In terms of life experience, Rick Welts might be the Forrest Gump of the NBA.
Welts invented All-Star weekend as an NBA p.r. whiz, marketed the Dream Team, spun Magic Johnson’s HIV announcement, chaired the Steve Nash Suns and is now the president of what he calls the “best basketball team on the planet, maybe the most popular team in sports right now,” the Golden State Warriors.
And after coming out in 2011, Welts became the first openly gay man to run a major American sports team.
Welts discussed his career and sexual orientation in an interview with Soledad O’Brien that will air Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. Among other things, the acclaimed executive recounted the time he told NBA commissioner David Stern he was gay.
Welts had been dating Todd Gage, whom he met when Gage was a flight attendant on a flight he was on, and the couple struggled with the secrecy of their romance. Welts decided it was time to come out and began sharing with his friends in the league, including Stern, who told Real Sports he had suspected Welts was gay for a while.
STERN: I said “big f—— deal. You’re gay, what else is new?”
WELTS: It was really a wonderful moment. I think I got my first commissioner bear hug at the end of probably an hour meeting.
Welts, who said he realized he was gay at 3 years old but didn’t fully accept it until he was 20, also discussed what it was like to discuss Magic Johnson’s HIV diagnosis while worrying about the virus himself. Soon after Magic’s announcement, Welts’ partner of 15 years died of AIDS.
Welts said he told Stern, then his boss, only that “his friend” had died. Stern said that even though he suspected the true nature of the relationship he didn’t discuss that with Welts or anyone else at the NBA offices.
STERN: It’s horrible for a group of guys to sit around and not be able to talk about it. Because we had a pretty good idea Rick was gay.
O’BRIEN: But you didn’t discuss it.
STERN: You don’t discuss those things, back then.
This June, Welts played a key role in both the Warriors’ championship parade and the San Francisco Pride parade, for which he was marshal. He told Real Sports he was one of the first people ever to be involved in two million-person parades in the same month.
