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Pete Olsen is a recent law graduate from The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law where he was President of Moritz's Sports and Entertainment Law Association.(read more)
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The Advocate’s ‘150 Reasons to Have Pride’ includes Jim Tressel
0 Comments | Posted by Pete in Allies in Sport, Ohio State and Outlaws, Ohio State and SELA
The June issue of The Advocate magazine had a piece entitled, “150 Reasons to Have Pride in 2010,” and Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel made the list for the interview he did with the GLBT publication, Outlook Columbus.
The Advocate article starts, “Thanks to his rousing statements for marriage equality, silver fox Keith Olbermann is reason number 38 to have pride in 2010. Read the other 149 reasons here.”
Reason #51 (found on page 24 of 48 of the web article):
“BECAUSE AN ALLY MAY BE HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT:
The Ohio-based gay newspaper Outlook: Columbus snagged an interview in March with Jim Tressel (pictured), the high-profile football coach at Ohio State University. When writer Michael Daniels brought up the reluctance of collegiate athletes to come out, Tressel said it was the duty of coaches and professors to create a tolerant atmosphere: ‘Whatever a young man feels called to express, I hope we will help him do it in a supportive environment. Everybody is important, and maturity is learning to find and appreciate those differences in others.’”
You can read the entire Outlook Columbus interview with Tressel here. (My apologies for the format of the article; Outlook Columbus has a specific viewer for its magazine, making it impossible to directly link an article.)
It is fairly well-know that Tressel is a conservative Christian, making his perspectives on the subject and even the willingness to do the interview more impressive and refreshing.
I also had the opportunity to ask a fellow classmate who played for Tressel if his remarks were genuine. Knowing that those in the sports industry, especially with the experience and resume of Tressel, develop a unique skill to say the right things to the media, I had my doubts. My classmate said that Tressel had such a respect for diversity, the totality of a person beyond just being an athlete, and that he was sincerely interested in helping the student-athletes develop their own self-image.
Just another reason to be glad I came to school at Ohio State.
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