Javier Antonio "Toñito" Colón (born June 4, 1969) is a retired Puerto Rican

basketball player Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. Colón spent his entire career as a point guard for the Leones de Ponce of the BSN from 1987 to 2008. Colón led the team to five championships during his career, and is currently third on assists of all-time in the league. Colón also played for the

Puerto Rico National Basketball Team The Puerto Rico national basketball team ( es, Selección de Baloncesto de Puerto Rico) represents Puerto Rico in men's international basketball competitions, it is governed by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation ( es, link=no, Federación de ...

from 1990 to 1999.

Career

Colón was born in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 16 ...

on June 4, 1969. He debuted with the Leones de Ponce in 1987 when he was 17 years old. Colón became a starter for the team in 1989 and became its captain until 2004. In 1990, he led the Leones to its first championship in 24 years. The team would win again in 1992 and 1993, as Colón led a sharpshooting team known for its accuracy. Colón, along with teammates Bobby Ríos, José "Papote" Agosto, and Charlie Lanauze were referred to as the "

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are figures in the Christian scriptures, first appearing in the Book of Revelation, a piece of apocalypse literature written by John of Patmos. Revelation 6 tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand ...

" by the media. Colón averaged 18.2 points per game in 1993, the highest of his career. Colón and the Leones would reach the Finals again in 1995, 1996, 1998, and 2003. In 2004, they beat the

Vaqueros de Bayamón The Vaqueros de Bayamón are a Puerto Rican basketball team of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional based in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. The Vaqueros play their home games at Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum, a venue shared with the Liga de Voleibol Superior F ...

for their fifth championship in 15 years. Colón dedicated the championship to the Mayor of Ponce

Rafael Cordero Santiago Rafael Cordero Santiago (24 October 1942 – 17 January 2004), better known as "Churumba", was the Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, from 1989 to 2004. Many considered him as a synonym of Ponce, being baptized as "El León Mayor" (Spanish for "The ...

, an avid fan of the team, who had died early that year. Colón was selected as one of the league's best players of the 1990s, along with

Eddie Casiano Eddie Casiano Ojeda (born September 20, 1972) is a Puerto Rican former professional basketball player and is currently the head coach for Atléticos de San Germán. He also was the head coach of the Puerto Rican national team. He was born in M ...

, James Carter,

Edgar de León Edgar Francisco de León (born 2 November 1964) is a Puerto Rican basketball player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano d ...

and José "Piculín" Ortiz. In his last years as a player, Colón settled on a role of back-up point guard."Toñito" Colón regresa a los Leones
on

WAPA-TV WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish-language independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is owned by Hemisphere Media Group, which is 84% owned by InterMedia Partners. WAPA-TV's studios are located on Avenida Luis Vigoreaux in ...

(16/1/08) He retired in 2008.

