EAST TEXAS UNFILTERED w/J. Chad Parker: Featuring Daniel Hernandez

Former professional soccer player Daniel Hernandez joins East Texas UNFILTERED with J. Chad Parker for a timely conversation as World Cup excitement builds across the United States. Daniel shares what it was like growing up in Tyler in a hardworking Mexican-American family. He explains how his father shaped his future and why that influence still drives him today. Daniel shares what it was like growing up in Tyler in a hardworking Mexican-American family. He explains how his father shaped his future and why that influence still drives him today.

Daniel looks back on his path from John Tyler High School to SMU and then into a 15-year professional soccer career in Major League Soccer and Mexico. He talks about the sacrifices it took to reach that level. He also reflects on the pride of representing East Texas along the way. The conversation covers his time in Mexico, his MLS Cup appearances, and how close he came to the U.S. national team.

The episode goes beyond sports. Daniel talks about his brother’s tragic accident, the lasting impact of his parents, and the perspective those moments gave him. He also explains why he returned to finish his degree and how he built a new career in life insurance and structured settlements. It is a strong East Texas conversation about perseverance, family, purpose, and making the most of every opportunity.  Be sure to like and subscribe for more amazing East Texas stories like Daniel’s.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It sounds to me like what I've read about you and what you've said is your father was instrumental in where you sit today. Is that true? 100%. 100%. He didn't even know how to play soccer, did he?

SPEAKER_01 0:13

No, that's that's the crazy part is, you know, he's he's from Mexico, obviously. Where in Mexico? So he was born in Veracruz, okay? Uh, but he was raised in uh Reynosa, right at the border, like by McAllen. He came over, he was 18 and 19 years old. The first one from his family.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Just come to Tyler in Tyler, Texas. You know, I thought if my memory starts, I had Gus Ramirez from the Ramirez family on the show recently, and Gilbert, his father. I want to say came from Reynosa. My family and their family, we've known each other like obviously since they got here. Okay, absolutely. So people talking like, hey, come to Tyler, you know it's a good spot, whatever your dad heard that maybe.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

And and obviously, word gets around, I know somebody in Tyler. You know, you go there and you find a job or whatever and just try to create a better life for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Welcome to another episode of East Texas Unfiltered. I'm your host, Jay Chad Parker. Today's guest is Daniel Hernandez, a professional soccer player, and as well as a life insurance agent, uh a businessman, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and we're lucky to talk to him. Thank you for being here, Daniel. Thanks for having me. It's my pleasure. I think this is the second professional athlete we've had. We had Pat Mahomes Sr. once, and now we've got Daniel Hernandez, which played the real football. Is that right? That's right. That's right. Uh uh it's funny how uh everybody in Europe and Mexico, Central and Latin America, they call soccer football, don't they? Yeah, they do. They do.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

And it's funny, uh I've seen a couple of commercials debating is it soccer, is it football? Yeah. So, you know, we think around East Texas, we still call it soccer.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

You know, for years they kept saying that soccer was eventually going to catch on, and it has caught on. Uh but American football, um, you know, is it seems to be a juggernaut, right? I mean, you know, the NFL and college football are are still hard to beat. For sure. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

But I've seen some uh some things recently, you know, uh where they see soccer moving into the number three sport in the country behind basketball and football. So it's getting there.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yeah, I mean, I think so. And and and part of that, I think, you know, uh maybe cultural, right? I mean, because in like I mentioned, Mexico, Central, uh, South America, I mean, that's soccer country, right? That's right. And you know, and the changing demographics in America over the last thirty years, you know, has brought with it, I'm sure, a lot more soccer fans. For sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Yeah, I mean, you and you see it. I mean, even here in Tyler in East Texas, we see all the different cultures and ethnicities, and they all go back to the love of soccer, you know, and now you see that in our sport in the whole United States. Look at our national team now. I mean, look how diverse our national team is uh going to the World Cup, which is coming up in a couple of days.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Yeah, this episode is kind of uh opportune or it's timed well that we're here to talk about the about the World Cup because it seems like there may be more excitement, this World Cup in the United States, than than I can remember in the past. Does it feel that way to you? Yeah, I mean, I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

I'm excited about it. Uh you know, it's most people have one opportunity to see a World Cup in their home country. Uh this is gonna be our second World Cup in the U.S. And right now, as much as the the sport has grown, man, I'm so excited. I'm I'm excited, optimistic that our U.S. national team is gonna do well and be successful. Um, and then you see all the hype around World Cup all over the place.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Yeah, because it's it's all over the country, right? They play in different places. Dallas has been fortunate enough to get how many games? Did they have nine? Including a semifinal game. Wow. Yeah. Um yeah, I know that's gonna, I mean, that's gonna bring a lot of people to Dallas and a lot of excitement. Um I mean, our team, I I'm not really uh uh uh I'm not knowledgeable about soccer and the and the players out there, but uh you probably know the makeup of our national team. Yeah. And I mean, what do you think our chances are and who are the who are the ones uh that to beat or who are the best teams you think around the world that'll be in this?

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah, so I think the whole debate on US soccer is are they good enough to do well in this World Cup? Uh I'm optimistic. Um, talent-wise, I think we have the most talented group of players on the U.S. national team in any World Cup that we've ever had. Uh now we've had some successful World Cup teams uh participate and do well in the World Cups. This team here, almost every single player plays for a major team, whether it's here in MLS or in Europe. So you're saying we have depth? We have depth.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Absolutely. And is the key is can we put it together as a team? Yeah, I mean, uh people don't probably understand it like you do, but I'm sure there's a lot of strategy and there's a lot of chemistry amongst the players that you see, you know, maybe played out in basketball, you know, where where, you know, a guy knows where a guy's going, right? Pass here, that type of thing. And um how long does the our World Cup team practice together when they come off their other teams and join each other to get ready for the World Cup?

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Yeah, so that's a great question because a lot of people don't understand how the U.S. national team works. So all those players all have their own club teams, professional teams that they play for and get paid by. Uh the U.S. national team, if they have a game, for instance, the World Cup, which starts on Thursday, they all came in about two weeks ago. Is this a season that is the World Cup within their soccer season? No. So all the seasons are uh all the leagues around the world, they normally take a break summertime. Okay. Except Major League Soccer. Major League Soccer is about to go to a summer break schedule moving forward, which before Major League Soccer was February to December. And then you break in December, January. All around the world, you break for a couple weeks in December, and then you have a big break in the summer, a month break in the summer. So that's right now all the leagues around the world are on their normal break, and that's when World Cup time is.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

All right. So it fits in well in the soccer industry, right? Because when it and the guys are arguably already in good shape, and hopefully not hurt. That's right. And then they come together uh and they probably generally know the players that have all been accumulated on the same World Cup team.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

That's that's correct. And they get a little more time to train with each other before the World Cup because obviously it's a World Cup. Normally, if they come in for games like friendly games, they're here maybe a couple days to train with their team, maybe a week at max. But normally they come in for a couple days, train with all these players from around the world, play a game, and then they go back to their respective uh teams.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Do most guys that uh well, first of all, maybe you can provide us some insight. How many guys are on the World Cup team and how are they selected?

SPEAKER_01 7:28

So selection is all by the coach. Uh so this is a four-year process, essentially. So every four years is a World Cup. So after the World Cup finished four years ago, they hired this new coach to come in, Argentinian coach, and now he basically has been working for years, for a couple of years now, trying to put a his top roster together. So every time they have games throughout the year, he brings in different players. And he can choose whoever he wants as long as they're Americ American citizens. He can call them in, watch them train, watch them play in the games, kind of almost like a tryout for him.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

He's just testing all these new players. Over the years, kind of looking and to see, well, this guy plays well with this guy, or he this guy doesn't have a good attitude. This guy's not that fast. All of those things, you know, that's a long process. Yep. How is an Argentinian the coach? I mean, is that you said it's kind of normal. You said you said, hey, you gotta be a U.S. citizen to be on the team, but you don't have to be a uh you can be an Argentinian to be the coach?

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Yeah, there's not many countries around the world, though, that hire their own uh coaches. Because they don't have the coaches. Right. Now, all our of our previous coaches have all been American coaches, always. Okay. Uh except for Jurgen Kleinsman, the German guy. Um and so this coach, I mean, he's coached some of the top teams in the world. Uh I'm sure he's a good coach. He's a great coach. Um so I think specifically because the World Cup was coming to the U.S., I think the U.S. Soccer Federation knew like this is a crucial time for us. We have to do well, we have to be successful. Let's bring in the best coach we can hire. And that's who they soft.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

That sounds good for us, is that, you know, uh, hey, I'm glad we went and got the best coach because we don't want to be embarrassed, right? I mean, and I don't I don't mean that if the guys lost it, we'd be embarrassed, you know, about them, but I know they want to do well, as you say, to be playing in the United States nine games and the semifinals. I'm sure they're hoping to be in it if they could. For sure. Yeah, this is an important time for U.S.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

soccer. Um if y'all everyone remembers '94, we had the World Cup. Well, we didn't have a professional league in the U.S. So it was just guys coming from wherever college, uh playing abroad in other countries. And after the 94 World Cup, Major League Soccer uh started in 1996. And so that was a huge, huge boost for U.S. soccer. And now it's the same exact thing. Soccer in the U.S. has climbed so much, like being one of the powerhouses around the world now, and it's important for U.S. soccer to be successful in this World Cup.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Yeah, because I mean we've made a lot of strides in soccer in the United States in that's 30 years, essentially. Oh, yeah. Right? I mean, now, for people like me that don't understand, you know, the whole hierarchy of soccer, right? I mean, for people watching this and they're trying to understand, and you've explained it pretty well, how that the World Cup team comes together, they come from the major league soccer teams, right? You can think NFL, right? Almost like a Pro Bowl. Exactly. Um, but then you look over there and you see these guys in Liverpool and Manchester United, and you're going, who is this and what are they doing? Yeah. What is that? So a great question.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Uh so those guys, because at the end of the day, the Premier English Premier League is still one of the top leagues in the world. The Italian league is one of the top leagues in the world, Spain, Germany. So we have our top players play AC Milan in Italy, Juventus, Italy, uh, Crystal Palace, England. So all these guys are playing abroad at other countries. Why? Because those are the top leagues in the world, probably bigger contracts.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yeah, the money seems humongous compared to if you looked at uh uh, you know, a major league soccer salary and you weren't David Beckham, right? That's correct. I mean, they're relatively small in professional sports times. No, yes, correct.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Now, when I played, I retired in 2012, the salaries are not even close to what these guys are getting paid now here in Major League Soccer. So Major League Soccer has stepped up their game. They're paying big contracts now.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Well, that's good because I mean I look back at yours, and yours was just above a hundred thousand or something in the last year.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

So my last year as a captain and veteran of my team, I was at 200,000 my last year. And I know why you read 100,000, because my last year I was hired as a player coach, and so half of my salary was as a player, other half was as a coach.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

