Out of Bounds: Coming out of Sexual Abuse, Addiction, and My Life of Lies in the NFL Closet »

Roy Simmons is only one of three former NFL players to publicly disclose his homosexuality. An offensive lineman with the New York Giants and Washington Redskins from 1979-84, he came out as gay on television in 1992. Simmons works as a supervisor in a Long Island drug halfway house.

Damon DiMarco is the author of Tower Stories: The Autobiography of September 11, 2001. He’s currently on the faculty of Drew University and lives in New York.

When New York Giants coach Ray Perkins stated, “Roy Simmons just might be the best athlete on this football team,” no one could have guessed that in just four years, Simmons would earn his living as a baggage handler at Kennedy Airport.
The second NFL player ever to come out as gay and the first ever to come out as HIV-positive, Simmons was an up-and-coming star who quit football after just four years rather than be exposed as gay. Out of Bounds tells his story — from his rape at age 10 to being plucked from his poor Southern background to join the NFL, from his first taste of pro football fame and sudden enormous wealth to his fast-paced, no holds barred nightlife of heavy drugs and countless sexual encounters with women and men.
Simmons roller-coaster life peaked in the late 1980s with his appearance in the Superbowl. Ultimately, reckless living left him penniless, friendless, and on the brink of suicide. Finally in 1992, he tapped the courage to come out as gay on national TV, and as HIV-positive 10 years later — an act which set him on the path towards sobriety and self-acceptance.

Library Journal

Though the world has changed in many ways for gay men, it is still not safe to be an out gay man while an active player in the four major professional sports of football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. It's striking how similar these two books on this subject are. Tuaolo, with journalist Rosengren (Blades of Glory) and Simmons, with Dimarco (Tower Stories: The Autobiography of September 11, 2001), have written heartfelt memoirs of their lives in the NFL and their experience of being gay in such a homophobic environment. Both came from very impoverished backgrounds, were found to have athletic talent at a young age, and made significant contributions to their teams. Tuaolo is of Samoan ancestry and Simmons is African American. While playing ball, they each had to manage what to them was a shameful secret; they were constantly profoundly afraid of discovery. Both stories are captivating, and most readers won't be able to put these books down. Though co-written with others, they have a conversational style that captures the individual voices of the men as they tell their own stories. Simmons is particularly harrowing in relating his descent into the grimy life of drug addiction. Eventually, with the help of some incredibly loyal friends, he overcame those horrors, even appearing on the Phil Donahue Show, only to go back to his addiction. He writes movingly of his reconnections with his family, even as he reports that his struggle has not ended. Though he, too, had a demon in alcohol, Tuaolo's story ends with him happily attached to a mate and adopted children. Readers interested in sports or gay biography will get their money's worth.-David Azzolina, Univ. of Pennsylvania Libs., Philadelphia Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.