Billy Van Raaphorst is the most decorated gay umpire in college baseball, and he’s now working yet another College World Series.
Van Raaphorst came out publicly in 2010 after a team manager engaged in a homophobic tirade against Van Raaphorst during a game. His fellow umpires rallied around Van Raaphorst.
“I always knew we had each other’s back,” Van Raaphorst said at the time. “I didn’t know it ran this deep.”
Van Raaphorst also worked the 2014 College World Series.
Vincent Pensabene of Sportskeedia called Van Raaphorst “one of the more strict umpires in the College World Series.”
Last year Van Raaphorst made some headlines for ejecting a University of Tennessee player for comments he made throughout the game.
“During the fifth inning following strike one, Tennessee batter Gilbert yelled an expletive, followed by another expletive as he walked out of the box and was subsequently ejected,” he said.
Expletives by players, aimed at officials, are not tolerated by many in baseball.
Other successful gay sports officials include former MLB umpire Dale Scott, NBA referee Bill Kennedy, college football official Steve Strimling, football official Amanda Sauer and former NBA official Violet Palmer.
The 2023 College World Series runs through June 26 in Omaha, Neb.
