Amaechi Is 1st NBA Player To Publicly Say He's Gay

John Amaechi is gay, and now the first NBA player to come out publicly is ready to talk about it.

Amaechi, a center who spent five seasons with four teams, is scheduled to appear on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" on Sunday, and his autobiography, "Man in the Middle," will be released Feb. 14.

"He is coming out of the closet as a gay man," Amaechi's publicist, Howard Bragman, said yesterday.

NBA Commissioner David Stern said a player's sexuality is not important.

"We have a very diverse league. The question at the NBA is always, 'Have you got game?' That's it, end of inquiry," he said.

Three years after his playing career ended, Amaechi has become the sixth professional male athlete from one of the four major American sports (NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL) to publicly discuss his homosexuality.

Former NFL running back David Kopay came out in 1977, and offensive lineman Roy Simmons and defensive lineman Esera Tuaolo came out more recently. Glenn Burke, an outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland Athletics in the 1970s, and Billy Bean, a utility player in the 1980s and 1990s, also have come out.

"What John did is amazing," Tuaolo said. "He does not know how many young kids he has saved. He does not know how many lives he's saved by speaking the truth."

In his book, Amaechi describes the challenge of being gay in a league where it is assumed that all players are heterosexual. He writes that while playing in Utah, Coach Jerry Sloan used anti-gay innuendo to describe him.

Sloan said yesterday that although his relationship with Amaechi was "shaky" because of the player's attitude, he didn't know Amaechi was gay. Sloan had no comment about Amaechi's contention that Sloan used anti-gay innuendo when referring to him. Amaechi said he found out about it in e-mails from friends in the Jazz front office.

Amaechi, 36, who is British, competed for Penn State, then played 301 NBA games over five seasons.

-- From News Services