Spanish 101 All-Pro tight end made solo trip to Mexico to learn

By Doug Tucker ~ The Associated Press

RIVER FALLS, Wis. -- It's hard to picture Tony Gonzalez -- the Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro tight end and among the city's most famous faces -- spending a month with no one to talk to.

But there he was, in the tiny Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende, sitting at the dinner table unable to understand a single word of the conversation flying past him. The words were Spanish, and Gonzalez was just starting to learn the language.

"It's one of the best things I've ever done in my life," Gonzalez said.

It's a life that started in California, where Gonzalez played football, basketball and baseball. Unlike many members of his family, he never learned anything but English. Actually, his Latin heritage is more Portuguese than Mexican.

"But it's part of my heritage," he said of the Spanish language. "My grandfather spoke fluent Spanish and I have family members who speak fluent Spanish."

And so for a month this summer, Gonzalez lived with a Mexican family in San Miguel de Allende, where he had to speak almost nothing but Spanish. Language classes lasted six hours a day. And at times, it got lonesome.

"Learning Spanish, that's a big part of it," he said. "But also to learn about myself a little bit more. Going down there, not knowing anybody, not speaking hardly a word of Spanish, and just being able to see how I responded to that."

Being accustomed to life as a bachelor and high-profile NFL star, Gonzalez wondered at first if he'd made a mistake.

"The first week I was down there I was thinking, 'What the hell am I doing? I'm supposed to be on vacation. This is ridiculous,"' he said.

"It was six hours of study a day. I was walking to and from school. It gets lonely down there. But that's what I'm talking about, that's part of it -- really getting to know yourself and seeing how you tick."

He tried to spend his time submerged in Mexican language and culture, avoiding American television, for example.

"I was just hanging out, living. I was Mexican for a month," he said. "Sitting at the dinner table with a family that doesn't speak any English at all -- you don't know what to say."

Before his month was up, word had spread that the tall, personable language student was famous.

"It's a small town," Gonzalez said. "So by the last week, pretty much everywhere I went, they were calling me Shaquille or Tony. There's a local little party system down there. Don't get me wrong -- I had a little fun down there, too."

Linguistically speaking, he made great strides.

"It takes about five months to become fluent if you're going six hours a day submerging yourself in a different country," he said. "And I was down there a month. If they slow it down for me, I'm OK."

He's planning additional study next year in Costa Rica and hoping to continue regular lessons during the season.

"It's a way to reach out to the Latin community in Kansas City as well as California -- wherever I'm at," he said. "There aren't many football players other than kickers who are Latin.