Alan Gendreau

On the outside, Alan Gendreau seemed like any other college athlete when he kicked for Middle Tennessee from 2008-11. However, Gendreau came out as gay to his Blue Raiders teammates. His story was chronicled following his collegiate career in 2013 by Outsports. Gendreau’s teammates largely accepted him and he had a standout career at MTSU. He was a two-time first-team All-Sun Belt selection and finished with 295 points, a conference record. Gendreau originally came out at age 16 and the announcement met resistance among his deeply religious family. The Apopka, Florida native was a two-sport star at Orangewood Christian. He was a two-time All-State pick in football and two-time Orlando Sentinel Player of the Year in soccer. Gendreau set an area high school soccer record with 172 goals. It was a dream to make the NFL and be the first openly gay player in the league, but a shaky senior year in college derailed those plans. Still, Gendreau’s story and courage is an inspiration to many.