United States military veterans take the field in National Football League stadiums often. Very often. Like every-Sunday-during-the-football-season-often. Through ceremonies and tributes — usually accompanied by a humungous Old Glory or a flyover or a patriotic anthem, the former soldiers or Marines or airmen or sailors are honored for their service, get standing ovations before kickoff or at halftime, then walk back to the sidelines or to their seat, and watch the duration of the game like the rest of us.
Except for Alejandro Villanueva.
Because when thousands upon thousands of hard-tackling fans show their appreciation for the men and women who protect our country, he humbly acknowledges, then puts a black and yellow helmet on, and struts back onto the field.
Incredibly, after three tours in Afghanistan as a U.S. Army Ranger and paratrooper**, Villanueva, born in Mississippi as the son of a Spanish naval officer who worked for NATO, is currently the starting left tackle for one of the legendary and winningest franchises in the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It’s the latest milestone in a journey that began way back in 2010 when, fresh off a career as a West Point Black Knight, tried out for the Cincinnati Bengals (also of the NFL) to no avail. It commenced once again after he returned from combat in 2014 and wowed a bunch of scouts at a regional football showcase. It earned him a contract with the Philadelphia Eagles, to play defensive end.
“The four years I’ve had in the Army have been the best four years you could ask for,” he told NBC upon the signing. “The guys I served with … above me and under me … were phenomenal guys. They were good experiences that made me the man I am today. But now, I see this as a win-win situation. Obviously, I’m trying to get to a team and contribute. But if I can’t, then I can’t wait to get back to the Army and serve in the same manner that I have.”
Here he is back in those years, telling his story to CBS Sunday Morning, including the chilling account of his first firefight, which almost took his life:
The rendezvous with the Philly squad didn’t last long though. In August of 2014, the former officer was “cut” by the Pennsylvania franchise.
Once again a free agent, and with his football career in serious doubt, a major NFL coach came out of the woodwork, and calling. Unbeknownst to the vet, he had made a good first impression during a humdrum preseason game, and a roster spot was suddenly his.
The man with the offer? Mike Tomlin: head coach of the Steelers.
Upon reaching an agreement to play for the six-time Super Bowl champs immediately moved Villanueva to offensive line, and had him eat.
And by eat, like really eat.
Over the course of just one year as a member of the team’s practice squad, he bulked up from 250 pounds to a solid 340 pounds. The next year, in 2015, he made the regular roster and saw his first official NFL action in the season opener against the New England Patriots, and became a starter a few games later when Kelvin Beachum tore his anterior cruciate ligament against the Arizona Cardinals.
Villanueva hasn’t relinquished the role since.
Here he is blocking the swift defensive end for the Cincinnati Bengals, Michael Johnson:
The meteoric success has even landed the former Ranger gigs in commercials — here’s one where he talks briefly about his service in a spot for USAA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOQbAnfaKig
He’s also been instrumental in clearing a path (quite literally) for the phenomenon that is the running style of a former Michigan State University standout — who, alongside the 6’9″ vet, wears number 26.
**- His three tours left Villanueva decorated with not only a National Defense Service Medal, an Afghanistan Campaign Medal, a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and a NATO Medal, among others, but a Bronze Star with valor. Here he is detailing the heroism that earned him such a prestigious distinction:
“The way I always looked at that award is not so much an award that I got but more of something my platoon did and was able to accomplish. Essentially the summer of 2011 we were in Kandahar Province and we got a call from a teacher/A&P guy that said, essentially, he had just gone down to a mosque where they were having a meeting outside … with 20 or 30 Taliban and he just went in there and started spraying bullets, and he got a whole bunch of Taliban killed and wounded. It was probably a mile south [of us] …
… they’re evacuating them right now to the Chinese hospital in taxis and my company commander said okay, one of the big names we were looking for throughout that whole deployment was there …”
Army Ranger and @steelers Starting Left Tackle Alejandro Villanueva explains why he was awarded a Bronze Star with valor: pic.twitter.com/7fLFHXW0go
— Zero Blog Thirty (@ZeroBlog30) January 21, 2017