Fox NFL Sunday reporter and commentator Jay Glazer was honored yesterday with the organization’s 2024 James V. Day “Good Guy” Award during the American Legion’s 105th National Convention.

Glazer is the co-founder of the nonprofit Merging Veterans with Players (MVP), which pairs military veterans with former professional athletes to help each other transition into their new lives away from battlefields and playing fields. Glazer is a former mixed martial artist who trains athletes and veterans at his Unbreakable fitness centers.

Glazer said he was honored to accept the award, but acknowledged that while the experiences of professional athletes and military veterans are different, “when they hang up their uniforms, the crap is the same.”

“It goes without saying that all suicides are tragic – whether the person is a veteran or not,” said Daniel J. Seehafer, National Commander of the American Legion, as he presented Glazer with the award. “During our recent Tango, Alpha, Lima podcast, (Glazer) explained many of the similarities between the emotions of professional athletes and those of our veterans. Athletes sometimes feel like they are no longer part of a team, especially when they retire. The same is true for veterans after they leave the military.” That’s why it’s so important for organizations like the American Legion to welcome transitioning veterans into our family. And that’s why Glazer’s work is so important…to let athletes know that they have a family, too, even when their playing days are over. And yes, his family – the MVP family – includes military veterans.”

“When I heard that 22 veterans were taking their lives every day, or however many it was, I thought, that’s not OK,” Glazer said. Since then, he has used his public platform to raise awareness about the issue, including his own struggles with mental health, which he chronicled in his 2021 book, “Unbreakable: How I Turned My Depression and Anxiety Into Motivation and You Can, Too.”

“I speak about mental health all the time now, but I didn’t have the confidence to do it until I did it among our veterans,” Glazer said at the awards ceremony. “I didn’t have the confidence to do it until I was loved by those veterans. I didn’t have the confidence to do it until the veterans told me when I started speaking, ‘Hey, me too.'”

The James V. Day Good Guy Award is named after a World War II veteran and prominent Legionnaire. Recent recipients include NASCAR legend Richard Petty, artist Dolly Parton, former college football coach Lou Holtz and MLB Hall of Famer Joe Torre. The award is presented by the American Legion Past Department Commander’s Club (PDCC), a group comprised of past and current state and regional commanders of the American Legion.