Sports Illustrated compiled a list of 30 giants in the Latino community whose work off the field boldly and brightly influences the sports landscape as we know it today. With Hispanic Heritage Month being celebrated this past month, SI honored the innovators, taste makers, analysts, announcers, coaches and business minds that form to provide the heartbeat for the growing Hispanic influence on our global sports landscape.
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You don’t need to be on the field to make some noise. SI presents the 30 most influential Hispanics in sports https://t.co/0RdBN9rRFM https://t.co/8E222TXL9U
Some of the more recognizable names on the list include Mexican boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya, who held titles in six different world classes, generated over $700 million in pay-per-view income and now is a top boxing promoter with his company Golden Boy Enterprises that will continue to influence boxing’s future.
Oscar De La Hoya Greatest Hits(HBO)
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Former NFL tight end and NFL studio analyst Tony Gonzalez played 17 NFL seasons and holds the record for total receiving yards by a tight end in league history with 15,127. Hes also second all-time in receptions with 1,325. Gonzalez has worked as an analyst for CBS and FOX and his popularity continues to grow through his charitable works and presence on national NFL coverage and other TV endeavors.
Tony Gonzalez on Twitter
Join me tonight at 10p ET/PT for the premiere of #AdventureCapitalists on @CNBC. @DhaniJones wants to know what you think (me too)!
Dan Le Batard is a Cuban-American sportswriter who is famous for his self-titled radio show and for hosting Highly Questionable, a sports show with comedic presence in which his elderly father often appears, which airs daily on ESPN.
At the show’s height of popularity, Le Batard, his dad Papi and the young genius Bomani Jones catered to an Hispanic audience, providing ESPN with a show aimed at engaging the growing Hispanic sports viewership and participation in America.
Highly Questionable – Papi Calls Javale McGee “A Motherfucker”
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MLB Analyst Jessica Mendoza, 36, was an All-American softball player at Stanford from 1999-2002 and a former member gold medal winner with the US Womens 2004 Olympic squad in Athens.
Those accolades and the spirit of pressure-packed competition set the stage for her greatest moment in 2015, when she became the first female analyst in the history of Major League Baseball. Shes become an enlightening, insightful and eloquent mainstay at ESPNs Sunday Night Baseball and says she draws her inspiration from her father, a first-generation Mexican-American that taught her to love her Hispanic roots.
Beauty Of…The Women of ESPN: Jessica Mendoza | Allure
Jessica Mendoza on how her Mexican heritage helped her become one of the first female ESPN broadcasters. Still haven’t subscribed to Allure on YouTube? http://bit.ly/AllureYouTubeSub CONNECT WITH ALLURE Web: http://www.allure.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/Allure_magazine Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/allure Google+: https://plus.google.com/+Allure Instagram: http://instagram.com/allure Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/alluremagazine Tumblr: http://allure.tumblr.com The Scene: https://thescene.com/allure Want even more?
Alex Rodriguez played 22 MLB seasons and his 696 career bombs are the most by a player of Hispanic descent in league history. A true Latin Lord, A-Rod might be the most famous Hispanic in the baseball world and since hooking up with global icon Jennifer Lopez, his popularity and celebrity continues to soar in his post baseball career as an entrepreneur and baseball analyst. Following a career mixed with controversy and Hall of Fame production , A-Rod has become a valuable asset to the Hispanic community and a power person within the Hispanic ranks.
According to SI, In 2003, he gave $3.9 million to the University of Miami to renovate its baseball stadium and as a result it was re-named “Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.”
When he came back from PED suspension in 2015, A-Rod donated $1 million to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade, a donation that arrived in good timing with the Yankees expansion initiative to serve more children.
Alex Rodriguez Tribute Video
A look back at the illustrious 22-year MLB career of Alex Rodriguez. Check out http://m.mlb.com/video for our full archive of videos, and subscribe on YouTube for the best, exclusive MLB content: http://youtube.com/MLB About MLB.com: Commissioner Allan H.
Former Dallas Cowboys All-Pro QB Tony Romo on the list that may surprise a few people. Most Americans have claimed Romo as one of their own but he was born Antonio Ramiro Romo, the grandson of Mexican immigrants. He will go down among the elite Latino players in NFL history and his rapid ascension to elite NFL analyst has added to his rising portfolio.
Carolina Panthers head football coach Ron Rivera and Chicago White Sox baseball manager Rick Renteria are both rare Hispanic coaches in leadership positions in their respective sports.
Rivera is an NFL pioneer. Drafted in 1984 by the Chicago Bears, he became the first person of Puerto Rican and Mexican descent to play in the NFL. In 2011, Rivera became only the third Hispanic to become a head coach in the NFL and hes been to a Super Bowl with Cam Newton as his QB.
Renteria is the only Latino manager in MLB and performs with the pressures of that task each night since taking over in 2016.
All of these people in their own way have carved out a legacy and set the foundation for young Hispanics to participate in all that the sports world has to offer, while uplifting their communities and providing strong role models for youth to identify with and be inspired by. In a growing bi-lingual and multi-ethnic society, the Hispanic influence will continue to expand and shape the future.
