Board of Directors
Scroll down, or click on a name to see biography.
Executive Committee
Benjamin King, President
Jenna Flateman, Vice President
Don Murray, Vice President
Jeff Kagan, Secretary
Will Smathers, Treasurer
Board Members
Alan Anderson
Arnie Bautista
Wolfgang Busch
John Doucette
Don Fraser
Barbara Gurtov
Byrne Harrison
Felipe Hernandez
Ron Sheppard
E-mail us at contact@teamnewyork.org
Benjamin King
President, Team New York
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Benjamin King is an advanced masters rower with the Hudson River Rowing
Association located in Poughkeepsie, New York. Ben began his rowing career in 1992
at Northeastern University in Boston. Over the years he has competed in many
regional and international regattas including the Head of the Charles, the
Gay Games, and recently the first World Outgames in Montréal. He is the former
Vice President of Crew New York, an LGBT rowing organization.
In November 2006, Ben was featured in Rowing News. He was Genre Magazine's October 2007 GMan, New York. Ben is currently a high school rowing coach.
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Jenna Flateman
Vice President, Team New York
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Jenna is an Interactive Development Executive at Getty Images. She was DIII NCAA Champion in the 55m dash in 2003 and is currently a
member of the New York Rugby club as a player, board member, and
Sponsorship Coordinator. She started her rugby career at Wesleyan University
in 2004 and has quickly climbed the ranks to be a member in the USA Rugby
7s pool competing nationally and internationally.
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Don Murray
Vice President, Team New York
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Don Murray is the former Commissioner of the Gotham Volleyball League. He has been involved
with the league for over nine years. Don recently joined Team New York and was soon elected
as Vice President. She has had an expansive career in theatre and television, playing the role
of Maude Finlay, the sharp-tongued cousin of Edith Bunker on All In The Family. Eventually, this
character would be given her own spin-off, entitled Maude. Later, she would bring smiles to the
faces of more gay men than a tipsy Liza Minelli, in her role as Dorothy Zbornak in the
popular NBC hit, The Golden Girls. Don currently spends most of her time in bars, singing
verses from (her once golden moment) Mame.
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Jeff Kagan
Secretary, Team New York
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Jeff is the Secretary of Team New York. He is also the co-founder of Out of Bounds NYC,
the NYC Gay Hockey Association and NYC Gay Basketball League.
He has co-produced Sports Ball with Amy Lesser,
which raised over $50,000 for participating groups to date. In June 2003
Jeff was the recipient of the AOL Time-Warner Andrew Heiskell Community Service
Award for his volunteer work with gay & lesbian sports issues. Jeff has appeared
on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, in a segment entitled "Puck Buddies" and has
also been featured in two books: Jocks 2: Coming Out To Play by Dan Woog and
Outsports Revolution: Truth & Myth in the World of Gay Sports
by Jim Buzinski and Cyd Zeigler, Jr. In May, 2008, Jeff was named Sports Out Loud Magazine's Athlete of the Year.
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Will Smathers
Treasurer, Team New York
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Will is one of the co-founders of Out of Bounds, and a former President of the organization.
Professionally, he is a grant administrator at New York University where he also lectures
in linguistics and cultural studies. He is a former senior director of the Fulbright Program
for Asia and the Pacific Rim and has lived and worked in West Africa, Southeast Asia, and
the Middle East.Will has been active in a variety of sports for many years, including
karate, tennis, skiing, equestrian sports, and cycling. He is a member of the Gotham Knights
Rugby Football Club, Front Runners NY and Fast 'n Fab Cycling Club. He is also a member
of the Team New York Board of Directors.
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Alan Anderson
Board Member, Team New York
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Alan has been involved with the Gay Games since 1993, first as a volunteer with
Unity '94, the organizing body for Gay Games IV in NYC in 1994 and then as a
participant in bowling at the Games in Amsterdam (winning a Bronze Medal in
doubles) in 1998, Sydney (Gold Medal in the 4-man team) in 2002 and Chicago in 2006.
Alan joined the Board in 1998, received the first annual TNY "Team Spirit Award" in 2000 for
his ongoing volunteer efforts and was elected Co-President that same year. He continued to
serve until 2004, returning to the Board in 2007. During all those years he has been actively
involved in membership development, communications, uniform design, community outreach and
fund-raising, including playing a major role in the 2002 campaign that raised over $50,000
to help defray the travel costs to the Sydney games for over 20 qualified applicants.