That's right. I saw that story, and and I, you know, I sympathized with you because uh I saw the reason um that you were fired. And it seemed awful slim in my mind, um on the whole Nike versus Adidas versus uh, you know, soccer kids camps versus not in the facility versus right. I mean, and it and you know whatever the case, the uh it allowed them to eliminate your salary. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

So without speaking on the the topic to the case.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

And I don't know, I and I'm not trying to bring you into something that you've got a non-disclosure agreement on or anything else. I'm just saying I've read what's in the public sphere.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Yes, sir, yes, sir. And and it it is, uh, I'm not supposed to speak on it, but the the one thing I can say is so I did have a couple more years to play. I mean, I retired at 36. I had a long, successful career. I was blessed to play 15 years. Right, you've played for 15 years.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

And soccer is not, and I'm not down in the golfers, but I mean, you know, they're walking, you're running. Yeah. Yeah. Past my knees. I mean, that's what I'm saying. I mean, you're running, you're I mean, people are hitting you, you're making hard cuts. Yeah. Um, you know, you were a midfielder, uh, which I what'd they call that in the old days? Did they always call it a midfielder? I think so. Or was it because you had fullback, and then when I was a kid, somebody called it halfback and forward? Yeah, halfback or midfield and forward. Yep, that's right. Um just since we're on the topic, you know, um I've always known the forwards to be the guys that were the scores. You know, probably had the the the better speed or faster.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Uh not necessarily. I mean, maybe some of the top ones are the faster guys, but not not specifically looking for that uh attribute, you know, that they're fast. Stronger leg, more accurate kicker. I mean, well, you know, to be fair, a forward is is is crazy because you see some players that you never would ever think that they're a great player. But you know what they do? Move the ball around? They find the net. They find the net. Just and they figure out they have a sense of how to score. Yeah. And maybe they don't touch the ball the whole game, but at the end of the day, they figure out how to get a toe on the ball, get ahead on the ball, and they score.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

Scoring goals is their job, and that's really their only job. Like some people, I I would suspect when you say get ahead on the ball. You know, you see so many corner kicks, right? You know, the ball goes out and then corner kick, and everybody's everybody's kind of in a rugby scrum, and somebody jumps up there and tries to get their head on it. Yeah. You know, and you're saying a forward could have that attribute and be up there solely for that reason. Well, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

I and e even myself, I've judged players, you know, to play on top teams in the world. And I'm like, man, that guy sucks. Yeah, he he should not be a forward. But he scores. And he's playing on his top team for a reason because he scores goals, and their number one job is scoring goals. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Yeah, okay. And so the uh the position that you played, and did you play this most of your career? Were you a midfielder, you know, most of your career since you left John Tyler High School? No, so I was always an attacking midfielder like the number 10, the creator in the midfield. Are you picking up the trash like in basketball where they're streaking down the field and you're looking for something to come back? Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

When I turned as a professional player, they moved me back a spot to defensive midfielder. My job was to just stop anything coming my way, uh kind of being a disruptor in the game. Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Uh even the guy breaking to get an open pass to kind of get in his way physically. I I was the bulldog out there.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Yeah. I was the bulldog out there and just trying to clean up any any other mistakes that you know anyone on our team made in front of me.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

I w I had to c clean all that up. All right, you're trying to keep him out of the goal, essentially. Correct. But there are some people behind you.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Yeah, all the fullbacks and defenses behind me. And I'm basically the player plays right in front of the defense and in between our attacking midfielders.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

I mean, sometimes when I watch the soccer, it is exciting. It seems, you know, exhausting, you know, the back and the fourth. And you always wish there was like a little bit more offense because it really gets exciting, you know, when somebody scores, I mean the crowd goes crazy.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

They go crazy. Uh, you know, it's always exciting to see goals. Um, but I've also seen games that are 1-0 or 0-0 that were just back and forth and they just didn't put the ball in the net, but were great games, some of the best games that I've seen. And it's just really more about understanding, you know, what they're doing out there.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

That's really all it is. You know, uh, you watch hockey and they say icing, and I'm c totally confused about the rules, right? I mean, I I guess, you know, the offsides is kind of the icing of hockey, right? Where you kick the ball and it looks like the guy, you know, has got a lead and is gonna get and then they, you know, raise a flag and say, hey, offsides. And I guess define that for us, what's technically offsides and not offsides when somebody makes a pass from, you know, down the field.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Yeah, so the easiest way to explain it, the last line of defense. Whoever is the last player on the defensive side and the goalie. If there's an offensive player between the goalie and the last player on defense. When somebody touches the ball? When they pass the ball to them. As soon as they pass the ball off their foot and they're in an in that position between the goalie and the last defender, they're offsides. All right. Now I I will say this. That's a judgment call sometimes, right? I mean Yeah, well, now they have the video assistant uh review, so now they can review everything, and now they literally have technology that shows even if they're one step, one foot, a toe ahead, and they could call them offside.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

You know, the technology's obvious that it's been developed and everything in the world is more technologically getting advanced. I wonder if they implemented that. One, um, because there were questions about referees, or two, the fans would be so r unruly if the calls were bad. You know what I'm saying? I mean, you you could have near rights and you know, like in Scotland or or some of these wild teams in Europe. Yeah, uh absolutely. And and I've seen it. I mean, right? Like people, one bad call and the whole place is, you know, is going crazy.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

And and that's the thing that I hope people see those cultures and the livelihood of the support for the for their sport of soccer. And that's what happens in these other countries. I mean, that's their livelihood.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

I mean that I mean that's their that that makes a six-day working week tolerable. That there's a game to go to or watch is what you're saying in many countries. Absolutely. You see the passion.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

I mean, they're they're crying, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

They they win, they lose, they're crying. In America, we win and and the winners, you know, turn over cars and get things on fire. It's like, right, what in the world, right? I mean um the other thing about soccer that I never can get is the is the is the clock. It's like wait, how much time is left? Uh they put more time on the clock. No I mean it yeah, it's getting ridiculous. I mean, what in the world ha how how much how much time is a half of soccer? Forty-five minutes. That's what it's supposed to be. Okay, does it ever change and become more in a half, especially the last half? Yes. What both halves.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

What they call it injury time. That's what they call it, injury time. And all that is, is they never stop the clock, right? So the 45 minutes, it never stops. But if there's substitute, so if a guy comes on, so then that's 30 seconds, there's a sub. There's a goal, maybe that's a minute because of the celebrations and all that sort of thing. So what they're trying to do is, or if there's a delay, uh, an injury, that they're out there for two minutes. All they do is they add up all that time and they add it to the 45 minutes of each half. All right. And so sometimes you'll get one minute if there wasn't really anything going on.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

I've seen 12 minutes. How do you know? Like if you're a team and you're trying to protect a lead, or or how do you know how much time is left? There's not a clock in the stadium.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Well, unfortunately, they don't show, they do show how much time they're gonna play extra, but they don't show it until minute 44 or at minute minute 45, they'll pop up the sign that says five minutes, 10 minutes, whatever that might be. So the player doesn't know how much extra time. So normally if you watch a especially European game, at that 45 minute mark and you see the referee on the sideline lift up that number, and whoever is winning, they'll see 10 minutes and then the whole stadium's going crazy because they're like, why in the world are we playing 10 minutes extra? We want to get this game done and over with because we're in the lead.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Yeah. So yeah. Now, had did you ever have, you know, aspirations to play in that European league? And is is that a thing for, you know, American kids that play soccer? Do they want to play in the Mexican League? Do they want to play in the United States League? Do they want to make it to that European League?

SPEAKER_01 21:28

So for me growing up, the only thing I knew was Mexican League. Right. You know, because of my family, that's what they followed. We had a particular team in Mexico in Mexico, Club America, that was like it's like the Dallas Cowboys of Mexico, right? In soccer. Yeah, in soccer. And uh so that's all I knew since I was a little kid. I didn't watch a European soccer. We didn't have a professional league here in the States. The only thing we had here was indoor soccer, right? Uh Dallas sidekicks.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

And I don't even know if they televised those European leagues back then in the in the late 80s. Remember watching that. I don't either.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Uh and so all I knew was Mexican soccer. So that was always my dream is to play in Mexico. Um now as you get older and you hear about the European leagues and know that's those are the big dogs, right? Then yeah, you have aspirations of going there, but it's just it's tough.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Ronaldo. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

Right. Playing against the city.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

I mean, people like me know those guys' names, you know, and don't really know soccer, right? Because they're they're, you know, they're Michael Jordan's kind of of that sport.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

For sure. David Beckham, obviously probably one of the biggest ones with Ronaldo and Messi. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Um Messi, man. Talk about um I I've been in uh Mexico a couple of times when FIFA was playing. And people were, you know, I mean, they love uh at Messi. Oh, he's like Michael Jackson.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Like everywhere he goes, he just gets bombarded by fans.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

I mean, it's it is crazy. Yeah, I mean, I saw that even that the team in the United States hired him. Uh Miami. Right. Which is David Beckham's team. Just to I guess try to give the the American League, you know, a boost, right? Uh a way. I mean, certainly ticket sales would probably go up if Messi was on the team.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

So this is almost identical uh blueprint to what LA Galaxy did with David Beckham. Right. They brought him in, paid him all this money, but everywhere he went to play, it was full stadium. They l uh raised ticket prices, and now the same exact thing that David Beckham is doing with Messi. I mean, they're they're playing in football stadiums now, NFL stadiums, because they're filling them up because of Messi being there.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

Yeah, that's the good thing about a superstar on a team in a league. Um, the away games take that superstar to all the cities across the country. Absolutely. And kind of promote the game, right? Yeah. Um speaking of promoting the game, it sounds to me like what I've read about you and what you've said is your father uh was instrumental in where you sit today. Is that true? 100%. 100%. I mean, he didn't even know how to play soccer, did he?

SPEAKER_01 24:07

No, that's that's the crazy part is you know, he's he's from Mexico, obviously. Um where in Mexico? So he was born in Veracruz. Okay. Uh, but he was raised in Reynosa, right at the border, like by McCallan, uh on the Mexico side, Reynosa. And so that's where he was born and raised. He came over, he was 18 or 19 years old, the first one from his family.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

Uh just did he come to Tyler States?

