LOS ANGELES — In a night heavy with emotional pleas to end gun violence, many of the world’s biggest sports stars were brought to tears at Wednesday’s ESPY Awards by comments from the family of Zaevion Dobson, a 15-year-old high school football player from Knoxville, Tennessee, who was honored posthumously with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for giving his life to shield two young women from gunfire last year.

His mother, Zenobia Dobson, and two brothers accepted the trophy from Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, with last year’s honoree Caitlyn Jenner joining in the audience’s standing ovation.

Dobson told the audience that, four months after her son’s death, his 12-year-old cousin was killed in a drive-by shooting on his way home from a basketball game where Zaevion was honored.

“I’m here to fight back,” Dobson said. “We as a country need to take a stand to consider the effects of gun violence on the families throughout America.”

Tears welled in the eyes of several athletes who applauded her comments.

“We need to rewrite laws to make it harder for people to get guns,” Dobson said. “All the athletes in this room, you have a lot of power. People look up to you, I know Zaevion did. I urge you to think tonight about why he died and what you can do tomorrow to prevent the next innocent young man or woman from being lost.”