The Yards Between Us

A groundbreaking memoir from professional NFL player R.K. Russell, who made history by becoming the first out active NFL player to identify as bisexual.

In 2019, Russell, or "Russ," as his friends and family call him, broke the mold when he came out as bisexual and reclaimed his life and his identity as an athlete in an essay and exclusive interview for ESPN. Now, in his powerful memoir, THE YARDS BETWEEN US, he shares his full story and explores his love of football, men and women, walking the devastating tightrope of keeping his sexuality secret, the tension between his private and public lives, and the importance of crashing through barriers. One part inspirational journey and one part coming of age as an athlete struggling to break a mold, THE YARDS BETWEEN US follows in the footsteps of moving, impactful sports memoirs like Agassi's OPEN, Misty Copeland's LIFE IN MOTION, and Megan Rapinoe's ONE LIFE.

Told through the people and moments that have shaped him, Russell dips back in time to Buffalo, New York, with the tragic loss of his stepfather, his early life as a shy kid struggling with the expectations on a Black boy, his move to conservative Dallas, the pull between his quiet nature and his athletic ability, the uncertainty of an adolescence in which his love for the game means he has to deeply hide things about himself. From being bullied in grade school to fighting back, from his first kiss and middle school love to his first moment understanding his own physical talent, from his isolating and traumatic experience at a Dallas private high school when he first played football to the first moment he truly fell in love with football when his mom brought him to his first NFL game, from college at Purdue, to being drafted by his hometown team the Dallas Cowboys, and then on to seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Buffalo Bills, THE YARDS BETWEEN US traces the highs and lows of Russell's life and career. As his time in the sport comes into full bloom, Russell realizes that keeping his secret in the NFL is easier than in college when life and football are so much more connected to social worlds. But at this higher level, though there's much more ability to hide, there's also much more at stake.

Through being cut, injured, and frustrating setbacks, Russell's confidence lags as the secret of his sexuality weighs heavier and heavier. And when that frustration is combined with the devastating loss of his best friend, college roommate and sole confidant, the darkness that follows also brings a deep understanding that perhaps it's time to make a change. In Los Angeles, against the backdrop of the swaying palm trees and warm sands of Malibu, Russell falls in love and it's the final push he needs to stand up for all of the different parts of who he is―a professional athlete, a writer, a son, a friend, a lover, a bisexual Black man.

In the years since his public coming out, Russell has become an advocate for LGTBQ rights, working with the NFL, GLAAD, and HRC and publishing op-eds in the New York Times, the Guardian, and The Los Angeles Times pushing for equity in sports. R.K. Russell's memoir shows us the power, the love, and the life-changing force of embracing who you are and fighting to make space so others can do the same.