The popular blog Towleroad, which proudly displays "homosexual tendencies," today released its list of the 53 most powerful coming outs of 2013, and sports are very well-represented. Towleroad's 2012 list contained six from the sports world, while their 2013 installment includes 11 folks, plus a couple others who are tangential to sports.
- Snowboarder Belle Brockhoff
- Speed skater Anastsia Bucsis
- NBA player Jason Collins
- Swimmer Tom Daley
- College football player Kevin Grayson
- WNBA player Brittney Griner
- High school track & cross-country coach Micah Porter
- MLS player Robbie Rogers
- Hillsdale College basketball player Derek Schell
- UC-Santa Barbara tennis coach Simon Thibodeau
- WWE wrestler Darren Young
A full 21% of the list is from sports — that's a pretty powerful statement about what kind of year this was for LGBT folks in the sports world.
There was also Magic Johnson's son, Earvin Johnson III, and the man who helped engineer the Manti Te'o girlfrind hoax, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo.
There would certainly be others we'd add to the list, but it's hard to argue with any of the folks — in our out of sports — Towleroad included. It's the tough part about these lists: No matter how long the list is, someone is getting left off. Some of the folks we'd add would include college kicker Alan Gendreau, soccer player Abby Wambach, high school basketball coach Anthony Nicodemo and trans high school coach Stephen Alexander.