Elijah Favela was only in kindergarten when his dad introduced him to basketball. But even then, he knew: He’d found a sport he would love for the rest of his life.
The TLU sophomore has been active on the court ever since, even during his summer breaks. For the past three summers, in fact, he’s been playing basketball internationally, through the International Basketball Federation, as a member of Team Belize.
Those games have taken him to Belize, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic so far. “I would say my favorite thing about the experience is just representing my country,” he says. “I have a lot of family in Belize, and I am the only person in my mom’s side of the family to ever play on a national team, and just being a role model to all the kids in Belize who strive to get to the national team.”
This past summer, Team Belize captured the bronze medal at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo, and Favela was there in the middle of the action.
Back home at TLU, he carries his father’s legacy (TLU alum Roger Favela ’97 also played Bulldogs basketball) and splits his time between serving as a guard on the basketball team, and a quarterback on the football team. He came to TLU after rounding out his high school football career as Judson High’s all-time passing leader with 7,060 career passing yards. On top of all of that, Favela is also a serious student, and earned a spot on the SCAC Academic Honor Roll for 2025 and 2026.
His dedication to both football and basketball begs an obvious question: Which sport is his favorite? “I wouldn’t say I have a first love,” he says. “I love both sports dearly; it has always been a hard decision for me to choose, but I would say I love them about the same.”
And one day, he hopes to make his mark at a professional level. “That’s the ideal goal, to play professionally one day in either one of the sports,” he says.
But for now, as he gets his sophomore year underway, he just wants to be of service—whether on the court or the field. “I’m looking forward to just helping my team in any way I can, and that goes for basketball and football,” he says. “I’ve gotten more of a hang of how things are in college since my freshman year, and I feel like this year could be a big year for me to help my team and help us win games.”
And although it’s still early days in his college career, Favela has learned a lot since the age of five, when his dad first taught him to play. “The most important lesson is pretty simple I would say, and that is ‘Don’t give up and stay down.’”
He himself has lived by that lesson. He doesn’t give up: “I’ve been through so much adversity in my life with sports and there were many times where I could’ve quit—and since I didn’t, it opened doors to places I never thought I would go to. I’ve been doubted my whole life, overlooked, everything you could think of, but I don’t give up because this is what I want to do.”
And no matter what, he’s stayed down—in the right way: “Stay down, meaning never get too high no matter what circumstance you’re in, stay down because even if it looks bad right now, stay down: It’s going to get better. Just keep working.”