Alan was one of the athletes profiled in the book Let The Games Be Gay by Heike Bosche and
Philipp Braun. He has been actively involved in the LGBT community in NYC for over twenty years,
serving as a volunteer with GMHC, on the Board of Heritage of Pride and singing with the
New York City Gay Men's Chorus.
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Arnie Bautista
Board Member, Team New York
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As Advertising Director of the country's longest-running gay men's
lifestyle publication, Genre Magazine, Arnie finds it difficult to be as
athletically involved as he would like to be. A competitive swimmer all
through middle and high school, he dabbled with Team New York Aquatics a
few years ago.
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Wolfgang Busch
Board Member, Team New York
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For the Gay Games in 1990, held in Vancouver, Canada, Wolfgang was a sports
reporter for the Gay Cable Network in NYC, participated in Bowling and he was
producing fundraisers for Team NY. He was a semi-professional soccer player
in Germany and for 7 years he was an active bowler with the Tuesday Night Bowling
League in NYC, winning several cash prices including "First Place" at IGBO
tournaments. Wolfgang was holding a VP board position for Tuesday Night Bowling
and he was on the Uniform Committee for Team NY for the Gay Games in '90.
In 2003 he founded in Brooklyn the LGBT Ping Pong NY group with Paulo Fritas and
we are now practicing once a week in Sunnyside Queens at a place called Paradise.
We welcome ping pong players on all levels and we are looking forward to the Gay Games 2010 in Germany.
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John Doucette
Board Member, Team New York
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John Doucette has been a member of the New York Gay Pool League (NYGPL) since 1995,
and is a past President of the league (2005-06). NYGPL is a nonprofit
organization that raises funds for HIV/AIDS service organizations
in the New York City area. To date, they have donated over $200,000
to these organizations.John joined the Board of Directors of Team New York
in 2007 after attending his first Gay Games in Chicago in 2006.
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Don Fraser
Board Member, Team New York
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Don Fraser began swimming competitively at the age of 7. He is a High School
All-American, National Champion and the National Record holder in the 500 and
1000 freestyle. As a collegiate, Fraser was Big Ten Champion and an All-American
competing in the 200 fly, 500 free, 1000 free and 1650 free. In 1984 Fraser
qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials in the 1650 freestyle.
Don has been a member of Team New York Aquatics for the past four years and has served two years as
Vice President and Treasurer. He competed in IGLA in 2004 and 2005 and medaled in five events in
Chicago at Gay Games VII.
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Barbara Gurtov
Board Member, Team New York
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Barbara Gurtov has been a member of Team New York since 1994. She has served as Vice President, Membership Chair and as a general Board member.
Barbara participated in the Gay Games in New York in 1994, where she earned two Gold Medals in Bowling. Since New York, Barbara has participated in
the Games in Amsterdam in 1998 and Sydney in 2002.
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Byrne Harrison
Board Member, Team New York
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Byrne Harrison is a drama critic for various
online sites. He has been a member of the Gotham Knights Rugby Football Club since 2002,
where he has served as Vice-President and chair of various committees. Byrne has been
involved with Out of Bounds as a member of the advisory council and Board of Directors
since 2004.
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Felipe Hernandez
Board Member, Team New York
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Felipe Hernandez is the current Director and one of the founders of Cheer New York.
He has been involved in various organized sports during his life, including Track, Soccer, Wrestling, Football, and Volleyball.
He has cheered for Columbia University in college and Yale University in grad school, and was an original member of the former
New York Spirit Project adult gay cheerleading team.
He is a member of the Team NY Board to promote a positive attitude about gay sports, support LGBT athletes, and to challenge
traditional athletic stereotypes, while giving back to the gay community and greater NYC area!
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Ron Sheppard
Board Member, Team New York
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Ron Sheppard is a former collegiate basketball player.
He's the co-founder of New York's traveling gay basketball team, the New York Warriors , the premier gay team in the metropolitan area. The Warriors play in various tournaments throughout the United States and abroad.
Ron has participated in the Gay Games, playing basketball, in Vancouver (1990), New York (1994), Amsterdam (1998), Sydney (2002) and Chicago (2006).
Currently, Ron is the Commissioner of the New York City Gay Basketball League, a group which he is also the co-founder.
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