Lindsy McLean

J. Lindsy McLean was an athletic trainer for college and professional American football teams for nearly 50 years.

McLean's college career began as a student athletic trainer at Vanderbilt University in 1956. In 1963, he was the head athletic trainer and director of physical therapy at the University of California Santa Barbara from 1963 to 1965. Next, in 1965, he was named the head athletic trainer and assistant professor at San Jose State College. Lastly, he was the head athletic trainer at the University of Michigan for eleven years from 1968 to 1979. While at Michigan, he was named the first chair of the National Athletic Trainers Association Board of Certification and was instrumental in developing certification standards for the athletic training profession. He was a member of the athletic training staff at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

In 1979, he moved to professional sports and became the head athletic trainer for the San Francisco 49ers, a position he held for 24 years. He retired at the conclusion of the 2003 NFL season. In 1988, he was inducted into the National Athletic Trainers' Association Hall of Fame.[1] In 2005, he received the Cain Fain Memorial Award from the NFL Physician's Society and in 2008, received the Tim Kerin Award for Athletic Training Excellence. McLean has five super bowl rings with the 49ers. According to NFL records (2010), McLean and only three other people have five rings, among them Bill Belichick and player Charles Haley (49ers and Cowboys.)[2]

In February 2004, ESPN The Magazine published a feature story on McLean in which he came out publicly as gay and discussed his experiences in the world of football. He said that many players and team officials were aware of his homosexuality during his years with the 49ers. He detailed incidences of harassment from players as well, including one player who repeatedly grabbed him and performed simulated sex while other players watched.[3][4]