John Amaechi

Few male team sports members in the United States have come out as gay. Among them are former NFL players Ryan O'Callaghan, Kwame Harris, Wade Davis, Esera Tuaolo, Roy Simmons, and Dave Kopay, and former Major League Baseball players Glenn Burke and Billy Bean. Bean wrote an op-ed in support of Amaechi's decision. In 2013, Jason Collins of the NBA's Washington Wizards revealed he was gay in a Sports Illustrated article.

However, the prevailing public statements from NBA players tended toward an expression of mixed feelings on the matter. Steven Hunter said that he would accept an openly gay teammate "as long as he [didn't] make any advances toward me. As long as he came to play basketball like a man and conducted himself like a good person, I'd be fine with it." That sentiment was echoed, though less tactfully, by Shavlik Randolph, who said that "as long as you don't bring your gayness on me I'm fine. As far as business-wise, I'm sure I could play with him. But I think it would create a little awkwardness in the locker room." Pat Garrity warned that an openly gay player could expect to face both acceptance and hostility from his teammates. He said that "they would have teammates that would accept them for being a good person and a good teammate, and there would be people who would give him a hard time about it. I think that's true if you're playing basketball or in an office job. That's just how the world is right now." LeBron James said, "With teammates you have to be trustworthy, and if you're gay and you're not admitting that you are, then you are not trustworthy. So that's like the No. 1 thing as teammates – we all trust each other.... It's a trust factor, honestly. A big trust factor."

Amaechi was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to sport and the voluntary sector. He was also conferred with an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by the University of East London.

He has worked in the media, particularly as a commentator on basketball for British TV shows covering the NBA, and for the BBC during Olympic games. In addition, Amaechi was a judge on the BBC Series The Speaker in 2009. Amaechi has also been a regular guest host of the BBC Radio Manchester Business show with Steven Saul and has appeared on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on ESPN Radio as a guest and guest co-host.

In August 2008, Amaechi was sent to Beijing to do Olympic Men's and Women's Basketball broadcasts and reporting for the BBC. There, he authored a blog with fellow activist and renowned photographer Jeff Sheng in partnership with Amnesty International. He used Sheng's knowledge of Mandarin and experience in Beijing to get behind the scenes and gather candid interviews with locals and Olympic athletes alike.

In 2008, John Amaechi made several appearances on Shirts & Skins, a reality series on LOGO Television. Amaechi acted as team "mentor" and "psychologist" to the San Francisco Rockdogs, a gay basketball team, and shared his experiences on basketball, life, and coming out. In 2010, Amaechi made public that he had been denied entry to a gay bar in Manchester, allegedly because the doorman felt he was "big, black and could be trouble". He said he was considering legal action.

In February 2007, he became the first former NBA player to come out publicly after doing so in his memoir Man in the Middle. Since then, he has been regarded as "one of the world's most high-profile gay athletes".

In February 2007, Amaechi spoke about his sexuality on ESPN's Outside the Lines program. He also released a book, Man in the Middle, published by ESPN Books, which discusses his career and life as a closeted professional athlete. Amaechi is the first NBA player to speak publicly about being gay.

In May 2007, a few months after coming out, Amaechi said he had "underestimated America", adding that he had expected the "wrath of a nation" but it never materialised. He made these statements despite having been the subject of death threats a few months earlier.

Amaechi was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science by Manchester Metropolitan University on 19 July 2007 in recognition of his achievements not only as an athlete and broadcaster, but also for his charitable work with the National Literacy Trust, the NSPCC and the establishment of the ABC Foundation to encourage children to become involved in sport and their community.

He was traded to the Houston Rockets before the 2003–04 season in exchange for Glen Rice, and, though he was an active player, he did not participate in any games for them. The Rockets later traded him and Moochie Norris to the New York Knicks for Clarence Weatherspoon before the Knicks bought him out of his contract and he eventually retired from playing the sport altogether.

In a 2002 interview with Scotland on Sunday, Amaechi had previously spoken about gays in the NBA: "If you look at our league, minorities aren't very well represented. There's hardly any Hispanic players, no Asian-Americans, so that there's no openly gay players is no real surprise. It would be like an alien dropping down from space. There'd be fear, then panic: they just wouldn't know how to handle it."

In a radio interview, Amaechi said that he was returning to school to get a PhD in psychology. "I want to do something more meaningful in my life," he said. Amaechi also explained why he played for Orlando in 2000 for much less than the $17 million offered to him by the Lakers; his answer was that Orlando had hired him in 1999 when no other team would. "There are many people who are asked what their word is worth, and when people ask me that I can say, 'At least $17 million.'"

He returned to the NBA, signing with the Orlando Magic in 1999. In the 1999–2000 season he averaged 10.5 points in 21.1 minutes per game. Amaechi was known for turning down a $17 million contract offer from the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000, opting to remain in Orlando for $600,000 per year. Amaechi went on to play for the Utah Jazz from 2001 to 2003.

The 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m), 270 pounds (120 kg) center was undrafted and then signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1995. He became the first undrafted player to start in his first NBA game as the Cavaliers' starting center, Michael Cage, did not play in the season opener due to injury. Amaechi played 28 games for the Cavaliers during the 1995–96 season, then played for two years in Europe – for Cholet and Limoges in France, for Virtus Bologna in Italy, Panathinaikos in Greece and Sheffield Sharks in the United Kingdom. In September 1996, he won the FIBA Intercontinental Cup with Panathinaikos, being the highest scorer (alongside Fragiskos Alvertis) in the team with 59 points in three games of the tournament. In the 1997–98 season he played with Virtus Bologna but left mid-season.

John Uzoma Ekwugha Amaechi, OBE (/ə ˈ m eɪ tʃ i / ; born 26 November 1970) is an English psychologist, consultant and former professional basketball player.