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Brendan Burke
Brendan Gilmore Burke (December 8, 1988 – February 5, 2010) was an athlete and student manager at Miami University for the RedHawks men's ice hockey team. The youngest son of Brian Burke, former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, longtime executive of various other NHL teams and of the US Olympic hockey team, in November 2009, he made international headlines for coming out, advocating for tolerance and speaking out against homophobia in professional sports. Burke's coming out was widely praised and supported by sports news outlets and fans, generating multiple discussions about homophobia in sports, and in hockey in particular. He was viewed as a pioneer in advocacy against homophobia in hockey, described as "the closest person to the NHL ever to come out publicly and say that he is gay."
Burke was killed in a car crash on February 5, 2010. Following his death, Burke's memory and contribution to LGBT awareness in hockey was honoured by several hockey teams. The "Brendan Burke Internship" was later established in his honour by USA Hockey for his work in hockey management and a documentary entitled The Legacy of Brendan Burke aired on CBC Television in November 2010. Burke's death was the catalyst for the formation of the You Can Play project, a campaign to end homophobia in sports.
Brendan Gilmore Burke was born on December 8, 1988, in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was the younger son and third of four children of his father's first marriage. His parents divorced in 1995, and in 1997 he moved with his mother, Kerry to Boston, Massachusetts. During high school, Burke played hockey as a goaltender on the varsity team, but quit because he worried that his teammates would discover that he was gay. Instead, he told his family that he wanted to quit rather than spend the season on the bench. He graduated from Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Massachusetts.
After high school, Burke could not decide between going to law school (after completing college), or a career in hockey management. He attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he was a brother in Sigma Phi Epsilon and came out as gay during his sophomore year. He interned on Capitol Hill in the summer of 2009 for U.S. Representative Bill Delahunt, and became a student manager at Miami University, responsible for recruiting correspondences, reviewing game film, working with coaches, and analyzing players. During this time, he attempted to decide between a career in politics or hockey management, eventually deciding on the latter.
Imagine if I was in the opposite situation, with a family that wouldn't accept me, working for a sports team where I knew I couldn't come out because I'd be fired or ostracized ... people in that situation deserve to know that they can feel safe, that sports isn't all homophobic and that there are plenty of people in sports who accept people for who they are.
— Brendan Burke, ESPN.com
Burke came out to his family during Christmas of 2007 and to his father, then-general manager of the Anaheim Ducks Brian Burke, after attending a Ducks game in Vancouver on December 10. Brian as well as the rest of Burke's family were accepting of his sexuality. However, Brendan's father and older brother Patrick, also a hockey manager, were concerned about how this might impact Brendan's career in hockey, noting homophobia in the hockey world in particular. As an advocate, Burke returned yearly to his high school to give talks on his experience coming to terms with his sexuality in a largely homophobic sports culture and the positive personal impact of his father's support.
In November 2009, Burke came out to one of his teammates, Pat Cannone, after he was asked about his love life. He then came out to the rest of the Miami University hockey team, of which he was also the video coordinator and student manager, that he was gay. The story was leaked to ESPN.com. The Burkes appeared on the Canadian sports channel TSN, where Brendan Burke said he hoped his story would give other gay athletes and those working in professional sports the confidence to come forward. The team's coach, Enrico Blasi, and the rest of the team first learned of Burke's sexual orientation after the Frozen Four NCAA men's hockey championship in 2009. Burke was concerned that the news story on his sexual orientation might be distracting to the team, and approached Blasi, offering to walk away from the story if Blasi disapproved. With full veto power on the story, Blasi gave it his full support. His team was also accepting of his sexuality.
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Brendan Burke
Brendan Gilmore Burke (December 8, 1988 – February 5, 2010) was an athlete and student manager at Miami University for the RedHawks men's ice hockey team. The youngest son of Brian Burke, former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, longtime executive of various other NHL teams and of the US Olympic hockey team, in November 2009, he made international headlines for coming out, advocating for tolerance and speaking out against homophobia in professional sports. Burke's coming out was widely praised and supported by sports news outlets and fans, generating multiple discussions about homophobia in sports, and in hockey in particular. He was viewed as a pioneer in advocacy against homophobia in hockey, described as "the closest person to the NHL ever to come out publicly and say that he is gay."
Burke was killed in a car crash on February 5, 2010. Following his death, Burke's memory and contribution to LGBT awareness in hockey was honoured by several hockey teams. The "Brendan Burke Internship" was later established in his honour by USA Hockey for his work in hockey management and a documentary entitled The Legacy of Brendan Burke aired on CBC Television in November 2010. Burke's death was the catalyst for the formation of the You Can Play project, a campaign to end homophobia in sports.
Brendan Gilmore Burke was born on December 8, 1988, in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was the younger son and third of four children of his father's first marriage. His parents divorced in 1995, and in 1997 he moved with his mother, Kerry to Boston, Massachusetts. During high school, Burke played hockey as a goaltender on the varsity team, but quit because he worried that his teammates would discover that he was gay. Instead, he told his family that he wanted to quit rather than spend the season on the bench. He graduated from Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Massachusetts.
After high school, Burke could not decide between going to law school (after completing college), or a career in hockey management. He attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he was a brother in Sigma Phi Epsilon and came out as gay during his sophomore year. He interned on Capitol Hill in the summer of 2009 for U.S. Representative Bill Delahunt, and became a student manager at Miami University, responsible for recruiting correspondences, reviewing game film, working with coaches, and analyzing players. During this time, he attempted to decide between a career in politics or hockey management, eventually deciding on the latter.
Imagine if I was in the opposite situation, with a family that wouldn't accept me, working for a sports team where I knew I couldn't come out because I'd be fired or ostracized ... people in that situation deserve to know that they can feel safe, that sports isn't all homophobic and that there are plenty of people in sports who accept people for who they are.
— Brendan Burke, ESPN.com
Burke came out to his family during Christmas of 2007 and to his father, then-general manager of the Anaheim Ducks Brian Burke, after attending a Ducks game in Vancouver on December 10. Brian as well as the rest of Burke's family were accepting of his sexuality. However, Brendan's father and older brother Patrick, also a hockey manager, were concerned about how this might impact Brendan's career in hockey, noting homophobia in the hockey world in particular. As an advocate, Burke returned yearly to his high school to give talks on his experience coming to terms with his sexuality in a largely homophobic sports culture and the positive personal impact of his father's support.
In November 2009, Burke came out to one of his teammates, Pat Cannone, after he was asked about his love life. He then came out to the rest of the Miami University hockey team, of which he was also the video coordinator and student manager, that he was gay. The story was leaked to ESPN.com. The Burkes appeared on the Canadian sports channel TSN, where Brendan Burke said he hoped his story would give other gay athletes and those working in professional sports the confidence to come forward. The team's coach, Enrico Blasi, and the rest of the team first learned of Burke's sexual orientation after the Frozen Four NCAA men's hockey championship in 2009. Burke was concerned that the news story on his sexual orientation might be distracting to the team, and approached Blasi, offering to walk away from the story if Blasi disapproved. With full veto power on the story, Blasi gave it his full support. His team was also accepting of his sexuality.