Football

Football Player

b. January 7, 1990

“I’m not afraid to tell the world who I am.”

In 2014 Michael Sam became the first openly gay player drafted by the NFL. The defensive end was drafted by the St. Louis Rams and spent time on the Dallas Cowboys practice squad. He signed with the Montreal Alouettes in 2015, but stepped away from the team just months later, citing “personal reasons.”  

The native Texan overcame a difficult childhood, living at one point in his mother’s car. Sam showed talent for football in high school, where he played both defensive and offensive tackle. He was offered several scholarships and chose to attend the University of Missouri to play for the Tigers. He is the first of his family to attend college. 

Sam was named first-team All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation and was a semifinalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award. In 2014 he helped Missouri beat Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl Classic. 

When Sam was drafted into the NFL, his emotional reaction was broadcast on national television, during which he kissed his boyfriend. President Barack Obama congratulated him, along with the Rams and the NFL, for “taking an important step forward today in our nation’s journey.” Sam’s name and number 96 became the sixth-best-selling jersey in the NFL that season. 

In 2015, when Sam signed a two-year contract with the Montreal Alouettes, it made him the first openly gay player in the Canadian Football League (CFL). In 2015 he also competed on the 20th season of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”

Sam has received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award and was named GQ’s Man of the Year. He was a finalist for Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year.

Pro Football Player

Professional football player Esera Tuaolo became the third NFL player to come out.

Tuaolo was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a banana-farming Samoan family. He attended Oregon State University where he played football.

The Green Bay Packers drafted him in 1991. A defensive lineman, Tuaolo was the first rookie in NFL history to start in all 16 games. His record earned him a spot on the 1991 All-Rookie team.  

While he was with the Packers, Tuaolo was asked to sing the National Anthem for a Thursday night televised game. He refers to this as one of his most memorable moments in professional football.

In 1992, the Packers traded Tuaolo to the Minnesota Vikings. From there, he went on to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Atlanta Falcons. He played in Super Bowl XXXIII with the Falcons. After a season with the Carolina Panthers, he retired.  

In 2002, Tuaolo came out on the HBO series “Real Sports.” The emotional interview dealt with Tuaolo’s constant fear of being outed, the homophobic culture of professional sports and the responses of former teammates and friends.

In 2006, Tuaolo performed the National Anthem at the opening ceremony of Gay Games VII. The same year, his autobiography “Alone in the Trenches: My Life as a Gay Man in the NFL” was released.  The book made Tuaolo a spokesperson against homophobia, particularly the unofficial policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in professional sports. He served as a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation.

Tuaolo is also an HIV/AIDS activist—his brother died from complications of the disease. He has appeared in public service announcements and is a major fundraiser for Camp Heartland for children and youth with HIV/AIDS. 

Tuaolo shares custody of his adopted twin children with his former partner Mitchell Wherley. 

Athlete     

b. June 28, 1942

“I hear from people all over the world that my coming out has empowered them in their search for self.”

Dave Kopay made headlines in 1975 when he became the first NFL payer and one of the first professional athletes to come out. His autobiography, now in its fifth printing, was a New York Times best seller.

The second of four children, Kopay was born in Chicago into a strict Roman Catholic family. When he was in grammar school, the family moved to North Hollywood, California.

Kopay began his football career at Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles, a school known for its championship athletics. He was named to the all-Catholic conference all-star football team. He enrolled at the University of Washington and as team co-captain led the Huskies to the PAC-10 conference title. The following year, he was named an All-American running back.

In 1964, Kopay was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers. He was the team’s leading rusher in his rookie year. He played for five NFL teams in his nine-year career, including the Detroit Lions, the Washington Redskins, the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers. 

While playing for the Redskins, Kopay had relationships with women and men, including teammate Jerry Smith, who died of AIDS in 1986. At the suggestion of his therapist, Kopay married a woman to try to fix what he perceived as a problem. The marriage lasted a year.

Three years after retiring from the NFL, Kopay came out publicly in an interview with the Washington Star. He shared details about his struggle with homophobia and sports in “The David Kopay Story,” published in 1977. Kopay pursued coaching positions with NCAA and NFL teams, but believes he wasn’t hired because he is gay. Since 1982, he has worked in his family’s business. 

Kopay is one of the founding Gay Games Ambassadors, and has been present to support participating athletes and artists at every edition of the Games.

A champion of gay rights for more than 30 years, Kopay has given hundreds of speeches and media interviews. In 2007, he donated $1 million to the University of Washington’s LGBT center.

Despite suffering serious injuries during his football career, Kopay still misses the thrill of playing for the NFL. “There’s nothing like the rush of playing on Monday Night Football,” he says. “There’s nothing that will ever fill that void.”

Kopay resides in Los Angeles.

NFL Player

b. July 28, 1977

“Don’t let the love for your sport overshadow the need to love yourself.”

Wade Alan Davis II is the first NFL player to come out. He is a pioneering LGBT advocate who directs the You Can Play Project, an organization that educates the pro sports industry about LGBT issues.

Davis grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, and Aurora, Colorado, in a devout Southern Baptist family. He played football in high school and for both Mesa State and Weber State in college.

In 2001 Davis made his professional debut with the Berlin Thunder in Europe’s NFL, where he helped win World Bowl IX. Later that year, he joined the Seattle Seahawks before returning to Europe to play for the Barcelona Dragons. In 2003 he signed with the Washington Redskins. A leg injury forced him to retire early.

Davis came out publicly in 2012. He has since toured the country, sharing what it was like to be closeted in professional sports and to grow up in a strict religious family. He became a pioneering activist and paved the way for other LGBT players to come out. Davis has spoken at colleges, universities and corporations around the world. 

In 2013 when he was named executive director of You Can Play, Davis helped develop training focused on LGBT inclusion and diversity in professional sports. He also worked with the Hetrick-Martin Institute in New York, where he taught life and employment skills to LGBT youth.

In 2014 Davis became a professor at the Tisch Institute for Sports Management, Media and Business in the NYU School of Professional Studies. He cofounded the YOU Belong Initiative, an organization that provides comprehensive training for LGBT youth and allies. His social media campaign, #ThisIsLuv, celebrates LGBT experiences in the black community.

Davis has written about his life and the need for LGBT acceptance in sports for many publications, including The Advocate and The Huffington Post. He contributed essays to the books “For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Still Not Enough” and “Coming Home.”

Davis serves on the board of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York City and is a member of the sports advisory board for GLSEN. Among other recognition, Northeastern University awarded him an honorary doctorate for public service. The National Youth Pride Services named him one of 50 Black LGBT Adults That Youth Should Know and The Root named him to its list of 100 black influencers.