NFL stirs Asian youth's ambition

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Dat Nguyen is an inspiration to Asian Americans who want to break into the NFL.

PLANT CITY - Du and Van Le work seven days a week, running their family restaurant. There are few breaks and long hours, but it's a living.

The restaurant certainly isn't something they want their son, Tony, to take over someday. They hope he will seek out a profession that offers status, money and stability. Like traditional Asian parents, that means becoming a doctor, a dentist or a pharmacist.

But a football player?

That's Tony's dream. The 17-year-old Plant City High School student wants to follow in the footsteps of the first Vietnamese-American to play professional football - Dallas Cowboys linebacker, Dat Nguyen.

Nguyen, who comes to town today for the matchup against the Buccaneers, has become an icon among Vietnamese-American youths trying to break into professional sports.

While the number of Asians participating in collegiate and professional sports is still small, athletes like Nguyen are breaking barriers.

"Regardless of what race, what color, whatever it is, it doesn't mean you can't pursue your dream," Nguyen said during a telephone interview Friday. "I'm living a dream."

In Hillsborough County, Tony Le is one of at least two Vietnamese-American high school students who play football. Another is Vinh Le (no relation), a senior defensive back from Sickles High School.

Tony's mother hasn't seen him play. Friday nights are especially busy at the restaurant. Once, last season, Du Le sneaked out for a few minutes when the team played Durant. He mentioned it to his son.

"I didn't see him," said Tony, an offensive lineman. "He wasn't there for very long."

How does he feel that his parents aren't in the stands, cheering like many other parents?

"It makes me kinda sad, I guess," he said. "But I understand they're busy."

Nguyen can sympathize with Tony. Nguyen's parents didn't even know he played football until he came home one day in eighth grade with a broken arm. In high school, they attended two games - both were Parent's Night - and they left during the first quarter.

"It was weird because they didn't want me to play," said Nguyen, who grew up in Rockport, Tex.

Nguyen came home one day during his senior year and told his parents some coaches would visit.

They came from all over, including Texas A&M and the University of Michigan.

"There were all these coaches," Nguyen recalled. "(My parents) started tripping out."

His first year at Texas A&M, over Thanksgiving break, Nguyen's mother, the wife of a shrimper who became a restaurateur, began grilling him.

Why didn't the quarterback do this? Why didn't he do that?

The traditional Vietnamese mother was analyzing America's game.

"It was neat," said Nguyen, who was born four months after his parents arrived in America in 1975. "Now they have something else to talk about with their friends."

But Du Le, who admires Dat Nguyen for all he has accomplished, said the reality is, very few make it into the NFL.

"There are thousands of kids who share the same dream," Le said. "That's why it's important for Tony to study and make good grades. Besides, he likes the sciences."

Tony, 5 feet 11 and 225 pounds, said he takes college-level courses and tries hard. He doesn't make straight As, which, according to his mom, makes him a poor student. His dad also fears he'll break some bones.

"I don't want him to play," Du Le said. "He chooses (football). We're in America. He has the freedom to choose. There's nothing we can do."

But ask Le about the night he stopped by the game and his voice raises a notch.

"He's good," Le said. "He's very good. His team needs him."

It may be difficult for the Les to come around, but it's not surprising, said one expert who studies race and gender in athletics.

Richard Lapchick, chair of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida, said historically, Asian Americans have put a high value on education. Becoming a doctor or an attorney has frequently been the goal of Asian American kids, partly as a result of influence from their parents.

He believes that the lack of Asian Americans in sports is due to the lack of professional sports players that look like them.

But with sports figures like Yao Ming, of the Houston Rockets, and Nguyen, the landscape is slowly changing.

"Other ethnic groups have turned to sports historically in this country to break into mainstream America," Lapchick said. "For the most part, Asians haven't looked to sports to reach social, economic or educational goals. It's going to take time to break into that talent pool."

Nguyen, the Lombardi Trophy winner as the best linebacker in college football his senior year, acknowledges that as an Asian, he faces a different kind of challenge each day.

"When I first came in the league, there was some pressure about representing the Asian community," he said. "I know every day I step onto the field, there are always going to be critics regardless. One day, you do bad, they're gonna come back and say he's Asian, he's not playing well enough. You always have to be on top of your game."

Because of Nguyen, youngsters like Vinh Le, the Sickles player, has something to aspire to.

"He's Vietnamese and he's good," Vinh Le said. "He's my hero."

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