CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — On a Sunday morning, James Espinosa, sits in the studio at the 1440 KEYS radio station and is wrapping his show "The Sunday Sports Rush." It's a show that has taken off since its creation just a few months ago.
"I've always been a fan of sports," he said.
From the start, the Coastal Bend native knew his contribution to the sports world wouldn't be on the field, so he decided to do it from the booth or behind the microphone.
"I wasn't the best athlete, but I knew I could talk," Espinosa said. "My buddies and I would have debates in sports."
He took courses at Texas A&M-Kingsville and found himself working part-time at 1440 KEYS. Now, he has his own show -- all driven by a passion.
"I'm passionate about sports the way I am passionate about other things," he added.
The passion carries over to his Monday-through-Friday day job, as a special-education teacher with Flour Bluff elementary.
Inside a small classroom with just three students on a Friday morning, he is giving the same energy behind the desk as he would be into the microphone.
"If I didn't bring that same passion to the classroom, then I wouldn't be effective as a teacher," he said.
It's almost like Batman and Bruce Wayne, or Clark Kent and Superman -- Espinoza's on-air and off-air personalities belong to the same person, but are two unique identities. To his students, he is simply known as Mr. Espinosa.
"When I tell them I work on the radio they just say 'Oh cool, that's nice Mr. Espinosa,'" he said.
They are two very different careers. Yet, he is enjoying every second of each.
"It's honestly not work," he said. "It's just something I was made to do."
