Jason Collins made headlines when he announced that he is gay and now becomes the first openly gay athletes still playing in a sports league and in his story he mentioned why he wears the number 98, as a tribute to slain Matthew Shepard.

According to Fox Sports, the website spoke to Shepard's parents about the revelation and they said it made them very emotional. Shepard was brutally killed and beaten for being gay while a student in Laramie, Wyoming and Collins said he wore the number in honor of him. Collins was a 19-year-old sophomore playing ball at Stanford at the time and he said that it hit him hard while he was there.

Dennis Shepard spoke about the incident and that it meant a lot that Collins wore 98 for his son. The report says that parents found out about it after getting a message from email from David Smith of the Human Rights Campaign and then they spoke to reporters about it later on.

"It made me cry," Judy Shepard told FOXSports.com during an interview Monday afternoon. "It was really quite a tribute, and I was very honored. And I know Matt would be thrilled."