Roy Simmons, the second-ever NFL player to come out as gay after his retirement, died on Feb. 20 in his Bronx apartment at the age of 57. He died from complications related to pneumonia, his brother told the New York Times.
Simmons was drafted as an offensive lineman for the New York Giants in 1979, and played for them for three seasons, followed by one with the Washington Redskins. He played the last game of his career with the Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII. Simmons came out in 1992 on the “Phil Donohue Show,” becoming the second former player in the NFL’s history to do so. (The first, Dave Kopay, came out of the closet in 1975).
Simmons also became the first and only former NFL player to come out as HIV-positive in 2003, after living privately with the diagnosis for 6 years. He also revealed in 2003 that he had been raped by a neighbor when he was 11 years old.
He had felt pressured to keep his sexuality a secret during his years in the NFL. “In the NFL, there is nothing worse than being gay,” Simmons told the New York Daily News in 2006. “You can beat your wife, but you better not be gay.”
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