His latest step in that department, however, might have trumped his past efforts combined.

Late last week, Thorson, who played at KU from 2008-10 after transferring from his native Wisconsin, revealed in a short entry on his personal blog that he is gay.

Somewhat inspired by the coming-out of recent NFL Draft pick and SEC Defensive Player of the Year Michael Sam, Thorson decided that he, too, wanted to do his part to help others like him — particularly athletes — feel accepted in their own skin.

“By the time the Michael Sam thing happened, I was already well down my road in telling close friends and my family,” said Thorson, who went to training camp with the Arizona Cardinals in 2011 following his time at KU. “But his coming-out had an incredible impact on me. His willingness to put his dream at risk for something that was counter-intuitive to the NFL way of life was awesome.

Nick Krug

“We live in a different world than we did five years ago or 10 years ago, and it’s a testament to where we are as a society. People like Michael Sam and (former NBA player) Jason Collins definitely broke down barriers and made it a lot easier for all of us to be ourselves.”

Former Jayhawk and Thorson teammate Chris Harris, who now plays for the Denver Broncos, said he and Thorson were not all that close because of their short time playing together on opposite sides of the ball but added that he believed such announcements were becoming less newsworthy every day because of guys like Sam and Collins.

“I think everybody’s much more accepting these days,” Harris said. “The world is changing. There’s gonna be gay football players, gay basketball players, and every locker room has to be ready to accept that, and I think that’s happening.”

According to former KU teammate Tim Biere, who reached out to Thorson first by email and then via telephone, one of the best parts about hearing Thorson’s news was that nothing had really changed.

“I talked to him just the other day,” Biere said. “And he sounds like the same guy to me. We even joked about it, and that’s the way he’s always been. I was a little surprised to hear the news, but I don’t view him any differently. He’s still like a brother to all of us who played with him, and I’m real happy for the guy.”

Thorson said such sentiments from Biere best sum up the enormous amount of love and support he had received from people in his world from all walks of life during the past week.

“That was always my biggest worry,” Thorson said. “And now five days removed from that, I see that it was the most ridiculous thing I could’ve worried about. I’m actually even closer with a lot of the guys who I already considered my brothers, and that’s pretty cool.”

Thorson, 26, now lives in San Francisco and manages publisher relations for AdsNative, a native advertising start-up.

He said he was as happy as he had been in recent memory and said the outpouring of love and support made coming out one of the best decisions of his life.

“After playing for a guy like (former KU) coach (Mark) Mangino, I got pretty good at not worrying too much about what other people have to say,” he joked. “It’s certainly a very happy time, and it’s so much easier to not have to be something I’m not. I’ve gotten to a great place and really wanted to do this to help other athletes feel accepted no matter what.”