After becoming the first ever openly-gay man to play in the NBA, Jason Collins has announced his retirement, expressing a hope that one day coming out won’t be such a big deal for athletes in the big leagues. The centre came out in 2013, and as a Brooklyn Net became the first openly-gay athlete to play in any of America’s big four sporting leagues. Now 35 and with 16 NBA seasons under his belt, Collins has decided to retire. He’s told Sports Illustrated it’s been 18 exhilarating months since he came out. “It feels wonderful to have been part of these milestones for sports and for gay rights, and to have been embraced by the public, the coaches, the players, the league and history,” he says. “Among the memories I will cherish most are the warm applause I received in Los Angeles when I took the court in my Nets debut, and the standing ovation I got at my first home game in Brooklyn. It shows how far we’ve come. “The most poignant moment came at my third game, in Denver, where I met the family of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student beaten to death in a 1998 hate crime on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyo. For the past two years I have worn number 98 on my jersey to honour his memory. I was humbled to learn that number 98 jerseys became the top seller at NBAStore.com.” Proceeds from sales, and from auctioned jerseys Collins wore in games, were donated to two gay rights charities. Collins is leaving with the message that while there are still no publicly gay players in the NFL, NHL or major league baseball, they exists. “Every pro sport has them. I know some of them personally. When we get to the point where a gay pro athlete is no longer forced to live in fear that he’ll be shunned by teammates or outed by tabloids, when we get to the point where he plays while his significant other waits in the family room, when we get to the point where he’s not compelled to hide his true self and is able to live an authentic life, then coming out won’t be such a big deal. But we’re not there yet.” Collins entered the NBA after playing college basketball at Stanford, where he was an All-American. He was drafted 18th in the 2001 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets and went on to play for the then New Jersey Nets, the Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 20th November 2014 - 1:22pm