Derrick Gordon is preparing for another basketball season at the University of Massachusetts (UMass), but recently revealed he came close to giving it all up due to something eating away at him.
Speaking with ESPN, Gordon said he contemplated quitting basketball last season because keeping his true sexual identity to himself was making him miserable. In April, he publicly stated that he is gay and seven months later he is working on a perimeter jump shot.
Before he made his public announcement on the sports network, Gordon said he told his immediate family and UMass teammates. The first openly gay player in NCAA Division I men's basketball, Gordon said he has received "overwhelming" support, though his twin brother did not come around immediately.
"I told him, and he didn't believe it at first," Gordon told ESPN. "He thought I was joking, then he started to blame himself. It hurt at first, but I gave him time. Now he's very supportive."
He first tried to keep his secret on the basketball team at Western Kentucky, then he took it with him to UMass, where he rarely ever spent time with his teammates off the court.
"My secret... I didn't want to be put in a situation where they found out," Gordon said. "I was coming out or giving up basketball.
"It was breaking me down."
Gordon averaged 9.4 points per game last season and played 28.5 minutes per game, though he figures to have a larger role on the team this season. He said he plans to develop a perimeter jump shot and to be a leader in the locker room. Going into his junior season, the six-foot-two, 205-pound guard has a lot of room for improvement, but already he will be playing without a large weight on his shoulders.
"You can tell he's more comfortable with us," UMass senior big man Cady Lalanne told ESPN. "His whole mentality is different now. He'll come and hang out with us now. I'm so happy for him."
