, lost out to USC basketball player Juju Watkins. Watkins was named the 2025 Naismith Award winner for women’s college basketball, though her season was cut short when she tore her ACL in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

While not every ESPY Award winner is American, the honors are focused on an American audience,

2025 ESPY Award Winners

• Best Female Athlete – Simone Biles
• Best Male Athlete – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Best Championship Performance – Simone Biles
• Best Play – Saquon Barkley
• Best NFL Player – Saquon Barkley
• Best NBA Player – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Best MLB Player – Shohei Ohtani
• Best NHL Player – Leon Draisaitl
• Best WNBA Player – Caitlin Clark
• Best Tennis Player – Coco Gauff
• Best Golfer – Scottie Scheffler
• Best Driver – Max Verstappen
• Best Boxer – Katie Taylor
• Best UFC Fighter – Merab Dvalishvili
• Best Breakthrough Athlete – Ilona Maher
• Best Comeback Athlete – Suni Lee
• Best Athlete with a Disability – Noah Elliott
• Best Record-Breaking Performance – Alex Ovechkin
• Best College Athlete, Women’s Sports – Juju Watkins
• Best College Athlete, Men’s Sports – Cooper Flagg
• Best Team – Philadelphia Eagles
• Pat Tillman Award for Service – Dave Walters & Erin Regan
• Arthur Ashe Courage Award – Oscar Robertson
• Jimmy V Award for Perseverance – Katie Schumacher-Cawley
• Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award – Sloane Stephens
• Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year – Indianapolis Colts
• Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award – Billy Bean
• Icon Award – Diana Taurasi & Alex Morgan