National Basketball Association

Collins catches friend by surprise

Published Apr. 29, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

Sam Gardner

As the student manager for the Stanford basketball team from 1995-99, Rafael Ruano got to know Jason Collins better than most. Even Ruano, now an attorney in Sacramento, Calif., was caught off-guard by Collins’ coming-out article Monday in Sports Illustrated.

“Even Jarron, his own brother, was totally unaware, I certainly was not aware and I had no inkling that this was something that he was struggling with or uncomfortable revealing, if he was even aware of it at the time,” Ruano said Monday in an interview with FOX Sports.

That being said, Ruano said he’s proud of Collins for going public with such a personal secret, and considers him a perfect player and man to be the face of the NBA’s gay rights movement.

“I guess in some ways I feel fortunate, and proud of Jason, because he’s taken what must be, at the very least, an anxious and potentially scary step, not knowing what the feedback or reaction would be,” Ruano said. “I think it would take somebody with Jason’s character and fortitude to be able to handle the media attention.

“He’s very well spoken, very intelligent, very articulate, and frankly, I think that he can be a very positive face for other athletes who are out there who aren’t feeling comfortable about revealing their sexuality.”

According to Ruano, the issue of Collins’ sexuality never came up during his time at Stanford, including the team’s 1998 run to the Final Four. Collins, a freshman during that ’98 season, spent most of that year glued to the Cardinal bench, but it didn’t lessen the impact he made on those around him.

Even as Collins rose to stardom as an upperclassman, there was no suspicion among his teammates that he might be gay.

“Jason was highly competitive, a great teammate, and frankly, his or anybody’s sexuality just wasn’t an issue that came up,” Ruano said. “Obviously, we were young men in college, and there’s locker room talk and things like that. But it never really was an issue, nor was it something that was ever really discussed.”

But even if there had been some suspicion — or event outward knowledge — that Collins was gay, it’s unlikely it would have mattered one bit.

“On our team, there were a lot of unique individuals, unique characters,” Ruano said. “You go from a very devout Mormon like Mark Madsen and guys came from all over the country and had very different political views, upbringings and things like that. It was a very interesting dynamic of a team. We were always very respectful of each others’ opinions and I felt it was as open a community as you could get in a college locker room.”