Zendejas Still Gets His Kicks by Giving Back

By Tom Robinson, Special to USA Football

An introduction to football led to unimagined opportunities for Luis Zendejas. Almost three decades later, Zendejas keeps himself busy by introducing more people to the game.

In his job as Community Relations Director of the Arizona Cardinals, Zendejas is involved in many programs that create opportunities to play and learn about football. Many of those programs are focused in non-traditional areas for football.

Zendejas was living in one such community when a coach at Don Lugo High School in Chino, Calif., reached out to Zendejas and others like him.

"Reach out," Zendejas told a group of high school coaches and youth league administrators over the summer during the NFL Youth Summit in Canton, Ohio. "Not so much for what you're going to get out of them, but for the satisfaction of what you're going to do.

"I will do this the rest of my life as payback for that coach and one of the kids will do the same and spread it around."

Zendejas' involvement in football spread throughout his family, opening up a college scholarship and ultimately career opportunities playing the game and in other areas. It was hardly a predictable result when the Zendejas family moved to California from Mexico City.

"I can tell you that I was great in soccer," Zendejas said, "but I was in the wrong country."

Luis led the way, translating his soccer skills into being a kicker in football. He set a California high school record with five field goals in one 1980 game.

Arizona State was the next stop - on a football scholarship. By the time he left there, Zendejas was the NCAA's all-time leading scorer.

Zendejas spent three seasons in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. He also played in the United States Football League, Canadian Football League and the Arena Football League, where he won a title with the Arizona Rattlers in 1994.

Zendejas' brother Max and cousin Tony also made it to the NFL. Another brother, Alan, also kicked at Arizona State and Alex went to San Diego State.

Luis Zendejas' current duties include developing the Cardinals Alumni Association and working with programs such as the Arizona High School Coach of the Week and Coach of the Year awards, and the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year. He clearly takes his greatest pride, however, in community-based initiatives that focus on children, something Zendejas was already heavily involved in before taking his current position in 2001.

Zendejas talks with pride about visiting schools in Mexico City and in taking Cardinals players into Hispanic communities in Arizona to read to kids.

"I have used football, first for my education and then to teach kids," said Zendejas, who also serves as color analyst on the team's Spanish-language broadcasts. "In the Hispanic community, we go out and read to kids in Spanish and English. We have great players who take the time out of their schedule to go out and read."

To this day, Zendejas spends his time making kids comfortable with football, the same way he was once welcomed into what at the time was a strange sport to him.

Courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.