Pride 2026: Meet the Nashville Peacocks

The Nashville Peacocks
Photo: Eric England

Did you know Nashville has a reigning national champion in basketball? No, it’s not one of our four NCAA Division I universities. And despite what some are saying, the Memphis Grizzlies are not planning to move here. If you haven’t already been acquainted, it’s time to meet the Nashville Peacocks.

In September of last year, the Nashville Peacocks — a local gay men’s basketball team — won the National Gay Basketball Association national championship, going a perfect 5-0 en route to taking the All-Gender Upper B Division title. That’s one of several national competitions the ’Cocks have claimed since the team’s inception in 2023; the trophy case is filling up fast.

Unlike in larger metro areas like New York, Los Angeles or Boston, there is no full-time gay basketball league in Nashville. Instead of joining large pools of free agents, mixing and matching with new teammates every week, the Peacocks play together year-round, often in traditionally heteronormative leagues as they prepare for nationwide tournaments. It has made for a tightly knit group on and off the court.

“They have chemistry, and they’ve been playing together … that is definitely an advantage,” says Sammy Hann, one of the Peacocks’ founders and the team’s general manager.

Hann, who still suits up for the Peacocks while also managing fellow NGBA squad the Kentucky Gamecocks, first dipped his toe into the local gay sports scene with the Nashville Grizzlies, an inclusive rugby team. Hann says Joe Brown, co-owner of Nashville gay bars Play and Tribe, was the team’s first investor. Brown paid for the club’s uniforms when it first launched in the summer of 2023. Tribe and Play, along with Music City PrEP Clinic, remain some of the team’s largest sponsors. Sponsors help Hann achieve one of his main goals for the club.

“My personal mission has always been to make sure that nobody doesn’t participate in what we’re doing because they can’t afford to,” says Hann.

The team has fostered a community-based environment where anyone is welcome — they even currently have a straight team member. But that doesn’t mean just anyone can earn playing time. The Peacocks are committed to high-level competition. Woody Correll played college ball for Bethel University in McKenzie, Tenn., while Brandon Randolph did so in Nashville at Trevecca.

“There’s an expectation,” says Hann. “There are some high-level basketball players who just happen to be gay. … There’s a level of accountability. We’re there to compete. The other teams know this is a ‘gay team,’ and nobody wants to lose to us.”

Competing as a mainly gay roster in leagues where the majority of the player pool is straight isn’t the only norm-breaking the Peacocks engage in. The team’s head coach, Tess Kilwein, is a woman, which is exceedingly rare for a men’s team of any kind.

“I think that’s what’s so great about the NGBA specifically — gender doesn’t have the place that it does in other spaces,” says Kilwein. “None of these guys treats me any differently. If anything, I think they really respect what I bring to the team. I give them a different perspective that they may lack.”

Kilwein, who played basketball through high school before injuries prevented her from furthering her career, functions more as a mental and interpersonal coach than a typical game manager. Which makes sense, considering she’s a licensed sports psychologist.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a youth, you’re a professional or you’re playing for the NGBA — it’s all kind of the same skills,” Kilwein says. “So a lot of what we do is not necessarily basketball skills — these guys are really talented, and they know what they’re doing — but how to be a team, how to compete at these high levels, how to grind through these tournaments where you play multiple games.”

Randolph grew up in a basketball family, so the grind of the sport is familiar. His father played professionally in Australia (where Randolph was born), and he’s been playing since he was 3 years old. With the Peacocks, Randolph fills a “Shane Battier or Dennis Rodman” type role, filling in the gaps where he’s needed.

“I’m what you call a Swiss Army Knife,” Randolph says. “I do a little bit of everything. I just do what my team needs at the time, whether that’s guard the best guy on the court or getting everybody else involved.”

Correll, one of the team’s go-to big men, has transitioned into a team leader both on and off the court.

“I love being a leader,” says Correll, who was voted the team captain. Correll, like many on the team, still finds it surreal that Nashville has a team like the Peacocks.

“It’s incredible — I couldn’t imagine my life without basketball,” Correll says. “I’m 33, so I thought maybe it was done. I’ve battled so many injuries, and I’ve gained the best friends. It’s just amazing, and I can’t believe we have that here. For the longest time, I thought I’d have to move to New York. I thought maybe that would be where I’d need to go to be able to have something like this.”

Randolph echoes the sentiment.

“It’s big for me,” he says. “I came out when I was 13 years old. Even throughout school everyone knew, but it’s just different when you get to play around people that are like you and … are into the same things, and you don’t have to feel like you’re different, but can still compete at a high level.”

In October, the 2026 NGBA national championship will take place here in Nashville. It offers the city a chance to catch the team in person at the highest level of competition. Hann has a message for the city.

“I think it’d be great for the city to know:

A. Gay basketball exists; B. Their team’s one of the best teams in the country; and C. We’re hosting about 50 teams coming to Nashville in October, and it’s going to be cool as fuck.”