June 24, 2018: Then-Pistons swingman Reggie Bullock* marches in his first Pride parade -- along with his 5-year-old son, Treyson -- to pay tribute to his transgender sister, Mia Henderson, who was killed in 2014. Since her death, Bullock has lobbied for greater LGBT visibility in the NBA, spearheading Pistons Pride Night and urging the league to let players wear rainbow jerseys.
July 6, 2018: Former Thai navy SEAL Saman Kunan dies in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave after delivering air tanks to the Wild Boars junior soccer team, which is trapped more than 2 miles inside by floodwaters. "We'll bring the kids home," Kunan said in a video before the rescue. All 12 players emerge unharmed over the next four days.
July 14, 2018: Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina's* relief work in his native Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria included clearing roads, fundraising and saving the life of an elderly diabetic man who desperately needed insulin by transporting him to a hospital. His latest act? Funding a trip to St. Louis for the island's National Circus School.
Aug. 19, 2018: Vaulting into history as the first gymnast to win five all-around titles at the U.S. Championships, Simone Biles sends a message of solidarity to fellow survivors of sexual abuse by wearing a teal leotard she designed herself. "The color is for the survivors," says Biles, who was among the victims of former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar. "I stand with all of them."
Sept. 28, 2018: At least 29 medical staffers are on site for every NFL game -- chiropractors, trainers, physicians, EMTs. The Panthers add one more to the mix: the league's first in-house mental health specialist, social worker Tish Guerin. Guerin gets right to work by stressing the importance of vulnerability in the team's locker room.
Oct. 25, 2018: A Red Sox fan catches American League MVP Mookie Betts red-handed out on city streets at 1 a.m., hours after Game 2 of the World Series (in which Betts went 3-for-4). Betts' tabloid-worthy deed: anonymously handing out trays of hot food to homeless Bostonians during one of the first frigid nights of the fall.
Nov. 12, 2018: Oakland A's reliever Daniel Mengden earns his most important save when he dons a headlamp and hunting waders and helps pull two puppies from a 10-foot-deep storm drain near his Houston-area home. When the dogs are later put up for adoption, he brings them home with him.
Nov. 23, 2018: The Apple Cup rivalry often turns sour, but after a Washington marching band bus flips on the way to the game, sending 47 band members to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the Washington State band decides to play the Huskies' fight song to honor its brothers-in-brass. "Bow Down," indeed.
Dec. 2, 2018: The fur really flies as Hershey Bears fans hurl 34,798 teddy bears onto the ice after the AHL home team scores its first goal. The toys collected from the world-record toss (topping the mark set in 2015 by the Calgary Hitmen) are donated to more than 40 local charities.
Jan. 4, 2019: Doing her best superhero impression, Brazilian UFC fighter Polyana Viana knocks a would-be mugger upside his (deeply deluded) head after he demands her cellphone. She keeps him in a choke hold until police arrive. "#badf---ingidea," UFC boss Dana White says on Twitter. You can tweet that again.
Feb. 7, 2019: Miles "Smiles" Taylor, a Maryland athlete who has cerebral palsy, becomes an Instagram sensation after deadlifting 200 pounds, more than twice his weight. That's up from his American weight-class record of 156, set five months earlier. Former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger hails the 24-year-old as his "new hero."
March 11, 2019: Chris Long* summits Mount Kilimanjaro along with fellow NFL players and military veterans to raise money for his Waterboys initiative. The organization has helped more than 225,000 people in Africa gain access to clean drinking water by building 61 wells. Long also donated his entire 2017 salary to educational charities.
March 20, 2019: On her 26th birthday, 2017 U.S. Open champ Sloane Stephens* takes to Twitter to raise $26,000 for her foundation. That money will go toward summer clinics, SAT tutoring, equipment and other programming at underserved schools in Compton, California, where we're expecting to find some fierce forehands in the near future.
March 26, 2019: After Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposes eliminating federal funding for the Special Olympics, teen Derek "Tank" Schottle posts an inspiring video on social media-since viewed more than 228,000 times -- about what the Games mean to him. "I'm praying for the Special Olympics," the six-sport athlete says.
Dear Twitter friends
— Tank Schottle (@TankSchottle) March 27, 2019
As a Special Olympics Athlete
Before I rest
My beautiful message to everyone ❤️
What Special Olympics Means to me ❤️ pic.twitter.com/qWdZ4tu7iv
April 12, 2019: U.S. women's national team captain Becky Sauerbrunn tweets a thank-you note from Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Sauerbrunn had paid tribute to the notoriously fit 86-year-old on her SheBelieves Cup jersey, then sent it to RBG, who replied that she was "proud" and will wear the gift during her own workouts.
April 22, 2019: When youth player Damary Dawkins was diagnosed with leukemia, Man City winger Raheem Sterling helped lead a worldwide search for a bone marrow donor. After Dawkins lost his fight at 13, Sterling wore a T-shirt under his England jersey paying tribute to him. When Dawkins is laid to rest, Sterling covers the cost of his funeral.
May 17, 2019: A student enters Parkrose High in Portland, Oregon, carrying a shotgun, but Keanon Lowe doesn't flinch. The football coach and former Ducks wideout subdues the distraught gunman before any shots are fired. Lowe's former coach Chip Kelly later calls him and compliments his protégé's tackling technique.
*Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award nominee