Raimundo Pérez Lezama (29 November 1922 – 23 July 2007) was a Spanish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. After beginning his professional career in England, he returned to his country, going on to later represent, mainly,

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

Club career

Refugee in England

Lezama was born in

Barakaldo Barakaldo (; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Biscay province in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country in Spain. Located on the Left Bank (Biscay), Left Bank of the Estuary of Bilbao, the city is pa ...

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

but moved to England as a refugee at the age of 14. He entered at the port of

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

on board the ''Habana'' on 23 May 1937, he and his brother Luis being among 3,889

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

children fleeing the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

; some of the other refugees also became footballers, including Emilio Aldecoa,

Sabino Barinaga Sabino Barinaga Alberdi (15 August 1922 – 19 March 1988) was a Spanish football forward and manager. He appeared in 205 La Liga matches and scored 92 goals over 13 seasons, almost exclusively for Real Madrid. He later embarked on a manageria ...

and José Gallego. While in Southampton, Lezama played for his school Nazareth House (less than half a mile from The Dell), where he was spotted by

and signed for the club as a trainee, eventually progressing to the reserves before making his first-team debut on 1 June 1940 in a 0–5 away defeat against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. His next game was at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

, when the "Saints" fielded five Arsenal players ( Ernie Collett, Leslie Compton,

Eddie Hapgood Edris Albert "Eddie" Hapgood (24 September 1908 – 20 April 1973) was an English association football, footballer, who captained both Arsenal F.C., Arsenal and England national football team, England during the 1930s. Playing career Hapgood wa ...

, Leslie Jones and

Bernard Joy Bernard Joy (29 October 1911 – 18 July 1984) was an English footballer and journalist. He is notable for being the last amateur player to play for the England national team. Biography Joy was born in Fulham, London and educated at Cardinal ...

) in a 2–1 victory over

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, with both goals for the victors being scored by local boy Eric Webber despite the plethora of stars. Lezama played one further match, a 1–3 defeat at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

at the end of an extended wartime season. Despite being underage, he briefly worked as a driver for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

Athletic Bilbao

On returning to Spain in 1940, Lezama joined

Arenas Club de Getxo Arenas Club de Getxo is a Spanish football club based in the town of Getxo, near Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it currently plays in , holding home games at Campo Municipal de Gobela, with a 2,000-se ...

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

.Lezama, el gran portero del Athletic (Lezama, Athletic's great goalkeeper)
Periodista Digital, 24 July 2007 (in Spanish) In 1941 he signed for

, and made his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

debut on 27 September 1942 in a 5–0 home win over

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

. The 1942–43 season saw the side, with a team that also included

Telmo Zarra Pedro Telmo Zarraonandía Montoya (20 January 1921 – 23 February 2006), known as Telmo Zarra (, ), was a Spanish association football, football Forward (association football), forward. He spent the majority of his career at Athletic Bilbao, fr ...

, José Luis Panizo and Agustín Gaínza, win a

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

(league and

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

); he helped Athletic retain the cup in both 1944 and 1945, winning it again in 1950. While at Bilbao, Lezama also won the

Ricardo Zamora Trophy The Zamora Trophy () is a football award, established by Spanish newspaper '' Marca'' in 1958. The award goes to the goalkeeper who has the lowest "goals-to-games" ratio.Similar to goals against average in ice hockey or earned run average in b ...

as best goalkeeper during 1946–47. He added his only cap for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

on 26 January 1947, when he was a second-half substitute for José Bañón in a 1–4 away defeat against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. Throughout the rest of his career at Athletic, Lezama was only a squad player, making only 12 league appearances in his last five campaigns combined. After playing 197 league matches (261 in all competitions), he left the club in 1957.

Later career

In 1957, Lezama joined

SD Indautxu Sociedad Deportiva Indautxu is a Spanish football club based in Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1924, it plays in , holding home games at ''Campo Iparralde''. Apart from football, the club also promotes other ...

in the second level, where his teammates included emerging youngsters

Chus Pereda Jesús María Pereda Ruiz de Temiño (15 June 1938 – 27 September 2011), also known as Chus Pereda, was a Spanish football midfielder and manager. In a 16-year professional career, he played mainly for Barcelona, amassing La Liga totals of 19 ...

and

Miguel Jones Miguel Jones Castillo (; 27 October 1938 – 8 April 2020) was a Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder for SD Indautxu and Atlético Madrid during the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Although born in Spanish Guinea, now known as Equatoria ...

. He spent two further seasons in that tier with

Sestao Sport Club Sestao Sport Club was a Spanish football club based in Sestao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded it 1916 it held home matches at ''Campo Municipal de las Llanas'', with a capacity of 8,900 seats. History Sestao managed to ...

, before rejoining first team in Spain Arenas de Getxo in 1960. Lezama died of heart failure in Laguardia, Álava, at the age of 84. It was sometimes thought that Athletic's training facilities were named after him, but in fact these were named for their location, the village of

Lezama Lezama is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is home to the training headquarters of the football team Athletic Bilbao, and is accessible by bus - Bizka ...

near Bilbao.; at Mi Athletic (in Spanish)

Honours

Club

Athletic Bilbao *

: 1942–43 *

Copa del Generalísimo The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish f ...

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

Copa Eva Duarte The Copa Eva Duarte was a Spanish football tournament organized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and contested by the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Generalísimo. History In September 1940, a match with this format had the n ...

: 1950

Individual

: 1946–47

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lezama, Raimundo 1922 births 2007 deaths Spanish refugees Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Barakaldo Men's association football goalkeepers Southampton F.C. wartime guest players La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players Arenas Club de Getxo footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Barakaldo CF footballers SD Indautxu footballers Sestao Sport Club footballers Spain men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in the United Kingdom 20th-century Spanish sportsmen