Spanish for the Professions
Pasión por el Baloncesto: Scoring en Español
Join us for an evening with veteran broadcaster Rafa Hernández-Brito, known as Rafa "El Alcalde" ("The Mayor"), who is in his 10th season of bringing his high-energy, play-by-play style to each of his Cleveland Cavaliers broadcasts.
Event is free and open to the public.
Entrance tickets required.
Use link under "DETAILS" at right.
About Rafa Hernández-Brito
Prior to joining the Cavs, Hernández-Brito was the Spanish voice of the Brooklyn Nets games for the franchise's first two seasons. He also was the voice of the New Jersey Nets from 1997 to 2001 and called the action for St. John's University men's basketball during that same period. In 2018, he became the first Spanish voice of the Cleveland Browns. In 2023, he became the first Spanish voice of the Cleveland Guardians, becoming the first sportscaster to be the voice of all three major professional teams in Cleveland.
Nationally, Hernández-Brito’s broadcasting experience includes eight years as the voice of NFL football for Spanish Broadcasts of Thursday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, the playoffs and the Superbowl on Univision from 2005 to 2013. He was also the Spanish play-by-play voice of the Miami Dolphins, as well as handling the play-by-play for Major League Baseball, boxing and UFC. He covered the Soccer World Cups from 1998 to 2014. With the 2015 NBA Finals, he became the first broadcaster in the United States to call the Finals of all three major sports in Spanish. He has been the Public Address Announcer and voice of legendary Azteca Stadium in Mexico City for NFL Mexico games since 2016. In March of 2017, Rafa became the first broadcaster to call the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four in Spanish for Westwood One.
Hernández-Brito finished high school in Locust Valley, New York. He went on to earn a degree in mechanical engineering at Boston University, followed by a successful run working for Coors Brewing Co., where his buoyant personality made him a natural in sales and marketing; nonetheless chose to follow his passion for sports and broadcasting.
Hernández-Brito served as sports director at Univision Radio from 2005 to 2013, where he was also the host/ringleader of "Locura Deportiva," Univision Radio's most successful sports program, presiding over candid, colorful, often comical discussions on the topics of the day as "El Alcalde" ("The Mayor"). And he was the creator and longtime host of "El Garaje de AutoZone," a Saturday morning automotive show perhaps best described as a Spanish-language version of the immensely popular NPR program "Car Talk." From 2205 to 2012, Hernández-Brito was the Spanish spokesperson for Castrol GTX High Mileage motor oil.
His path to the booth is an American dream. Today Hernández-Brito has a daily syndicated radio sports show airing in the U.S. and Latin America. He is the co-host of the Emmy award-winning Wine and Gold Show on Bally Sports Network and The Wine and Gold Radio podcast. He also served as the executive producer of the popular podcast "Road Trippin' with RJ and Channing."
About the Spanish for the Professions Series
The series is a new initiative by the Baldwin Wallace University Spanish Program to promote the benefits of multilingualism in professional contexts for students and faculty from all disciplines.
For further information, contact Dr. Karen Barahona at kbarahon@bw.edu or Brenda Lennox at blennox@bw.edu in the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
This event is made possible with the support of the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures and the Baldwin Wallace Spanish Club.
