Dallas Voice LGBT Texan of the Year: Michael Sam

[TexasTowelie]

Last January, if you weren’t a college football fan, you’d probably never heard of Michael Sam. Today, just 12 short months later, everybody knows who he is: the first openly gay man drafted into the National Football League.

Sam, born Jan. 7, 1990, in Galveston, grew up in nearby Hitchcock, Texas, first taking to the football field at Hitchcock High School. Sam has said in previous interviews that at first, football was just a way to escape what he has described as an unhappy childhood. But by the time he graduated from high school, football had become his pathway to a much brighter future.

Sam accepted a scholarship from the University of Missouri and quickly became a standout player for the Mizzou Tigers. At the end of his senior season, Sam was named the Southeastern Conference’s co-Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the All-SEC First Team. He was also named a semifinalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Hendricks Award, and the Lombardi Award.

Early projections had Sam going in the third or fourth round of the 2014 NFL draft. Then Sam came out as a gay man.

Read more: http://www.dallasvoice.com/lgbt-texan-year-michael-sam-10186127.html

Cross-posted in the LGBT Group.