Social media wants Fla. coach slain in school shooting to win Arthur Ashe Award for Courage

PARKLAND, Fla. -- Could this year's prestigious Arthur Ashe Award for Courage go to the high school assistant football coach killed protecting students during a school shooting in Florida?

A growing coalition of social media users wants just that and is asking ESPN to honor Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School coach Aaron Feis at this year's ESPYs.

Feis, who also worked as a security guard for the school, was fatally shot shielding students from gunfire, according to multiple eyewitness accounts. He was one of seventeen students and faculty members killed during that violent Feb. 14 rampage in Parkland, Florida.

One tweet petitioning the network to recognize Feis has received more than 60,000 likes as of Friday afternoon.

Others, including the school's football program, have followed suit, with some also recommending that slain athletic director and head wrestling coach Chris Hixon also be honored.

For more than two decades, ESPN has presented the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage to a public figure, often in the sports world, who demonstrated "strength in the face of adversity, courage in the face of peril and the willingness to stand up for their beliefs no matter what the cost." Past recipients include Muhammad Ali, Robin Roberts, the Kabul girls' soccer team, Billie Jean King, Michael Sam and the Flight 93 passengers.

ESPN has not yet responded to a request for comment about the social media movement.

Editor's note: The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ESPN and this station.