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**🏅 ESPN BREAKING NEWS: LSU Hero Danielle Green — Former Basketball Star, Iraq War Veteran, and Purple Heart Recipient — Honored with Prestigious Pat Tillman Award for Service**
In a moving and powerful moment during the 2025 ESPY Awards, **Danielle Green**, a former LSU women’s basketball standout, Iraq War veteran, and Purple Heart recipient, was honored with the prestigious **Pat Tillman Award for Service**. The award recognizes individuals who have made extraordinary sacrifices and demonstrated an unwavering commitment to serving others—qualities Green has embodied in every chapter of her life.
As the audience rose to a standing ovation, Green took the stage with humility and grace, reflecting on a journey that has taken her from the hardwood of LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center to the front lines of combat in Iraq—and beyond.
> “This isn’t about me,” Green said through tears. “This is about perseverance. It’s about turning loss into purpose and pain into power. I share this honor with every veteran who came home changed, with every woman who had to fight twice as hard to be heard, and with every teammate who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”
Green’s story is one of remarkable resilience. She played guard for the LSU Tigers in the late 1990s, earning a reputation for toughness, hustle, and leadership. But it was after her time on the court that she would face her greatest battles. Enlisting in the U.S. Army, Green was deployed to Iraq in 2004. Just months into her service, she was severely injured in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Baghdad, resulting in the loss of her dominant left arm.
Rather than letting the injury define her, Green turned it into a source of strength. After returning home, she earned her master’s degree in counseling and dedicated her life to helping fellow veterans transition to civilian life, battle PTSD, and find new purpose.
She has worked with the **Department of Veterans Affairs**, numerous nonprofits, and has been a motivational speaker across the country. Her mission: to ensure no veteran feels alone in their struggle and to shine a light on the courage it takes to rebuild a life after war.
The **Pat Tillman Award for Service**, named after the former NFL player who left professional football to serve in the military and was killed in action, is one of the ESPYs’ most revered honors. Previous recipients include war heroes, community organizers, and survivors who turned tragedy into change.
ESPN president Burke Magnus called Green “a beacon of strength and compassion.”
> “Danielle represents everything this award stands for,” he said. “Her courage on the battlefield, her impact in the community, and her refusal to give up make her an inspiration to us all.”
For LSU fans, Green’s award is yet another chapter in the school’s long history of producing not just athletes, but heroes.
> “I wore purple and gold with pride,” Green said. “And I’ve carried that same pride into every room I’ve walked into since—whether it was in combat boots or with a prosthetic arm. Because once a Tiger, always a Tiger.”
Her life reminds us all: greatness isn’t measured only in points scored or medals earned, but in lives changed.
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