Hispanic Heritage Month: Toronto Blue Jays Auston Matthews discusses his Mexican background
As the NHL celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month, Jays Auston Matthews shares some happy memories about where he comes from
The Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews is proud to share where he comes from.
Born in San Ramon, California, and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, the half-Mexican has fond memories of visiting Mexico with his family while growing up.
He said he and his sisters would always enjoy traveling to Hermosilla, the hometown of his mother, which is six hours south of Phoenix, and spend time with their grandparents.
“We always enjoyed it, my sisters and I going down there and just spending time with them,” he said. Matthews also shared that his family had a ranch about two hours away from their house in Hermosillo, where there were lots of animals, and different stuff to do than in Phoenix.
Matthews wants to inspire
The 25-year-old spoke of how hockey is a predominantly white sport, and how he would like to serve as an example encouraging kids in other cultures and communities to try it out. He wants to “be somebody that kids can look up to from Mexico,” and believe they could make it as well.
He also spoke of how supportive his mother is, with him and his sisters, and how she continues to have a huge influence on all of them.
Hockey in Mexico?
Matthews, who grew up speaking some Spanish in his household and rooting for the Arizona Coyotes, said he thinks it’s easy to sell the game so more kids from Mexico can get into it.
“I think it would be an amazing idea to maybe do a preseason game down there once a year with obviously teams on the West Coast, like [the Coyotes] and [the Los Angeles Kings] or something like that. I think that could obviously bring a lot of attention to the sport and kind of help grow the game in different ways down there when you can kind of see it firsthand.”
Matthews achievements
Matthews has won the 2022 Hart Memorial Trophy, the first Leaf to win the award since 1955 and only the third to win in the history of the franchise. Matthews also captured the Ted Lindsay Award and the Rocket Richard Trophy this year.
The American-born became the No. 1 pick of the 2016 NHL Draft and the winner of the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2016-17, when he scored 40 goals. He set NHL career highs in assists (36) and points (73) last season.
The NHL continues to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, which began Sunday and runs through Oct. 15.