There are moments in sport that transcend the scoreboard, and Jason Collins understood that better than almost anyone. The former NBA centre, who made history in 2013 by becoming the first openly gay active player in a major American professional sport, has died at the age of 47.
Collins spent 13 seasons in the NBA, turning out for teams including the New Jersey Nets, Memphis Grizzlies, and Boston Celtics. He was never the flashiest name on the court; a journeyman big man whose career averages were modest. But what he did off the court changed the game entirely.
In April 2013, Collins came out in a first-person essay for Sports Illustrated, writing with a directness that caught the sporting world off guard.
“I’m a 34-year-old NBA centre. I’m black. And I’m gay,”
he wrote, in an opening that became one of the most talked-about lines in sports journalism that decade.
The reaction was, by the standards of professional sport, remarkable. President Barack Obama called to offer his congratulations. Teammates and rivals alike voiced their support. It wasn’t universally warm, but the tide was clear.
Collins went on to sign with the Brooklyn Nets in February 2014, officially becoming the first openly gay man to play in an NBA regular-season game. He played 22 games that season before retiring.
His courage mattered because the silence before it was so loud. Professional sport, particularly in the United States, had for decades been a space where gay athletes felt compelled to hide. Collins changed the calculation, not just for basketball, but for sport more broadly.
Tributes have poured in from across the sporting world, with the NBA releasing a statement calling him “a trailblazer whose courage transcended sport.” Former teammates remembered a quiet, thoughtful man who carried his historic moment with grace rather than grandstanding.
He was 47. Far too young, by any measure.
Collins never sought to be a symbol, but he became one anyway. The question now is how sport continues to honour that legacy, not with retrospective praise, but with the kind of inclusive culture he spent his life helping to build.
