Danny Villanueva, a former NFL kicker and a pioneer of Spanish-language television, has died. He was 77.
Family members and officials at New Mexico State University, where Villanueva was a member of the athletic hall of fame, confirmed that he died Thursday after suffering a stroke earlier this week.
Villanueva lived in Southern California but had been a longtime booster for his alma mater.
Villanueva attended New Mexico State on a football scholarship. After graduating in 1961, he went on to play for the Los Angeles Rams and the Dallas Cowboys.
He was one of the NFL's first Latino kickers.
Villanueva started his broadcasting career with KNBC in Los Angeles and later became the president of KMEX. He was a part-owner in a Spanish-language chain that would later become Univision.
