Jason Collins ethnicity is African-American. Born and raised in Northridge, Los Angeles, California, Collins came from a family with deep roots in the African-American community of South-Central Los Angeles. He was American by nationality, Californian by upbringing, and a trailblazer by every measure that matters.

He passed away on May 12, 2026, at the age of 47, after a valiant fight with stage 4 glioblastoma.

The basketball world, and far beyond it, lost one of its most significant figures.

Jason Collins Family Background: African-American Roots and Los Angeles Pride

Jason Paul Collins was born on December 2, 1978, in Northridge, California, eight minutes before his identical twin brother Jarron, who also went on to play in the NBA.

Their parents, Paul and Portia Collins, were insurance agents who raised their twin sons with a clear set of priorities, not fame, not basketball, but character.

We're not raising NBA stars. My kids know their roots, and they're proud of their heritage, whether it be at Harvard-Westlake or in South-Central Los Angeles.
Portia Collins

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A post shared by Jason Collins (@jasoncollins_98)

That quote says everything about how Jason Collins was raised. His African-American heritage was not something his parents treated as background detail. It was something they actively instilled, through Sunday school, through family trips designed to broaden perspective, and through daily examples of hard work and humility.

Paul and Portia attended support groups to understand how to raise twins with distinct personalities. They were community-first parents, and that community was rooted in Black Los Angeles. The family's ties to South-Central, even while Jason and Jarron attended the elite private Harvard-Westlake School, where they were among just 1 in 20 African-American students, reflected a deliberate effort to keep the boys grounded in who they were and where they came from.

His aunt, Teri Jackson, is a San Francisco Superior Court judge, the first Black woman to serve in that role, and was the first family member Jason confided in when he came out as gay. That detail speaks to the kind of family the Collinses were: educated, civic-minded, and unshakeably close.

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Why Jason Collins Wore Number 98 And What It Said About His Identity

In his historic 2013 Sports Illustrated essay, the piece that made him the first active male athlete in any of the four major North American professional sports leagues to publicly come out as gay, Collins opened with a sentence that has since become one of the most quoted lines in sports history.

I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm Black. And I'm gay.

The order was deliberate. His Blackness was part of his identity, named alongside everything else, not separated from it. Collins grew up in an African-American family that taught Christian values, cultural pride, and unconditional love in equal measure.

His father Paul's immediate response when Jason came out was:

I love you, and if you're gay, that's OK.

That response did not happen by accident. It happened because of how Paul and Portia had built their family.

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A post shared by Jason Collins (@jasoncollins_98)

Collins wore jersey number 98 throughout his career as a tribute to Matthew Shepard, whose murder in 1998 became a defining moment in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. For Collins, his African-American identity and his identity as a gay man were never separate things. They were the same story.

He played 735 NBA games across 13 seasons, for the New Jersey Nets, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards, and Brooklyn Nets.

He married his partner, Brunson Green, a film producer, before his death. He died at home in Los Angeles, surrounded by family.

For more on his parents and family story, read our full piece on Jason Collins' parents and family background.

FAQs About Jason Collins Ethnicity and Background

Was Jason Collins the first African-American to come out as gay in the NBA?

Yes. When Collins came out in his 2013 Sports Illustrated essay, he became not only the first active male athlete across the four major North American sports to publicly come out, but also the first African-American NBA player to do so, a milestone that carried particular weight given the cultural conversations around masculinity and sexuality within the Black community at the time.

Did Jason Collins have any connection to other famous people growing up?

Yes, two notable ones. Future actor Jason Segel played on the same Harvard-Westlake basketball team as Collins and Jarron. Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, attended Stanford University alongside Collins. After Jason came out in 2013, Bill Clinton personally wrote a statement of support, noting his family's connection to Collins during their college years.

What jersey number did Jason Collins wear, and why did it matter?

Collins wore number 98 for most of his career as a tribute to Matthew Shepard, a gay college student whose 1998 murder became a defining moment in American civil rights history. Collins chose the number while still closeted, a quiet, private act of solidarity carried for years before he ever said a word publicly about who he was.

What award did Jason Collins receive shortly before his death?

In May 2026, just weeks before he passed away, Jason Collins was honored with the inaugural Bill Walton Global Champion Award at the Green Sports Alliance Summit, recognizing his push for positive social change. He was too ill to attend the ceremony in person. His twin brother Jarron accepted the award on his behalf and said, "He's the bravest, strongest man I've ever known."

When did Jason Collins pass away?

Jason Collins died on May 12, 2026, at the age of 47, after battling stage 4 glioblastoma. He had been diagnosed in December 2025. The NBA, his husband Brunson Green, and his twin brother Jarron confirmed his passing.

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