SPEAKER_01 24:31

In Tyler, Texas.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

You know, I thought, if my memory serves, I had Gus Ramirez from the Ramirez family on the show recently, and Gilbert, his father, I want to say came from Reynosa.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

And I wondered my family and their family, we've known each other obviously since they got here.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Okay. Absolutely. I mean, I'm on to something. Yes, sir. I mean, so people talking like, hey, come to Tyler, you know, it's a good spot, whatever your dad heard that maybe.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

And yeah, and and obviously, word gets around, I know somebody in Tyler. You know, you go there and you find a job or whatever, and just try to create a better life for yourself. And that's he ended up here in Tyler, Texas.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Well, I mean, that's always been the immigrant story in the U.S., where people from Europe came over to New York because they could stay with a family or friend or a cousin that they knew, kind of get their bearings, get a job, and then start to build some kind of life. And uh it sounds like that's what your dad did. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

And it's uh, you know, when you think back, um, it's crazy how it all started. It was him showing up here. And over the years, he brought all of his siblings over, his brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters, his parents, my grandparents, most of them lived in my neighborhood. So that's I grew up, my mom is American. She's she's uh she was a white lady, unfortunately. Rest in peace. She passed she passed away in October last year. Um, but I grew up in the Mexican culture. Right, I mean it just moved over here and it was in your neighborhood. In my neighborhood. And we talked about soccer. You know, all my uncles played soccer. They all played in the Mexican League in Tyler down in downtown uh Tyler in Caldwell Park. And uh that's where I spent all every one of my Saturday nights and all day Saturday. That's where we spent our time kicking the soccer ball.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

So you pretty much probably played soccer, you know, since you were a little kid all the way to your high school career start. I don't remember a day I didn't kick a soccer ball. When your dad came to Tyler, you know, do you know what year that was, Jennifer? I believe it was 69. All right. Yep. And uh do you know, did he come here with a skill or did he just have to find his way into the economy somewhere?

SPEAKER_01 26:40

No, so he just found his way. And that's the way my dad was his whole life. Just he just was a hard worker. Um he showed up, worked in the factory, uh, ended up finding his way into the oil field. And which is a good job, which is a great job at that time. Uh and he was the crew leader. And who was all his crew? All his brothers and and cousins. Yeah, yeah. It was and he hired all of them, and they all went through the oil field until the oil field uh kind of went out of business. Yeah. And he had been coaching me since I was five years old. So, quick funny story to go back. My dad never he played baseball in Mexico. All my uncles played soccer. So my dad didn't even play soccer. But again, the hard worker he was, he the way he just figured things out, he learned the game of soccer, and he started coaching me since I was five my whole life. He ended up being the John Tyler high school coach after the oil field went went out of business. And I mean my brother both played for him at high school at John Tyler. Uh my dad went on to coach college soccer at Texas College, Wiley College, Jarvis. Uh he started all the soccer programs at all three of those colleges. I mean, I I'd heard that he started the women's soccer at John Tyler. Yes. Yes, he did. Right. Started the pr started the women's program. I remember when my dad got there, we were in middle school at the time, there were 13 boys in the soccer program. That's it. Thirteen. And I think by the time he was finishing up, he had women's program. I think he had a total of maybe like 170 kids in the soccer program, boys and women.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Did I I'm assuming that this was a passion of your dad's and that he loved soccer, or otherwise he wouldn't have put all this energy into it. For sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

And and it wasn't like he didn't know the sport, he just didn't really play it. Um and he, I mean, I remember he was just so passionate about helping kids also. I remember after school or after school practice or after a game, he would have eight kids in his van taking them home, you know, or picking them up, you know, and he was just that type of guy that on the weekends he was a referee of the Mexican League. Uh him and my uncle. I bet that was a tough job. Oh, yeah. We saw a couple of fights. Yeah. Not a couple. We saw a lot of fights. I mean, there's referees getting beat up. There's fans. There's probably alcohol. Oh man, it's it's definitely a uh an environment uh out there for sure. But that's that's what we grew up on.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Did you play in that league before, you know, before you really went off to college and all that? Did you ever play on Irwin or Calwell or Northloop?

SPEAKER_01 29:30

Yeah, we used to play at Calwell, Golden Road, uh Lindsay Park. Um, and uh so Irwin wasn't there. Uh they built that field when I was in college. That field is actually named after me. Is it? Right now? Right now. The other had a big ceremony. Hernandez Field. Uh yeah. What's it called? Uh Daniel Demetrio Hernandez Field. Demetrio is what they called you in Mexico, right? Yeah. And the reason they call me Demetrio is uh because as probably most people know, uh in his in the Mexican culture, they go by their maiden and their last name and their their mom's last name. As a PI lawyer.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

I see it on the driver's license. I'm like, why is this guy two last names?

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Yeah, why has he got two last names? So when for myself, a lot of people don't know this. When I played in Mexico, I played as a Mexican international. I didn't play as a U.S. player. You were trying to fit in? I hadn't Well, it it didn't help when I first got there. They still call me Gringo. They did. They did. They still call me Gringo, and uh just because I was from the US, you know, and they kind of frowned upon American players, you know taking a spot of of what could be a Mexican, right? Yeah, so it took some time for me to kind of win them over, and uh but I played with a Mexican passport, and my name was Daniel Demetrio Hernandez. Well, of course, when the commentators are announcing games, they call my first two names. So they call me by my middle name, using it as my last name. So instead of calling me.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Daniel Demetrio.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

Yeah, so they would just say Demetrio instead of saying Hernandez, they would call Demetrio. And that's what a lot of commentators will call me over in Mexico because of that.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

Well, okay, before we get, I want to get to Mexico and the years you played there, but um you're coming up, your dad's coaching, you go to John Tyler, you're pr you're obviously a good player for John Tyler, right? Yep. And uh we'll talk about your brother. Your brother Nico, uh, you know, was thought to be, you know, a great player, right? I mean he was probably thought to be better than me. Um growing up. Well, you know, um, that's funny, you know, uh my brother and I were two years apart, and uh we both played football. We both played quarterback at uh Robert E. Lee, and my brother, you know, actually seemed to be better than I was. Now I didn't ever admit that back then. I know the feeling. But it just was true, right? I mean, uh, you know, I mean, it wasn't like I was not good or decent, but you know, uh but I've heard that about Nico. Like he had, you know, what was it about him as a player, you know, looking back that made people say he could be better. Yeah, so we were just kind of two different players.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

We talked on that a little bit earlier about somebody's scores score, right? And they get kind of all the the notoriety. Uh and I wasn't really that player, and he was just he was like the dribbler, like kind of the fancy guy that he was short, right? But he was quick and he was always dribbling players, just more of an exciting player to watch. And uh so where we lived right at Vine, Glenwood, and Shaw Street, yeah, there's a park there. So every Tuesday and Thursday, if you walk down to that park, there's one side of the park that's just an open field. And I guarantee you there were probably 40, 40 Hispanic players down there playing every Tuesday and Thursday. And me and my brother would go down there since we were like 12 years old. Kind of like us pickup game. Pickup game, just pickup every Tuesday and Thursday. And I remember, and the reason I'm bringing it up, I remember guys would always like, I don't think they were trying to be meme, they were like, Man, your brother's better than you. Yeah, yeah. They used to always say that. And it it uh, of course, it bothered me back then. Uh, but my brother was he was damn good, man.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

My brother was good. Yeah. Well, you know, that's what that's what's been said about him. Um so he he he's two years behind and he follows you uh to SMU, but how did you get from graduate from high school John Tyler to SMU? Was there any stop in between or did you go straight there? How what happened? Yep.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

So the funny story is uh, and you asked about my soccer in high school. So I always played, probably since I was 15, I always made it up to like the U.S. national team. So 15, all the way through high school, I always U.S. national team, all American in soccer. I got recruited by Creighton University, my freshman year. Doesn't sound like a soccer powerhouse. No, it doesn't sound that way, but it was because they don't they don't have football there. So in Omaha, Nebraska, right, uh big, big soccer school, and I had three other players, team uh friends of mine that played on the U.S. national team with me at the time, and we all decided together, like, let's go to Creighton together. There's enough scholarships for all of us, let's go there together. And I think we had six freshmen starting that year.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

Because I mean, you know, for people thinking about a lineup, you've got a goalie, you've got what, three fullbacks? Uh three or four. Okay. And so how many guys are out there on the field with, you know, the forwards and the halfbacks and it's normally like four defense, four midfielders, and two forwards.

SPEAKER_01 34:48

Uh, and then, you know, sometimes the formations change, but typically four, four, two.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

All right. So, yeah, you you were going over there to Creighton and you were like, hey, you know, um, we've got three out of eleven that are US US national team players. Now, for people who, you know, uh hear talk about the World Cup, uh, the national team, w what is this team you're referencing?

SPEAKER_01 35:12

So it's it's the USA team, except it's the uh the amateurs, amateurs. So so like they have for US soccer, they have U-15, U-16, U-18, U-20, then you go to Olympic team, and then you go to the men's national team, which is playing World Cup.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

Okay. So it's just the different age groups. Is this meant to be kind of like in baseball where you've got, you know, um, you know, a farm team, you know, you're kind of preparing these guys, hopefully, to end up where you've got a a lot of competition for eventually the men's national team. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

And and there's World Cups for a U18, there or under 17 World Cup, there's a U-20 World Cup, then it's the Olympics, and now the men's World Cup. And so you go through all those different stages over the course of your life. And I basically was on all of those teams growing up with all my friends that we ended up going to Creighton with. Uh you were well known amongst maybe soccer recruiters for schools. Yeah, I I would say so. Yeah. I mean, uh, you know, it's when you get to that level, I guess it's kind of uh a small world, you know, all the guys know each other. I mean, 'cause you've seen each other at these tournaments. Every year you compete against those guys. Um and because it's kind of a process, it's a state the state team first, Texas state team. Now you're playing Florida, Georgia, New York, all these other states, you see them every year. So you always compete against those best players, and then you eventually end up being on the U.S. national team with guys from all over the country.

SPEAKER_00 36:42

I mean, you know, knowing how uh sports for kids, you know, club teams, select teams, all these things have evolved and it's expensive. How was it for you? You know, I mean, your dad, you know, I mean, uh, I don't believe he was wealthy, you know, back then. And so how does how did this happen for Daniel Hernandez to be able to be a part of all this?

