The Nov. 30 New York Times had a feature on former National Football League player Roy Simmons, a ‘290-pound offensive lineman for the Washington Redskins known for his speed.’ They also noted that ‘Among the posse of some 20 family members and friends he had invited to Tampa to watch him play in the 1984 Super Bowl were his three current lovers—two women and one man… . To keep his furtive gay life a secret, he had cultivated a reputation for being the life of the party. He constantly juggled deception and compartmentalization, while placating those of both sexes closest to him. The pain and the shame that Mr. Simmons now says he felt were eventually inflicted on others, in the way he disclosed his sexuality. One day in 1992, years after his retirement from the N.F.L., he appeared on national television on Donahue with a former girlfriend to discuss what he had never told her (or almost anyone else): that he was gay … . Then in 1997 he got the news he dreaded most: he was H.I.V. positive. … Simmons has decided to discuss it publicly for the first time, on the eve of World AIDS Day tomorrow. The only other professional team athlete to admit having H.I.V. is Magic Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers star.’