Smithsonian Exhibits Jersey of Out NFL Star Carl Nassib

When Carl Nassib came out in 2021, he instantly made history as the NFL's first openly gay active player. Now he's making history again as his iconic jersey goes on display at the Smithsonian Institute, Nittany Sports Now reported.

"His game-worn jersey from a historic Monday Night Football appearance in 2021 represents a landmark moment for LGBTQIA+ visibility in professional sports," an Instagram post from ESPN and Nassib related.

"On Monday, June 21, 2021," Newsweek recalled in an article about the jersey going up at the Smithsonian, "there was an unexpectedly historic piece of NFL news."

"Carl Nassib, a member of the Las Vegas Raiders, had shared a post on Instagram. And rather than showing off a new car or sharing platitudes, he was making an announcement."

Famously, Nassib revealed – in an almost offhand way – that he was gay.

"And now, nearly four years later, his Raiders jersey will be heading to Washington, D.C., to take its place in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History," Newsweek detailed.

The athlete told Newsweek that "to have my jersey in the Smithsonian is something I never expected, something I never really worked for, wasn't really a goal of mine."

"It's just something that came up and I'm super thankful for," the seven-season NFL veteran added. "I think it's an homage to all the people in my community that came before me that put me in a position to be able to come out and be able to play the sport that I love and be who I was all day every day."

Nassib noted that "what people forget is that history isn't just an objective point of view. It's actually just [what gets told]."

"The Smithsonian is doing a good job of curating good stories that, you know, speak to all different walks of life in America, because we are a big melting pot," the former Raiders player added. "And so, I do really appreciate the Smithsonian standing by that mission, telling stories that matter."

Over and above his groundbreaking courage in coming out, Nassib's is a success story of a champion in the making who turned things around when his prospects didn't seem especially bright. While at Penn State, "Nassib didn't play during his first two years on campus," Newsweek recounted, and "head coach Bill O'Brien said that him even making the scout team would be a miracle," the article added.

Despite that, "his confidence never wavered."

"I just always felt like winning was something that I was supposed to do. And I hate losing more than I like winning," Nassib told Newsweek, before noting that he "had a really good support group from my older brother and my dad," the former also having been an NFL player and the latter a college football star at the University of Delaware.

"There were a lot of times throughout my football career that I just wanted to say, 'Hey, I'm done,'" Nassib recounted. "'My coaches aren't playing me. My team stinks. Whatever it is, I'm just going to do something else.' And having that motivating factor, you need people to say, 'Hey, don't give up. This stinks right now, but you got to keep going.'"

Then there was the sibling rivalry factor, Nassib told Newsweek, saying that "it was cool to always look up to" his older brother, "and to compete with him a little bit."

Explaining his coming out journey, the now-retired player and entrepreneur disclosed that "coming out to my friends and family earlier, like before coming out publicly, that made it so much easier."

"I mean, a lot more fun," Nassib continued, "and, just, it became a celebration. Once you come out to your core group of people, then it gets kind of easier and easier and you can turn it into a celebration."

"A lot of people, when they're coming out of the closet, they feel like it's like going to be a devastating moment," though, he said, "actually it's the opposite. When you come out, it's a time for celebrating because you can actually be your whole self with your friends and family and you never have to keep anything from them again."

As for that off-the-cuff video announcement when he publicly embraced authenticity, Nassib told the news magazine, "I just thought that was authentic to me. I thought that I am a million other things, you know what I mean? I'm a football player that happens to be gay."

"I didn't want it to feel like it was some massively dramatic moment."