SPEAKER_01 37:03

Well, you asked me earlier, you know, a lot of my success, I wouldn't have got to do what I love uh as a profession without my dad or my mom. My parents, they worked hard, man. Uh so my dad, soccer coach, high school soccer coach, my mom, she cleaned houses during the day. They would wake up at four o'clock in the morning and they'd go clean doctor's offices for their cleaning businesses. They'd do that. My dad would go coach soccer, and then my mom would go clean houses. Then what did they have to do after school? They had to drive me and my brother up to Dallas to practice twice a week. They had to take us for games on Saturdays. So those times they were in Dallas four or five times a week. We wouldn't get back till midnight, and then they're up at four to go work. So it it it was a sacrifice, but it had to be done. A lot of people ask, so I will say I'm really good friends. One of my best friends in soccer is uh Clinton Dempsey. Yep. And I don't know if he's from Nacadoches from Nacadotes. And so he just uh came out with uh a documentary about his life, growing up in East Texas, playing club soccer in Dallas, all the drives back and forth. That's even further. Very, very yes, a very similar story, but you know, we had to do it back then. We had rec soccer and club soccer. Like it was very simple. It's not all the crazy leagues and all this other stuff that's going on now. It was rec soccer and club soccer. Well, I had to go to Dallas to play club soccer. There was no club soccer in East Texas at all. So I had to travel to Dallas. I think I was driving, I think at age 15. Yeah. Because we, you know, I had three other siblings, and so by the time I was 15, I was driving to Dallas by myself. I'm assuming you had a hardship license.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

Yes, sir. Well, you know, um that's so hard for parents who who I coach my kids, nothing like that. But I mean, we, you know, baseball went to the Junior League World Series, and the time that that took, you know, I can't imagine year-round, um, over and over and over. It just uh it's how much your folks love you uh because that kind of sacrifice can't be attributed to anything else but love. Yeah, no, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

It's it's the time, the financial part of it, and not just that, then you have three other kids that you also have to tend to and make sure that you're focusing time on them and what they're doing, what their passions are. And so, you know, I didn't realize it then. Now you look back and you know, I have three daughters, so I'm just like, man, I I don't know how they did it.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

I don't either. Um But you know, you're so fortunate that they did, and I know you know that, right? Yes, sir. Absolutely. Golly. I mean Absolutely. You know, when you were playing soccer, what were your what were your dreams? I mean, uh did you just like playing, or or were you, you know, saying, you know, I'm gonna use this to get a scholarship and go to college and get educated, or were you saying, I'm gonna play pro soccer? What were you thinking about? Yeah, that's a great question.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

Um, because I think it's a different time now. Right. All the the pro sport uh leagues all around the world. Back then, um I absolutely love soccer. Like I wouldn't go a day without kicking a soccer ball. So I already had the passion for it, no matter what. Uh, but my goal was I just want to go to college and get a scholarship. That was all because we didn't have a league back then. So all my focus was I want to get a scholarship. And I was able to finally fulfill that uh dream of getting to college on a full soccer scholarship. Um, it wasn't until probably that I and I bet it wasn't until I got to college that I finally figured out I'm like, oh, I want to go pro. You know, I'm doing well at this, and now there's pro leagues around options. So this 100% is what I want to do next.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

Now, Creighton, was were you guys gathering up to go there because uh it was a good school education-wise, or it was just someplace that uh wanted to give all three of you a scholarship?

SPEAKER_01 40:59

It was mainly because it gave all three of us. That was probably the only school in the country that would that had enough scholarships available to offer all of us scholarships together. Uh because with soccer, they only get 9.9 scholarships a year.

SPEAKER_00 41:12

It's like baseball used to be. They they didn't have enough for all the team. It was you might get a quarter, you might get 50%. Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_01 41:20

And that's why most of the time it's you have one school offering one guy a full scholarship, you know. And so that was the only school we were like, we're going there. And we killed it. Like we we uh made it to I think it was the game before the Final Four, lost to Indiana, which was the number one team, lost one-zero at at Indiana. Um unfortunately for me that summer, I decided to move to SMU. I say unfortunately for for Creighton. Fortunately for me, I was able to move to SMU. SMU was always the school that I wanted to go to since I was a little kid. Don't ask me why. Did you get recruited out of John Tyler to go to SMU? Uh not hard. Okay. Not hard. But their coach, I used to play against his club team growing up all the time. So I knew him well. Uh and so when I decided to go there.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

How did you how did you get an opportunity? Did you call the coach? Did you initiate, go, hey man, I'm looking to move. I'd like to get closer to home. I love SMU. Yep. I was always a homebody.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

Like I I I'm East Texas guy. I wanted to be around my family. Uh, you know, my parents didn't get to go to many games in Omaha, Nebraska. Right. I mean, that's uh so is exactly what I did. I reached out to the coach at SMU. Unfortunately, it was last minute. It was in the summer, and he said, Man, I'd love to have you. Uh he said, Unfortunately, I my scholarships are all taken up. So he said, uh, oh, so I asked, I'm not sure. Can you kick can you kick a kick a football? Can you kick a football? Because I saw you could. Yeah. So I kicked my last two years in high school uh at John Tyler. And so I said, you know what? Maybe I'll be interested in going out for the football team. Walk down the hall, introduces me to Tom Rossley, head coach of SMU football. Talk, he says, come out to try out, you know, to two a days. He said, We start in a couple of days. It literally was that close to school. We'll start in a couple of days, show up, show up. Two days later, he calls me in the office, Tom Rossley. He says, I'm giving you a full scholarship of football.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

Do you think there was any coordination with the soccer coach, or this was solely a football decision?

SPEAKER_01 43:24

Uh I'm sure I'm sure the coach, I'm sure the soccer coach was like, Man, please help this guy out. And so I'll be honest, I I couldn't, my parents couldn't afford SMU. No way. I mean, most people couldn't. And it's crazy because my parents said, We have no idea. Let's just get you registered and and apply and get you in school. We'll figure something out. Like, I I don't know what we'll do, but we'll figure something out. So that's what we did just by faith. I mean, just straight up faith. We were like, let's just everything will work out. Two days into two days, coach calls me in. You can kick that ball. Like full scholarship. Oh my gosh. And I think the first thing I did was call my parents.

SPEAKER_00 44:12

Because I mean he really uh you know, there are pivot points and crossroads in people's lives where something happens that really changes the directory for good or for bad, right? That really feels like one that send Daniel Hernandez to where he is today.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

Yeah. And it's uh, you know, it's just about keeping your faith and and understanding that things are are gonna w work out. It's always in in in God's control. And uh, you know, I did put my faith in him and you know, it was just crazy the way things work out sometimes, you know, sometimes for the best, you know.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

Were you ever actually the kicker the for SMU? Yeah. So the I mean like in the game.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

So the first year, so they had a senior kicker, and the very first year that I got there, um he he was able to continue with the field goals. I did all the kickoffs because I was kicking him out of the end zone. Yeah. And uh and then my next year, which would have been my junior year, I took overall field goals and kickoffs. Um and then my senior year, we had a new coach come in, uh Mike Kavan, and he wasn't very nice to me. Uh he He didn't like dual athletes. He didn't like dual athletes. He basically told me you go you you pick. You you're not doing both. Because they would fly me. I would go to soccer games for SMU on Fridays. Back then it was always Friday and Sunday soccer games, Saturdays football, obviously, and they would fly me from soccer to football, football back to soccer, like by myself, just so I could get to all the games. And he's like, no more of that.

SPEAKER_00 45:47

We're not doing that. I mean, you know, I guess he felt he had options because most football coaches know that their job is on the line. If they had a great, you know, kicker and nobody that could kick like you, they wouldn't say that to you, I wouldn't think.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

Yeah, I think you know, he's he's trying to build his own culture. You know, I mean I I I get that part of it. Um you know, I think it could have probably been handled. Yeah, because you only had one more year. I had one one more year, and the agreement obviously was to do both sports. And I mean, I was a first team All-American in soccer. That soccer was my sport. So I wasn't gonna give that up. And even though I I did well, I did well kicking. I mean, uh I eventually ended up having a couple trials for NFL teams. Uh so I did well at kicking field goals. Um, but unfortunately, I didn't get to kick my senior year. Uh what it did for me though is most people don't know this either. I played soccer, was an all-American in soccer, ended up being college player of the year my senior year. 1997? 1997 under a football scholarship. I played under a football scholarship my whole career.

SPEAKER_00 46:52

They just gave me a yeah. Yeah, you still had that uh football scholarship and they just let it keep going, right? That's right. All right. Well, that I guess that's the uh the good thing about the coach not being able to or not working with you is at least the the scholarship kept going. He didn't pull the scholarship. Well, yeah, they couldn't at that point.

SPEAKER_01 47:09

They couldn't pull the scholarship. Uh thing things were a little different with the way scholarships work, but at that time, this was right before this was literally right before school started. And so my scholarship had already gone into kicked in, so they couldn't just pull it away from me.

SPEAKER_00 47:26

So your career, you were uh first team All-American in college uh how many times? Three. And uh you were in '97, you were uh what college player of the year. I mean, that's of all of college in all of the United States. Yes, sir. Um so obviously you had a great career. Uh just one final question on the football. I'm just curious, what's the longest field goals you ever made in a game for the Mustangs? For the Mustangs was 48. Okay. So John Tyler, 53. All right.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

I mean, that's got to be a record, maybe not holding up now. Uh not a Tyler record. It was a John Tyler record. Uh and then at SMU, that 48 was not the record. I I literally kicked field goals one year, so I think I had an attempt of a 56 yard field goal and it got blocked, so uh I didn't kick anything over 48.

SPEAKER_00 48:15

Well, you certainly made the best with what you had to work with between you know that that leg and SMU football and soccer, right? Yes, sir. All right, so good. You you you're you're winning all these awards. Is there anticipation for the uh uh MLS draft? Is that you know you think about football, we all watch it on TV. Guys that were good players, uh they're talking about he's gonna go first round, second round. Was there what was that like for you? It was uh it was exciting.

SPEAKER_01 48:42

Um it it wasn't as big of a deal back then. I know, you know, like they do the drafts now. Um I don't even think we were in a room together. But I mean you knew Yeah. I mean I I assumed, and there was talks again in college player of the year, you're thinking a couple of picks. Surely I'll get drafted. I didn't get picked till uh second round. Second round. I think second pick of the second round. And how many picks are there in the first round? I mean, there were only twelve teams on the first one. Okay, so you were the fourteenth pick. I I believe thirteenth and fourteenth, yeah. Yeah. So um and so yeah, it you say it that way, it sounds good. Right, I mean it does sound pretty good. But I from my understanding, I had heard that because I did was thinking about doing NFL tryouts, there was some hesitation on some of the teams of why they didn't pick me. Eventually I got picked and ended up going to LA Galaxy, uh, and which ended up being a great, great move for me.

SPEAKER_00 49:42

Yeah. Um I mean it would have been tempting to try to make an NFL team, although the money for kickers has gotten a lot better in the NFL than it was back then. Absolutely. I probably would have had less knee surgeries too. So um you have been hurt before in your soccer career? I've had 11 surgeries throughout my 15-year career. And have the uh surgeries primarily been focused on your knees or knees, ankles, uh hips, yep, a little bit of everything. That's what I was saying about earlier when I was saying you were running and the golfers were walking. Yeah. Right? I mean that Oh yeah. Uh you know, people don't hear all that, but that is quite a toll. Does it d has any of that bother you or stay with you today?

SPEAKER_01 50:22

Yeah. I mean, I'm sure at some point I'll have to have a knee replacement. Uh, you know, but I still, you know, uh even through pain, a lot of swelling in the knees, you know, I still work out just because I I have to, but uh I definitely feel it.

SPEAKER_00 50:36

I feel it every day. All right. So you um you get drafted by the galaxy, and then, you know, to kind of just compress your career, you played a total of 15 years. 15 years total. Um you I don't know if we uh if you went to Mexico and this is kind of um to try to regroup, it was a demotion, or you felt it would be good for your career. I mean, why the decision to go to Mexico for two years?

SPEAKER_01 51:05

So, one, like I mentioned earlier, that was my dream. Always Mexico. Oh, yeah. Uh that was always my dream. Uh at the time, Mexico was a way better league than Major League Soccer.

