--- title: Derrick Gordon Opens Up About Troubled Family History description: UMass basketball player Derrick Gordon, the first openly gay man to play in D-I basketball, gave an exclusive interview to SI.com canonical: https://time.com/3590169/derrick-gordon-umass-family/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-17T20:50:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:29:31.281Z article:section: Sports og:title: Derrick Gordon Opens Up About Troubled Family History og:description: UMass basketball player Derrick Gordon, the first openly gay man to play in D-I basketball, gave an exclusive interview to SI.com og:url: https://time.com/3590169/derrick-gordon-umass-family/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6cb54e87b1da7b2b/698689cfcd68483d9e0940f2/umass-gordon-basketba_yang.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Massachusetts guard Derrick Gordon playing against Ohio in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Athens, Ohio on Dec. 18, 2013. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Derrick Gordon Opens Up About Troubled Family History twitter:description: UMass basketball player Derrick Gordon, the first openly gay man to play in D-I basketball, gave an exclusive interview to SI.com twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6cb54e87b1da7b2b/698689cfcd68483d9e0940f2/umass-gordon-basketba_yang.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Derrick Gordon Opens Up About Troubled Family History by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 17, 2014 8:50 PM UTC  Massachusetts guard Derrick Gordon playing against Ohio in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Athens, Ohio on Dec. 18, 2013. Massachusetts guard Derrick Gordon playing against Ohio in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Athens, Ohio on Dec. 18, 2013.Ty Wright—AP by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Nov 17, 2014 8:50 PM UTC University of Massachusetts basketball player Derrick Gordon, the first openly gay man to play Division I basketball, opened up about coming out to his family and his twin brother Darryl’s jail time [in an Sports Illustrated profile](http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2014/11/17/derrick-gordon-umass-minutemen). Darryl was recently released from prison after a five-year sentence for shooting a man several times after an altercation, SI reports. “There was nothing that anyone could have said. My parents tried everything they could think of to help me. But I wasn’t listening to anyone,” Darryl told the magazine. “No one other than me could have stopped what happened.” Derrick came out to his family while his brother was in prison — and eventually came out publicly, becoming the first college basketball star to do so. [You can read the full profile at SI.com](http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2014/11/17/derrick-gordon-umass-minutemen). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3590169/derrick-gordon-umass-family/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3590169/derrick-gordon-umass-family/"},"headline":"Derrick Gordon Opens Up About Troubled Family History","datePublished":"2014-11-17T20:50:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:29:31.281Z","description":"The first openly gay Division I men's basketball player describes coming out to his family and his twin brother Darryl's jail time","url":"https://time.com/3590169/derrick-gordon-umass-family/","keywords":["Basketball","College Basketball"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6cb54e87b1da7b2b/698689cfcd68483d9e0940f2/umass-gordon-basketba_yang.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6cb54e87b1da7b2b/698689cfcd68483d9e0940f2/umass-gordon-basketba_yang.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Massachusetts guard Derrick Gordon playing against Ohio in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Athens, Ohio on Dec. 18, 2013.","caption":"Massachusetts guard Derrick Gordon playing against Ohio in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Athens, Ohio on Dec. 18, 2013.","creditText":"Ty Wright—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/basketball/","name":"Basketball"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3590169/derrick-gordon-umass-family/","name":"Derrick Gordon Opens Up About Troubled Family History"}}]}] ```