Today's Out Spotlight is an American sports executive, who served as the third highest ranking official in the National Basketball Association's (NBA) front office, and was the President and Chief of Operations for Phoenix Suns and now with the Golden State Warriors. Coming out this past spring, he is the first openly gay prominent American sports executive. Today's Out Spotlight is Rick Welts.
Richard Welts was born in 1953 in Seattle, Washington, where he was raised. He went on to attend the University of Washington.
Welts began his career in sports, working for the Seattle SuperSonics first as a ballboy, at the age of 16, in 1969, and moving up the ranks through various positions, including as the team’s Director of Public Relations during back-to-back appearances in the NBA Finals (1978 and 1979) and the SuperSonics lone NBA Championship in 1979.
After leaving the SuperSonics, he spent the following three years (1980-1982) at Bob Walsh & Associates, a sports marketing firm in the Seattle area. His non-NBA résumé also includes serving as President of Fox Sports Enterprises (1999-2000).
He later worked at the NBA's league front offices from 1982 to 1999, eventually rising to the positions of executive vice president, chief marketing officer and president of NBA Properties.
During his time in the front office, he was credited with the creation of the NBA All-Star Weekend concept in 1984, a model that subsequently became a fixture in both MLB and the NHL. In addition he served as the agent for USA Basketball, the marketing campaign for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics "Dream Team."In 1998 he was named Brandweek's Marketer of the Year for his work with WNBA President Val Ackerman in launching the WNBA.
He also played a prominent role in the organization of preseason games in foreign countries and the eventual opening of international NBA offices in Australia, Asia, Europe, Mexico and Canada.
Welts' work has spanned virtually every level of an NBA operation.In 1999, he left the NBA executive offices to join the Phoenix Suns. During his tenure in Phoenix, which began as President and Chief Operating Officer in July of 2002, the Suns enjoyed success on all levels, including on the court, where the club registered five 50-plus win seasons and advanced to the Western Conference Finals in 2005, 2006 and 2010. He also oversaw the WNBA Phoenix Mercury team. The Mercury won the WNBA Championship in 2007 and 2009.
On May 15, 2011, Welts publicly came out as a gay man in an interview with The New York Times.Welts became the highest ranking executive in men’s professional team sports to publicly acknowledge he is gay.
When the story broke, Welts was in the air, knowing that after 40 years the world would know that he is a gay man. He said upon landing he turned on his Blackberry to be flooded with emails of praise and encouragement for what he he did.
That same day he came out in the NY Times he sat down for an interview with Time Magazine, talking about his life in the closet and journey he took to come out.
Part of the interview is available on video.
Ask why he felt the time was right he said, "For me, really, it's the culmination of a lifelong journey. In the last year, I've been giving it some serious thought. The time just seemed right for me personally. It's not as a result of any other events that have taken place."
Welts also spoke about how hard it was when he lost his partner of 17 years, Arnie, an architect, who died in March 1994 of AIDS. The two men had met in a Seattle restaurant in 1977. "At a time where I didn't think there was any knowledge of my sexuality in the NBA office. Having to navigate through, really, the loss of a spouse without being able to have that be known to the people around you was probably the most personally difficult. It wasn't a motivator for me to come out, but it was a private anguish that I wouldn't wish on anyone." After Arnie's death, Welts was in another long term relationship from 1995 to 2009. The relationship ended after his partner could no longer live in secrecy.
The first person associated with the NBA Welts came out to was NBA great Bill Russell who was a trusted adviser to him.
"I took a deep breath and said what I had to say.And he was, you know, he was Bill. "Was that all you got?" He said all the right things about our friendship and what it meant to him, and nothing could change, and anything he could do to be supportive. That was the first person in my work life that I had been able to have that conversation with. "On September 9, 2011, Welts announced he was resigning his position with the Phoenix Suns in order to relocate to northern California, enabling him to reside with his partner, a father of two, who lives there.
On September 6, he was presented with a United States Tennis Association 2011 ICON Award at the US Open in New York City. The ICON Award recognizes and celebrates those who have had a positive impact on diversity and inclusion in the sports industry and society.
A few weeks later, Welts signed on as team president and chairman of operations for the Golden State Warriors.He lives in Northern California with his partner and family.