But since the Jazz traded him to the Houston Rockets in 2003, he's never been back to Utah - until now. And he's nervous about it.
"I've been looking forward to it on the one hand and dreading it on the other," said the lanky Brit, sipping Earl Grey tea Thursday afternoon at a Salt Lake City Marriott after flying in from Los Angeles. "I have lots of feelings [about his two seasons with the Jazz] I wrote about in the book that are not necessarily wonderfully positive."
Amaechi, who retired from the NBA in 2004, will appear this afternoon at the Borders bookstore in Murray to sign copies of his new memoir, Man in the Middle. The book is mostly an inspirational tale about his unlikely journey from pudgy, 17-year-old British hoops novice to NBA starter, but that's not why Amaechi is all over national TV.
Instead, interviewers want to know about about homophobia in the NBA, about the challenges of being a closeted man in professional team sports and about his prickly relationship with Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, who benched Amaechi for most of his two seasons in Utah.
Amaechi, 36, says response to the book has been mostly positive, although he has received a few e-mails from "people who want to cut my face off." Reaction in the NBA world to Amaechi's disclosure has ranged from indifference to the comments by ex-NBA star Tim Hardaway, who was banned from All-Star Game festivities in Las Vegas after he told a radio interviewer, "I hate gay people."
Amaechi called Hardaway's remarks "laughably stupid," adding that while they may have raised awareness about homophobia, they also have emboldened other bigots to speak out. He said he has received dozens of e-mails in the past week from young athletes around the world who have felt less safe in the wake of Hardaway's comments.
"You can't underestimate the damage that he's done," he said. "His words are still ricocheting around school corridors."
Amaechi said he has not heard from any of his former Jazz teammates since his book was published last week. But he still hopes to.
The hoopster-turned-author met Thursday afternoon with about three dozen teenagers at the Utah Pride Center's Youth Activities Center, where he answered questions, signed autographs and posed for snapshots. The visit was Amaechi's idea, said youth activities coordinator Marina Gomberg.
"For him to stop by here meant a lot to the youths," she said. "He's become someone to look up to, not just locally but nationally. There's a lot of power in coming out, and people in the [gay] community are looking at it as a positive thing."
Tonight, Amaechi will attend a reception for the Human Rights Campaign of Utah. But first comes the book-signing event.
"I'm still worried that nobody's going to show up," he said. "There'll be two people, and they'll both be there with signs that say, 'Leviticus 16,' or something."
Despite some negative comments in his book about members of the Jazz coaching staff and his lack of playing time in Utah, Amaechi said he enjoyed his two years in Salt Lake City. In Utah, for the first time in his life, he said, he had a group of gay friends with whom he could be himself.
"People don't realize how cool [Salt Lake] is in places. They really don't," he said. "They have to understand - most of my friends are from Salt Lake. I know that I turned down $17 million to go to the Lakers. And I cannot in good conscience say that I would trade the friends I have here for [that]. And that says something about Salt Lake, I think. I'm really glad for those two years here."
griggs@sltrib.com
Book signing
John Amaechi will sign his book, Man in the Middle, today at 5 p.m. at Borders Books & Music, 132 E. Winchester St. (6400 South) in Murray. For more information, call the store at 801-313-1020.