SPEAKER_00 51:15

Right. That's what the viewers need to understand is that, you know, um Mexico soccer, they were serious about soccer. Oh, yeah. Right? I mean, oh yeah. And their players had played most of their life, their entire life. 100%. And they were very competitive. And so and the people treated them like NFL players are treated here. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 51:40

Yeah. I mean, you you look at the newspapers over there when I went over there to play, and majority of the pages were soccer. The front page of every paper was soccer. What I mean, I guess Bimbo's a sponsor. Uh that was a big sponsor uh in for our team that year at Necaxa.

SPEAKER_00 51:59

Uh which Necoxa, that team is located where in Mexico, so we can visualize you in Mexico.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

Sir, Aguascalientes, which is about an hour from León, Central Mexico. Okay. Uh, and when I got to Necaxa, um, the team was actually in Mexico City its whole life since early 1900s. Uh, they had been in Mexico City. And when I arrived, the team was based just moved. It was based in Mexico City. Azteca Stadium is where they played, uh, which is 100,000 seat stadium. Yeah. Uh when I arrived, the team moved to a new town, Aguascalientes. New new town, new stadium, uh, and then that's where the team was based. Was it nice when you got there? I mean super nice. Because it was a newer stadium, I imagine. Newer stadium, uh small town, one of the safest towns in Mexico at the time. Uh so it's just a great experience. I mean, it's the environments over there are crazy. Uh money was way better than Major League Soccer at the time. Really? Oh, way better.

SPEAKER_00 53:04

Wasn't even close. You know, because people would be surprised to hear that. They often think about the exchange rate, the peso, and this, and then they go, really, the money was better in Mexico? Wasn't even close.

SPEAKER_01 53:15

Then that was one of the main reasons that I decided to move. One, it definitely was a step up, an upgrade in my career, uh, going to a team over there, an a historic team like Nick Oxa, and obviously getting paid way more than what I was getting paid in Major League Soccer. And so in 2003, uh 2002, I'll back up. I was in New England Revolution. We went to MLS Cup. 2003, I made the move to Mexico. And uh There you are.

SPEAKER_00 53:43

Yeah, you don't you look a lot younger back in the in the day. I was that was a long time ago. But I the Mexican years is is is fascinating to me because there's all this dynamic, like you said. They call you gringo, right? Your name is Hernandez. Right. Um You know, Mexican soccer is is quite a bit better than the U.S. soccer at the time, right? Absolutely. Um Do you want to go there? You know, is this to prove something to yourself that is, you know, I'm going to a place where I know the competition, you know, one through eleven is better than where I've been.

SPEAKER_01 54:24

Yeah, I think that was a part of it. Um and the money. And and the money uh obviously was a also a big decision uh or choice. But I would tell you the probably the biggest part of it, and we see it now, like what do all the kids want to play? All the kids want to play the sports that they see on Sports Center, right? They want to see the or they want to play the sports that they see all these great atmospheres and these filled up sports arenas or sports stadiums. For me, that's what I always viewed and saw in Mexico soccer because they filled their stadiums, 40,000, 60,000. They weren't full in the 19, late 1990s in the US. No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. And over there they were. It's like again, you walk down the street of Mexico, everyone knows you. That's what I was about to say. Yeah, everyone knows you. It it it was that I'm actually a pro-athlete feel.

SPEAKER_00 55:20

You felt like a pro athlete in Mexico. 100%. Because I can just see you, uh, you know, my son played on a German uh professional football team for a season in a in a very small 40,000-person town. And he said everybody in there knew that he was American and knew that he was on that football team. Oh, yeah. Right. The whole town, you know. I mean, you didn't have to buy many beers. Right.

SPEAKER_01 55:45

Absolutely. Well, and and you know, you you come back home to Tyler and And then you're you've got instant street cred. Uh 100%.

SPEAKER_00 55:54

I mean, nobody's calling you Gringo over here.

SPEAKER_01 55:57

Well, that and they're not saying, oh, you're uh you're the guy used to play for FC Dallas. Well, they say you're the guy who used to play for Necaxa or Puebla or Jaguares de Chapas in Mexico. It's like they name those teams. They don't name Galaxy or Revolution, you know, they're always naming the Mexico teams.

SPEAKER_00 56:14

Well, you know, it's a very um interesting dynamic. Mexico and the U.S. and the soccer, right? Like you said, a lot of you know, Hispanics that live here, you know, they've always looked back to Mexico as far as for their sports, soccer, and their teams that they loved and followed, and maybe their parents came from somewhere or that was their dad's favorite team or whatever, right? Right. But it's funny how you go over there and you come back, and now you're more popular with the people that live here than you were when you left. Yeah, for sure. First, first. Yeah, absolutely. Um and 'cause that's what they respected and loved was the teams in Mexico. Oh, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 56:59

And so all those families that are here that they have parents still there in Mexico or still there, they grew up loving the teams that their parents loved, right? No matter what team in Mexico that was. And so now you see all these people that I grew up with loving the teams that their parents loved. So, and then for example, like for me, it was always Club America. And imagine being raised as a Cowboys fan, a Dallas Cowboys fan. That's how I was raised as a Club America fan. For me, I was able to play in Azteca Stadium, 80,000 people with Nickaksa against Club America. My dad, my uncles went to the game, and I was able to score against Club America. It's like scoring a touchdown against your own Dallas Cowboys. I mean, is this the highlight of your entire career? Highlight of my career. I mean, I'm talking FC, Dallas, everything. Everything. That that right there, and most importantly, because my family was there. Yeah, that's right. I mean, that's that meant the world.

SPEAKER_00 58:01

That's awesome. I mean, you know, I mean, I've got a pilot for a movie working right here. Let's do it. You know, we're down there. The crowd's chilling, uh, cheering Demetrio, Demetrio, right? I mean, and then you score. And uh I mean, that's wild. And uh you and that would be in Mexico City. Mexico City. You know, Mexico City, uh it's strange that I say this, but it's true. I lived in Mexico City for five and a half weeks when I was in law school. Okay. I took an exchange class because I was always interested in Mexico. You know, like because Texas has a relationship where I mean I mean, all you know is Hispanics if you've lived here your whole life, especially in the last 25 years. So I went over there, it was interesting, it was the largest place I'd ever seen. I think it was 25 million or something people. Um if you know your Mexican history, you know that the eagle soared and landed on a branch in a lake, and they said, Well, we're gonna build that city right here. And that's in a valley on top of a lake, and uh that's why there's so much smog. It's it you know, right, and the smell. Yep. Did you could you smell it back then? Oh yeah. Right? I mean and with altitude.

SPEAKER_01 59:13

Because it's trapped. Yeah. So the smog and the altitude. Yep. Those are two big, big factors, especially as a soccer player.

SPEAKER_00 59:22

Uh but you know, uh, getting around Mexico when you were there, did you have a car? Yeah. Yeah. Did you drive or did you fly in?

SPEAKER_01 59:30

No, I'd fly in and then they would provide you with a car and place to live and all those sorts of things. So uh well taken care of.

SPEAKER_00 59:36

I mean, sometimes, you know, with that traffic stop and the Mortita, you gotta You know, you gotta have a few bucks there.

SPEAKER_01 59:43

I'll tell you a funny story about that. So my first I bet I wasn't there two weeks, or maybe a couple weeks after I finally was driving. And I get stopped by the police. And he pulls me over, he's comes up to my window, he says, uh, you know you ran that stop sign back there, right? In Spanish, obviously. Yeah. And I said, Uh, I didn't see a stop sign. No bail auto. So he says, Well, we we can handle this here if you if you want to handle it. He said, Uh, you can invite me for a cup of coffee. And again, I said, Yeah, sure. Like, I'll I'll take you a cup of coffee. He's like, I'll like just let me know when. And he's just sitting there and he's like, uh, no. He's tapping on my hood and he says, Um, you have to give me the money for the coffee. And I said, Oh. I said, okay. I said, well, I like I've never done this before. Quantum, how much? And he said, Oh, whatever, but usually this amount or this amount. I was like, all right, I think it was like five bucks. That's some that's some that's some that's some nice coffee. Gave him the five bucks. I think he was going to Starbucks. So uh gave him the five bucks and went about his way. That was my first experience of the mordida.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:57

Yeah, I mean, I had that one time too. I was actually riding with a uh girl who lived in Mexico City when I was there, and she was taking me around and we got stopped. Yeah. And boy, she she wasn't near as friendly as you sounded, though. I mean, she was wearing that dude out. Oh, I bet. But she still had to give him twenty bucks. Yeah. Um it's true. All right, now how do you make arrangements to leave Mexico and come back to a uh you know, a major league soccer team?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:23

Yeah, so uh I mentioned that I left New England Revolution, uh, went to Mexico for two years, two thousand two thousand three to two thousand five. My contract was up with Nicoxa. New England wanted me back, so I was able to work out a deal to go back to New England Revolution in 2005, the summer of 2005. So 2005, we go back to MLS Cup, uh, 2006, back to MLS Cup again. You're a starter for this team. Yes, sir. Okay. The starter. Um, and uh so then after 2006 MLS Cup, we go into the 2007 uh season, and that summer I had another offer to go back to Mexico. And so that's when I signed with Puebla for six months before I went on to uh Jawarez de Chiapas down in Tuxla Gutierrez.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:16

All right, so is that three Mexican teams? Three Mexican teams. All right, yep. Did you have a favorite? Probably Nixah. Um which was the original team?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:28

The original team, yeah. Um only because you scored a goal in Aztec Stadium, your dad saw it. Yeah, and that was uh so at the time they had the same owners as Club America. So they were kind of like the little brothers of the city. Who owns these teams? Televisa. Oh huge, huge owners uh from Televisa, um the the Mexican uh TV station. Um and so but I will say the probably the most success that I had was over at Kawa Hawaii de Chiapas. We had a really, really good team, um, did well in the playoffs. So that was probably the most successful team. Um but Nickaco is probably my my best experience.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

You know, I remember watching this 30 for 30, and I cannot remember this player. Uh but they lost, you know, and he got killed, you know. Oh, Escobar from Colombia. Yes, yes. I mean, I remember it was a fascinating story about but the passion of the people and the love for that team, and then the dark side of a loss was evident from that show.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:34

I mean When I was in Mexico, I never experienced anything myself. Uh, but when I was in Mexico, I I remember there was a coach for one of the teams we used to play. He was kidnapped by Cartel. Uh I mean, what didn't I mean, what did they want with him? Try to win a few more games. He wasn't getting the results they wanted. Oh, okay. I don't know. Um and but for the most part, the players don't they never because you know, it it's like the NFL. It's like soccer is their thing over there. So the players never really got hassled with uh or bothered with by any stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:08

But I mean, you you know, you usually see that connection uh when players go out at night, right? You know, clubs, yeah, parties, you know, this is the intersection of potentially, you know, you know, not the best element with the players, right? And people are giving them free stuff, VIP, whatever, you know. Was that ever something that they they're like, hey, you guys need to watch out or stay away from? Yeah, no, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:35

