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Gay football player Mason Darrow not considered distraction by Princeton teammates
The knock on Michael Sam was that his being openly gay when drafted by the NFL would be a distraction.
Fortunately for Mason Darrow, his coach and his teammates at Princeton University saw things differently when he decided to come out publicly ahead of the season this fall.
‘Here at Princeton, if we can’t handle this and say, “We’re supportive of everybody no matter what their background, religion, race or sexual orientation,” then we don’t have the right guys in the locker room. We’re going to support Mason 100%,” head coach Bob Surace said in an interview posted Tuesday (15 September) on Outsports.
It was two years ago that Darrow began coming out to his fellow players and he now says: ‘Telling my teammates was the best decision I have ever made.’
He needed that support when his 2014 season was cut short when Darrow tore an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). As he worked his way back from injury, the coaching staff remained unaware that he had come out to the team.
‘We knew if we told the coaches, then that would make it a thing,’ says Darrow’s teammate Caleb Slate who was the first person he came out to on the team. ‘He’s still just our teammate to us. We didn’t want to go to the coach about it, we wanted Mason to do it when he was ready.’
Darrow decided to tell Surface earlier this summer. Because the coming out to Surface was preceded by a phone call from Darrow the night before setting up a meeting, the coach was dreading bad news about an injury or the offensive linesman wanting to quit the team.
When he told the coach he was gay, a relieved Surface replied: ‘That’s great. Geez, I thought you were injured.’
The coach now says of the player: ‘He’s tough, he’s physical. He’s one of the guys you enjoy and you love. He’s one of our leaders.’
The post Gay football player Mason Darrow not considered distraction by Princeton teammates appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
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