In The Pink
the john amaechi residency at vassar college
John Amaechi, the first Professional National Association Basketball Player to come out as a gay man will be at Vassar College Monday, October 8. His day will consist of:
3 - 430pm: He will lead a discussion with our Athletic Department coaches/staff and invited guests on the subject of Homophobia and Heterosexism in Athletics. In the Kenyon Club Room. For an invitation please contact Roman Czula at roczula@vassar.edu
5 - 6pm: He will be at an open tea/desserts at Blegen House (37 Collegeview Avenue, just out the north campus gate and to your left.). Free and open to the public.
7 - 8:30pm: He will give a talk titled "Man in the Middle". This is taken from the title of his book and will cover his life. In the Villard Room in Main Building. Free and open to the public.
John Amaechi's book "Man in the Middle" is now in the Vassar College Bookstore. Get a copy today and have John autograph it on October 8!!
For information on this event contact Roman Czula at roczula@vassar.edu or at 845-437-7471.
B i o g r a p h y
JOHN AMAECHI
Author of Man in the Middle and Former NBA Player
Self-limitation is not a term in John Amaechi's vocabulary. At the age of 17, an overweight, not incredibly athletic young British man that had never touched a basketball, embarked on an incredible journey that has yet to be duplicated.
Despite such a late start to the game and a devastating injury that nearly severed his dominant hand, he would rehab his injury becoming ambidextrous in the process and move to the United States without knowing a soul. From there, he became the surprising star of a Big Ten basketball program and eventually reached one of the first of many lifetime goals he had set out for – becoming a professional basketball player in the NBA.
As the first, and to date, only, NBA player from Great Britain, John Amaechi has always set his sights high while demanding a lot of himself to get there. What separates him from the pack is an unwavering and conscientious focus on remaining true to himself and his ideals even when it's inconvenient or financially detrimental to do so. Turning down 17 million dollars from the Los Angeles Lakers (during the years of Shaq and Kobe) was just one decision that was led not by Amaechi’s financial appetite, but a bigger promise and commitment to others that he couldn’t place a value on.
Amaechi has now added another first to his biography. As described in his New York Times best-selling book, Man in the Middle, Amaechi goes from an awkward, overweight kid in Manchester, England to the high-flying hyper-masculine world of the NBA. Along the way, he endured endless obstacles to his hoop dreams—being abandoned by his father, being cut from his first college team, recovering from a life-threatening injury, playing for abusive coaches, and losing his mother - while also protecting a vital secret that could have ended his career: John Amaechi is gay.
His inspiring story has been profiled on dozens of national programs here in the U.S. including, Good Morning America, CNN’s Headline News, ESPN’s Outside the Lines, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Paula Zahn Now, and Your World with Neil Cavuto on FOX News.
He is also now the official spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign’s Coming Out Project, a program designed to help gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people come out and live openly.
The John Amaechi Vassar Residency is co-sponsored by: The Department of Athletics & Physical Education, The Department of Dance, The Department of Sociology, The Women's Studies program , Africana Studies, Office of Health Education, Office of the Dean of the Faculty, Office of the President, Office of the Dean of the College, Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity, Residential Life, and The Common Ground Lecture Series.