Honoring a Legacy, Empowering the Future
Written by Sean Riedel (’19, ’21 M.J.)
Driven by a shared commitment to student success and the legacy of Victor Rodriguez (’55, ’62 M.A.), a group of University of North Texas Latinx Alumni Network leaders recently achieved full funding for the Dr. Victor Rodriguez Endowed Scholarship.
The newly endowed scholarship will support students from underserved communities, something that UNT alumnus Ernest Martinez (’11), who recently wrapped up his term as chair of the UNT Alumni Association Board of Directors, rallied behind.
“I have a strong commitment to student success,” Martinez says. “When I became chair of the board of directors, I decided to secure the funding needed to fully endow the scholarship before the end of my term. I am proud that we were able to succeed in fully endowing the scholarship and I am grateful to all the friends and donors who supported my efforts and made this endowment possible.”
This achievement also provided an opportunity to honor the remarkable legacy of Rodriguez, whose lifelong dedication to education and expanding opportunities for others continues to inspire UNT alumni and students alike.
“The scholarship was named the Dr. Victor Rodriguez Endowed Scholarship in an effort to ensure it was available to all students while maintaining the true spirit of the scholarship: supporting the education of first-generation students from underserved communities,” Martinez says.
Rodriguez’s own journey illustrates why the scholarship’s mission remains so meaningful today.
From becoming the first Hispanic student-athlete to receive an athletic scholarship at North Texas to an award-winning educator, community leader and recipient of the UNT Distinguished Alumni Award, the inspiring story of Victor Rodriguez, now 94, continues to ignite the UNT community today.
For his athletic achievements, Rodriguez has been inducted into North Texas Athletics Hall of Fame and the National Hispanic Sports Hall of Fame. Combining his passions for education and athletics, he established the Victor and Flo Rodriguez Future Coaches Scholarship to support student-athletes at UNT.
Although they came from different generations, Martinez sees important parallels between his own experiences and Rodriguez’s journey of overcoming barriers through education and perseverance.
“We both graduated from the University of North Texas, and I grew up in San Antonio attending San Antonio ISD schools from elementary through high school, but I graduated from high school the year before Dr. Rodriguez became superintendent,” Martinez says. “However, his story resonates deeply with me as someone who had a challenging childhood in an underserved community and also having to overcome many obstacles and challenges in my professional career and academic years.”
Martinez and several other founding members of the Latinx Alumni Network, including Bob Garza (’74), George Esquivel (’91), Rebecca Perfecto (’12) and Gloria Lopez-Carter (’82), found a shared commitment to endowing the scholarship as quickly as possible to support students. From contributing to the endowment themselves to rallying alumni and members of the UNT community to give, their efforts paid off.
“As one of the founding members of the Latinx Alumni Network, I was committed to the creation and endowment of a scholarship that could benefit students who demonstrated not only the need for financial support but a commitment to their education and a commitment to overcoming the challenges associated with being a first-generation college student,” Martinez says.
Looking ahead, Martinez hopes the scholarship’s impact will continue to grow, helping future generations of students access the same opportunities that transformed the lives of so many UNT alumni.
“My hope for the future of the scholarship is that it thrives for many years, providing first-generation students from underserved communities with the opportunity to overcome the many financial challenges of pursuing a college education,” Martinez says. “For students, I hope it will not only support their financial needs toward attaining their degree but encourage them to give back when they achieve success with their education and have the means to give back to future generations.”
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