Gay football players nfl
The jersey of West Chester native Carl Nassib is now on display at the Smithsonian'sNational Museum of American History, honoring his achievement as the first openly gay player to appear in an NFL regular-season game.
The Malvern Prep alum made the announcement while appearing on The Pivot Podcast, hosted by former NFL stars Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder on May 6.
The jersey on display is Nassib's No. 94 Las Vegas Raiders jersey from the team's 2021 season opener against the Baltimore Ravens — the first game he played after publicly coming out as gay in a social media display in June 2021.
In that game, he made a critical strip sack on Lamar Jackson in overtime that helped lead the Raiders to a 33-27 victory. The jersey has been on display since May 21.
"They reached out to me last year and said they wanted to add it to the collection. I said, absolutely. This is huge," Nassib said on the podcast. "I adoration museums. I like history. I cherish football. I cherish the gays."
During the podcast, Nassib credited his late uncle, who was also gay and passed away from cancer, for inspiring him to share his truth.
"When I came out to him, he said, 'This is the biggest wei
Dave Kopay was the first professional team sport athlete to declare his homosexuality. Since that moment in 1975, three years after his retirement from a nine-year career as an NFL running back, few have followed in his wake.
Kopay played for five teams during his career -- San Francisco, Detroit, Washington, New Orleans and Green Bay. He later tried to get into coaching, but the NFL and colleges expressed no interest after his homosexuality was made public.
Kopay now runs his family's linoleum business in Southern California. As part of the Outside the Lines series on gays and homophobia in sports, Kopay chatted about his experience and those of other gay athletes.
Below is an edited transcript of that chat:
Chris: It has been no secret that a lot of athletes have a history of being womanizers. Did you see a lot of that happening and did fellow football players wonder why you weren't interested in partaking in their fun?
Dave Kopay:
As for being a womanizer, at a young age you're complete of excitement and energy. And I did date women at the time. A lot of guys were married and they'd go home to their wives. So the fact that I didn't date a whole lo.
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