Brendan Burke

Brendan Gilmore Burke (December 8, 1988 – February 5, 2010) was an athlete and student manager at Miami University for the RedHawks men's ice hockey team. The youngest son of Brian Burke, former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, longtime executive of various other NHL teams and of the US Olympic hockey team, in November 2009, he made international headlines for coming out, advocating for tolerance and speaking out against homophobia in professional sports. Burke's coming out was widely praised and supported by sports news outlets and fans, generating multiple discussions about homophobia in sports, and in hockey in particular. He was viewed as a pioneer in advocacy against homophobia in hockey, described as "the closest person to the NHL ever to come out publicly and say that he is gay."

Burke was killed in a car crash on February 5, 2010. Following his death, Burke's memory and contribution to LGBT awareness in hockey was honoured by several hockey teams. The "Brendan Burke Internship" was later established in his honour by USA Hockey for his work in hockey management and a documentary entitled The Legacy of Brendan Burke aired on CBC Television in November 2010. Burke's death was the catalyst for the formation of the You Can Play project, a campaign to end homophobia in sports.

Early life Brendan Gilmore Burke was born on December 8, 1988, in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was the younger son and third of four children of his father's first marriage. During high school, Burke played hockey as a goaltender on the varsity team, Instead, he told his family that he wanted to quit rather than spend the season on the bench. He graduated from Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Massachusetts. He then came out to the rest of the Miami University hockey team, of which he was also the video coordinator and student manager, that he was gay. with the ESPN interview garnering praise from the hockey world. In a later TSN interview, Burke stated that he hoped that telling his story would allow gay athletes and pro sports workers to know that there were supportive, safe environments for them and would encourage them to step forward as well. His coming-out story gained further attention from a large variety of news outlets in the days that followed. TSN sportscaster James Cybulski commented that the reaction to Burke's story, and that it was a major story in the first place, demonstrated the need for Burke and his whole family to stand tall as a major step forward for all minorities. GlobeSports.com's podcast Hockey Roundtable featured a discussion between sports writers Eric Duhatschek and James Mirtle about the dialogue concerning openly gay athletes and high-profile employees in major hockey franchises that resulted from Burke's interview about his struggles with hiding his sexuality and eventual coming out. Duhatschek commented that NHL players were reluctant to discuss the recent news and the subject in general, attributing it to a culture of machismo in professional sports. Assistant coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, David King, stated that he felt that like athletic sports' role in breaking down the racial barrier, sports would do the same for gay athletes, albeit stressing that he felt it "would take some time." Mirtle agreed, discussing the challenges of prejudice that closeted and out hockey athletes may face and highlighting NBA star John Amaechi's 2007 coming out as an example of strong anti-gay attitudes in the NBA and larger sports world.

Death and legacy On February 5, 2011, the one-year anniversary of Burke's death, Brian Burke and his family are presented with special hockey sweaters in commemoration of Brendan Burke, which the RedHawks wore during their game that evening. Burke died February 5, 2010, at the age of 21 in an automobile accident. The impact of the collision fractured the base of Burke's skull, killing him instantly. Another moment of silence was also observed prior to the Miami University hockey game vs. Lake Superior State on February 6, 2010. The team also named him honorary first star of the game. The St. Louis Blues also held a moment of silence for Brendan Burke prior to their game against the Chicago Blackhawks on February 21, 2010.

The funeral was held at St. John the Evangelist Catholic church in Canton, Massachusetts, where his family lives, In April 2010, USA Hockey established the "Brendan Burke Internship" in honor of his work in hockey, describing it as being given annually to a recent college graduate seeking to pursue a career in hockey operations. The senior class of 2010 at Brendan's high school alma mater coordinated a fundraising campaign to donate a statue to be displayed on the Xaverian Brothers High School campus in memory of Brendan. On November 26, 2010, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television newsmagazine the fifth estate aired "The Legacy of Brendan Burke", a documentary detailing Burke's story and the discussion it generated about homophobia in hockey.

During the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the United States Men's Hockey Team wore dog tags inscribed with the words "In Memory of Brendan Burke". In June 2010, Chicago Blackhawks president John McDonough announced that he would be sending the team's recently won Stanley Cup with defenseman Brent Sopel who would march in the 2010 Chicago Gay Pride Parade. Sopel began his NHL career with Vancouver and became friends with Brian Burke when he was the general manager there. Although he was traded to Atlanta earlier in the week, Sopel honored Brendan Burke by using his day with the Stanley Cup to display it in the Chicago Gay Pride Parade, stating to the press that honoring Burke's legacy and his father's example of familial support and tolerance was one of his reasons for marching in the parade. In recognition of the one-year anniversary of Burke's death, the Blackhawks wore special sweaters during their weekend game on February 5, 2011. Andrew Sobotka, president of the Chicago Gay Hockey Association, attributed a doubling in the organization's membership to Burke's legacy and the Cup's appearance at the 2010 Gay Pride parade, describing the continued debate about gays in hockey as "everyone carrying his [Brendan Burke's] torch."

Burke's older brother Patrick Burke announced in a column on Outsports.com that the Burke family promised their "unwavering, unremitting, relentless support" for the cause of equality in sports and to continue working to end homophobia in hockey. In March 2012, in tribute to Brendan, Patrick and Brian Burke founded the You Can Play campaign to fight homophobia in sports.