John Amaechi

John Uzoma Ekwugha Amaechi, OBE (/əˈmeɪtʃi/; born 26 November 1970) is a British-American psychologist, consultant and former professional basketball player. He played college basketball at Vanderbilt and Penn State, and professional basketball in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Amaechi also played in France, Italy, Greece, and the United Kingdom. Since retiring from basketball, Amaechi has worked as a psychologist and consultant, establishing his company Amaechi Performance Systems.

John Amaechi
OBE
Personal information
Born (1970-11-26) 26 November 1970
Boston, Massachusetts
NationalityBritish
American
Listed height6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight270 lb (122 kg)
Career information
High school
College
NBA draft1995 / Undrafted
Playing career1995–2003
PositionPower forward / Center
Number13, 26
Career history
1995–1996Cleveland Cavaliers
1996Cholet
1996–1997Panathinaikos
1997Virtus Bologna
1997–1998Sheffield Sharks
1998–1999CSP Limoges
1999–2001Orlando Magic
2001–2003Utah Jazz
Career highlights and awards
Stats  at Basketball-Reference.com

In February 2007, he became the first former NBA player to come out publicly after doing so in his memoir Man in the Middle.[1] Since then, he has been regarded as "one of the world's most high-profile gay athletes".[2]

Early life

Amaechi was born in Boston in the United States, to an English mother and a Nigerian Igbo father.[3] He and his two younger sisters were raised by their mother in the affluent Heaton Moor suburb of Stockport, England, with him attending the Ofsted rated 'outstanding' Tithe Barn Primary School before moving on to the Stockport Grammar School, the second oldest grammar school in the north of England. He first played basketball at the age of 17, coached by Joe Forber, whom he has described as a father figure.[3]

Amaechi moved to the United States to play high school basketball at St. John's Jesuit High School in Toledo, Ohio. He began playing college basketball at Vanderbilt but transferred to Penn State, where he was a two-time First Team Academic All-American selection. While at Penn State, Amaechi became a motivational public speaker and a mentor for area youth.

Basketball career

The 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m), 270 pounds (120 kg) center was undrafted and then signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1995. He became the first undrafted player to start in his first NBA game as the Cavaliers' starting center, Michael Cage, did not play in the season opener due to injury. Amaechi played 28 games for the Cavaliers during the 1995–96 season, then played for two years in Europe – for Cholet and Limoges in France, for Virtus Bologna in Italy, Panathinaikos in Greece and Sheffield Sharks in the United Kingdom. In September 1996, he won the FIBA Intercontinental Cup with Panathinaikos, being the highest scorer (alongside Fragiskos Alvertis) in the team with 59 points in three games of the tournament. In the 1997–98 season he played with Virtus Bologna but left mid-season.

He returned to the NBA, signing with the Orlando Magic in 1999. In the 1999–2000 season he averaged 10.5 points in 21.1 minutes per game. Amaechi was known for turning down a $17 million contract offer from the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000, opting to remain in Orlando for $600,000 per year.[4] Amaechi went on to play for the Utah Jazz from 2001 to 2003.

He was traded to the Houston Rockets before the 2003–04 season in exchange for Glen Rice,[5] and, though he was an active player, he did not participate in any games for them. The Rockets later traded him and Moochie Norris to the New York Knicks for Clarence Weatherspoon before the Knicks bought him out of his contract and he eventually retired from playing the sport altogether.[6]

Career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

EuroLeague
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
1996–97 Panathinaikos 16—24.9.549—.6775.8.51.1.011.0—
1997–98 Virtus Bologna 6—14.2.542—.6473.8.5.3.06.2—
Career 22—19.6.546—.6624.8.5.7.08.6—

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1995–96 Cleveland 28312.8.414—.5761.9.3.2.42.8
1999–00 Orlando 805321.1.437.167.7663.31.2.4.510.5
2000–01 Orlando 823620.9.400.000.6313.3.9.3.47.9
2001–02 Utah 54010.9.325—.6382.0.5.1.23.2
2002–03 Utah 5019.5.314—.4811.5.4.3.12.0
Career 2949316.4.403.077.6712.6.8.3.36.2

Playoffs
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1996 Cleveland 102.0.000——.0.0.0.0.0
2001 Orlando 407.3.375—.750.8.8.8.52.3
2003 Utah 208.0.250—.500.5.0.0.02.0
Career 706.7.308—.625.6.4.4.31.9

Career after basketball
Amaechi speaking in May 2009

Amaechi came out of retirement to represent England during the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, helping the England team win the bronze medal. In all he won 18 caps for England.

He has worked in the media, particularly as a commentator on basketball for British TV shows covering the NBA, and for the BBC during Olympic games. In addition, Amaechi was a judge on the BBC Series The Speaker in 2009.[7] Amaechi has also been a regular guest host of the BBC Radio Manchester Business show with Steven Saul[8] and has appeared on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on ESPN Radio as a guest and guest co-host.