Um man, there was a famous player that played for Club America that was in a bar two o'clock in the morning, and he got shot in the head by a cartel member. Because he survived, but he but he got shot by a cartel member.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:49

I mean, that sounds like somebody who's very uh, you know, um arrogant or not concerned about the police at all. I mean, to shoot somebody, right, like that. Yeah. Like not worrying about it. Yeah, I mean, I guess a lot of things happen in Mexico that, you know, slipped under the rug. Right. I mean, but like my dad always said, uh God rest his soul, uh nothing good have happens after midnight.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:13

That's right. Same thing here.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:14

You know, you hear NFL players all the time getting into stuff, you know, or any athlete. Even in this city. Yeah. You know, the worst news on our news in Tyler is young people destroying their lives. And I promise you, every time you hear about it, it's one thirty in the morning, it's three in the morning, it's two thirty in the morning. For sure. Right? Yep. I mean not worth it. It's really not. Not in the long term. And I w you know, but kids, their brains are not fully formed until they're Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:42

Well, evidently us as athletes aren't fully formed either, you know. We would hope to we would like to think so, but you know, it's like it's so frustrating to see, you know, some of these pro athletes continue to make mistakes over and over and over. I know. Because they're they're up on a pedestal, you know, and they're out in the spotlight. And so One little mistake and their career's gone.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:02

You know, I guess p a lot of people uh in professional sports, you know, came from, you know, really uh poor backgrounds or or or low middle class, right? And then all of a sudden, people are treating you like you're, you know, something special. And, you know, that's hard to assimilate. And in soccer, I guess in Mexico, that would have been more of a problem for you there than the U.S. as far as attention and adulation.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:28

Yeah, just because everyone knows you over there. You know, here you can kinda as a soccer player, you can kind of hide under the radar. Yeah. Um, I guess you can get it in as much trouble here as you can in Mexico, but but uh, you know, over there everybody knows who you are when you walk around.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:45

All right. Fifteen years. You end your career at FC Dallas. Um did you receive any awards as a professional from the MLS League?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:54

So made the All-Star team one year. Uh was a captain on various teams, um uh humanitarian of the year award in 2010. Yep, 2010.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:10

What do you think got you that award? What did you do or what you what were you associated with?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:14

Well, uh The Christopher Reeve Foundation. The Dana Dana and Christopher Reeve Foundation was one of the big ones. Uh I did I felt like I was just always constantly doing something within the community with those, you know, uh free community clinics.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:30

Um FC Dallas try to, you know, promote you to do that, like, hey, let's get out there in the community and they did an amazing job with that.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:39

And and then being, you know, as one of the leaders on the team as a captain, you know, that I was one of the guys that was out there frequently, uh, you know, speaking engagements, whatever it was, uh, constantly doing stuff within the community. So and I could I started doing that back at SMU. I used I used to host a camp at SMUs like for these uh underprivileged kids. It I remember we used to have like 500 kids coming out to SMU talking about college and education and so forth and do a soccer clinic. So just something I always have been passionate about, just giving back to your community.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:13

You know, when you think about the Olympic team, when was the U.S. when did soccer first play as an Olympic sport? Do you know? I mean, I don't know. I don't know the question of that either. I mean it was a long time ago. Okay. Um Well, my question, my follow-up was really gonna be, you know, were there ever thoughts in your mind or were you ever even in the running for however many spots were on the Olympic US Olympic soccer team at any point during your career?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:41

Yeah, so you know, as I mentioned, I played with all the US national teams up, you know, up until the Olympic team time. When I was a sophomore in college, I did get called into the Olympic pool training, whatever we talked about earlier about the big pool of players that they choose from. Right. So I I was invited to that. I didn't make the Olympic team at the time. And then fast forward, it was the same situation with the men's national team. So I got called into several games, uh, World Cup qualifiers for 2002 World Cup, which was Germany. Uh so you had to qualify for the World Cup, obviously. And so you had to play all these games to qualify for the World Cup. Well, I was on the on the bench. I didn't get to play in those games, but I was on the bench for two World Cup qualifiers with the men's national team, and then obviously never was fortunate enough to go to a World Cup.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:39

Well, I mean, you've you've kind of laid it out as we look at your career. It's there's a lot of good players and a lot of people trying to make you know not that many spots, right? I mean, it's it's hard to make it in soccer. For sure. I mean, just imagine all of the Hispanic players that live here have been playing their whole life and you're competing against that, right? Yeah. Across the country for limited time. I mean, yeah. These are born and bred soccer players, right? I mean, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:08

And I that's probably the one probably the one goal that I probably uh, you know, will probably never stop thinking about is I never got to step on the field to represent the U.S. the men's national team, whether it was World Cup or just in a game, uh, even though I was on the bench, but it just, you know, it's not the same. Um but it's also a great, a huge accomplishment. I know it was, you know, I was blessed to play 15 years professionally, be on the US team basically my whole life. So I I do understand that it was a great accomplishment, but you know, there's still a little little piece missing there.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:48

Yeah, I mean, you know, everybody in football wants to win the Super Bowl, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:53

Well, talking about that, I went to four MLS Cups and lost every one of them.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:57

Yeah, okay. Uh yeah, on four different teams, but you know, uh for Dallas, FC Dallas, in 2010, you were on the team team that they made it to the cup, right? That's right. And for sports fans listening, that's like the Super Bowl in soccer. For sure. Um you guys played who, Colorado? Colorado. And uh you did what was the score of that game? Two to one in overtime.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:21

Oh man. Yeah, two to one. And then we played in Toronto. So back then, back then, all the MLS Cups, they were neutral neutral sites. And we played in Toronto, and imagine in December, it was snowing when we woke up that morning for MLS Cup. Here we are playing a championship game and it's snowing in Toronto. So I guess Colorado was kind of used to playing in the snow. We'll we'll blame it on that.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:45

Yeah, they were yeah, y'all were warm weather players. Yeah, for sure. You know, as we kind of get out of your career and move on to other things in your life, I want to circle back to your time at SMU because, you know, you were fortunate uh and people will recognize this. You got to play with your younger brother. I did. Right? I mean. Um When you were at SMU, your n your number were you number two? I was number two. Uh Nico, your brother, was what number? Number 10. All right. And so did y'all start and were y'all on the field together at any point in time? Yeah, we were.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:18

He came in as a freshman uh and he started as a freshman. So he was good. Oh yeah, he was good though. Yeah, I mean he's starting as a freshman. And when I was there, around that time, SMU soccer was they were always top three in the nation. Always. And I know for three of those years that I played at SMU, we were always top three. Lots of times top one, a number one.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:43

Now, the only SMU alumni soccer player I think I can recall is hearing is Clark Hunt. Yeah. Did he play before you, I guess?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:51

Yeah, he was way before me. Uh, and I'm I'm great friends with Clark and Dan Hunt. Dan quit soccer when he got to SMU. He Dan is around my age, but Clark is a lot older than me. Uh, but from my understanding, he was a great soccer player. He was a captain of the team at SMU. Uh obviously his his dad, great-great dad Lamar, obviously huge, huge uh impact on sports impact on soccer in gen, you know, specifically in soccer, but all sports, but specifically in soccer, and probably a huge part of why Major League Soccer exists today.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:27

Yeah. Um I just, you know, I think that would be probably one of the most exciting experiences of your life is to get to play with your younger brother in a competitive environment in a sport that you love.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:41

You know, so and I don't know if you can attest to this, but me and my brother growing up, because we were so close in age, we fought all the time. Yeah. Competitive.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:52

I was so much bigger than my brother. He didn't grow until his sophomore year. And so he might be five foot and I might be five ten, you know. Well, it was the same thing with my brother.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:02

My brother was short, but he didn't care. Yeah. He still was trying to fight all the time. Yeah. And we we just were so it, you know, we'd be out there playing basketball, soccer, it didn't matter. We were fighting all the time. And uh, so I remember when he came to SMU, uh, and we still kind of bumped heads even when we were at SMU, but it it was I always felt honored and just proud to have him on the field with me. He was my backup kicker on the football team. Believe me. Yeah, he was my backup kicker on the football team. And did he have a football scholarship too? Uh no, he was on soccer scholarship. Yeah, he was on soccer scholarship. And and I know you might mention this uh uh in a little bit, but um, you know, before my brother's accident, uh, that we can talk about. So the last game that my brother ever played soccer was in the Mexican League at Caldwell Park. I was on break. I had just finished my first year as a professional soccer player in LA. I was in town for offseason, and I'm watching the game, and my brother's playing Mexican League, uh, and there's a huge fight out there at Caldwell Park between the two teams. And so we're running out there. I'm trying to protect my brother. That was the last time that he played a soccer game, and I was out there protecting him. Um, and then I think two days later he had his car accident.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:27

So he must have played when he was home uh for that break before he went back to SMU.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:33

Yeah, so it was around exam time, final exam time. And so he was in town for the weekend because when we were at SMU, we would we would always drive to Tyler on the weekend just to play Mexican League.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:44

But I mean, you know, nowadays a lot of coaches would say, Look, guys, uh, y'all don't need to be playing in the Mexican League. Probably shouldn't have. I mean, because those guys are working as grown men, yeah, and you know, they may cheap shot you, right? I mean they may be jealous of you. I mean, you you know, you're putting yourself at risk here, uh, Daniel. We did.

unknown 1:16:06

We did.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:08

Well, unfortunately and and tragically, you know, Nico was in a car accident on his way back to SMU and uh he ended up paralyzed from the waist down. Uh I I think we've got a picture of you and him. Um, and that's when you were with FC Dallas, and I'm assuming he came up, and I don't know if he was uh, you know allowed to, you know, be on the sideline with the team. I I'm assuming he probably was.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:32

Yeah, so so that year or that specific game, uh he was named honorary captain. I was gonna say that, but I didn't want to say, well, it probably made him honorary captain. Yeah, that's uh probably my favorite picture ever. Uh you see my social media, that's my profile picture. Uh I have a big picture of this right here in my office. Um it just I don't know, it just means a lot to me. Um, you know, because I almost felt like I kind of was playing for both of us throughout my career. After he was hurt? After he was hurt, uh, because he definitely would have been a pro professional soccer player for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:09

Yeah, I mean, and you would know. So that is, I mean, that's gotta be disappointing for you, for him, you know, to have to, especially for Nico to, you know, to kind of say, well, what could have been, and have to, you know, just pick up the pieces. But um, you know, you I know you stay in touch with him and talk to him and say Well, you know, I I mentioned, you know, we fought a lot growing up, but I I'll tell you this.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:32

I remember the night that he was in the hospital, you know, and and I man, it's it's tough to talk about. I sometimes get choked up, but you know, I told him that night, I was like, man, I'm sorry, you know, uh for all the bumping of the heads, you know, because we just never know. You know, things can change like that in the blink of an eye. And uh, and it did for him. Uh his best friend, unfortunately, didn't make it out of that wreck. And uh, but what I told him, I was like, man, I'm I'm I'm sorry, I love you, and uh, you know, I'm gonna can continue to play, you know, for both of us. Man, we've been best friends ever since that that happened, you know. Unfortunately, it that happened and we we became super, super tight.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:12

Well, I I know he's got to be proud of you. I mean, you know, uh, I mean, how many professional soccer players from Tyler have we had? Have we had any?

