When it comes to sports announcers, enthusiasm is key. Victor Villalba, Dallas Mavericks Spanish radio host, is one of the best and is celebrating 20 years behind the microphone.
Villalba is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month during one of the busiest times of year for him. He lends his voice not just to the Mavericks, but also to the Dallas Cowboys.
“If you’re walking down the street and someone says, ‘Hey, what happened with this?’ You better know because you’re the representative of the Spanish language efforts of both teams, both the Cowboys and the Mavericks,” Villalba said.
While he said the games are exciting, he gets even more excited when the Mavericks cross into international territory.
“These efforts are really to bring regions together, not countries together or continents. But more like regions of people and regions of fans together,” he said.
The team will be taking a trip to where he grew up: Mexico City. The Mavericks are part of the NBA’s Global Games on November 1. The Mavericks will play a regular-season game at Arena CDMX against the Detroit Pistons. The NBA said it’s to grow a game that Villalba thinks is already quite popular in Mexico.
“The Mexican fan wants excitement from sports. The visits to Mexico by NBA teams are very important for everybody all around,” Villalba said.
As far as loving what he does, it’s evident by the way he does it.
“You have to know how to get excited to translate the excitement of the game through you as a vehicle, as an instrument. Then when you do it in Espanol, it just seems like it just has that little bit more of a flavor to it,” he said.
He also said that he wants to remind North Texas that the Mavericks aren’t the only team that has an emphasis on Hispanic culture.
“All of the professional teams in our area are proving they have a dual language commitment. For every single one of these franchises [Mavericks, Dallas Stars, Texas Rangers, Dallas Cowboys] to also have Spanish language properties, where Spanish is spoken properly, is incredible. Not just saying things in Espanol so people under you, but the passion that we have as Hispanics,” Villalba said.
The man who graduated from Texas Tech with a finance degree is now one of the most recognizable voices in sports. For him, he said it has been a blessing, but also a passion he has been living from day one.