CHARLOTTE (Steve Goldberg's Wheel World) - Last Wednesday night in Los Angeles, USA wheelchair basketball player Steve Serio won the ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete with a Disability. That put the point guard in the company of other athletes who were honored that evening such as Roger Federer, Sergio Garcia, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Phelps, and fellow hoop stars Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, and Candace Parker. 

The ESPYS are essentially the Oscars (the famous American film awards) of the sports world, created 25 years ago by TV sports network ESPN to celebrate the athletes, teams, and moments of sports in a way more similar to the what the entertainment industry was doing with the movies. The Best Male/Female Athlete with a Disability categories were added in 2002.

Serio has marched into packed stadiums in Beijing, London, and Rio de Janeiro and played before capacity crowds in basketball arenas around the world, heard his national anthem and had a gold medal placed around his neck, but this was different.

"It's hard to describe what it's like to be in the same room with all those amazing athletes," he told me. "I had an amazing time listening to stories and being inspired by athletes who inspire millions of people. Just to be part of that community was a humbling experience and one I'll never forget."

Surprisingly, Serio is the first wheelchair basketball player to win the award, and more surprisingly only the fourth, sort of, to be nominated. USA teammate Matt Scott and two-time Paralympic gold medalist Patty Cisneros of the American women's team were nominated in 2008; and three-time Paralympian Paul Schulte was nominated in 2003.

An ESPY is nice but Serio (far right, front) would prefer another gold medal to go with his one from Rio, first at the IWBF World Championships in 2018, then Tokyo in 2020. Photo by Steve Goldberg/SCS Media

Here's where the "sort of" comes in. Alana Nichols, who won gold with the USA women in Beijing, was nominated twice, in 2010 and 2012, but identified for her success as a skier where she accomplished another five Paralympic medals (2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze).

How Becca Murray, the baby-faced assassin of the USA women's side and now a two-time gold medalist, or Christina (Ripp) Schwab hasn't been nominated is beyond me.  But they've also ignored Canada's Pat Anderson, winner of three Paralympic gold medals and arguably the best player of his generation. It's not the international thing. As I already indicated, this year's winners included Federer and Garcia. Previous nominees in the athlete with a disability category have included South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius and wheelchair racer Krige Schabort.

Not to be outdone in missing the basket when it comes to nominees are the Laureus World Sport Awards. Over 18 years, only three wheelchair basketball players, not one female, have been nominated - Schulte in 2003, Australia's Justin Eveson in 2010, and Anderson in 2013 - with none winning. 

Serio says he was also humbled by fan recognition during the red carpet entrance so maybe some people did see some of NBC's coverage from Rio, or at least knew him from the ESPY website. That recognition is not just good for Serio but for wheelchair basketball overall.

I think the overall theme of the experience was that this is another way to put wheelchair basketball on the map. – Serio

Unlike the Oscars and other awards that are decided by a peer vote, most ESPY categories are selected by fans, which can have its good points. Am I right, Zaza?

Still my favorite player from "Georgia" even though Atlanta native Dwight Howard has joined the Charlotte Hornets, Zaza Pachulia, who had a strong run in the fan voting for the last NBA All Star Game, was sitting near the front of the audience by teammates Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.

This was Steve Serio's world on Wednesday night in Los Angeles where he won an ESPY Award. Also winning were Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Zaza Pachulia. Photo by Scott Clarke / ESPN Images

They were there to collect the award for the Best Team, which unsurprisingly went to the Golden State Warriors. Sure, they won an NBA title but they had done that a couple of years ago, when they ended a drought of 40 years. So they would understand why the USA Men's Paralympic Team should have at least been nominated in my opinion. The boys in blue put the brakes on a 28-year run without a gold medal for the USA.

Before Serio gets all Hollywood and starts his next career as an action movie star, he is focusing on being fast and furious with his USA teammates at the IWBF Americas Cup tournament in Cali, Colombia.

The draw for the group stages of the Americas Cup 2017 took place in Cali, Colombia on Thursday. Serio's USA were drawn into Group B with hosts Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, and Uruguay. Group A includes Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.

The first round of the women's competition will see Colombia matched with Canada and Argentina in Group A, while Group B includes Brazil, Peru, and the USA.

Colombian players assist IWBF Secretary General Maureen Orchard with the draw for the 2017 IWBF Americas Cup which will start August 21 in Cali, Colombia. Photo courtesy of IWBF

It begins on August 21 and will select the teams that will make it to the IWBF World Championships next year in Hamburg. With Europe already in the books, that leaves Asia Oceania and Africa to complete their zonal championships in October and November.

"I took some time off after Rio to regroup but it's time to get back to work," Serio said, not including that after returning to the U.S. from several years playing with RSV Lahn-Dill in Germany, he went right into an NWBA Championship Division run with the New York Rolling Knicks.

After covering Serio's national team career for the past three Paralympiads, I thought I knew what I needed to know about the USA co-captain who exemplifies the team-first philosophy and work ethic that lifted the American side to the top step of the podium for the first time since Seoul 1988.

But then I saw the tweet posted by current NBA scout Matt Doherty…

Cousins with Matt Doherty; how did a Carolina boy like me not know that? This is one basketball-rich family. As of Rio, they have a Paralympic gold medal and an NCAA championship. A UNC Tarheel from 1980-84, Doherty took those honors in 1982 with teammates including Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, and Cecil Exum, the father of Australia star Dante Exum.

Doherty also represented his country on the court as part of the 1983 United States Select team. And here's some bonus basketball knowledge for you: Doherty's first high school coach, Bob McKillop, was Stephen Curry's college coach at Davidson. Small world isn't it?

With eyes on the World Championships, there is little chance of all this going to his head. You can't be a prima donna until they get the name right. Eh, Sergio?

Steve Goldberg

FIBA

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