How the Jaquez household constructed a Mexican American sports activities dynasty

CAMARILLO, Calif. — The sizzle and scent of burgers on {the summertime} grill may come from nearly any yard in America. Right here in Southern California, an surprising breeze makes for a welcome visitor on a sunny afternoon. Jaime Jaquez Sr. embraces it joyfully whereas grilling for his dad and mom and three youngsters. On the desk, the three generations collect to mingle in two languages about their shared ardour: sports activities.

The conversations with Spanish peppered in function a continuing reminder of the household’s Mexican heritage. Jaime Jaquez Jr., a standout rookie for the NBA’s Miami Heat final season and a star at UCLA earlier than that, principally reacts to the chatter round him. His sister Gabriela Jaquez, a rising star guard for UCLA’s girls’s basketball group, inspects the snacks in entrance of her and considers her scorching sauce choices. Youngest brother Marcos Jaquez, a defensive lineman enrolled at Ventura Faculty, asks his grandparents, Ezequiel and Gloria, about their time as younger athletes.

“My dad noticed that we favored basketball, and he made a rim out of rebar or one thing like that,” says Ezequiel, who would play hoops on the road or within the yard along with his older brother. “However he did not know the scale. It was solely 16 inches. A daily one is eighteen. So, we had been very joyful after we made a sleek on that.”

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Jaime Jaquez Jr. makes stunning dime for a basket

Jaime Jaquez Jr. makes stunning dime for a basket

The ingenuity of Ezequiel and his father is a testomony to the American dream. What neither of them may know on the time is how that rebar laid the muse upon which the framework for a budding Mexican American sports activities dynasty would someday stand. Ezequiel was the primary piece of the construction, adopted by his son Jaime. These days, they each watch the subsequent era excel in methods the household may beforehand solely think about.

Nonetheless, the Jaquezes keep an ardent want to remain linked to their Mexican roots whereas representing each side of the border. Jaime, Gabriela and Marcos characterize merely the subsequent step within the household legacy.

The cultural parts concerned will collide on Nov. 2, when Jaime Jr.’s Miami Warmth faces the Washington Wizards in Mexico Metropolis as a part of the NBA International Video games. The second-year Warmth guard, one of many few gamers of Mexican descent within the league’s historical past, figures to function prominently within the regular-season matchup on Día de los Muertos, a distinctly Latin American vacation.

“I am undoubtedly going to be feeling a variety of strain, that is for certain,” Jaime informed ESPN for Hispanic Heritage Month. “But it surely’s one thing you have to embrace.”

Household enterprise

Jaimito, as he’s recognized throughout the household, is the primary Jaquez to achieve the best skilled stage of his sport, although others earlier than him have flirted with the massive leagues.

The Jaquezes’ relationship with sports activities goes again a long time. Ezequiel’s brother Richard performed rookie ball within the Houston Astros group (then often called the Colt .45s) in 1964. Upon retiring, he grew to become a profitable highschool baseball and soccer coach who was acknowledged with induction into the Ventura County Sports activities Corridor of Fame.

For his half, Ezequiel Jaquez Jr. performed baseball throughout his time at Ventura Faculty. His curiosity in soccer was stopped chilly by his mom Lucía, who feared her lanky son can be simply injured. Nonetheless, at over 6 ft tall, Ezequiel gravitated to and excelled at basketball, sufficient to the place he earned a scholarship to Arizona State Faculty in Flagstaff, now often called Northern Arizona.

“I would by no means been over there. It was humorous, I confirmed up in a go well with after which they checked out me like I used to be bizarre,” Ezequiel says. “[The rest] wore cowboy boots and belts and stuff like that.”

He quickly met Gloria, who was from a small city referred to as Zapotlanejo about 20 miles east of Guadalajara, they usually settled in Oxnard, California, after exchanging vows. Their son Jaime continued his father’s faculty basketball legacy at Concordia College, in close by Irvine. It was there he met the previous Angela Sather, a fellow Concordia basketball participant who averaged 21.4 factors per sport in 1997, a college report on the time. Angela was that season’s Golden State Athletic Convention Participant of the 12 months and helped the Golden Eagles qualify for the NAIA event. She was inducted into Concordia’s Corridor of Fame in 2008.

All three of the couple’s three youngsters got Hispanic first names to instill a way of custom for the homeland of their paternal ancestors.

“The identify for me is essential,” Jaime Sr. says. “Jaime’s my identify, and within the Mexican custom, the firstborn [son] goes to be Junior. I wished my children to have names in Spanish. Marcos, Gabriela, Jaime. For me, that is the muse.”

The youngsters additionally inherited the household’s ardour and aptitude for sports activities. Jaime Sr. inspired his children to play completely different sports activities and took steps to ensure their psychological toughness was on par with their bodily attributes.

