Hispanic Heritage Awards

LEGUIZAMO

Our next honoree is one of only four Latino head coaches in NFL history. He's an inspirational leader, who rose through the ranks from being a player to leading teams to Super Bowls, and through a global pandemic and even through his own personal battle with cancer. Now let's learn more about our 2021 Sports Award Honoree, Coach Ron Rivera.

RIVERA

I've been a lot of first, I learned very early in my career, that's really something that I've got to uphold. I do have people that do consider me a role model. And so, um, I do have to carry myself a specific way. I have to have success for their sake. I believe that. You know, my dad, his sport was baseball, coming from Puerto Rico. From my mom's family's perspective, they all played. She grew up in California, her brothers all played it and so we had uh, we had role models, people that we wanted to emulate.

NARRATOR

A child of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage, his Father's Army commission kept Ron Rivera and his family moving around the world, before settling in Marina, California. His talents quickly drew the attention of college scouts and he was recruited as a linebacker for University of California Berkeley. His college performance as an All-American player earned him a draft pick by the Chicago Bears, where he would go on to play 9 seasons and become the first player of Puerto Rican descent to play and win a Super Bowl.

RIVERA

There's a tremendous amount of satisfaction that I did reach that pinnacle as a football player, being able to play in the NFL, let alone play on a Superbowl Championship team.

NARRATOR

Rivera retired from professional play in 1992, but it was a short-lived retirement. By 1997, he was rehired by his old team, this time on the coaching staff.

RIVERA

It was honestly at my wife's urging that I got back into football, because she told me, "you need structure and football is the only thing that gives that to you."

NARRATOR

Just as his playing drew serious attention, so did his coaching. Rivera would go on to coach for the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Diego Chargers, before making history as only the 3rd Hispanic Head Coach in NFL history when he was hired by the Carolina Panthers in 2011.

RIVERA

You know, I started as a volunteer coach. I went in in the Bill Walsh Diversity Program with the mindset that I was going to make them need me. And so, I started from the bottom. I was a quality control coach, I made coffee, I made copies, you know, that's the type of work I did. I did whatever I could to make myself invaluable. As I worked my way up the chain, I tried to learn things and understand how things go. And low and behold, I was put in that position to be a head coach.

NARRATOR

After a bumpy start, Rivera quickly turned the Panthers into a competitive team, taking them to Superbowl 50 and earning himself two NFL Coach of the Year Awards. But after a change in ownership, Rivera moved on from the Panthers before the end of the 2019 season. He quickly pivoted to a new team and in 2020, was named the new Head Coach of the Washington Football Team. Between personnel changes, the COVID-19 pandemic and his own personal cancer diagnosis and treatment, Coach Rivera's first season with his new team was nothing if not tumultuous. Despite all the struggles of the past year, Coach Rivera emerged from 2020 cancer-free, with a division title, one of the most diverse staffs in the league and with his third Coach of the Year Award.

RIVERA

I was going through everything, I've been through this last year. It really was trying about building trust, you know, building trust with our new owner, with our new coaching staff, building trust with our players, with our organization, the community. You know, our fan base. I mean, they had to trust that we were going to do things the right way and we were going to put the type of team on the field that they could be proud of and that's what we're working toward. One of the things I want to do is I do want to make my impact, whether that impact is for my family, for my community for my culture. But to be recognized, that means you are doing something right. It validates who you are. It validates what you've become. And to receive something like this, this, this is special, this really is because it says I'm doing things the right way.