NBA’s First Openly Gay Player Dies at 47 After Cancer Battle

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Legendary NFL player Jason Collins died on Tuesday following months-long treatment for glioblastoma.

He was 47.

His family said in a statement: “Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar.” In https://www.si.com/more-sports/2013/04/29/jason-collins-gay-nba-player" rel="" target="_self" title="https://www.si.com/more-sports/2013/04/29/jason-collins-gay-nba-player">a 2013 essay for Sports Illustrated, Collins made history by being the first NBA player to come out. “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center.

I’m Black.

And I’m gay,” he wrote.

In the statement, his family added, “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.” Collins, who played in the NBA for six teams over 13 seasons, married Brunson Green in 2025, and just three months after the wedding, he began experiencing symptoms that led to his diagnosis with an aggressive brain tumor. “Imagine a monster with tentacles spreading across the underside of my brain the width of a baseball,” is how he described it in an https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/47266076/jason-collins-stage-4-glioblastoma" rel="" target="_self" title="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/47266076/jason-collins-stage-4-glioblastoma">interview with ESPN.

https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/nba/jason-collins-first-openly-gay-nba-player-dies-47-brain-cancer-rcna344833">Read it at NBC News

https://www.thedailybeast.com/nbas-first-openly-gay-player-jason-collins-dies-at-47-after-glioblastoma-battle/">Read more at The Daily Beast.