Back Home, Sense of Pride in Michael Sam

Play Video Video|3:44 John Francis Peters for The New York Times Back Home, Sense of Pride in Michael Sam Michael Sam, a defensive end at Missouri who will enter the N.F.L. draft, announced Sunday that he was gay. People in his hometown of Hitchcock, Tex., and on his college team voiced their support. email facebook twitter save more COLUMBIA, Mo. — Michael Sam was the loud country boy who wore a tank top and a cowboy hat. He was the smooth-singing baritone who could irritate his coaches and crack up his teammates with his improvised songs. He was one of the best players to come out of tiny Hitchcock, Tex., where his family was well known for all the wrong reasons. He was an all-American and defensive terror on the football field. He was a regular at the gay club, where the bartenders knew him by name. Sam introduced himself to the world Sunday night as a National Football League prospect who happens to be gay. Now he is poised to become a trailblazer in a violent and macho