Rememberg Jerry Smh, a gay NFL star who never got his due - Outsports

Contents:

• THERE HAVE BEEN 11 KNOWN GAY PLAYERS NFL HISTORY
• FRIEND: GAY REDSKS TE JERRY SMH PED WH 'HORRENDO EXISTENCE'
• REMEMBERG JERRY SMH, A GAY NFL STAR WHO NEVER GOT HIS DUE
• CARL NASSIB IS OUT, BUT HE’S NOT THE FIRST GAY PLAYER THE NFL, OR EVEN WASHGTON
• NEW DOC PREMIER ABOUT JERRY SMH, GAY WASHGTON REDSK
• GAY HISTORY – SPORTS: AUGT 26, 1986: FORMER WASHGTON REDSKS FOOTBALL PLAYER JERRY SMH ANNOUNC HE HAS AIDS
• DOCUMENTARY LV TO LIFE OF REDSKS TIGHT END JERRY SMH, A STAR WHO HID THAT HE WAS GAY
• JERRY SMH, FORMER GAY NFL PLAYER, SERVED BETTER
• TONIGHT: NFL NETWORK PIECE ON JERRY SMH FULLY EMBRAC HIS GAYNS

THERE HAVE BEEN 11 KNOWN GAY PLAYERS NFL HISTORY

The announcement today by former Patrts and Chiefs offensive leman Ryan O'Callaghan that he is gay brgs to seven the number of NFL known gay players NFL history who have played a regular season game. In addn, four other players who me out as gay were NFL trag mps, some playg preason gam.

Kopay played wh two teammat who were gay: tight end Jerry Smh and nng back Ray McDonald.

Gay players have long been the NFL. Legendary Packers and Redsks ach Vce Lombardi — who had an openly gay brother — knew that some of his players were gay.

FRIEND: GAY REDSKS TE JERRY SMH PED WH 'HORRENDO EXISTENCE'

In the Outsports article on O’Callaghan g out, longtime NFL executive Stt Pli says he has unseled gay NFL players before.

The NFL Network produced a documentary on Smh beg gay.

REMEMBERG JERRY SMH, A GAY NFL STAR WHO NEVER GOT HIS DUE

He was able to achieve notoriety on the field spe the challeng he enuntered off Smh was gay. "He was livg real fear, " says Smh's iend, David Mixner, who is also homosexual, "and really alone and terrified that he was gonna lose everythg. "No openly gay player has played the league, though several have discsed their orientatn upon retirement.

Smh's brother, Ed, says Jerry Smh didn't reveal his homosexualy to some were gnizant of Smh's secret while others spected .

But Smh, who always guard his private life, would never speak to Kopay Redsks terviewed by NFL Films all ld Smh as an ial of Fame wiout Charley Taylor even suggts Washgton had a reputatn as a haven for gay players, and that there might have been as many as a dozen on the roster at one pot. He ntends that though some players might not have red about Smh's private life, others would have opprsed him and ensured he lost his job had he e loved playg for Vce Lombardi, who had a gay brother and mand an atmosphere of tolerance the locker room.

CARL NASSIB IS OUT, BUT HE’S NOT THE FIRST GAY PLAYER THE NFL, OR EVEN WASHGTON

Smh lived his whole life closeted and was one of the first known players to live a double life as an NFL star and a closeted gay athlete. Lombardi had a gay brother, and preached equaly and acceptance on his teams.

Wh hundreds of NFL players, and zero openly gay players, is unfortunate to thk about the ia that someone is hidg their inty an NFL locker room. I hope that 30 years om now, we n look back on many succsful reers of openly gay NFL players. However, spe the fact that Jerry Smh did not live one day of his life as an openly gay man, his story is still important and he should be remembered.

His story brought attentn to the fact that gay men n do anythg a straight man n, if not better.

NEW DOC PREMIER ABOUT JERRY SMH, GAY WASHGTON REDSK

Even today, his story eras the stigma and stereotype that gay men are feme. But was also the era of AIDS, and the outsized effect that horrible disease was havg on the gay muny. So while, generally speakg, discsns of homosexualy weren’t had among “pole pany” - at least the (admtedly small) circl I traveled at that pot - the sensatnal arrival of AIDS did have the impact of forcg society to adm gay people existed, and that they were all around .

I don’t rell exactly what precipated the nversatn - at the time my father certaly wasn't a leadg lumary of gay advocy (he was, and remas more of a “live and let live” type) - but 1983 or 1984, talkg about the Redsks of yore, among stori of Gee Allen and Charlie Taylor, my dad mentned a legendary tight end for the Redsks, who probably didn’t get the regnn he served bee he was wily thought to be gay. “He was livg real fear, ” says Smh’s iend, David Mixner, who is also homosexual, “and really alone and terrified that he was gonna lose everythg. By several acunts, Smh loved playg for Vce Lombardi, and was fortunate to have done so, as Lombardi had a gay brother - Harold - whose experience had ma Lombardi unually broad-md on the topic of gay rights at the time and sistent of a culture of tolerance the locker room.

GAY HISTORY – SPORTS: AUGT 26, 1986: FORMER WASHGTON REDSKS FOOTBALL PLAYER JERRY SMH ANNOUNC HE HAS AIDS

Intertgly, and unknown to me prr to wrg this article, apparently Washgton had a reputatn as beg a safe haven for gay players the 1970s, wh Hall of Fame wi receiver Charlie Taylor, speculatg that there uld have been up to a dozen gay players on the team at the time. “I jt wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay. ”Rairs DL Carl Nassib shared this vio to social media and beme the first active NFL player to announce he is gay.

Do you thk ’s signifint that Carl Nassib is the first gay player to e out while still playg the NFL? And he was gay. Documentary lv to life of Redsks tight end Jerry Smh, a star who hid that he was gay – Outsports.

After retirg Smh beme -owner of The Boathoe, a gay bar At Texas. My heart go out to him and the people close to him, " said Jim Graham, director of the Whman Walker Clic, a District treatment and unselg clic for homosexuals. AIDS, or acquired immune ficiency syndrome, afflicts mostly homosexual men.

DOCUMENTARY LV TO LIFE OF REDSKS TIGHT END JERRY SMH, A STAR WHO HID THAT HE WAS GAY

It first showed up homosexual men Los Angel and New York 1981. Gay athlet and events the 20th century are few:. Bill Tiln, who do not hi his homosexualy, ws the men's sgl tle at Wimbledon.

Wadll, who is openly gay, be creasgly volved gay polics.

JERRY SMH, FORMER GAY NFL PLAYER, SERVED BETTER

In 1976, Wadll and his partner Charl Deaton are the first gay men to be featured the "Coupl" sectn of People magaze. Five years later, Wadll forms San Francis Arts and Athletics to plan the first "Gay Olympic Gam.

He adms his homosexualy durg an terview wh the now-funct Washgton Star.

TONIGHT: NFL NETWORK PIECE ON JERRY SMH FULLY EMBRAC HIS GAYNS

Kg is currently preparg to lnch her own Billie Jean Foundatn that will support gay and lbian youths. The first Gay Olympic Gam tak place San Francis. In 1989, he reveals his homosexualy to the bodybuildg muny durg an terview wh Ironman magaze.

Gallagher says that before his suici attempt, he had bee unable to rencile his image of himself as an athlete wh gay urg.

Smh never acknowledged that he was gay, but David Kopay's tobgraphy, Smh was scribed as his first love.