A bit of Spanish but with Puerto Rican sazón. That is the heritage Eagles' defensive end Robert Quinn will represent at Super Bowl LVII in Arizona.
The 31-year-old South Carolina-born and raised player is one of only a handful of players with Hispanic heritage currently competing in the NFL, and has been with the Birds since 2022, after he was traded from the Chicago Bears.
In an interview with NBC10's sister station TELEMUNDO62, Quinn's mother, María Milagros Camacho Quinn, said she has been blessed to see him grow in the game he enjoys so much ever since he was a kid, despite the ups and downs.
"They tell you that they are Puerto Rican and black," she told Telemundo62's Jaime Becerril. "They speak a little bit of Spanish and a lot of English.”
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One of the hardest moments in Quinn's career was when a high school football injury sent him to the hospital with head and back trauma.
“I was on the hospital floor with him every night,” his mother recounted. "Doctors told him he was never going to play again but we kept going," she said.
María is also the mother to Olympic star Jazmín Camacho Quinn, who represented Puerto Rico in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and won the gold medal in the 100m hurdles.
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At the Super Bowl, Quinn will also face off against one of his best childhood friends, Carlos Dunlap, who is also a defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs ands played football with him at Fort Dorchester High School in South Carolina.
"I already called Carlos's mother because we know each other and we joked that we might beef at the stadium," she said.
Super Bowl LVII is also set up to be the first time that two Black quarterbacks will face off, with Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes taking center stage. This will also be the first time that two brothers face off in a Super Bowl.