SPEAKER_01 1:18:25

I think I'm the only one. I think I'm the only one. We have uh Longview guy, uh Francisco Torres that also played in Mexico, played with the U.S. team, and then Clinton Dempsey. I think those are the only Texas guys that I can think of off the top of my head. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:41

Do you think it's just access to um, you know, the club soccer that is, you know, Dallas, you know, they have more players, more facilities, more training, more coaching, right? It's like you said, you gotta find you gotta have parents to drive you up there from there.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:59

Yeah, it's it's a huge sacrifice for everyone involved. Um, you know, back then, again, like I mentioned, it w it's really it was an easy decision because it all we had here was wreck soccer. And as great of a coach my dad was, he even just kind of swallowed his pride and said, you know, I basically have taken you as far as I can. I need to get you with a club team with these coaches that can do more than what I can for you. And it opened the door for more opportunities for me and obviously uh pushed me to play at a higher level.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:31

You retire uh in uh 2012. Correct. Um and then you find yourself, I guess, out of soccer completely. Mm-hmm. Um I guess you had to start thinking about, you know, how do I make a living the rest of part my life? Did you had you thought about that before or did it start when you because you were kind of unexpectedly out of soccer. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:55

That's that's the perfect word that you can use because I thought I still well, not I thought I had two more years left on my contract. So I thought I was gonna play two more years. So I figured probably like every athlete, oh, I have two more years to prepare for after soccer. You never are prepared for after sports. Never. And unfortunately for me, I had no idea what I was gonna do after soccer.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:19

Um what about a degree? Had you gotten it from SMU or did you have to circle back?

SPEAKER_01 1:20:25

Yeah, I circled back because I left because the way Major League Soccer star uh is they had their draft in January. And so I I left a semester uh early from SMU. So um between my transfer from Creighton to SMU and then leaving a semester early, I had about one full year, two semesters left to graduate. But I knew 100% when I finished playing soccer, I was gonna go back and get my degree. And SMU degree was super important to me. At the time, SMU didn't do online courses. So I tried to do them while I played, but they didn't allow it. So after I retired, I went back to SMU on campus at 36 years old, and I took courses for two semesters and graduated in December of 2013.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:13

Had either of your parents graduated from college? Uh no. Had anybody in your extended family ever graduated from college? Uh my oldest sister had graduated and became a nurse. All right. And that's probably because of the sacrifice and the influence of your parents.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:31

Correct. 100%. And and uh and and Nico. Nico, after his car wreck, he ended up I think he went back to SMU for one semester and then he finished his degree at Texas College while he was here in Tyler just so that he could finish his degree, but he finished his degree.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:47

Um and you had what? You had a sister, you had NACOU, how many other kids that you So I have a younger sister, uh Sarah.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:56

Uh she graduated, she actually was on a full scholarship at SFA for s for soccer. Uh she graduated from SFA. She's a teacher. She's at Tyler Legacy now, and she's been the assistant women's soccer coach there for under Chris Woodard, probably for 20 years. Chris Woodard.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:12

Shout out to Chris Woodard. Yeah, whole Woodard. Golly, I've known that guy for so long. Really? He uh man, he was playing soccer when I was at Lee. Yeah. And uh and then he's been the women's coach ever uh ever since they had a program.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:24

Yep, and my sister's been his assistant ever since she left college. It's funny, Woodard and his a couple of his uh Tyler Lee uh teammates, they would come over and play in the Mexican League with my uncle's team. Wait, which guys? I know them. Uh okay. Uh Drew Demon Drew Denman, yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:43

Brian Fitzgerald, uh Trace Adams, uh uh Rich Narr. Let's see, who else was that? Um Denman was probably probably one of the better ones.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:54

He was one of the uh the better ones. I want to even say maybe Mark Wheeler. Mark Wheeler's one of them, yeah. He's one of their buddies. So so all those guys, you know, I was probably, I don't remember how old, but 10, 12 when I used to watch those guys play in the Mexican League. Yeah. So that's I mean, it's crazy, is Mexican League is where I Tyler, Mexican League. That's where I I used to look up to all those guys playing soccer.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:19

I had an ex-brother-in-law, his name was Doug Weeby, and uh he played in that Mexican league. Really? Yeah, and I thought, man, why are you doing this? You know, and he was a grown man. It wasn't like he was in college. And he was like, you know, older.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:31

It's it's a dangerous it's a dangerous league out there, you know. But you you learn a lot and you know, from experience. And I mean, me and my brother, uh, we probably started playing there when we were 14, 15 years old.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:42

You the foundation, you know, Christopher Reed, most people remember him as Superman. He was paralyzed. Uh there was a lot of attention uh brought to, you know, that medical issue. And somehow you got connected, I guess, early in your soccer career with that foundation. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:00

So when I played for New York Metro Stars, uh the Christopher Reed Foundation is based in New Jersey. And so they uh somehow connected us with the foundation, knew my brother's story, and I became the national celebrity ambassador for them. This was 2001, uh, and kind of have followed through with them uh as a national ambassador. When I retired from soccer in 2012, I kind of took a couple years off from doing anything with them, but we kind of rebuilt that partnership and now we're back working with them again. Like what types of things do they uh call on you to do as a part of your role there? Mostly awareness uh for um for that community, the the the paralysis community. Uh a big part of it is because you know it allows me to also work with my brother and with his experience uh and with paralysis, more about bringing awareness a lot in the Hispanic community, uh bringing awareness to all the resources that they actually have. That people can apply for that you know or that the foundation provides, you know. Um and so what we do with that is I've been doing a Christmas soccer clinic probably since 2010. Uh not consistently here in Tyler, but usually in Dallas or Tyler. And we had our biggest one last December. We had over 400 kids there.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:23

And that was at uh Tyler High.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:25

At Tyler High.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:26

I saw you. This is what made me think about you. Okay. Honestly. I saw you in that piece on Channel 7, and I thought, Daniel Hernandez, pro soccer player, huh? I need to ask that guy to come on the show. And uh but yeah, I saw that. And it looked like, you know, those kids, you know, obviously it's easier to aspire to something if you can see somebody who's already done it.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:49

100%.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:50

And say, well, this guy's from Tyler.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:52

He grew up in my neighborhood. And if he made it, then that means it's not impossible, right? And and that's part of it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:59

I mean, I started playing wrecking soccer here for Tyler Soccer Association at five years old, you know. Uh I used to be down the road from my house at the park.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:08

What's the name of that park right there? P.T. Cole Park. I was gonna say P.T. Cole. They have fixed that thing up. It's nice as it can be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:16

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:16

Shout out to Don Warren, the mayor. That's right. He made parks a priority and caught a lot of political heat for it.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:22

But it's it's uh it used to be not a safe place down there. Right. It looked scary.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:27

And now you see kids out there playing all the time. All the time. Yep. I mean, my wife and I drove by there weekend before last, and I was shocked at how many people were at that park. Yeah. And I was like, man, that's so good because you know, a lot of people don't have the money, they don't have this to and you know, to be able to have experiences, you know, uh uh where you can do something that's positive and not negative, that's that's a great thing. That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:53

And if you don't have facilities like that, places that these kids can go and have fun and be kids, they end up doing stuff that they're not supposed to do, or negative things like you mentioned. Uh and that's all kids.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:06

I mean, that's me when I was growing up. Yeah, absolutely. You uh you you zeroed in on life insurance at some point, which has become your career, has it not? I mean, right. You're now Daniel Hernandez Insurance and uh there's your first, you know, in a business suit. I'm out there.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:25

Yeah, it's uh it all happened by coincidence. Uh I never imagined being in this industry. Um I had policies as a soccer player, professional soccer player with New York Life.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:37

Okay, so that's where your first experience was, is they're like, hey, Daniel, we got a policy on you in case you get hurt. Yes. Or get killed.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:44

Exactly. And what ended up happening is because of my knee, I essentially technically was retired because of my injuries. I had a disability a waiver premium rider on my policy. New York Life, when when I retired. Tired from soccer, New York Life took over those premiums for me as a writer.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:04

When you say waiver, that meant if you got hurt, you didn't have to pay the premiums, but the policy would still stay in effect.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:11

And so because I was hurt, injured in my career, whatever career I was doing at the time, New York Life took over those premiums. So I I saw all the benefits in my policy, aside from it building up tax-free cash value. Um and so after I graduated from SME in 2013, I kept getting approached by New York Life. And I was like, I'm not interested.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:33

Like who would approach you? Just people that go, hey, this guy would be great. You know, he's he's Hispanic, he's well known in the soccer market. Is it's kind of like, you know, he would he would fit a good niche.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:44

Yeah. I mean, I uh that sounded like the phone call that I had from my own. Well, I mean, I've been told I've been told I'm good, Daniel. So that's how it all started. Uh and then they got me in to to have a conversation. And I honestly, even after I graduated from SMU, I had no clue what I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:01

No clue. That's every kid. And you know, I'm so fortunate. My dad has passed away, but he was a lawyer. And you know, just that example with nothing else is well, you know, um I respect my dad. I'll just try to be a lawyer, right? I mean and you know, you you know, you and not everybody has that, right? Right. That you want to go from manual labor to thinking labor. Yeah. Right? I mean I mean, that's what most people want to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:29

No, exactly. And but I knew that after soccer that I've been getting paid for for 15 years. You weren't gonna be doing anything manual. Now I had to go give me a real job, you know. And uh so I at the time, unfortunately for me, uh I was going through a divorce at the same time. Three daughters. Um with the flexibility of this business, I knew I never wanted to miss anything of my daughters. And so I was like, well, let me try it. You know, uh, I need to do something, start making some money. Uh I know I need to be there for my my daughters. And so as I started working the business, I'm like, you know what? I love helping people, uh, love protecting people's lives. Um and and I don't have to miss anything of my daughters.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:13

It's super flexible to be a life insurance salesman.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:17

Super flexible. And so that's what I started doing. Uh, and a lot of that focus also was because I saw the experience of what I had in my policy. I was like, man, I want to be able to provide this service to all pro athletes just so they can understand how beneficial this is to them. So a lot of my clients are pro athletes, uh high net worth business owners. That's kind of my bread and butter and who I service. Um, about a year into the business uh with New York Life, I partnered with them and then started my own life insurance company, Hernandez Life Insurance Solutions. Um and then that was a stepping stone into the other part of my business, which is structured settlements.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:58

Well, let's break that down. Hernandez Life Insurance Solutions is the name of the website. That's correct. Um and so, you know, anybody who's watching this show, uh, if they wanted to get in touch with you, that's how they would get in touch through the website. Hernandez LIS.com. What about, you know, obviously Spanish speakers, um, Spanish readers that, you know, find you to be a credible person who would understand their needs from your your family background, would they be able to communicate on your website or with whoever they talk to? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:34

