American LGBT sportspeople

Rudy_Galindo

Val Joe "Rudy" Galindo (born September 7, 1969) is an American former competitive figure skater who competed in both single skating and pair skating. As a single skater, he is the 1996 U.S. national champion, 1987 World Junior Champion, and 1996 World Bronze medalist. As a pairs skater, he competed with Kristi Yamaguchi and was the 1988 World Junior Champion and the 1989 and 1990 U.S. National Champion. He is the first openly gay skating champion in the United States, though US, World and Olympic champion Brian Boitano came out long after his career was over.

Maybelle_Blair

Maybelle Blair (born January 16, 1927) is a former All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player. Listed at 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm) and 150 pounds (68 kg), she batted and threw right-handed.Born in Inglewood, California, Blair was an efficient pitcher when she joined the league with the Peoria Redwings in its 1948 season, even though she appeared in only one game for the team, and then moved the next year to a professional softball league in Chicago to play for the Chicago Cardinals. Later, she played for the Jax Girls softball club of New Orleans.Afterwards, Blair attended Compton Junior College in California and then Los Angeles School of Physiotherapy. Following her graduation, she worked at a treatment center in Los Angeles before began a long 37-year career at Northrop Corporation, where she started as a chauffeur and ended up as the manager of highway transportation, being one of the three female managers the company employed in that period.Following her retirement, Blair became vice president of Center for Extended Learning for Seniors (CELS); an educational travel tours program provider for Elderhostel.Blair also became an active collaborator in different projects of the AAGPBL Players Association since its foundation in 1982, serving on the Board of Directors and the Chair of the Fundraising Committee. The association helped to bring the league story to the public eye and was largely responsible for the opening of Women in Baseball, a permanent display based at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, which was unveiled in 1988 to honor the entire All-American Girls Professional Baseball League rather than any individual personality.In 2022, Blair publicly came out as a lesbian while promoting the TV series A League of Their Own, saying that prior to her time in the AAGPBL, “I thought I was the only one in the world… I hid for 75, 85 years and this is actually, basically, the first time I’ve ever come out.”

Sandra_Spuzich

Sandra Spuzich (April 3, 1937 – October 6, 2015) was an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Spuzich was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, of Polish, Serbian, Macedonian and Lebanese descent. She was an amateur golfer and elementary school teacher when she decided to turn professional in 1962. Her first win came at the 1966 U.S. Women's Open by one stroke over Carol Mann and two strokes over Mickey Wright. The tournament was held at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota – the first major championship played there.
In 1982 at the age of 45, Spuzich became the oldest player to win two LPGA Tour events in the same year when she won the Corning Classic followed by the Mary Kay Classic.Spuzich died in Indianapolis on October 6, 2015. Her life partner was fellow LPGA golfer Joyce Kazmierski.

Billy_Bean

William Daro Bean (born May 11, 1964) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers (1987–1989), Los Angeles Dodgers (1989), and San Diego Padres (1993–1995), as well as the Kintetsu Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in 1992.
In July 2014, he was named MLB's first Ambassador for Inclusion. In January 2016, he became MLB's vice president, Ambassador for Inclusion and is currently Senior Vice President and Special Assistant to the Commissioner.

David_Kopay

David Marquette Kopay (born June 28, 1942) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) who in 1975 became one of the first professional athletes to come out as gay.

Dave_Pallone

David Michael Pallone (born October 5, 1951) is an American former Major League Baseball umpire who worked in the National League from 1979 to 1988. During Pallone's career, he wore uniform number 26.