Villanova University’s now openly gay basketball star Will Sheridan returned to the court this past weekend for the Brotherly Love Hoops Classic, an LGBT+ tournament, writes Keith Jones for NBC 10.

The National Gay Basketball Association hosted the tournament.

Jones was a Wildcats manager and Sheridan’s roommate. He spoke with Sheridan about the homophobia he faced as a gay athlete.

At Villanova, he felt like part of his life was out of bounds.

“It was like living two lives or like this kind of unspoken secret or truth,” Sheridan said.

Though he kept his sexuality in the closet, fans of opposing Philadelphia schools still taunted him cruelly about it at games

“I just felt bad for my family. My grandmother would be at games, my mom,” the basketball star said.

On the team, one of the players didn’t want to be his roommate because they would be seen as gay.

That player has since apologized.

At the time, Sheridan was afraid of losing everyone important to him if he tried just to be himself.

But after graduation, he publicly came out–the first major college basketball player to do so.

“Visibility is important,” he said.

Find out what happened to Will Sheridan after graduation at NBC 10.