Maya Moore, who put her brilliant WNBA career on hold to address the need for criminal justice reform, is this year’s winner of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

Moore, now 32, stepped away from the game in early 2019 to fight for the release of Jonathan Irons, who had been wrongly convicted when he was 16 of burglary and assault and sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Irons had spent 23 years in a Missouri prison when his conviction was overturned last year. He was released in July 2020 and has since married Moore. They met through a prison ministry.

Founded in 1993, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award is part of the ESPY Awards and given to a sports-related individual or team that has made the most significant or compelling humanitarian contribution in transcendence of sports in a given year. The Ashe Award “reflects the spirit of Arthur Ashe, possessing strength in the face of adversity, courage in the face of peril and the willingness to stand up for beliefs.”

This year’s ESPY Awards will be broadcast 8 p.m. Saturday, July 10, on ABC, which presents the awards. They previously were given by ESPN.

A native of Jefferson City, Mo., the 6-foot Moore was a two-time Most Valuable Player in the WNBA while helping the Minnesota Lynx to four WNBA titles.

Before becoming the WNBA’s first overall draft pick in 2011, Moore helped the University of Connecticut to two NCAA crowns.

Moore announced earlier this year that she would not be returning to the WNBA for the 2021 season.

Basketball coach Jim Valvano was the first Arthur Ashe Courage Award recipient in 1993. Basketball star Kevin Love was the 2020 winner. Other previous winners were Muhammad Ali, former NFL player Pat Tillman, Olym- pians Tommie Smith and John Carlos, Nelson Mandela, TV broadcaster Robin Roberts, former decathlete Caitlyn Jenner and Bill Russell.