The Hispanic Voice of the Cowboys

The “general” throws a “pase pantalla” to the “ala cerrada.” Is this a new video war game? No, it’s just Armando Quintero giving the play-by-play of a Dallas Cowboys game in Spanish. Translation; The quarterback throws a screen pass to the tight end.

Quintero has been doing the Dallas games in Spanish for almost 15 years. “We were the first NFL team to translate the games in Spanish,” Quintero says. “Most Spanish-speaking people didn’t know or understand anything about American football until we started doing the games.”

Quintero, who lives in San Antonio, spends long weekends in the Dallas area during the season preparing for both home and away games. “We have to check on stats, injuries and just general news,” he says. “We don’t have all the spotters and other help the main broadcast has. We do most of it ourselves.”

The broadcast, heard locally on KESS-AM. is sent to 11 different stations in the U. S. and 20 in Mexico. “Many Hispanic fans watch the game on TV, turn down the sound and tune into our broadcasts,” says Quintero. “Many of the terms are the same in Spanish, like ’touchdown.’ and we will use ’quarterback,’ but we do add a little Spanish flavor.”

Doing the Cowboys games has led Quintero to other sports translations. He calls the San Antonio Spurs basketball games and did the first Spanish broadcast of the 1992 NBA finals. He also sent back Spanish news reports of the Summer Olympics in Barcelona and has worked with major-league baseball on the playoffs and World Series.