KSU LT Scott Frantz publicly says he's gay, told teammates in 2016
Kansas State LT Scott Frantz told his teammates he was gay at the beginning of 2016 during a team-building exercise.
Frantz, who publicly divulged his sexuality to ESPN in a Wednesday interview, told the network that when he told his teammates after the 2015 season that he’d “never felt so loved.” From ESPN:
“I came out to my teammates, and I’ve never felt so loved and so accepted ever in my life than when I did that,” Frantz told ESPN’s Holly Rowe on Wednesday. “And ever since then it’s been great. I’ve grown so much closer to my teammates since. So it’s been an amazing experience.”
Frantz is one of two openly gay players in college football in 2017. Arizona freshman My-King Johnson, a member of the team’s 2017 recruiting class, said he was gay in an interview with the Arizona Star in February. The interview was published weeks after Johnson signed his letter of intent with the school.
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Frantz’s story of acceptance by his teammates mirrors that of former Missouri defensive end Michael Sam.
Sam, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2013, told his Mizzou teammates before the season that he was gay but didn’t reveal it publicly until after the 2013 season.
Frantz told ESPN that he knew he was gay in grade school but didn’t tell his family until after he told his teammates.
“I was quite comfortable that they would be very receptive and that they would treat him as they always said as, you know, his teammate and someone that they cared about. And they did,” Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said.
[More college football from Yahoo Sports: 20 impact transfers for 2017]
Frantz also said that he made the decision to go public with his sexuality to potentially help any other person struggling with the decision to divulge his or her sexuality. And that’s a noble endeavor. We look forward to the day in our society when someone’s sexual orientation isn’t judged and everyone can feel open with who they are.
As Sam, Johnson and Frantz are showing, a player’s sexuality doesn’t matter to his teammates. It shouldn’t matter to fans either.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
