Touchdown! Latinos Breaking Through the NFL’s White Lines
Touchdown! traces a century of Latino players in the NFL, from 1927 to today, and the barriers that kept them on the sidelines.
Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher González
“La cultura has been on the field the whole time.”
Touchdown! Latinos Breaking Through the NFL’s White Lines tells the story of Latino players in the National Football League, a presence that reaches back to 1927. Drawing on interviews, archival research, and statistics, Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher González celebrate the players who broke the league’s color lines and the milestones they reached on the field.
The book also takes on the barriers that have kept so many Latino athletes on the sidelines: pay-to-play youth leagues, housing segregation, early citizenship restrictions, and stereotypes that steer Latino players away from quarterback and other “thinking” positions. Part sports history, part cultural analysis, and part tribute, Touchdown! shows how Latinos have shaped America’s most-watched sport and what it will take for the league to see them fully.
Ohio State University Press, Latinx Shorts series. Paperback, 158 pages, 22 color images. ISBN 978-0-8142-5994-8. Publishing November 10, 2026.
“La cultura has been on the field the whole time.”
Touchdown! Latinos Breaking Through the NFL’s White Lines tells the story of Latino players in the National Football League, a presence that reaches back to 1927. Drawing on interviews, archival research, and statistics, Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher González celebrate the players who broke the league’s color lines and the milestones they reached on the field.
The book also takes on the barriers that have kept so many Latino athletes on the sidelines: pay-to-play youth leagues, housing segregation, early citizenship restrictions, and stereotypes that steer Latino players away from quarterback and other “thinking” positions. Part sports history, part cultural analysis, and part tribute, Touchdown! shows how Latinos have shaped America’s most-watched sport and what it will take for the league to see them fully.
Ohio State University Press, Latinx Shorts series. Paperback, 158 pages, 22 color images. ISBN 978-0-8142-5994-8. Publishing November 10, 2026.
“La cultura has been on the field the whole time.”
Touchdown! Latinos Breaking Through the NFL’s White Lines tells the story of Latino players in the National Football League, a presence that reaches back to 1927. Drawing on interviews, archival research, and statistics, Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher González celebrate the players who broke the league’s color lines and the milestones they reached on the field.
The book also takes on the barriers that have kept so many Latino athletes on the sidelines: pay-to-play youth leagues, housing segregation, early citizenship restrictions, and stereotypes that steer Latino players away from quarterback and other “thinking” positions. Part sports history, part cultural analysis, and part tribute, Touchdown! shows how Latinos have shaped America’s most-watched sport and what it will take for the league to see them fully.
Ohio State University Press, Latinx Shorts series. Paperback, 158 pages, 22 color images. ISBN 978-0-8142-5994-8. Publishing November 10, 2026.