College Baseball Cutie Matt Kaplon Comes Out: "I'm Ready To Start Not Having To Hide"
We were still toasting Jason Collins signing to the Brooklyn Nets when another athlete outing came down the line: Matt Kaplon, a 21-year-old starting catcher for the Drew University Rangers, came out to his teammates over the weekend.
"Everyone tells me that college is supposed to be the best four years of my life," Kaplon told OutSports. "I've had a great time but, for three and a half of them, I've been hiding things and not being the real me. Building friendships and meeting people and with my teammates, they know part of me but I finally feel like I want them to know everything. I want to be me 100% and make sure they know I'm not hiding anything. I'm ready for that. I'm ready to start not having to hide."
"He's as close to a family member as anyone I've ever coached," Rangers head coach Brian Herschberg told OutSports. "He's like a younger brother to me. When Matt shared his story with me, I respected him more— if that's even possible.
Coach Hirschberg admits Matt is helping to create a generation of athletes accustomed to playing with gay teammates.
"When you don't know there is a gay person around, you use 'faggot' and 'gay' because you're not putting a face to that word," he says. "The 37 other teammates and three other coaches we have will now have to become a little bit better and caring in their choice of words. They'll have to become better people because now they know they may hurt somebody they care about."
h/t: OutSports