U.MASS Derrick Gordon Has Joined The Numbers of Out Players
Derrick Gordon, a University of Massachusetts guard, revealed that he is gay, joining a fast-growing list of publicly gay male college and professional athletes.
Gordon is believed to be the first publicly gay active men’s player in Division I college basketball. He spent years trying to conceal the secret, but told his parents, coach and teammates over a stretch of several days last week.
“No one has a set date and time on when they want to come out,” Gordon said in a phone interview Wednesday. “My time was just now. I was comfortable with who I am, and I didn’t want to keep hiding. I was hiding for four years. And that takes a toll when you have to be somebody who you’re not.”
The news was first revealed by Outsports.com and ESPN. Similar coming-out stories have arrived with some regularity over the past year or so, each toppling another barrier as the sports world follows the arc of American popular culture.
Last April, Jason Collins became the first N.B.A. player to announce he was gay. Collins, a 35-year-old center, currently plays for the Nets.
In February, the University of Missouri football player Michael Sam came out publicly. Last season’s defensive player of the year in the Southeastern Conference, Sam is expected to be drafted as a linebacker by an N.F.L. team next month. If he suits up in the fall, he could become the first publicly gay N.F.L. player.
Gordon, a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard, started all 33 games for UMass and averaged 9.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. The Minutemen (24-9) reached the N.C.A.A. tournament, where they lost to Tennessee in their opening game.
“After the N.C.A.A. tournament, I did some thinking,” said Gordon, who had previously denied occasional speculation that he was gay. “I don’t want to keep hiding. I don’t want to keep living this way anymore.”
Gordon, 22, starred at St. Patrick High School in Elizabeth, N.J. He played his freshman year at Western Kentucky, where he was the leading scorer (11.7 points per game) and rebounder (6.7 per game) and helped the team to the N.C.A.A. tournament. He transferred to UMass and sat out a season, as required by N.C.A.A. rules.
He first told his parents in New Jersey, who were supportive and hardly surprised. Then he told Derek Kellogg, the UMass basketball coach. Kellogg said Wednesday that he sometimes worried during the season about Gordon’s quiet nature and dour moods, uncertain exactly what bothered him. He noticed that Gordon sometimes ate by himself or walked home from practice alone.
By
Comments