In contact with their roots

Jaime and Angela made it some extent for his or her youngsters to additional join with their tradition and historical past. Rising up, the Jaquez siblings would typically trip in Mexico, spending time with their grandmother’s prolonged household in Zapotlanejo. The experiences had been key in serving to them to higher perceive their household origins and strengthen their bonds with them.

With that in thoughts, the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend was the cherry on prime for Jaimito’s torrid first half in his debut season. The Japanese Convention’s Rookie of the Month in October/November and December was chosen to the Rising Stars Problem and, most notably, the slam dunk contest. It was throughout this occasion in Indianapolis that Jaime, 23, got here out in a Spanish-language Warmth jersey and onto an LED court docket that projected the Mexican flag beneath him.

As Jaquez completed prep for his dunk, the on-court video displayed the names of former Mexican NBA gamers and relayed a closing, poignant message: “The legacy lives on.”

Jaime solely competed within the first spherical, which included a dunk over his childhood hero Shaquille O’Neal, a champion with the Warmth in 2006. Nonetheless, his participation is remembered as one of the vital memorable of the weekend.

In the meantime, Gabriela represents Mexico’s nationwide group. She made her debut in August on the FIBA Ladies’s Basketball World Cup 2026 prequalifying event beneath Mexico head coach Lindsey Harding, who can be a Los Angeles Lakers assistant. Gabriela helped lead Mexico to the semifinals and completed as the highest scorer for all groups, averaging 21.8 factors per sport.

Nonetheless in faculty, Gabriela, 20, is intent on following her older brother’s footsteps and turning into what’s believed to be simply the third participant of Mexican heritage within the WNBA’s historical past.

“I might undoubtedly like to play within the WNBA,” Gabriela says. “The ladies’s facet of basketball may be very various. However the Mexican group in [the WNBA] is fairly slim. I undoubtedly hope to develop that.”

Like Jaime earlier than her, Gabriela performs for a UCLA program steeped in a practice that frequently sends its gamers to the subsequent stage. UCLA had six of its gamers on WNBA preseason rosters at first of its present season.

Final spring, Gabriela moonlighted for the college’s softball group because the Bruins reached the Ladies’s Faculty World Sequence.

“It was all the time a dream of mine as just a little child to play Division I softball at UCLA,” Gabriela says. “I actually get pleasure from being on a group. And so attending to immerse myself into a brand new group, a brand new tradition whereas nonetheless [in the same school] is tremendous thrilling.”

A long-lasting legacy

The household’s presence at UCLA will reside on lengthy after Gabriela graduates. In 2023, the UCLA Latino Alumni Affiliation and UCLA Alumni Affiliation introduced the Jaquez Household Scholarship Fund, which supplies monetary help for incoming freshman and switch college students.

“You kind of have an obligation to have the ability to give again to your group the individuals who helped you grow to be who you might be,” Jaime Jr. says. “That is why we developed this scholarship fund, so that children who’ve the flexibility to go to varsity however might not have the funds. That ought to by no means be an issue.”

In the meantime, a 3rd Jaquez sibling is ready within the wings, though in a special enviornment. Marcos, who was chosen all-county as a basketball participant at Camarillo Excessive Faculty, nonetheless has chosen soccer as his path, backed by sturdy performances as a defensive lineman that noticed him grow to be an All-California Interscholastic Federation choice.

A damaged wrist suffered whereas taking part in basketball in his senior 12 months of highschool has halted his ascent in the interim. Nonetheless, he hopes to someday switch from Ventura Faculty to an even bigger program whereas styling his sport after Las Vegas Raiders star defensive finish Maxx Crosby.

“If I used to be to be within the NFL, and characterize Mexico and Mexican People, that may be superior,” says Marcos, 19. “Who would not wish to be that kind of anchor or help for somebody making an attempt to develop up and do one thing nice for themselves?”

In the end, no matter how most of the siblings obtain the heights of a professional sports activities profession, the household’s legacy is ready to encourage coming generations of younger athletes on each side of the border seeking to comply with of their footsteps.

Jaime Jr. is poised to construct on his rookie success as he enters his sophomore season within the NBA. On the peak of his reputation final season, he starred in an advert marketing campaign that aired nationally within the U.S. with teammate and Warmth celebrity Jimmy Butler. Each Jaime Jr. and Gabriela have endorsement offers with corporations in Mexico.

With a lot on the Jaquez household docket, it stays to be seen which of Jaime’s members of the family are within the stands when the Warmth tip off on Día de los Muertos in Mexico Metropolis.

“I bought to be there [in Mexico City] and take a look at to determine a approach so I may also be there for Gabriela, who performs in Paris on Nov. 4,” Jaime Sr. says. “That is additionally my [wedding] anniversary. It appears like a red-eye state of affairs. So these are the issues that I am apprehensive about. As I stated, we’re very, very busy lately.”