Justin Fashanu

Justinus Soni Fashanu was an English footballer, who played for Norwich City and Nottingham Forest, amongst other teams. He was born in Hackney, London, England, on February 19th, 1961, to a Nigerian barrister and a Guyanese nurse, and was the older brother of fellow footballer, John.  Fashanu was most famous for scoring BBC's Goal of the Season in 1980, with a spectacular effort for Norwich against Liverpool.  He excelled at Norwich, his first club, scoring 40 goals in 103 senior appearances for The Canaries, and was selected six times for the England under-21 side.  Fashanu's 19 league goals in the 1980-81 season were not enough to prevent Norwich's relegation from the First Division, and he was sold to Nottingham Forest in August of 1981, becoming Britain's first black million-pound footballer in the process.  His career then stalled, after Forest manager Brian Clough became disturbed by finding out about Fashanu's visits to gay nightclubs and bars.  His confidence and form deserting him, Fashanu scored just three goals in 32 league games for Forest in the 1981-82 season.  He was loaned to Southampton, who were prevented from buying him by lack of funds.  Fashanu was sold to Notts County for £150,000 in December, 1982.  He scored 20 goals in 64 games for The Magpies, but this was not enough to stop the club having back-to-back relegations.  Soon after joining Brighton and Hove Albion in June, 1985, Fashanu suffered a knee injury which looked to have ended his career.  After travelling to the U.S. for surgery, he subsequently played for a number of clubs in England, Scotland, the U.S.A., Canada, and Sweden.  In an interview with The Sun newspaper on October 22nd, 1990, Fashanu came out as homosexual, becoming the first (and, so far, only) prominent player in English football to do so, and thereafter struggled to find regular employment as a professional footballer, as well as becoming the subject of crowd abuse.  His brother, John, described Justin as an "outcast" after his admission.  On April 13th, 1992, whilst playing for Torquay United, Fashanu received a £265 fine and was banned for driving for 28 days after being fund guilty of speeding and failing to produce his driver's licence.  In March, 1998, after moving to the United States, Fashanu was alleged to have sexually assaulted a 17-year-old boy after a night of drinking.  Homosexual acts were illegal at the time in the state of Maryland, where Fashanu was living.  Fashanu fled back to England, where - on May 3rd, 1998 - his body was found hanged in a lock-up garage in Shoreditch, London.  His suicide note denied the charges, claiming the sex act was consensual, and that he had returned to England as he wouldn't get a fair trial in the U.S. due to his homosexuality.  The Times and the B.B.C. reported that an arrest warrant had been issued by Howard County District Court on April 3rd, that he had been charged with second-degree sexual assault and first-degree assaults punishable by up to 20 years in jail, and that Howard County police would have requested his extradition had they known he had fled to England.  Justin Fashanu was just 37 years old.