2021 Paley Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

Sports

According to pioneering Spanish-language sportscaster Luis Mayoral, iconic right fielder "Roberto Clemente was to Latinos what Jackie Robinson was to black baseball players. He spoke up for Latinos; he was the first one to speak out."

During her first full professional season, twenty-one-year-old Nancy Lopez is LPGA Rookie and Player of the Year, appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated and a guest on The Tonight Show in 1978.

Andrés Cantor first uses his globally recognized "Goooooooaalllll!!" call during the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

In 1991, Bill Guerin becomes the first hockey player of Hispanic heritage to play in the NHL. He would go on to be a member of four Stanley Cup–winning teams.

Oscar De La Hoya wins championships in six different weight classes, and hosts reality competition series The Next Great Champ on FOX in 2004.
Sofia Mulánovich Aljovin becomes the first Peruvian surfer to win a World Surf League World Championship Tour event and was later inducted into the Surfing Hall of Fame for her achievements. She is also named Best Action Sports Athlete at the 2005 ESPYs.
At the 2008 Beijing Summer games, U.S. swimming legend Dara Torres participates in her fifth Olympics. At age 41 she becomes the oldest swimmer to medal in Olympic history.

At thirty-five-years and eight-days old, Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez becomes the youngest baseball player to hit 600 career home runs with a two-run homer against the Blue Jays on August 4, 2010.

In October 2015, Jessica Mendoza becomes the first female commentator in MLB playoff history, calling an American League Wild Card Game on ESPN.

Born in Argentina, former San Antonio Spur great Manu Ginóbili is only one of two players (the other being Bill Bradley) who has won a EuroLeague, an NBA Championship, and an Olympic Gold Medal.

Olympic gold medalist Laurie Hernandez wins season twenty-three of Dancing with the Stars with her partner Val Chmerkovskiy in 2016.

One of the WNBA's greatest players, Diana Taurasi, is nicknamed "White Mamba" by the "Black Mamba" himself, Kobe Bryant, in 2017.

Following his Hall of Fame NFL career, record-setting tight end Tony Gonzalez becomes a successful broadcaster for both CBS and Fox Sports. In July 2021, Gonzalez leaves sports TV to pursue his acting career, after previously appearing on such popular shows as One Tree Hill and NCIS.

Because of his knack for predicting plays, former quarterback Tony Romo is labeled a "genius of football commentary" by the New Yorker in 2020.
Soccer Sportscaster Pablo Ramírez is nicknamed La Torre de Jalisco ("The Tower of Jalisco") because of his height.

In 2019, Mariano Rivera is the first player unanimously voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, joining fellow Latino legends Juan Marichal and Pedro Martínez.

In 2019, Carlos Vela, captain of the MLS soccer team Los Angeles FC, appears on the front cover of FIFA 20 MVP edition and is featured in a Target commercial.

In 2021, Lionel Messi becomes the first player in soccer history to score more than twenty goals over thirteen consecutive seasons in Europe's top five leagues. His record-breaking career is reviewed in the recent streaming documentary Lionel Messi: The Greatest.
San Diego Padres phenomenal shortstop Fernando Tatís Jr. leads the National League voting for the 2021 All-Star Game after being the youngest player selected for the cover of MLB The Show. His fellow Dominican Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wins the Most Valuable Player Award for the game, becoming the youngest to ever do so. Both Tatís and Guerrero are sons of former MLB stars.