Amaechi owns Amaechi Performance Systems, which is a consultancy working with numerous companies to improve leadership and communication skills and organisational diversity.[9]

Amaechi is a member of the American Psychological Association,[10] the British Psychological Society (BPS),[11] the BPS Division of Organisational Psychology and the BPS Psychological Testing Centre.[12] Amaechi also became a Senior Fellow at the centre for Emotional Literacy and Personal Development at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) in the United Kingdom.[13]

Amaechi is also involved with the ABC Foundation in Manchester, which encourages children to become involved in sports and their communities by building youth sports centres throughout the United Kingdom. The first such facility, the Amaechi Basketball Centre, was built in Manchester, not far from Amaechi's childhood home of Stockport.[14] The venue is also home to the English Basketball League's Manchester Magic (men) and Manchester Mystics (women), both of which are owned by Amaechi.

In a radio interview, Amaechi said that he was returning to school to get a PhD in psychology. "I want to do something more meaningful in my life," he said. Amaechi also explained why he played for Orlando in 2000 for much less than the $17 million offered to him by the Lakers; his answer was that Orlando had signed him in 1999 when no other team would. "There are many people who are asked what their word is worth, and when people ask me that I can say, 'At least $17 million.'"[15]

Coming out
See also: Homosexuality in sports

In February 2007, Amaechi spoke about his sexuality on ESPN's Outside the Lines program. He also released a book, Man in the Middle, published by ESPN Books, which discusses his career and life as a closeted professional athlete. Amaechi is the first National Basketball Association (NBA) player to speak publicly about being gay.[16][17]

Few male team sports members in the United States have come out as gay. Among them are former National Football League (NFL) players Ryan O'Callaghan, Kwame Harris, Wade Davis, Esera Tuaolo, Roy Simmons, and Dave Kopay, and former Major League Baseball players Glenn Burke and Billy Bean. Bean wrote an op-ed in support of Amaechi's decision.[18] In 2013, Jason Collins of the NBA's Washington Wizards revealed he was gay in a Sports Illustrated article.[19]

Cyd Zeigler, the co-founder of Outsports.com, a website dedicated to the gay influence in sports, said, "I don't think (Amaechi's declaration) will have any effect on his ability to do that," referring to Amaechi's businesses and charitable work. "You will have some people who will raise an eyebrow," Zeigler added.[20]

In a 2002 interview with Scotland on Sunday, Amaechi had previously spoken about gays in the NBA: "If you look at our league, minorities aren't very well represented. There's hardly any Hispanic players, no Asian-Americans, so that there's no openly gay players is no real surprise. It would be like an alien dropping down from space. There'd be fear, then panic: they just wouldn't know how to handle it."[21]

In May 2007, a few months after coming out, Amaechi said he had "underestimated America", adding that he had expected the "wrath of a nation" but it never materialised.[22] He made these statements despite having been the subject of death threats a few months earlier.[23]

In August 2008, Amaechi was sent to Beijing to do Olympic Men's and Women's Basketball broadcasts and reporting for the BBC. There, he authored a blog with fellow activist and photographer Jeff Sheng in partnership with Amnesty International. He used Sheng's knowledge of Mandarin and experience in Beijing to get behind the scenes and gather candid interviews with locals and Olympic athletes alike.[24]

In 2008, Amaechi made several appearances on Shirts & Skins, a reality series on LOGO Television. He acted as team "mentor" and "psychologist" to the San Francisco Rockdogs, a gay basketball team, and shared his experiences on basketball, life, and coming out.[25] In 2010, Amaechi made public that he had been denied entry to a gay bar in Manchester, allegedly because the doorman felt he was "big, black and could be trouble". He said he was considering legal action.[26]

Reaction from other players

One widely publicised response to Amaechi's announcement came from former NBA player Tim Hardaway, who stated that he would demand that a gay player be removed from his team: "First of all I wouldn't want him on my team. Second of all, if he was on my team I would really distance myself from him because I don't think that's right and I don't think he should be in the locker room when we're in the locker room. Something has to give. If you have 12 other ball players in your locker room that's upset and can't concentrate and always worried about him in the locker room or on the court or whatever, it's going to be hard for your teammates to win and accept him as a teammate." [27] Hardaway later apologised for his remarks.

