We can count hundreds of gay-sports leagues all around the world today, but we should never take for granted the work that a few people did 30 and 40 years ago to set the stage for this explosion. One of those people was Jack McGowan, who died of heart ailments last month at the age of 78. He co-founded the first gay softball group in San Francisco, and along with that group he went on to host the first-ever Gay Softball World Series. His contributions to gay sports were far-reaching, and he will be missed.

Hat tip to Ted Rybka at GLAAD.