Michael Sam made headlines earlier this year for being the first openly gay football player to be drafted into the NFL. Unfortunately for Sam, the St. Louis Rams — the team that drafted him — cut Sam from the roster after preseason expectations failed to meet the hype. While the future of his professional career may be undecided, Sam drew nation-wide admiration for having the courage to be open about his sexuality while participating in the traditionally macho world of professional football. Perhaps Sam’s finest moment during the peak of the media spectacle surrounding his splash into the NFL came during his acceptance speech for the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at this year’s ESPY’s.

After accepting the award from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Sam proceeded to talk about his favorite quote from Ashe:

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”

The speech is quite touching, with Sam choking up while telling personal anecdotes about his journey to that very moment. Speaking to an enraptured audience, he encourages others to follow their passions and to trust their talents. He also tells about his love for his sport, saying, “Football raised me. Football taught me about hard work, taught me about discipline, and taught me about teamwork.”

He signed off by thanking a number of people, including friends, family, teammates, the sports legends in the audience, and of course, his partner throughout all of this, Mr. Vito Cammisano.