In 1975 when David Kopay, a former pro football player, became the first professional athlete to reveal his homosexuality, the disclosure propelled him from relative obscurity into the limelight's harsh glare. Newspaper headlines, TV talk shows--and now comes this book, which is certain to outrage additional members of the jockstrap Establishment. Known for his all-out play on the field, Kopay displays no less guts and fortitude in his new role as a spokesman for sexual--nay, human--freedom. His life gives the lie to the stereotype of the gay male: ""An effeminate man. . . mocking the best of what was male and taking on the manners of the worst of what was female."" He details his prolonged and painful journey into the awareness of who he is and why at last he sees no reason to be ashamed of it. Young, his collaborator, is also homosexual, also decent and sensitive, and while his third-person sections disrupt the rhythm of the book, he is not just another hired word slinger: ""All we are saying is that we exist and nothing we do in private is as unnatural as forcing a person to live as a heterosexual when he knows he is not."" The most moving part of this compelling human document is Kopay's return home, after breaking the news, to play in an alumni-varsity game and to confront his mortified parents and relatives. Society's child, yes, but Dave Kopay emerges from his odyssey as an All-Pro person.