Former Giants OL Simmons dies

Roy Simmons, the second former NFL player to come out as gay and the first player ever to come out publicly as being HIV positive, has died at the age of 57.

Longtime friend and New York Times bestselling author James Hester confirmed Simmons died on Thursday sitting quietly in a chair in his Bronx apartment. He had been recently hospitalized with pneumonia and had been HIV positive since 1997.

“I guess he’s at peace now,” Hester told The Post.

Simmons was known as the life of the party when he was drafted by the Giants in 1979. A big burly offensive lineman, Simmons’ sweet spirit earned the nickname “Sugar Bear.” But his everpresent smile masked his inner turmoil of drug abuse and the closeted secret of his sexuality. He was eventually cut by the Giants in 1983 by Bill Parcells.

Simmons moved to the Redskins where he was part of their 1984 Super Bowl XVIII team. But he was out of football the next season. In 1992, he announced he was gay on “Donahue,” a nationally televised show. At the time, Simmons was the second retired NFL player to say he was gay.

Friends, family members, and a former girlfriend attending the Donahue show with Simmons were all stunned by the news. He had several girlfriends and was the father of a baby. But by then his life had spiraled into a decay of crack addiction, alcoholism and promiscuity.

In his autobiography, “Out of Bounds: Coming out of Sexual Abuse, Addiction, and My Life of Lies in the NFL Closet,” Simmons detailed his life of sex parties, drug abuse and dressing in drag.

Simmons would later say many of his problems stemmed from being raped at age 10 by a neighbor in rural Savannah, Ga.