Football player Michael Sam was drafted by the St. Louis Rams.
ESPN reports how Sam was drafted on May 10 by the St. Louis Rams. Sam is the first openly gay football player to get drafted and he will be the first openly gay player to play in the NFL. Sam was chosen as the 249th pick by the Rams in the 2014 NFL draft. After getting drafted Sam took to Twitter to thank the Rams organization for drafting him.
Thank you to the St. Louis Rams and the whole city of St. Louis. I'm using every once of this to achieve greatness!! pic.twitter.com/QESdOJVzsw
— Michael Sam (@MikeSamFootball) May 10, 2014
Back in February, Sam announced that he was gay. Sam was a defensive end for the Missouri Tigers, and while doing an interview on ESPN's Outside The Lines, Sam stated, "I came to tell the world that I'm an openly, proud gay man."
Sam is among a list of athletes who have come forward to publicly admit that they are gay. Last April, basketball player Jason Collins became the first professional athlete to announce that he was gay. Collins told Sports Illustrated, "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay." Collins added that it wasn't his goal to become the first openly gay athlete, but since he is the first he's glad he can start the conversation for other athletes to come out as well.
Here are highlights from Sam's time with the Missouri Tigers:
Image courtesy of Michael Sam's Twitter page