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Cruise, 41, will introduce a special tribute to the late Pat Tillman, former member of the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals, during the 12th annual ESPY Awards, to be held at the Kodak Theater on July 14 and aired on ESPN four days later, says the Hollywood Reporter.
Tillman, who gave up a $3.6 million pro football contract with the Cardinals to become an Army Ranger, was shot to death April 22 in Iraq. A military investigation concluded he was likely killed mistakenly by fire from other U.S. troops.
On Sunday, Tillman was also honored at a Fourth of July celebration in Decatur, Ala., where he was posthumously given the Audie Murphy Patriotism Award. The annual honor, named for the most highly decorated U.S. soldier of World War II, was presented to the newly formed Pat Tillman Foundation, which aids families of soldiers killed overseas.
Tillman's brother-in-law, Alex Garwood, who is president of the foundation, accepted the award along with Tillman's parents, Pat and Mary, who also attended. "Pat would be very humbled by this," Garwood reportedly said.
As for Affleck's role, the actor will play former college basketball coach Don Haskins at the time his 1966 Texas Western team became the first ever to win a national title with five African-American starters against Kentucky's heavily favored (and all-white) basketball powerhouse. Texas won 72-65.
The movie, to be called Glory Road, is set to be shot later this year by the Walt Disney Company, AP reports.
"I always liked their movies and I thought they were movies kids could watch," said Haskins, 74, who coached 38 years at the school now known as the University of Texas at El Paso.
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