Statistics

, - , align="left" , 1987 , align="left" , Ponce , 19 , , .517 , , .500 , , .808 , , 0.8 , , 1.0 , , 4.6 , - , align="left" , 1988 , align="left" , Ponce , 30 , , .522 , , .320 , , .767 , , 1.0 , , 1.7 , , 6.1 , - , align="left" , 1989 , align="left" , Ponce , 30 , , .584 , , .426 , , .773 , , 2.8 , , 5.9 , , 12.6 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 1990 , align="left" , Ponce , 24 , , .485 , , .314 , , .688 , , 3.3 , , 9.0 , , 11.9 , - , align="left" , 1991 , align="left" , Ponce , 30 , , .517 , , .528 , , .743 , , 4.3 , , 6.3 , , 14.0 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 1992 , align="left" , Ponce , 21 , , .458 , , .407 , , .906 , , 4.4 , , 7.1 , , 15.7 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 1993 , align="left" , Ponce , 34 , , .525 , , .489 , , .896 , , 4.5 , , 5.3 , , 18.2 , - , align="left" , 1994 , align="left" , Ponce , 26 , , .481 , , .371 , , .809 , , 4.0 , , 6.2 , , 14.8 , - , align="left" , 1995 , align="left" , Ponce , 16 , , .462 , , .333 , , .772 , , 3.7 , , 7.2 , , 16.8 , - , align="left" , 1996 , align="left" , Ponce , 33 , , .488 , , .343 , , .808 , , 4.8 , , 6.8 , , 15.3 , - , align="left" , 1997 , align="left" , Ponce , 28 , , .488 , , .410 , , .904 , , 5.2 , , 6.8 , , 16.9 , - , align="left" , 1998 , align="left" , Ponce , 30 , , .552 , , .434 , , .836 , , 5.0 , , 7.1 , , 15.8 , - , align="left" , 2000 , align="left" , Ponce , 18 , , .472 , , .364 , , .829 , , 3.0 , , 4.2 , , 10.8 , - , align="left" , 2001 , align="left" , Ponce , 25 , , .421 , , .406 , , .864 , , 4.0 , , 5.5 , , 13.6 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 2002 , align="left" , Ponce , 28 , , .466 , , .429 , , .792 , , 4.1 , , 5.1 , , 15.3 , - , align="left" , 2003 , align="left" , Ponce , 29 , , .440 , , .368 , , .838 , , 4.5 , , 4.4 , , 14.3 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 2004 , align="left" , Ponce , 29 , , .462 , , .483 , , .736 , , 3.6 , , 4.8 , , 11.2 , - , align="left" , 2005 , align="left" , Ponce , 32 , , .399 , , .414 , , .727 , , 3.6 , , 3.4 , , 10.2 , - , align="left" , 2006 , align="left" , Ponce , 25 , , .356 , , .362 , , .721 , , 2.5 , , 2.9 , , 9.0 , - , align="left" , 2007 , align="left" , Ponce , 28 , , .395 , , .328 , , .744 , , 1.2 , , 1.4 , , 5.2 , - , align="left" , 2008 , align="left" , Ponce , 20 , , .298 , , .333 , , .750 , , 0.5 , , 0.8 , , 2.6 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 555 , , .475 , , .405 , , .819 , , 3.5 , , 5.0 , , 12.3

Olympic career

Colón was a member of Puerto Rico's National Basketball team for 9 years (1990–1999). As a member, he participated at the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

and 1996 Summer Olympics where the team finished 8th and 10th respectively. He also participated in several

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

tournaments, winning a gold medal in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

and two silver medals in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

. Colón and the Puerto Rico team also won the gold at the

1991 Pan American Games The 1991 Pan American Games were held in Havana, Cuba from August 2 to August 18, 1991. There were 4,519 athletes from 39 countries of the PASO community, with events in 33 different sports. The main stadium was the Estadio Panamericano, a mul ...

and the

1994 Goodwill Games The 1994 Goodwill Games was the third edition of the multi-sport event, created by Ted Turner, which was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia between July 23 and August 7, 1994. The event – designed to improve Soviet Union – United States relati ...

. Other tournaments and events were Colón participated with the Puerto Rico team were

Centrobasket The Centrobasket is a FIBA-sponsored international basketball tournament where national teams from Central America and the Caribbean participate. These countries make up the Central American and Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CONCENCABA). T ...

(winning two gold medals) and the

Central American and Caribbean Games The Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC or CACGs) are a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennial (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The games are for countries in Cent ...

(winning one gold medal). Colón quit the international team in 1999 after an injury had him sidelined the whole year.

References

External links

Toñito Colón Profile
on BSNPR.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Colon, Javier 1969 births Living people Baloncesto Superior Nacional players Basketball players at the 1991 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1995 Pan American Games Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Puerto Rico Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Puerto Rico Competitors at the 1990 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 1993 Central American and Caribbean Games Leones de Ponce basketball players Olympic basketball players for Puerto Rico Pan American Games gold medalists for Puerto Rico Pan American Games medalists in basketball Point guards Puerto Rican men's basketball players Puerto Rico men's national basketball team players 1998 FIBA World Championship players Goodwill Games medalists in basketball Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in basketball Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games 1994 FIBA World Championship players