And and again, we mentioned that, you know, being able to uh kind of build that trust in the Hispanic community, speaking Spanish, obviously, explaining the benefits of essentially protecting their biggest asset. And their biggest asset is not their car or their house, it's themselves. That's right. I was gonna say that. Yeah, it's themselves. And and then also a big part of what I do is also teaching uh high net worth clients how to become their own bank by creating their own family bank through, you know, whole life uh properly structured whole life insurance policies. So that's kind of what I do. Uh and again, for the Hispanic community, it's unfortunately in our our culture, they there's not a lot of life insurance being bought on the family members.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:24

Aaron Ross Powell Well, you know, I mean, we're you know, we're you're gonna use this as an opportunity to shine a light on that and maybe change that because what you said is what I was thinking. If I think about, and I don't want to stereotype anybody, but if I think about, you know, Hispanic men traditionally have done all the hard jobs. And and we if you just walk around the city and watch any construction project and your eyes are open, um, it's hard to miss. Yeah. Those are also the most dangerous jobs. And oftentimes they have a wife, multiple kids, right? And as you say, uh if something were to happen to them, you can't necessarily count on there to be a lawsuit, right? It it could be workers' comp in a comp bar or or or or you know, there could be barriers to and life insurance policies are almost like guaranteed, like you paid the premium, if you get killed, or you get we're gonna pay you. Yeah. I mean, you know, you can't put a value on someone's life, right? Right. I mean, but you have to you have to pick.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:25

But but but yeah, but you know, at the end of the day, one million. But in the day, it's like, man, you have to be able to care for your spouse and your kids that much that if something was to ever happen, that's our only only guarantee in life is that some point we're gonna meet our maker. And we just don't know when. That's right. We don't know when. And so to be able to invest into an insurance policy that you know no matter what, if anything ever, God forbid happens to you, your family's gonna be taken care of. They always they already deal with enough grief in dealing with all of losing a loved one. Why have to deal with the financial struggle as well, you know?

SPEAKER_00 1:34:10

Yeah, I mean, and and and policies can be a lot cheaper than people realize. For sure. Um and give them coverage that could really uh help people out if something bad happened.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:19

Yeah, and you know, we make jokes about it all the time that, you know, people will insure their iPhones, you know. You can get a uh insurance policy that's on your life for what you pay for insurance on an iPhone, you know, it's possible.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:32

Um you you mentioned another uh component, and I think this is uh something that everybody should listen to because I have this conversation with people and I sometimes can't talk them into it. And that is the structured settlement, right? Yes, sir. In my business as a personal injury lawyer, when I get settlements, um depending on if they're large enough, I turn to my client and say, Hey, you know, you can structure some of this, and they go, What does that mean? And I says, Well, before we touch it, I can have it sent to an annuity, essentially. Right. And and that will go pre-tax and sit there and work for you, and they can run numbers to show you, hey, I want to get paid every six months. I'm gonna get paid every month, right? That's right. And it can really, with the interest rates where they are now as opposed to six years ago, these are beneficial things for people, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:35:25

Yeah, 100%. And and it's it's uh like you mentioned, it's a once-in-a-lifetime look. They they've already suffered through injury, maybe a wrongful death. They've suffered enough. And so the last thing you want to do, or you what you want to do, is honor the person that the loved one that you lost where this settlement money came from. And it's like, don't take all the cash and in two years you're broke. Right. And what we try to do is preserve that money, protect it, and make it last as long as possible. And then, like you mentioned, the biggest benefit is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for it to be tax free. And so, now obviously, miners, we know miners have to do it most of the time, you know, by the courts required by the courts, but with adults, yeah, it's kind of hit or miss. It's 50-50.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:11

You know, sometimes we're like, no, I want my cash. Some lawyers don't tell their clients about this vehicle and they don't know about it. And that's what I'm getting at here. It's like, I don't care if you're not using me, and you watch this and you got a settlement and you heard this with me and Daniel. Remember the phrase structured settlement. Exactly. Ask your lawyer about it. Yep. At least, at least listen to those options and listen to the benefits of it. You know, we we haven't really honored uh your father and your mother. Uh black eye want to. Uh what was your father and mother's name?

SPEAKER_01 1:36:44

Demetrio Hernandez and Jimmy Hernandez. Jimmy Laverne Duffy Hernandez. I have to get it right. So uh yeah, my mom is from uh her family uh is from Simpsonville, Texas, over by Gilmer in Pittsburgh. So that's where she grew up. Uh my dad from Mexico. And uh unfortunately for us, uh may uh her her her soul rest in peace. Uh my mom passed away in October of last year uh from cancer.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:16

So yeah, it's tough. I mean, you know, you know, my dad died November of 2024. You know, when you get older, obviously the the season of you know your parents passing away, you know, gets on you, right? I mean, you don't know when, but you know you're gonna be going to a funeral, God willing, if you're still alive. Right. Um and you know I mean I don't look forward to it, but you kind of rise to the occasion. I don't know if you spoke at your mother's funeral. I did. But I spoke at my dad's.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:46

And and you know, that's one of those things that um you know really don't want to do, but you just kind of gotta push forward with it and and and try I try to make it funny. Okay. Yeah. Because, you know, uh laughing keeps you from crying.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:02

That's right. That's right. And I think I tried to do that as much as possible. It really made made me feel good because even not I think just last week somebody came up to me and said, Man, I heard you speak of your mom's funeral, man. He's like, I've had that too. Man, you did amazing. And you had me laughing, you know. And I I loved that and it made me feel good. Uh and it's funny, part of my speech, my mom used to always, she would always say, She's like, Well, we did the best that we could, you know. Yeah. If we're like joking about our childhood or whatever. Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:36

My mom was horrible sometimes. She goes, Well, we did the best. I did the best I could, you know, like that's a real consolation.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:44

Yeah. So uh, and of course, uh I I'm sure you can attest to this. You know, the favorite child had to get up and speak. So that's what I did from a mom.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:52

Well, I don't know. My brother and I both spoke, you know. Okay. Uh we're two different personalities. And, you know, he eulogized my dad in a more serious way than I did, but that's really our personalities, you know? Yeah. I mean, it's hard for me to get up here and be all serious.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:08

Well, and and I think for my siblings, it was just it was too tough. Right. It was too hard for them. And not that it was easy for me, but uh I'm kind of used to speaking, you know, in front of audiences. This was gonna be tough for me. This I will say, this was the first time that I actually had to read off of notes. Normally I memorize my speech. Freestyle. I couldn't do it. Yeah, I had to read it. Uh so funny story about part of my speech uh and kind of the whole um process of my mom going through cancer. So she was diagnosed with cancer last June. She lasted until October. So we took we mentioned Clark Hunt earlier. Well, I'm good friends with Clark. Um my mom, she was a huge, huge Patrick Mahomes fan.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:52

I mean, you're looking Kansas City Chiefs, right? And look, man, my son was in his wedding. I mean, you know, I raised Patrick. Not really, but I can he stayed with us all the time. So, okay, we're super chief fans here. Yeah, so I I'll tell you, so you're gonna love this thing. Everybody loves Patrick Mahomes now. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 1:40:09

So, you know, and my mom doesn't really like she doesn't watch NFL football like that, but when Patrick Mahomes started playing, big, big Chiefs, she did not miss a game on Sundays, right? For to watch the Chiefs. If you called him Pat, she would correct you. It's Patrick. Yeah, right. And so um when she got diagnosed with cancer, we knew it was not gonna be good for her. We didn't know how long we had with her. So I called up my friend Clark, uh, and he, man, he's such a nice guy, so willing to help. He ends up sending a video of him and Patrick Mahomes basically letting my mom know they're thinking about her. Uh good old East Texas lady from Tyler, Texas, that they're praying for her. Uh and and so I showed, I surprised her in front of my whole family and showed her the video. She was just like, she's like, what is this? And so we explained it. She obviously knew, but she couldn't believe it. So she was like, man, she's like, I I can't believe he did that. And so that night, I spent the night at my mom's. She woke up early in the morning and I was already up. She came in there. When she got diagnosed with cancer, she didn't cry. She's like, Well, how long do I have? She came in that next morning after the video and she just started crying. And I I felt bad. I was like, maybe maybe she had a bad night. And I said, Mom, are you okay? And she said, I just can't believe Patrick sent me that VKO.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:38

She's I can't believe it. Well, you know, if you knew him like I do, uh, then you wouldn't be surprised at all. I I'm not. I mean, when look, uh we might we might be 13, 14, golden road. You know, I coached, you know, we played little league all the way from 10, 11 all the way up. And, you know, the worst kid on the team, um, he'd be the nicest too. That's just how he was. You know, I I believe it. Um we all knew he was gonna be good at something. Uh we, you know, we weren't sure it was gonna be football, but it it towards the end of high school, you know, it was looking like it it was gonna end up pretty good and it did. Yeah. And just like your mom, I never missed a Texas Tech football game when he was there. Yeah, I'm sure. You know, um Hispanic community, your mom, you said earlier, was white. That caused you any trouble? Was it uh were people accepting? I mean, what's the culture on that?

SPEAKER_01 1:42:35

Yeah, it it was you know, I was a little more fair-skinned. Yeah. You know, I wasn't like dark-skinned like uh like my dad. My dad's, you know, super dark. And um that's true for Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, yeah. And uh we got, I would say, I know me personally, we get some slack, you know, here and there, like, oh, you know, you're you're a white boy, you know, and uh you know, and it's young kids are just mean. Yeah, just you know, it was it was times, you know, for the most part. It wasn't that bad, but but I I definitely heard that every once in a while. Um, but again, you know, like that's all what we were around. You know, it was Mexican League soccer weekends, you know, Mexican weddings, quintinetas, like it my family lived in the neighborhood. I mean, you paid your dues, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:18

I paid my dues, man. You went to the Mexican League, man. That's right. I mean, whatever I had to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:23

You know? So uh, but uh it it wasn't bad, but yeah, I definitely saw and heard some things over the years when I was little for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:33

Well, you know, things have turned out pretty well for you, it seems, you know, and uh I really appreciate getting to know you today. Um because obviously I didn't know you. You know, Mundo made the introduction. I sure am glad he did. I wanted to talk to you. Uh you're an impressive person. Uh, you know, you're one of our, you know, Tyler, East Texas, you know, gems, man. Somebody who's done something that everybody else or many people have tried and just hadn't done. And I just want to thank you for being on the show and uh hope the best for you, you know, as your life goes on. Well, I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 1:44:10

And, you know, nothing more gratifying than to come back to my hometown and be able to speak to another Tyler, Texas, you know, friend, hopefully now friend. And uh it was great meeting you. And uh again, just uh I love coming back home and just trying to service my my community, whether it's through business or through community work that I do. And just uh I I'm a hometown guy, so I I love coming back.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:37

Well, just hit me up when you come back. I will.