“We all have a childhood dream. Not for all of us does that come true,” speaker David Pallone told a nearly full house at the Hanaway Theatre last Thursday night. “For me, my dream came true when I walked onto a professional baseball field at the age of 19.”
ALSO (the Gay Straight Alliance) and Plymouth State Athletics kicked off a year-long collaboration by bringing the personal experiences of outed Major League umpire David Pallone to Plymouth. This event, co-sponsored by eight other organizations, including two area businesses, highlighted the realities of life as a closeted gay man, both professionally and personally.
Those attending were both entertained by stories from baseball – including having his cup shattered by a pitch from Nolan Ryan – and informed. He illustrated life in the closet as living in a box six feet tall and six feet deep. Dave further described the dilemma faced by many closeted professionals: “Do I take my dream and put it away to keep my personal life? Or do I take my personal life and put it away to live my dreams?”
In the end the choice wasn’t his to make. For $100, an acquaintance told the New York Post about Dave’s homosexuality. “In 1988, baseball took away my childhood dream for nothing more than who I was.” Baseball fired him at the top of his career as one of the three best umpires in the league.
This message was the point of the evening: to discuss what it means to be gay in the modern world. Organizers hoped to further awareness across campus and work together to create an environment that is supportive of the entire community. John Clark, Director of Athletics at PSU, said, “It matters to me that people do feel safe and comfortable.”
Dave said he speaks about his experiences because, “I have come to learn doing this that 500,000 young people take their lives every year, and 40 percent of them do it because of their sexual orientation. One is way too many.”