Dave Pallone
Adventure / Travel, Diversity, Gay & Lesbian (LGBT)
Travels from Texas, USA
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Dave Pallone Profile
One of the youngest umpires in major league baseball history, Dave Pallone was forced to hide his sexuality for decades in order to realize his childhood dream of making calls on the baseball diamond. Since the 1990s, he has become one of the most recognized public figures working to knock down barriers for the LGBT community particularly in the world of college and professional sports.
Pallone worked 18 years as a professional umpire, standing firm in his calls even when angry fans were hurling food, garbage, and other items at him from the stands. After being “outed” by a New York Post article in 1988, he was pressured to resign from major league baseball, and to date is the only openly gay umpire in MLB history.
His New York Times’ best-selling autobiography, Behind The Mask: My Double Life In Baseball has received nationwide attention and inspired more than 700,000 people to write him letters regarding his story and their own struggles regarding sexual orientation and acceptance. Pallone was one of the first inductees to the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame. He is a preferred speaker for the NCAA, and has educated hundreds of corporate, conference, and college audiences on sexual orientation and how to foster a supportive diverse culture that respects everyone.
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- Dave Pallone worked 18 years as a professional umpire; 10 of those years with the National Baseball League. As the third youngest umpire in baseball history, he demonstrated courage, professionalism and the ability to withstand adversity through many of baseball′s high profile controversial events.
Dave is the author of the 1990 New York Time′s best-selling autobiography, Behind the Mask: My Double Life in Baseball, which offers a revealing look at baseball through the eyes of a gay man. Since the publication of his autobiography, Dave has dedicated his life to educating and enlightening people about the reality of sexual orientation. His philosophy of respecting yourself and others, provides insight into the complex issues and challenges that come from understanding sexual orientation.
Dave is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management, and has been a keynote speaker at conferences, diversity trainer on sexual orientation for corporations, and has brought his work on sexual orientation sensitivity to hundreds of higher education campuses. He is on the NCAA′s preferred speakers list for diversity, and has brought his presentation to athletic departments around the country. Making history on October 11, 1995, Dave and tennis great Martina Navratilova appeared on stage together for a candid conversation at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. It was the first time that two prominent, openly gay people in professional sports appeared on stage.
Dave has given interviews for national publications such as the The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe and The New York Times and has written OP-Eds for USA Today and New York Newsday. He has been a frequent guest on “Larry King Live,” and has appeared on The Today Show, CBS Morning, BBC Radio, NPR, and several others.
Dave owned and hosted his own sports radio show in Boston, Massachusetts and has been featured in ESPN′s documentary “Homophobia in Sports”, as well as appearing on ESPN′s Outside the Lines. Dave was honored to be selected by GENRE Magazine as one of the 100 men of the 20th century.
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