Conner Mertens

Conner Mertens (born 1994/1995) is an American football placekicker for the Willamette Bearcats.[1][2] He was the first active college football player to publicly come out about his sexuality; he came out as bisexual.[3][4]

Conner Mertens
Willamette Bearcats
PositionPlacekicker
Class Freshman
Career history
High schoolSouthridge (Kennewick, Washington)
Personal information
Born:1994/1995 (age 26–27)
Kennewick, Washington
Career highlights and awards

Early life

Mertens grew up in Kennewick in Tri-Cities, Washington, where he was the youngest of four boys in his family. Growing up, he always excelled at sports.[5][6] He concentrated on athletics after an incident in fifth grade in which classmates teased him for remaining in costume and makeup after a drama competition.[7]

According to Mertens, the environment at Southridge High School was "hostile", as he was surround by a culture of homophobia.[8] He said the Tri-Cities was not the most friendly area toward the LGBT community. In 2012, 63 percent of the area voted against a measure for same-sex marriage that was ultimately approved by the state.[6] Starting with his sophomore year in high school, Mertens was active in Young Life, a national organization that preaches Christianity to youth. After being in trouble in his freshman year, he credited Young Life with turning his life around.[6] In his senior year, Mertens was named the placekicker on the Tri-City Herald All-Area second team.[9] He was also a four-year starter on Southridge's soccer team.[10]

College career

Mertens currently attends Willamette University, located in Salem, Oregon. The school's football team competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. Mertens redshirted and did not play football in his freshman year due to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury to his left knee from playing soccer.[11][12] In January 2014, Mertens came out as bisexual, the first active college football player at any level to publicly come out.[6][12] With his announcement, he was banned from working with Young Life, which he had been certain would be a part of the rest of his life; the organization's "Faith and Conduct Policies" did not allow any LGBT person to be a staff member or volunteer, though they could participate as "recipients of ministry of God's grace and mercy as expressed in Jesus Christ."[6]

He became Willamette's kicker in 2014, when he also received limited opportunities as a punter.[13] Conner is also a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

Personal life

Mertens is featured in Out to Win, a documentary about LGBT participation in American sports.[14]

See also

References
  1. Roemeling, Alisha (January 29, 2014). "Willamette football player comes out as bisexual". USA Today. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  2. Reddish, David (2018-02-20). "Meet Connor Mertens, who kicked down barriers in college sports". Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  3. Corcoran, Tully (January 28, 2014). "'I'm bisexual': Kicker becomes first CFB player to publicly come out publicly". FoxSports.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  4. "College football player Conner Mertens comes out". Outsports. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  5. The Conner Mertens Story. Fox Sports Live. Feb 9, 2014. Event occurs at 0:52. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
  6. Zeigler, Cyd (January 28, 2014). "Conner Mertens came out to his college football team. Now he comes out publicly". Outsports.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  7. Schnell, Lindsay (February 14, 2014). "Willamette's Conner Mertens talks about coming out as bisexual". SI.com. Archived from the original on February 19, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  8. Landefeld, Bill (February 13, 2014). "Mertens Hopeful for Change in Sports Culture". The Pioneer. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  9. Anthony, Kevin (December 11, 2012). "Kennewick's Ramos is All-Area football player of the year". Tri-City Herald. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  10. Millikin, Jack (March 27, 2013). "Boys soccer: Mid-Columbia Conference rekindles rivalries". Tri-City Herald. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  11. Quick, Jason (January 28, 2014). "Kicking down barriers: Willamette's Conner Mertens says he is bisexual in hopes of ending stereotypes". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  12. "Active college player comes out". ESPN.com. January 29, 2014. Archived from the original on February 23, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  13. Zeigler, Cyd (December 10, 2014). "Conner Mertens has triumphant first season as out college football player". Outsports.com. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  14. Bella, Timothy (March 22, 2015). "Bisexual football player hopes sexuality will become 'nonissue' in NCAA". aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on August 14, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
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