COSTA MESA, Calif. — Sept. 15 marks the official start to Hispanic Heritage Month nationwide. For the next 30 days, the NFL — like many other professional sports leagues — will work to celebrate and amplify Latino voices both on and off the field.
On the field, one of the few Hispanic players in the league, cornerback Michael Davis, takes a special sense of pride in his culture.
Lining up every day at Chargers practice, you’d think it was all Davis ever wanted to do, but if you catch yourself thinking that, you’d be wrong.
“I will say that my first love of sports was probably like football, but like soccer,” he explained. “My mom grew up in Mexico and I used to live there three months out of the year, so I played soccer a lot.”
It wasn’t until about high school that the dream of stepping onto this football field become tangible.
Signed to the Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2017, he’s now become a key part of the Los Angeles defense, and is becoming an inspiration to a fanbase very much rooted in Southern California.
“If anybody would ask me, ‘What are you Michael?’ I would say I’m Mexican,” Davis said. “I know I look dark. But I would say I’m Mexican over anything, so Mexican is who I am. It’s me and I take pride in that.”
Davis was raised by his mother, who is from Mexico, and is one of very few players in the NFL who are of Hispanic descent.
As of 2020, less than half a percent of NFL athletes were Hispanic or Latino, a stark contrast to the more than 30 million Hispanic fans nationwide — Fans like Chargers season-ticket member Charles Salazar, who takes a special pride in seeing Davis on the field.
“When he got signed, and it was, you know, put out there that he had this Hispanic background, it really stood out as far as that cultural diversity of the team and the league,” Salazar said.
He’s been a fan of the Chargers for over 23 years now, but he can tell you the exact moment he became a Michael Davis fan.
“We had the pleasure of meeting him on the Chargers fan cruise in his rookie season,” Salazar said with a laugh. “And he was, like I said, very genuine.”
And it’s Davis’ relationship with the Chargers community that really sets him apart.
“I think that you know as a Hispanic community and as a fan base we take pride in that,” Salazar said, “that one of our own is having success and we can root and cheer for that.”
Not only is he a representative to a new generation of Hispanic football fans. But Davis is paving the way for inclusivity in the league, showing others what’s possible.
“I mean, I would hope they see me like, 'Oh, he’s one of us. He’s me,'” Davis said. “All you got to do is put in the effort. Effort conquers all no matter who you are, so as long as you put your head down and grind, you’ll make it.”
Playing every Sunday night with the Chargers and his culture on his back.