Openly gay kicker came out years ago with little fanfare, If an openly gay kicker can make it in college, perhaps he can make it in the NFL. Alan Gendreau, former Middle Tennessee athlete, recently talked about his homosexuality and coming out in his first year of college. Now, he has his eyes on the National Football League, possibly making him the first openly gay professional football player, ever.
Citing an April 23 Huffington Post report, Gendreau sat down with OutSports and talked about his once super-secret and how he finally came out of the closet with his teammates.
While Gendreau stands only at 5'10", he stands tall as a hero among his MT teammates for what he does on and off the football field. When he decided to come out, he was not sure what the reaction from the public would be about being an openly-gay place-kicker.
Nonetheless, the results were shocking to say the least. There were no uncomfortable gasps or attempts to separate him from the "boys." Instead, Gendreau was supported and continues to be today, some five years later.
"Everyone just saw him as a football player. He was just one of the guys. The fact that he proved himself on the field, there was a respect for him," said MT holder and team punter Josh Davis.
After Alan graduated, he nearly gave up on his dreams to join the NFL, partly because his stats in college stats were down.
However, with his sexual orientation out in the open, the devout Christian is working hard and will try again next season to make a team.
While some analysts have doubts, others are optimistic about his marketing ability for any team that would have him. More importantly, as the league skirts with possibly having several athletes divulging their sexual orientation, Gendreau could go from being an openly-gay kicker in college to the first to break the tradition of silence in the NFL.
As he told the NY Times: "I'm a kicker that happens to be gay. It's a part of who I am, and not everything I am. I just want to be known as a normal kicker."
Citing an April 23 Huffington Post report, Gendreau sat down with OutSports and talked about his once super-secret and how he finally came out of the closet with his teammates.
While Gendreau stands only at 5'10", he stands tall as a hero among his MT teammates for what he does on and off the football field. When he decided to come out, he was not sure what the reaction from the public would be about being an openly-gay place-kicker.
Nonetheless, the results were shocking to say the least. There were no uncomfortable gasps or attempts to separate him from the "boys." Instead, Gendreau was supported and continues to be today, some five years later.
"Everyone just saw him as a football player. He was just one of the guys. The fact that he proved himself on the field, there was a respect for him," said MT holder and team punter Josh Davis.
After Alan graduated, he nearly gave up on his dreams to join the NFL, partly because his stats in college stats were down.
However, with his sexual orientation out in the open, the devout Christian is working hard and will try again next season to make a team.
While some analysts have doubts, others are optimistic about his marketing ability for any team that would have him. More importantly, as the league skirts with possibly having several athletes divulging their sexual orientation, Gendreau could go from being an openly-gay kicker in college to the first to break the tradition of silence in the NFL.
As he told the NY Times: "I'm a kicker that happens to be gay. It's a part of who I am, and not everything I am. I just want to be known as a normal kicker."
0 comments:
Post a Comment