In 2013, NBA player Jason Collins broke barriers when he graced the cover of Sports Illustrated and publicly came out as gay.

“If I had my way, someone else would have already done this,” he wrote. “Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand.”

The cover story drew a record 3.7 million visitors to Sports Illustrated’s website the day it was published, and became a culture-defining moment in the world of professional sports.

Collins played in the NBA for 13 seasons. He helped the then New Jersey Nets reach two NBA Finals and averaged 6.4 points and 6.1 rebounds for them during his best season.

Before coming out, Collins wore jersey number 98 while playing for the Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards. He chose that number in honour of Matthew Shepard, who was the victim of a homophobic hate crime in 1998.

Collins was a free agent when he came out, and it would be nearly a year before he played professional basketball again. He returned to the Nets in 2014, then based in Brooklyn, in what the New York Times called “perhaps basketball’s most celebrated and scrutinized 10-day contract.”

On Feb. 24, 2014, he made history as the first openly gay athlete to play in any of the four major North American professional sports leagues. He would spend the rest of the season with the Nets before retiring from the sport that year.

Following his retirement, Collins went on to become an advocate for inclusion in professional sports. In May 2025, he married his long-term partner, film producer Brunson Green.

In September of that same year, Collins’s family announced that he was diagnosed with Stage 4 glioblastoma, one of the most fatal forms of brain cancer. He passed away in his Los Angeles home on May 12, 2026, at the age of 47.

Collins never won an NBA title or made an All-Star team during his career, but his legacy is cemented as a true trailblazer.