Daniel Villanueva was a former professional football player and the co-founder of Spanish-language network Univision.
While attending New Mexico State on a football scholarship, Villanueva earned his degree in English, edited the campus newspaper and was a member of the team that won the 1959 Sun Bowl. The following year, a scout for the Los Angeles Rams signed him to the team. Two years after that, he led the NFL in punting yardage with 3,960.
One of the first Hispanic-Americans in the NFL, he was a kicker for the Rams from 1960 to 1964, and for the Dallas Cowboys from 1965 to 1967. During that time on the field, he was given the nickname “El Kickador." Off the field, he worked as a sports announcer for KMEX, which was then a somewhat obscure Spanish-language television station in Los Angeles, and which he continued to work for even after being traded to Dallas.
After retiring from football in 1968, he became the news director of KMEX and, later, the station’s president and co-owner. Under his guidance, KMEX became the flagship station of the Spanish International Network. Villanueva went on to become an owner and senior vice president of the network’s parent company, the Spanish International Communications Corporation, which would sell their stations to Hallmark in 1987 and rename them Univision.
Daniel Villanueva was a former professional football player and the co-founder of Spanish-language network Univision.
While attending New Mexico State on a football scholarship, Villanueva earned his degree in English, edited the campus newspaper and was a member of the team that won the 1959 Sun Bowl. The following year, a scout for the Los Angeles Rams signed him to the team. Two years after that, he led the NFL in punting yardage with 3,960.
One of the first Hispanic-Americans in the NFL, he was a kicker for the Rams from 1960 to 1964, and for the Dallas Cowboys from 1965 to 1967. During that time on the field, he was given the nickname “El Kickador." Off the field, he worked as a sports announcer for KMEX, which was then a somewhat obscure Spanish-language television station in Los Angeles, and which he continued to work for even after being traded to Dallas.
After retiring from football in 1968, he became the news director of KMEX and, later, the station’s president and co-owner. Under his guidance, KMEX became the flagship station of the Spanish International Network. Villanueva went on to become an owner and senior vice president of the network’s parent company, the Spanish International Communications Corporation, which would sell their stations to Hallmark in 1987 and rename them Univision.
Villanueva remained with the company until 1990. Based in New York, Univision is now the leading Spanish-language television network in the United States, with 30 million viewers in 57 markets.
Villanueva died June 18, 2015, in Ventura, California. He was 77.
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