Tuesday, Sep. 30, 2008

NFL, Mid-Columbia preps draw more Hispanic-American athletes

By Eric Degerman, sportstricities.com

It's fascinating to note the rise of talented Hispanic-American athletes in football, as opposed to futbol.

A recent example in Mid-Columbia high school football came last Friday when Moses Lake quarterback Josh Loera (see the video) picked apart Pasco for a 14-3 road victory. The list also includes Othello QB Marc Garza and Connell QB Nate Martinez, just to name a few.

Typically, you likely will find the school's best athlete playing quarterback and/or point guard, which is the case with Loera on both counts.

That said, the NFL is celebrating Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 as Hispanic Heritage Month. I hope it's not just me, but the presence of Hispanic-Americans in the NFL is so common that a player's last name doesn't often stand out.

The NFL provided a list of Hispanic-American players. And you may note that there are three quarterbacks on the list -- Jeff Garcia, J.P. Losman and Tony Romo. (I've attached a pdf from the NFL that includes several nice features, including one on Romo's father, Ramiro, and Cuban-born referee Alberto Riveron.

Here is the list of active Latino players in the NFL:

Ken Amato, Tennessee; Richard Angulo, Jacksonville; Jason Babin, Seattle; Greg Camarillo, Miami; Eduardo Castaneda, Arizona; Luis Castillo, San Diego; Frank Davis, Cincinnati; Donnie Edwards, Kansas City; Jeff Garcia, Tampa Bay; Roberto Garza, Chicago; Anthony Gonzalez, Indianapolis; Tony Gonzalez, Kansas City; Martin Gramatica, New Orleans; Joselio Hanson, Philadelphia; Mauricio Lopez, Oakland; J.P. Losman, Buffalo; Ramiro Padilla, Denver; Manuel Ramirez, San Francisco; Tony Romo, Dallas; Dante Rosario, Carolina; Daniel Sepulveda, Pittsburgh; Salomon Solano, Baltimore; Mario Urrutia, Cincinnati and Fernando Velasco, Tennessee.

Rosario, a tight end, is from Dayton, Ore., and product of the University of Oregon.

It's very likely that Tony Gonzalez's bust someday will join that of Anthony Muñoz in Canton, Ohio. Munoz's enshrinement came in 1998 on the first ballot.

According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the first Hispanic to play in the NFL was Ignacio "Lou" Molinet, a Cuban and Cornell grad who appeared in nine games for the Frankford Yellowjackets in 1927.

There are 12 clubs with Spanish broadcast teams and 11 clubs with portions of their Web sites displayed in Spanish. The Seahawks are among the latter.

The league's Hispanic site is NFLatino.com.