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American Morning

Pro Sports Ready for Gay Athletes?

Aired May 23, 2002 - 08:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: What would sports be really without the rumor mill? What would society in America at large be without the rumor mill for that matter?

Fans, talk show hosts can carry on endlessly about which players are going to get traded, what their batting averages are, what manager is going to be fired, but a different kind of rumor has been buzzing around baseball in the last few days in response to a published report suggesting that a prominent New York baseball star was gay. The Mets' Mike Piazza felt compelled to make a statement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PIAZZA, NEW YORK METS: And I can't control what people think. I mean that's obvious. And I can't convince people what to think. I can only say, you know, what I know and the truth is that, you know, I'm, you know, heterosexual and date women, and that's it, you now. I mean, end of story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: Well, it's not the end of the story because we're going to talk about it some more right now. The rumor, however unfounded, raises the question of whether an openly gay male athlete would be accepted now in the world of professional sports.

And joining us on AMERICAN MORNING to discuss it, here in New York, sports writer Frank DeFord, and out in Los Angeles, former NFL player Dave Kopay who, you may recall, was the first high profile pro athlete to come out -- that was in 1975 -- I guess, Dave, and admit that he was gay.

Welcome to both of you. And I guess, Dave, what goes through your mind when we're sitting here discussing this in 2002, 27 years after this issue first came to light?

DAVE KOPAY, FORMER PRO FOOTBALL PLAYER: Well, you're still using the word "admit," and I -- that's the wrong word to use. I said I was gay, simple as that. There's nothing wrong with being gay.

CAFFERTY: I -- well I didn't mean to suggest there was.

KOPAY: "Admitted" implies...

CAFFERTY: My question was what do you think about the issue being discussed 27 years later?

KOPAY: Well, I think it's a very -- an important issue. It's a civil rights issue. It's an issue that's -- hasn't gone away and it's not going to go away. I think the -- you know, in the sports talk shows that I normally listen to, yesterday, they were saying I don't know if a ballplayer's or baseball is ready to have an openly gay ballplayer. Well, I don't know if that's the case at all. You know there's a point that -- in the civil rights struggle, there -- certainly wasn't ready for that to happen in the '60s either.

CAFFERTY: Frank, we, as a society, on the surface you would think have come to terms with a lot of these issues. What's the big deal all of a sudden about Mike Piazza having to come out and make a statement, No, I like girls?

FRANK DEFORD, SPORTS JOURNALIST: I don't think it's any different from -- movie stars don't come out and say they're gay, CEOs don't come out and say they're gay, anchormen and sportswriters don't come out and say they're gay.

CAFFERTY: Why not?

DEFORD: I think people just feel like it's more problems than they need, and particularly for ballplayers. I mean, you go into the next town, and some beered-up guy is screaming at you and calling you faggot and queer and things worse than that.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

DEFORD: And I think a ballplayer feels like I don't need that. It's easier for me in the short term that I've got, 10 or 12 years, to keep this to myself.

CAFFERTY: Dave, I was reading a column in one of the New York papers this morning suggesting that one of the considerations here may have involved Piazza's endorsements. He makes a lot of money from commercial endorsements, which would suggest that there might be a certain hypocrisy here, that if, in fact, you're gay, do it quietly -- that don't ask, don't tell thing -- because you're likely to rile up Madison Avenue if you're a high-profile guy that represents a lot of commercial products. Can you address that?

KOPAY: Well, I didn't have any kind of notoriety the way Mike Piazza had, but I really don't know what to say to that issue. I mean it's -- that's a real complicated issue. I do think that Mike Piazza handled it in the correct way and just simply said, No, I'm not gay and moved on from there. I think that there's been a lot of changes over the last 25 years, yet we're still, I think, with the religious fundamentalists controlling the sports the way they have, and really -- and what they -- what they've heaped on society, it's really been disgusting.

CAFFERTY: Religious fundamentalists controlling sports -- what do you mean specifically?

KOPAY: Well, I think that, you know, you've got the Catholic church preaching that homosexuality is intrinsically evil. And you know, people got to be responsible for the words and the things they say, you know.

CAFFERTY: All right. Before we lose the satellite, I want to -- I want to get Frank's opinion on what does it take for this thing to completely go away, where it's all right for somebody to be whatever he is and play major league baseball or in the NBA or whatever, and not have endorsement contracts at risk. Are we ever going to get to that point?

DEFORD: Oh, I think so. I think if somebody did come out and was a big star, there would be a big brouhaha immediately, and then it would fade away. It happened, for instance, with Martina Navratilova, who's now endorsing Subaru cars. So I think it's the first person who comes out, does it, gets it clear, and then it will never be that much fuss again.

CAFFERTY: All right, gentlemen, let me apologize. Because of the breaking news, the president addressing the German parliament, we got ourselves backed up here on the broadcast, and we're going to have to cut this a little shorter than I'd like to.

But our thanks to Dave Kopay, who -- former NFL player, the first high-profile athlete to come out of the closet, a long time ago, 27 years ago. I appreciate you getting up early on the West Coast and talking with us this morning, Dave, thank you. And here in New York,...

KOPAY: You're welcome.

CAFFERTY: ... Frank DeFord, who can be seen on "HBO Sports" with Bryant Gumbel, and one of the better sports journalists in the biz. Thanks, Frank, nice to see you.

DEFORD: Thanks, Jack.

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