The NFL Network is profiling Jerry Smith on Tuesday

[fishwax]

I caught an advertisement for this on the NFL Network in the wee hours of the morning this weekend, and thought some here might be interested. "Jerry Smith: A Football Life" airs on the network on Tuesday night at 9 pm eastern.

Jerry Smith was a Pro Bowl Tight End for Washington's NFL team in the '60s and '70s. He never came out publicly, but Dave Kopay--a teammate of Smith's and the the first former NFL player to come out publicly--later acknowledged they had a relationship. It will be interesting to see how the NFL Network handles his story.

http://nflcommunications.com/2014/01/16/former-redskins-tight-end-jerry-smith-profiled-on-nfl-networks-a-football-life-tuesday-january-21-at-900-pm-et/

[fishwax]

1. This turned out pretty good, I think

There were a few issues with it, I thought, but overall it was pretty well done. One thing that I would have liked to have seen would have been some of his teammates discussing why he might not have been able to come out. All of his teammates who spoke on the documentary praised him unequivocally. But there was, as a result, a certain sense that his teammates knew and didn't care. In fact, some of his teammates being interviewed said they didn't know, and it was made clear by Smith's friend (not a teammate) that Smith believed there were teammates who would certainly care. So that, to a certain extent, seemed a little glossed over, in that the only people talking about how hard it would have been for him to come out were a gay and non-football playing friend and Dave Kopay. But I digress. Overall it was good.

Another interesting aspect: Calvin Hill was one of the teammates who talked about him in the documentary. He said that he had no idea Smith was gay, but that it was clear from Smith that one could be loyal and honest and hard-working and so on and that all that had nothing to do with his "preference." There is, in addition to the documentary, an hour-long live "backstory" conversation with Brig Owens (his teammate and roommate, who was aware of Smith's secret), Dave Mixner (the close friend who was not on the team), and Hill. When Hill was asked the first question, he came right out and said his initial reaction to finding out that Smith was gay was probably homophobic, but he came to see how stupid that was, and so Smith helped him grow, and he was very grateful for that. An honest and sincere admission.

Anyway, here's an article from outsports about the documentary: http://www.outsports.com/2014/1/20/5328054/jerry-smith-nfl-network-gay-football-life

[nomorenomore08]

2. As with the '93 Oilers, maybe teammates were less the problem than the fans/public.

Smith played in the NFL around the time of Stonewall, when LGBT rights weren't exactly a mainstream issue. Even by 1993 they arguably still weren't mainstream, in more conservative parts of the country at least. Clinton, when first inaugurated, caused a bit of a stir by simply acknowledging gay people's existence. So I can't imagine early-90's Houstonites reacting well to news of an "out" player on their team.