John Ekwugha Amaechi (pronounced /əˈmeɪtʃi/; born November 26, 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.) is a retired English NBA basketball player who currently works as a broadcaster and political activist in the United Kingdom. In February 2007, Amaechi publicly announced that he is gay and became the first player associated with the NBA to come out.

The son of a Nigerian (Igbo) father, he was raised in Reddish, Stockport, England with his two younger sisters by his English mother, attending Stockport Grammar School. Amaechi moved to the U.S. to play high school basketball at St. John's Jesuit High School in Toledo, Ohio. He began playing college basketball at Vanderbilt but transferred to Penn State where he was a two-time First Team Academic Read more...

Amaechi previously worked on coverage of a weekly NBA basketball game on UK television channel "Five" and is now a regular guest on a variety of shows.

In addition, Amaechi owns Animus Consulting, which provides motivational speakers, and is a partner in Animus Development, an executive training program.

Amaechi is also involved with the ABC Foundation in Manchester, which encourages Read more...