Some players gave Amaechi public support: former Magic teammate Grant Hill said: "the fact that John has done this, maybe it will give others the comfort or confidence to come out as well, whether they are playing or retiring." Shaquille O'Neal told the New York Daily News, "If he was on my team, I guess I would have to protect him from the outsiders, I'm not homophobic or anything. I'm not the type who judges people, I wish him well."[28] Charles Barkley said: "It shouldn't be a big deal to anybody. I know I've played with gay players and against gay players and it just shouldn't surprise anybody or be any issue."[28]

However, the prevailing public statements from NBA players tended toward an expression of mixed feelings on the matter. Steven Hunter said that he would accept an openly gay teammate "as long as he [didn't] make any advances toward me. As long as he came to play basketball like a man and conducted himself like a good person, I'd be fine with it." That sentiment was echoed, though less tactfully,[29] by Shavlik Randolph, who said that "as long as you don't bring your gayness on me I'm fine. As far as business-wise, I'm sure I could play with him. But I think it would create a little awkwardness in the locker room."[30] Pat Garrity warned that an openly gay player could expect to face both acceptance and hostility from his teammates. He said that "they would have teammates that would accept them for being a good person and a good teammate, and there would be people who would give him a hard time about it. I think that's true if you're playing basketball or in an office job. That's just how the world is right now." LeBron James said, "With teammates you have to be trustworthy, and if you're gay and you're not admitting that you are, then you are not trustworthy. So that's like the No. 1 thing as teammates – we all trust each other.... It's a trust factor, honestly. A big trust factor."[30]

Awards

Amaechi was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science by Manchester Metropolitan University on 19 July 2007 in recognition of his achievements not only as an athlete and broadcaster, but also for his charitable work with the National Literacy Trust, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the establishment of the ABC Foundation to encourage children to become involved in sport and their community.[31]

Amaechi was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to sport and the voluntary sector.[32][33] He was also conferred with an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by the University of East London.[34]

Bibliography
  • Amaechi, John (2007). Man in the Middle. ESPN. ISBN 978-1933060194.

References
  1. Woods, Mark (18 February 2007). "Coming out fighting off basketball court". Scotland on Sunday. Edinburgh, UK.
  2. "Fifa boss Sepp Blatter sorry for Qatar 'gay' remarks". BBC Sport. London. 17 December 2010.
  3. Jackson, Jamie (4 March 2007). "Why I've come out". Observer Sport Monthly. London. Retrieved 25 January 2009.
  4. Le Batard, Dan (26 February 2007). "Free to be himself". ESPN The Magazine.
  5. "Rockets trade forward Glen Rice for Utah center John Amaechi". ESPN. 30 September 2003.
  6. Whittell, Ian (1 January 2004). "Basketball: Fading Amaechi cashes in". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  7. "BBC – The Speaker – John Amaechi". Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  8. "Manchester Business 23 Nov 2010". BBC. 13 August 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  9. "Amaechi Performance – About". Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  10. Archived 20 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Public Registration number 222511
  12. "Mr J E Amaechi MBPsS". The British Psychological Society. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  13. Dr Stephen John Wintersgill, IP Manager, Knowledge Transfer, UCLAN, Preston Lancs, PR1 2HE
  14. Woods, Mark (August 2002). "Amaechi largesse leaves centre in wake". Britball.com.
  15. "Gay in the NBA". The Brian Lehrer Show. New York: WNYC. 20 February 2007. Archived from the original on 25 February 2007.
  16. Zeigler Jr., Cyd; Buzinski, Jim (7 February 2007). "John Amaechi to come out publicly". Outsports.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2007.
  17. Whittell, Ian (7 February 2007). "I'm gay, says British basketball star: John Amaechi is first male basketball player to come out in US". The Times. London.
  18. Bean, Billy (8 February 2007). "BEAN: One Pioneering Gay Athlete Thanks Another". ABC News.
  19. Collins, Jason; Lidz, Franz. "NBA player Jason Collins says he is gay". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  20. Henderson, William (8 February 2007). "Former NBA player and Boston native comes out". In Newsweekly. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
  21. Woods, Mark (18 August 2002). "Gay expression continues to struggle". Scotland on Sunday. Edinburgh.
  22. Stapleton, Arnie (5 May 2007). "Amaechi: 'I underestimated America'". Yahoo Sports. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 8 May 2007.
  23. "Amaechi 'receives death threats'". The Australian. Sydney. AFP. 14 February 2007.
  24. Beijing Legacy Blog.
  25. "Skins & Skins: Episode 2". Downelink.com. 22 September 2008. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  26. "NBA star John Amaechi in bar access row". BBC News Online. London. 13 September 2010.
  27. "Straight shooter: 'Homophobic' Hardaway says he hates 'gay people'". CNN Sports Illustrated. Associated Press. 14 February 2007. Archived from the original on 19 February 2007.
  28. "Some reactions to John Amaechi's coming out". Interbasket.net. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  29. Wilbon, Michael (9 February 2007). "Sexuality Disclosed, Ignorance Exposed". The Washington Post.
  30. Sheridan, Chris (9 February 2007). "Amaechi becomes first NBA player to come out". ESPN].
  31. "Commonwealth Games hero awarded", Faculty News – News & Events – MMU Cheshire, 19 July 2007.
  32. "No. 59808". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2011. p. 9.
  33. "BBC News – Queen's Birthday Honours". 11 June 2011. Retrieved 11 June 2011.
  34. "Former NBA basketball player, John Amaechi, holds court at East London graduation ceremony". University of East London. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
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