Hicks’ coming out serves as a story of hope

Bryan Hicks started officiating local hockey games when he was 12 years old. At 13, he was already flying out to Calgary for the Western Hockey League officiating school.

By 16, Hicks, who grew up in Orange and attended Amity High, was officiating tennis. He became the youngest chair umpire in U.S. Open history at age 18. He would work Wimbledon. He would work the Australian Open. He got barked at by John McEnroe during a World TeamTennis match.

“There was a funny picture of it in the LA Times,” Hicks said.

He went on to referee more than 400 NCAA Division I hockey games for men and women over 11 years. He was selected for five NCAA women’s Frozen Fours and twice worked the NCAA men’s national tournament.

I knew who Bryan Hicks was. Over the years, he worked the Pilot Pen in New Haven. He worked more than 100 hockey games involving Quinnipiac and Yale.

Until Wednesday, I didn’t know

Bryan Hicks. And when we had finished talking, my predominant feeling was one of hope. His story, one he first told a day earlier on the Outsports website, gives evidence we are headed in the right direction. Lord knows we need all the good news we can get in 2020.

Hiding his secret for 20 years, Hicks, his marriage failing, slipped into depression, found himself not even wanting to be on the ice anymore. On a flight to Chicago for World TeamTennis, he watched “Love, Simon,” a movie about a gay high school senior exposed by a classmate. Overwhelmed with emotions, Hicks wrote in Outsports that he

Orange native Bryan Hicks, left, has been a ref for more than 400 NCAA Division I hockey games for men and women over 11 years.

Ned and Annie Dykes / Contributed via Bryan Hicks