Michael Sam's Espy Speech BY: ANNAH BRUNO BAILEY

Troubled Childhood Born on January 7 th,1990 in Hitchcock Texas. Had a very difficult childhood, but had one thing going for him and that was football. The 7 th of 8 children in a broken home. Three of his brothers were killed and two went to prison. Sam found his place in sports, as a freshman in high school he played on the varsity football team. In 2009 he earned an athletic scholarship to the University of Missouri making him the first to attend college in his family.

College Years Sam became a regular on the Starting squad as a defensive end. Senior Year reveal Sam's teammates supported him and Sam went on to deliver the best season of his college career. Sam led the southeastern conference with 11 ½ sacks. At the end of the year he was named SEC Co- defensive player of the year and an All-American.

Occasion Michael Sam is receiving the Author Ashe courage award at the 2014 Espy award ceremony. Sam is receiving this award because he is the first openly gay NFL player and he was seen as courageous for coming out.

Audience Members of the sporting world Members of the LGBT community Sam's close family and friends People going through rough times especially teenagers

Purpose  “Start where you are” and no matter what your situation is if you work hard you will get somewhere better  “Do what you can” and help save the lives of people who are afraid that they will not be accepted.  Sam is letting everyone who is in the situation he was in know that they are not alone and he is showing them that they can be set free now  Sam makes it clear that he has been through the hardest of times and he made it out because he has courage to be himself.

Tone  Sentimental -Sam states that at times he felt as If he was “living in a massive storm” but he explains what he has learned going through those hard times.  Serious -Sam knows how difficult it is to not fit in and not feel accepted and he wants everyone in that position to know “great things can happen when you have the courage in yourself”

Sams speech aimed to convey the messages that “you are not alone” and to have “courage to be yourself” Sam delivers these messages through the use of allusions and pathos Sam also uses Anaphora many times to prove his point Towards the end of his speech he includes a short anecdote to help convey pathos

Ethos  As an All American, SEC Co-defensive player of the year, and the first openly gay NFL player Sam already has automatic ethos.  Throughout the speech Sam builds his ethos by using plain folks to show that he is “like a lot of us”

Allusion to Arthur Ashe  Sam uses “brilliant words of wisdom” by Arthur Ashe as the framework of his speech  He lives by Arthus Ashes famous words of wisdom “Start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can

Anecdote  Sams story about how he convinced his friends sister to never even think about committing suicide again builds up emotion in the audience acting as pathos.  Sam does not wish to upset anyone he only wants to show how serious the matter is and how hard it is for people in the LGBT community XA-do