John Amaechi cannot be defined by one label alone. He is a former professional NBA basketball player, who currently works as a sport and current affairs expert for the ITV, SKY, and the BBC in the United Kingdom. John is also a psychologist, a New York Times best-selling author with his autobiography “Man in the Middle”, a social entrepreneur and a dedicated human rights activist involved in numerous project.
John Amaechi played 301 games in the NBA from 1995 to 2004. During the course of his career, Amaechi played with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Orlando Magic and the Utah Jazz. In 2000 he famously turned down a 17 million dollar contract with the world champion Los Angeles Lakers in order to honor a prior commitment.
In 2007, the great basketball player became the first player associated with the NBA to publically come out as gay and is also only the sixth professional athlete from the four major American sports to do so.
In early 2008, John Amaechi agreed to become Amnesty International’s Olympic Ambassador. It was a groundbreaking arrangement – the first time Amnesty had created such a role. Now an Amnesty ambassador, he is working closely with Amnesty on gay, lesbian and bisexual rights and is continuing to help ensure the world of sport follows a human rights ethos.