Latinos in American Football: Pathbreakers on the Gridiron, 1927 to the Present

Mario Longoria and Jorge Iber remind us that sports matter in Latinos in American Football: Pathbreakers on the Gridiron, 1927 to the Present. Longoria and Iber's book is published at an important time in history, as they hope Latinos in American Football “will aid in bringing the lesser known of these many heroes to a broader audience” in order to show how Latinos/as “used this sport to claim a space for themselves in the national sporting consciousness” (317). Not only do Longoria and Iber place Latinos in the sporting consciousness of the United States, but they also show how football carved out spaces that were marked by discrimination at times, as well as paths to success and equality for the country's fastest-growing minority population.As the United States and the world are grappling with ways to challenge white privilege, Longoria and Iber help us re-examine “America's sport” by incorporating Latinos into the history of football, to which they have long been neglected. Longoria and Iber write in the introduction, “Suffice it to say that the lack of attention to such atletas (Latinos in football) pales in comparison to the extensive treatment available on other groups of participants in the history of the game” (3). Even though the purpose of Latinos in American Football is to resurrect the history of individuals of the sport, it is clear Longoria and Iber are also cognizant of the influence of identity in the seemingly innocuous fields of play. As noted in the introduction, in the Dallas metroplex, there are many school districts where most students have Spanish surnames, yet there are few coaches of Hispanic and Latino backgrounds (9). Part of the reasoning given for this is the historic inequities Latinos experience in the United States, as well as the unfounded assumption (in which academics are partly to blame) that Latinos are not interested in football. As the United States thinks about representation at every level of society, Longoria and Iber remind us to include Latinos and football in these national conversations. In what could seem like a simple retelling of Latino excellence in football, Latinos in American Football argues for academics, sports fans, and society as a whole to reconsider ideas about ethnicity and inclusion in “America's” game, not just to include white and African American athletes but also Latinos.Using extensive secondary resources and providing new primary sources such as interviews and letters with the athletes highlighted in the book, Longoria and Iber provide almost an encyclopedic description of Latino contributions to American football in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The greatest accomplishment of Latinos in American Football, however, might be the ways in which the authors connect sport to the push-pull of Latino equality in the United States. In Chapter 2 on the World War II and postwar period, Longoria and Iber discuss a history that would be familiar to most academics of the twentieth century, with stories from an era in which participation in war and wartime changes brought about opportunities for equality. However, the advancements in equality for Latinos were not without contestation from recalcitrant whites. One enlightening story that brings Latino discrimination to the forefront of post–World War II analysis is the El Paso Bowie Bears baseball team. During a state championship run, the Bowie Bears were forced to sleep on cots under the stadium bleachers at the University of Texas because no hotel would provide rooms to the team. This is just one of many enlightening anecdotes that explain the prejudice Latinos encountered in playing sports in high school, college, and professional leagues. As Longoria and Iber point out, “Even success on the fields of athletic competition and of battle in World War II were not sufficient to overcome the negative perceptions of many Texans” (68). Serving your country and showing your prowess in America's popular past times did not provide the full path to equality for which Latinos had hoped.Throughout the chapters, Longoria and Iber weave the stories of individuals and then highlight some in separate biographies at the end of each chapter. Through the narratives of Latinos playing football, we learn not just about their lives on and off the gridiron but also how those who identify as Latino and Hispanic in the United States need to be better represented in national histories. While the analysis is interwoven into the stories of individuals and teams, more insights about what Latinos did or did not accomplish for equality through football could be provided. However, as the authors note, not much has been written on the topic of Latinos and American football. This synthesis can be the starting point in the underdeveloped topics of sports and Latino history, in particular, for others to write more analysis of what football meant for Latinos and what Latinos meant for football. Latinos in American Football and the subsequent works it will no doubt inspire will help academics of sports and race better understand how underrepresented groups in the United States saw a connection between sports and avenues for equality.

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