The starting left tackle for the Kansas State football team came out as gay Thursday during an interview on ESPN.
Sophomore Scott Frantz says he revealed his sexual orientation to his teammates last year after listening to a motivational speaker brought in by Head Coach Bill Snyder.
“I’ve never felt so loved and so accepted ever in my life than when I did that and ever since then it’s been great. I’ve grown so much closer to my teammates since then, so it’s been an amazing experience,” Frantz told ESPN's Holly Rowe.
Frantz was a first-team Academic All Big 12 selection last year and a star at Free State High School in Lawrence. He says he broke down and cried after coming out to his teammates. “For as long as I remembered I struggled with who I am. I didn’t think anyone could love me, didn’t think they could accept me,” he told Rowe.
The news comes just after K-State was ranked by CollegeChoice.Net as the 45th friendliest college campus in the country for LGBT students.
“We want as diverse a population as there is out there in society. More diverse. We like to be a welcoming place to all,” K-State President Richard Myers said in a phone interview. “They’re going to go out into a very diverse world. The best place, if they haven’t experienced it, is to experience it here in Manhattan at K-State.”
Frantz was a red-shirt freshman last year who started all 13 games for the Wildcats. His K-State bio says he is a sociology/criminology major who wants to be a police officer.
Frantz is the second major college player to come out as gay. Incoming freshman My-King Johnson, a defense end at the University of Arizona, is the other.
Sam Zeff covers education for KCUR. He's also co-host of KCUR's political podcast Statehouse Blend. Follow him on Twitter @samzeff.
