Jason Collins, NBA’s first openly gay player, dies at 47 of brain tumor
The former center battled stage 4 glioblastoma for eight months and was remembered by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for expanding inclusion.
- On Tuesday, the NBA announced that Jason Collins, the league's first openly gay player, died at age 47 following a battle with brain cancer.
- Collins became a historic figure in 2013 when he announced he was gay in a Sports Illustrated cover story, becoming the first active athlete in a major North American sports league to do so.
- During his 13-year career, Collins played for six franchises and later served as an NBA Cares Ambassador; he traveled to Singapore this past winter for experimental stage 4 glioblastoma treatment.
- His family said in a statement released by the NBA, "We are heartbroken to share that Jason Collins, our beloved husband, son, brother and uncle, has died after a valiant fight with glioblastoma."
- NBA Commissioner Silver noted Collins' influence extended "far beyond basketball" as his twin brother, Jarron Collins, accepted the inaugural Bill Walton Global Champion Award on his behalf last week.
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Jason Collins, NBA's first openly gay player, dies aged 47
Collins shared late last year that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source The post Jason Collins, NBA’s first openly gay player, dies aged 47 appeared first on RocketNews.
Jason Collins, the NBA's first openly gay player who went on to become an inclusion pioneer and ambassador for the basketball league, died after an eight-month battle with an aggressive form of…
“This One Hurts”: Jason Kidd, Dwight Howard & NBA World Mourn After Jason Collins' Sudden Passing
He faced Shaquille O’Neal at his prime. He stood in front of the entire world and came out as gay, becoming the first active player in major American sports history to do so. And when doctors told him he had Stage 4 glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive, inoperable cancers known to medicine, Jason Collins treated it like another impossible matchup. “Shut up and go play against Shaq,” he wrote. That was Jason Collins: unbowed, unbroken, unyiel…
Jason Collins, first active NBA player to come out as gay, dies at 47
Jason Collins, a 7-foot center and NBA journeyman who in 2013 became the first openly gay player in any of the four traditional major American men’s sports leagues, has died. He was 47. The post Jason Collins, first active NBA player to come out as gay, dies at 47 appeared first on Hawaii Tribune-Herald.
The first openly gay NBA player in history has died. Jason Collins had only publicly revealed the severity of his illness last December – and subsequently underwent experimental therapy.
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