NBA Player Collins Comes Out
By Nick Ostiller
Most casual basketball fans had probably never heard of Jason Collins before this week. As a 12-year veteran in the NBA, the seven-foot center is tall but has never stood out. He has played for six different teams and averaged a mere 3.6 points per game over the course of his career thus far. Usually Collins is found sitting on the end of the bench, but this past Monday, Collins stepped into the national spotlight.
"I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black and I'm gay." Those were the first words in a column that Collins wrote for an upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated, which was published online earlier this week. With his announcement, Collins became the first male athlete who is still active in a major American team sport to publicly come out.
In his column, Collins acknowledged that he had begun to seriously consider publicly divulging his sexual orientation two years ago during the NBA lockout.
"The recent Boston Marathon bombing reinforced the notion that I shouldn't wait for the circumstances of my coming out to be perfect," Collins wrote. "Things can change in an instant, so why not live truthfully?"
As a member of the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards this season, Collins wore the number 98 as a tribute to Matthew Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming student who was brutally murdered in a 1998 hate crime. Collins also joked in an interview with ABC this week that he wore number 98 "to mess with the refs 'cause (he has) a tendency to foul a lot." Referees in the NBA signal which player fouled by holding up the number of fingers for the player's jersey number. Collins led the league with 322 personal fouls during the 2004-2005 season.
Collins has received an outpouring of support all week, including a phone call from President Barack Obama.
Several other NBA players and coaches had words of encouragement for Collins in interviews and on social media. His teammate on the Wizards, Emeka Okafor, said the team will "welcome him back with open arms." Collins had informed the Wizards organization as well as NBA Commissioner David Stern about his sexual orientation on Monday just before the story was published.
Collins will become a free agent this July and has expressed a desire to play next season. While many have now placed him on a pedestal as a trailblazer for the gay community, teams interested in signing the veteran center this summer have no reason to change their perspective on the big man. Collins is still a solid role player and an important locker room presence who will be looking to help his team win.
Nick Ostiller is a junior communication major and reporter for the Sports section.