Jason Collins, NBA's first out gay player, dies aged 47 of brain tumor

Jason Collins, the retired NBA player who made history as the league’s first openly gay athlete, has died after a short battle with stage 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, his family announced on Tuesday. He was 47.

“Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar,” Collins’ family said in a statement released through the NBA. “We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.”

Collins, who came out in 2013 while still actively playing in the NBA, had been under treatment for a brain tumor. The average prognosis for glioblastoma with radiation and chemotherapy is about 11 to 14 months, he said in an essay published by ESPN last year. In the essay, Collins revealed he had traveled to Singapore to receive experimental treatments currently not available in the US.

“As an athlete you learn not to panic in moments like this. These are the cards I’ve been dealt,” he wrote. “If that’s all the time I have left, I’d rather spend it trying a course of treatment that might one day be a new standard of care for everyone.”

He drew parallels between sharing his cancer battle and coming out as gay. “Your life is so much better when you just show up as your true self … this is me. this is what I’m dealing with,” Collins wrote.

Collins first spoke out on his sexuality in a 2013 essay for Sports Illustrated. “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay,” it began.

At the time, there were also no active gay players in the other major American sporting leagues.

He played for 13 years in the league across several teams, including the Boston Celtics and New Jersey Nets, before retiring in 2014.

Just last week, Collins received the inaugural Bill Walton Global Champion Award at the Green Sports Alliance Summit. He was too ill to attend and his twin brother, former NBA player Jarron Collins, accepted the award for him.

“I told my brother this before I came here: he’s the bravest, strongest man I’ve ever known,” Jarron Collins said while accepting that award.

Associated Press contributed