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David Marquette Kopay (born June 28, 1942) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) who in 1975 became one of the first professional athletes to come out as gay.
This is also a man who, in 1975, became the first professional athlete from a major team sport (he retired from the NFL in 1972) to announce publicly that he was gay — an act of candor that turned the most masculine of sports on its head, shattering its definitions of courage and toughness.
Jun 23, 2021 · Kopay, who turns 79 next week, was a journeyman special-teams demon who eked out a nine-season career in the NFL. He is better known, however, for being the first ex...
Jun 15, 2022 · Did you know the first NFL player to come out as gay spent the 1968 season in Detroit? Driving the news: I didn't, but learned about David Kopay during a Detroit Historic Pride walking tour with former city employee Michael Boettcher.
Oct 8, 2022 · Because in 1975, David Kopay, a running back who’d played on five different teams before retiring, announced in an interview in “The Washington Star” that he was gay, making him the first former NFL player — or any of America’s four major sports — to come out.
Oct 21, 2022 · Because in 1975, David Kopay, a running back who'd played on five teams before retiring, announced in an interview in the Washington Star that he was Gay, making him the first former player in the NFL — or any of America's four major sports — to come out.
Oct 31, 2020 · We conclude our series with the NFL player who remains the most significant out gay athlete of our lifetime: Dave Kopay. Every day during LGBTQ history month, we’ve told a story from our...
