Jallen Messersmith, Benedictine College Basketball Player, Announces He Is Gay

Current NBA player Jason Collins recently went public with the announcement that he is gay, making him the first openly gay player in the National Basketball Association and the first active male professional athlete to reveal that personal information.

The brave move by Collins was certainly worthy of tremendous recognition since no other male athlete had ever made such an announcement. Collins' decision to reveal who he is as a person makes him a true icon and role model to many people around the world.

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One of those individuals Collins had a positive influence on is Jallen Messersmith, a 6'7" basketball player from Benedictine College in Kansas. The 20-year-old Blue Springs, Missouri native announced that he is gay, according to ESPN. The power forward is believed to be the first openly gay player in U.S. men's college basketball.

Noting that he felt anxious when mulling over whether or not to announce his identity due to the potential for an adverse reaction, Messersmith said his only goal was to show other gay athletes that they should feel comfortable with who they are as people and not worry about what others think.

"The big thing for me, why I wanted to do it, before the whole Jason Collins thing, is there weren't a lot of basketball-related stories like this," he said to ESPN. "When I started coming out, I didn't have anyone to look to for advice or to see how their story went. People can look to see what happened to me - and there are positive things going on."

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Revealing his longstanding secret to his teammates last fall, Messersmith has received nothing but support from his basketball team, something that makes the process a lot easier to handle.

In speaking with Outsports.com, the Benedictine star told a story about how he knew his teammates were fully accepting of the news.

I had gone on a date the night before and [teammate Brett Fisher] came up to me when there were a group of us and he asked, 'So how did your date go last night?' And I was like, 'Well, we just kind of did this and this.' And Brett said, 'What else did you guys end up doing?' And I said, 'Well, we kind of just did stuff and we had fun.' And he was like, 'No, if I'm going to tell you specifics about what I did on my date, you're going to tell me specifics.

It told me that I can be open about my personal life and people would listen and give input. It's like nothing different. I'm just one of the guys, who happens to like guys. He eventually got it out of me, though it took some prodding.

As far as his talents on the court are concerned, the 6'7" forward finished fourth in the division last season in blocked shots, a tremendous accomplishment that only adds to this wonderful story.

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Benedictine College is a small liberal arts school athletically affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

Last season, Messersmith averaged over 4 points, 3 rebounds and nearly 2 blocks in 15 minutes per game while helping the Ravens to an 18-12 overall record that included a 9-4 mark on their home floor.

As another brave athlete that came out and announced to the world who they truly are as a person, Jallen Messersmith should be applauded for his courage and he, like Jason Collins, should be looked upon as a true role model.

Well done Jallen.