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As the Sweet 16 of March Madness takes over the country this week, it’s worth asking: what happens when the game ends?
Every March, March Madness stops America in its tracks. With the Sweet 16 just around the corner, college sports dominate the national conversation. But athletics has always been about more than the final score.
For many Latino athletes, the court, the field, and the diamond were their first business school: discipline, risk tolerance, leadership under pressure.
Lorena Ochoa: Stepping Away at the Top
The Guadalajara-born golfer held the world No. 1 ranking for 158 consecutive weeks, winning 27 LPGA tournaments, two majors, and four Rolex Player of the Year awards. In 2010, at 28 years old and at the absolute peak of her sport, she announced her retirement. Not because she was done competing, because she had something else to build.
Ochoa cofounded Grupo Ochoa alongside her brother Alejandro, which includes Ochoa Sport Management, Ochoa Golf Academies, and Ochoa Hills, a golf course design firm. She is a partner in a large-scale resort development on the Riviera Nayarit in collaboration with Greg Norman, and her educational foundation has awarded more than 50,000 scholarships to children in vulnerable communities in Guadalajara. In 2017, she was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
What sets Ochoa apart is the order of her priorities: she didn’t build a business legacy because she had time to spare. She built it because that was the plan from the beginning.
David Ortiz: The Hub Between Two Worlds
Three World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox. 2013 World Series MVP. Baseball Hall of Fame inductee in 2022. Born in Santo Domingo, David Ortiz is perhaps the most beloved Dominican in the history of American baseball. But there’s a side of Big Papi’s story that rarely makes the highlight reel.
Ortiz cofounded the International Innovation Hub of Boston (IIHOB), where he serves as CEO. The organization connects Boston entrepreneurs, universities, and business leaders with the innovation ecosystem of the Dominican Republic through startup incubation, mentorship programs, and educational partnerships.
Beyond the IIHOB, he has built a portfolio that includes Big Papi Cigars, developed in partnership with Dominican tobacco company El Artista; Big Papi’s Kitchen, his snack line; and sports commentary work for Fox Sports.
Want to hear more of Big Papi’s story in his own words? Revisit the episode of The Latino Majority where he joined host Pedro A. Guerrero for an exclusive conversation about his life on and off the diamond.
Gigi Fernández: On the Court and in the Classroom
No one in the history of Puerto Rican tennis has won more than Beatriz “Gigi” Fernández. The island’s first professional female athlete, she captured 17 Grand Slam doubles titles and two Olympic gold medals: Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, alongside Mary Joe Fernández. In 2010, she became the first Puerto Rican inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. By the turn of the millennium, she had already been named Puerto Rico’s “Female Athlete of the Century.”
When Fernández retired in 1997 at 33, she did something few elite athletes do: she went back to school. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of South Florida, followed by an MBA from the Crummer School of Business at Rollins College. She went on to become a registered stockbroker and financial advisor.
What she built after that spans several fronts. She founded Gigi Fernández Tennis and “The Gigi Method,” a doubles instruction system now accessible through clinics and digital platforms. She developed a luxury experiential travel business serving a market of tennis fans who want to live the sport, not just watch it. She cofounded Baby Goes Pro, an educational sports program for young children. And she founded Tennis for Hope, an organization that brings tennis to communities affected by natural disasters.
Carmelo Anthony: Wall Street from Red Hook
Growing up in the Red Hook Houses in Brooklyn, the path to Wall Street wasn’t part of the script. But Anthony, whose father, Carmelo Iriarte, was Puerto Rican and a member of the Young Lords, learned early to read the board beyond the obvious.
His NBA career stands among the most decorated of his generation: ten All-Star selections, six All-NBA designations, three Olympic gold medals, and a spot among the all-time leading scorers in league history. In September 2025, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the first player of Puerto Rican descent enshrined for his on-court accomplishments.
What he built off the court is equally ambitious. He cofounded Melo7 Tech Partners, a venture capital firm that made early bets on Lyft, DraftKings, SeatGeek, and Clubhouse. Alongside Isos Capital, he launched a $750 million private equity fund focused on acquiring stakes in top-tier professional sports franchises. He established Creative 7, a content production company spanning television, film, and digital platforms. And he launched Grand National, a cannabis agency with an explicit focus on social equity.
“I bring cultural relevance to a company,” Anthony said in a recent interview. “More importantly, I bring perspective.”
What March Madness Reminds Us Every Year
Sixty-eight teams enter the tournament. One leaves as champion. But March Madness also quietly reminds us that sports produces people with an extraordinary capacity to perform under pressure, make fast decisions, and build from adversity.
Ochoa, Fernández, Anthony, and Ortiz are not exceptions. They are the argument that the court, the track, and the diamond can be the first step toward something much larger.
Tags: March Madness, March Madness 2026, Sweet 16, NCAA tournament, Latino athletes, Latino business leaders, Lorena Ochoa, Gigi Fernández, Carmelo Anthony, David Ortiz, Latino entrepreneurs, athlete entrepreneurs, sports to business, Latino leadership
