Date: 05/30/2008

Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the 1968 Olympic medalists and San José State students who made history when they took a highly controversial stand for human rights on the podium, will receive the 2008 Arthur Ashe Courage Award during the ESPYs, ESPN's annual awards program. This year's show will be televised Sunday, July 20.

The ESPYs will feature Smith and Carlos at SJSU, where they were recently interviewed by ESPN while visiting a 20-foot sculpture unveiled in 2005 memorializing the moment both men "stood heads bowed and black-gloved fists angled toward the sky as the national anthem played" representing "not only the American struggle for racial equality but the universal struggle for basic human rights," ESPN said.

"Four decades after a moment etched forever in sports history -- and also 40 years since Arthur Ashe's first U.S. Open victory -- issues of race and social inequality remain an integral part of our daily discourse, enveloping both sports and politics," ESPYs Executive Producer Maura Mandt said. "The protests swirling around the Beijing Olympics, and athletes being asked to sign waivers stating that they will refrain from demonstrations, reinforce the importance and relevance of this story."

Read the ESPN news release on the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

Read more about the Smith Carlos sculpture.

View a comprehensive Web site on SJSU's role in the 2008 Games.