Derrick Gordon: First D-1 NCAA Basketball Player Out Of Closet

Add NCAA Division-1 basketball to the list of major sports leagues who now have an openly gay athlete.

Derrick Gordon, a Plainfield, N.J. native who will be a Junior at UMass, came out to teammates April 2 and just recently sat down in an ESPN interview disclosing details:

Gordon said that a pivotal moment in his decision to come out followed Jason Collins’ announcement that he was gay. Collins is a long-time NBA veteran who played for the Brooklyn Nets this season and was the first openly gay NBA player in the history of league.

[ESPN]

“That was so important to me, knowing that sexuality didn’t matter, that the NBA was OK with it,” Gordon said.

…”I just had a lot of time to myself, thinking, and I didn’t know what I was waiting for,” said Gordon, who transferred to UMass after one season at Western Kentucky.

The 22-year-old averaged 9;.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game this past season. He started in all 33 games for the Minutemen.

Gordon has shown his newfound pride on Twitter as well:

Josh Helmuth is editor of CraveOnline Sports. @JHelmuth – On Facebook.