Alfred "Butch" Lee Jr. (born December 5, 1956) is a Puerto Rican former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. Lee was the first Puerto Rican and first

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

n-born athlete to play in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA), accomplishing this after being selected in the first round of the

1978 NBA draft The 1978 NBA draft was the 32nd annual NBA draft, draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 9, 1978, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York, before the 1978–79 NBA season, 1978–79 season. In this dr ...

. He began his career in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

, where he gathered several "Player of the Year" recognitions and earned All-American honors as both a junior and senior while at

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

. Lee was selected as the Most Outstanding Player at the 1977

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

where he led the Warriors to the school's first national championship. The university recognized this by retiring his jersey. In the NBA, he played for the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

and the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

. Lee concluded his career in the

Baloncesto Superior Nacional The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, abbreviated as BSN, is the first-tier-level professional men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1929 and is organized by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation. T ...

(BSN). He is known to be the only Puerto Rican professional basketball player to win championships in the NCAA, NBA, and BSN. Lee was also a member of the Puerto Rican national team.

Playing career

Early life and college

Lee was born in

Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico Santurce (, meaning Saint George from Basque language, Basque ''Santurtzi'') is the largest and most populated Barrios of San Juan, Puerto Rico, barrio of the Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan, the cap ...

to Gloria and Alfred Lee Sr. Lee's family moved to

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, U.S., when he was a young child. There he went on to become a 1st Team, PSAL All City basketball player and honor student at the

DeWitt Clinton High School DeWitt Clinton High School is a public high school located since 1929 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Opened in 1897 in Lower Manhattan as an all-boys school, it maintained that status for 86 years before becoming co-ed in 1983. From i ...

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. Lee showed talent for basketball since an early age, and he impressed many

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

scouts with his game style. He accepted an offer to play for

, starring there from 1974 to 1978. In 1974 Lee asked his coach

Al McGuire Alfred James McGuire (September 7, 1928 – January 26, 2001) was an American college basketball coach and broadcaster, the head coach at Marquette University from 1964 to 1977. He won a national championship in his final season at Marquette, an ...

to allow him to play for the United States Olympic basketball team. However, his coach had sent someone else and Lee went to Puerto Rico where he qualified for the Puerto Rican national basketball team. When Puerto Rico played against the U.S. in the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

, Lee made 15 out of 18 field goals and scored 35 points. The U.S. still avoided an upset, defeating Puerto Rico by one point, 95–94. In 1977, Lee led Marquette to the

in what McGuire had announced would be his final season. The Warriors defeated UNC-Charlotte 51–49 in the semifinal round when Lee found Jerome Whitehead with a length of the court pass for a score just before the buzzer. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

against

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, Lee scored 19 points and led the Warriors to a come-from-behind 67–59 victory to secure the national championship. Lee was named the tournament's most outstanding player.

Lee in the NBA

Lee then went on to become the first Puerto Rican player to play in the

, when he was chosen in the first round of the

by the

. During Lee's first season in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

( 1978-79), he started with the Hawks averaging 7.7 points per game during 49 games. He was traded to the

, where he enjoyed what were perhaps his best games in the league, scoring 11.5 points per game in the remaining 33 games of the season. He ended up scoring an average of 9.6 points per game in his first season in the NBA. Lee led the league in games played with 82. After three games with the Cavs in the 1979-1980 season, Lee suffered a knee injury that would require surgery, and proved to be too big of an obstacle for him to overcome as far as his basketball career was concerned. He only scored 1.3 points per game on those three games. Before the season was over, he would be traded once again, to the

, where, he played alongside

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Often regarded as the greatest point guard of all time, Johnson List of NBA players who have spent their entire career w ...

and

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( ; born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. , April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player. He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Associatio ...

, among others, for eleven games, before his injury recurred, forcing him to retire. He did, however, win an NBA championship ring, as the Lakers went on to beat the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

in that season's

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern and Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league ...

Career stats

Lee's

stats in 96 games are 779 points with an 8.1 PPG average, 307 assists with a 3.2 APG average, 137 rebounds with a 1.4 RPG average, 87 steals with a 0.9 SPG average, a .450 field goal percentage, and a .761 free-throw percentage.

Coaching career

Lee, who is fluent in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, returned to

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

after his experience as an NBA basketball player was over. There, he became a well known and respected head coach with multiple BSN teams. In 1992, Lee led the

Capitanes de Arecibo The Capitanes de Arecibo are a Puerto Rican professional basketball team based in Arecibo that competes in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) league. In 2010, the team also had the distinction to play in the Premier Basketball League (PBL) ...

to the BSN Finals, where they lost to the Leones de Ponce in 6 games. He also coached Aguadilla, Ponce and the Gigantes de Carolina. In January 2009, he was announced as the new coach of the Cangrejeros de Santurce. However, he was dismissed during the playoffs after Santurce lost two games in a row."Santurce queda fuera de la lucha por la serie semifinal"
by AP, from El Expreso (July 6, 2009) He continued to help out with teams and coached some of them at the Guaynabo Basketball Academy (GBA).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Butch 1956 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen All-American college men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks draft picks Atlanta Hawks players Atléticos de San Germán players Baloncesto Superior Nacional players Basketball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Cleveland Cavaliers players DeWitt Clinton High School alumni Leones de Ponce basketball players Los Angeles Lakers players Maratonistas de Coamo players Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball players NBA players from Puerto Rico Olympic basketball players for Puerto Rico Sportspeople from Santurce, Puerto Rico Point guards Puerto Rican men's basketball players Puerto Rico men's national basketball team players Basketball players from Manhattan Brujos de Guayama players