Jason Collins

Jason Collins is a retired American professional basketball player of the National Basket-ball Association (NBA).

Collins attended Stanford University, where he was an All-American in the 2000-2001 season. He was also named to the All Pac-10 First Team and awarded the NABC Pete Newell “Big Man of the Year” Award. He finished his college career ranked first in Stanford history for field goal percentage and third in blocked shots. Upon graduating with a B.A. from Stanford, Collins was selected in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft with the 18th overall pick. A 13-year veteran of the NBA, Collins played center for six teams including New Jersey, Memphis, Minnesota, Atlanta, Boston, Washington and, most recently, the Brooklyn Nets (formerly the New Jersey Nets). Doc Rivers, who coached Collins during his time with the Boston Celtics, said of Collins: “He’s the best. He literally is one of the best guys I’ve ever had in the locker room, player or coach.” In his 13 years in the league, Col-lins’ teams earned 10 trips to the playoffs including 2 NBA Finals appearances.

After the 2012-13 NBA season concluded, Collins publicly came out as gay in a cover sto-ry for Sports Illustrated, becoming the first male active player in any of the four major Amer-ican professional sports to announce that he is gay. President Obama expressed his grati-tude to Collins for his courageous announcement and said he “couldn’t be prouder” of Col-lins, recognizing this as a point of progress for the LGBT community, and one more step in America’s goal to treat everyone fairly and with respect. Collins has traveled the country with the mission of empowering people to live their lives as their true selves, and has be-come an active member of numerous charities, foundations and organizations. In 2013, GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, honored Collins with the Courage Award at the GLSEN Respect Awards. In 2014, Logo TV honored Collins with its inaugural Trailblazer Award. Also in 2014, the Matthew Shepard Foundation honored Collins with its Making a Difference Award at its annual Honors Gala.

In April 2014, Collins was featured on the cover of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.” He currently serves on the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, which works to motivate Americans to adopt a healthy lifestyle via physical activity and nutrition. He covered the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for Yahoo Sports. In August, 2016 Jason and his brother Jarron, addressed the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in support of the mother of their Stanford classmate, Chelsea Clinton.

Currently, Jason works for the NBA as an international Ambassador. In that role, he has traveled to the Rio Olympics, Angola and other places. He has also traveled abroad on behalf of the U.S. State Department as a goodwill Ambassador. Collins resides in Los Angeles, California.