David Kopay
player of American football
David Marquette Kopay (born June 28, 1942) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Washington Huskies. In 1975, he became one of the first professional athletes to come out as gay.
Life
Kopay attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California. He entered the University of Washington in 1961. He was on the West roster as a halfback at the All-America East vs. West Football Game in 1964. Kopay was signed by the San Francisco 49ers, and played professional football from 1964 to 1972. After he retired from the NFL, he was considered a top contender for coaching positions, but he believes he was snubbed by professional and college teams because of his sexual orientation. Kopay went to work as a salesman/purchaser in his uncle's floorcovering business in Hollywood.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “David Kopay” as player of American football. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as player of American football. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1175505. VIAF identifies the subject as 50797649. The Library of Congress control number is n88299487. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1942, 1975, 1961 and 1964.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “David Kopay”, its source revision and the description used here.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “David Kopay” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.