THE NEW YORK TIMES — The Athletic: When Jason Collins was working up the courage to come out as gay to his grandmother, he worried what she might say. She was a deeply religious woman. And, out of all of his family members, she was the one he was most nervous to confide in.
But she looked at him — truly saw him for who he was — and embraced him. “Baby,” she told him, “it’s about love.”
Love is one of the many principles Collins would come to stand for. Love is what Collins encouraged. Love is what enabled him to overcome his fear of what his family, friends, NBA teammates and coaches would say, when he decided to come out on April 29, 2013, a watershed moment in professional sports.
Love is one of the many gifts that Collins gave us. He died at age 47 Tuesday. He announced in December that he was undergoing treatment for Stage 4 glioblastoma, one of the most severe forms of brain cancer.
“We are heartbroken to share that Jason Collins, our beloved husband, son, brother and uncle, has died after a valiant fight with glioblastoma,” Collins’s family said in a statement released by the NBA Tuesday.
“Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and those who admired him from afar. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.”
After spending a lifetime of wishing he were different, Collins told the world exactly who he was in 2013.
“I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay,” he announced that day in an essay for Sports Illustrated, becoming the first active publicly gay athlete of North America’s four major pro sports leagues.
No more hiding. No more living a lie. No more wrestling with himself. If he was going to play basketball, he was going to play basketball fully. As himself. All of himself.
Whole. » | Mirin Fader | Tuesday, May 12, 2026
R.I.P.
Related quote here.
