Ryan Thomas O'Callaghan (born July 19, 1983) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

and was selected by the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

in the fifth round of the

2006 NFL draft The 2006 NFL draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with additional coverage offe ...

. He also played for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

Professional career

New England Patriots

As a rookie, O'Callaghan started in his first NFL game against the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

at right tackle. He would go on to start six games in 2006, as well as a game in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, filling in for injured starter

Nick Kaczur Nicholas Jesse Kaczur (born July 28, 1979) is a Canadian former professional football player who was an offensive tackle for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Toledo Rockets. He wa ...

. O'Callaghan missed the entire

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

season after being placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

with a shoulder injury on August 28. He was waived by the Patriots on September 5, 2009, during final cuts.

Kansas City Chiefs

O'Callaghan was picked up off waivers by the Kansas City Chiefs on September 6, 2009, after being released by New England the previous day. He started 12 games that year. The Chiefs re-signed O'Callaghan on April 15, 2010. He played in 11 games with one start.

Honors and awards

While at the University of California, Ryan won the Morris Trophy, which is awarded annually to the most outstanding offensive lineman in the PAC 12 conference. On December 20, 2014, O'Callaghan was inducted into the Shasta County Sports Hall of Fame along with several other athletes from

Shasta County, California Shasta County (), officially the County of Shasta, is a County (United States), county located in the Northern California, northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 182,155 as of the 2020 census, up from 177,223 from t ...

, such as Max Burch, Sam Enochian, Jeff Foster,

Ricky Ray Ricky Ray (born October 22, 1979) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback. Ray spent the majority of his professional career with the Edmonton Eskimos and Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL) ...

Megan Rapinoe Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player who played as a Midfielder#Winger, winger. She spent most of her career playing for Seattle Reign FC, OL Reign of the National Wom ...

, Eddie Wilson, and Mark Wilson.

Personal life

O'Callaghan was raised in

Redding, California Redding is a city in and the county seat of Shasta County, California, and the economic and cultural capital of the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California. Redding lies along the Sacramento River, north of Sacramento, California, Sacrame ...

. In June 2017, he

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

in an interview with ''

Outsports ''Outsports'' is a sports news website concerned with LGBTQ issues and personalities in amateur and professional sports. The company was founded in 1999 by Cyd Zeigler, Jr. and Jim Buzinski. ''The Outsports Revolution'' ( Alyson Publications), ...

''. He shared his struggle with self-acceptance and that he had convinced himself that no one would accept him as a gay man, reconciling that he would end his life when his football career had ended. The turning point was when he came out to the Chiefs' clinical psychologist, Susan Wilson, and then later to teammates and family, who were all supportive. He now speaks openly about his struggles and coming out. In 2019 his autobiography, ''My Life on the Line: How the NFL Damn Near Killed Me and Ended Up Saving My Life'', was published. He started the Ryan O'Callaghan Foundation, which provides scholarships to

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

youth.

References

External links

* * *
Susan WilsonCal Bears bio
*
New England Patriots bioKansas City Chiefs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocallaghan, Ryan American football offensive tackles American gay sportsmen California Golden Bears football players Kansas City Chiefs players LGBTQ people from California LGBTQ players of American football New England Patriots players People from Susanville, California Sportspeople from Lassen County, California Players of American football from Shasta County, California 1983 births Living people