As we celebrate the historic accomplishments of Michael Sam, Jason Collins and other young out athletes, it’s important to remember those pioneering LGBT champions who came before them. In honor of Pride month and Logo’s Trailblazers special on June 26, we’re showcasing five such men and women.
For some of these athletes it wasn't possible to be out publicly while they were active in their sport, but their career successes and later LGBT advocacy make them important figures who blazed a trail in professional sports.
David Kopay
Football
Joe Namath might have made waves by cheekily wearing hosiery in a 1974 Hanes pantyhose commercial,, but the big bombshell came a year later when hunky former Redskins running back Dave Kopay came out in his bestselling autobiography—the first NFL player to ever do so.
“I got very, very few hate mails.” Kopay, now 71, told Outsports. “Mostly the mail that poured in was amazingly supportive and telling their own stories. There were hundreds of letters forwarded to me.”
But after he retired and sought work as a football coach, Kopay found himself effectively blacklisted from the sport. Instead, he became a successful Southern California businessman.
Kopay’s tale is the grandaddy of all professional-sports coming-out stories and he continues to make meaningful contributions: He is a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation, has been a Gay Games ambassador and, In 2007 he announced plans to leave a million-dollar endowment to his alma mater, the University of Washington, for the school’s LGBT Center.
“I got very, very few hate mails.” Kopay, now 71, told Outsports. “Mostly the mail that poured in was amazingly supportive and telling their own stories. There were hundreds of letters forwarded to me.”
But after he retired and sought work as a football coach, Kopay found himself effectively blacklisted from the sport. Instead, he became a successful Southern California businessman.
Kopay’s tale is the grandaddy of all professional-sports coming-out stories and he continues to make meaningful contributions: He is a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation, has been a Gay Games ambassador and, In 2007 he announced plans to leave a million-dollar endowment to his alma mater, the University of Washington, for the school’s LGBT Center.
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