Dr. Rebekah Colberg Cabrera (December 25, 1918 – July 8, 1985),Dates of birth and death were provided and confirmed by th
Puerto Rico Olympic Committee
August 24, 2010 was a Puerto Rican athlete, who was known as "The Mother of Women's Sports in Puerto Rico". Colberg participated in various athletic competitions in the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games celebrated in Panama where she won the gold medals in Discus and Javelin throw.

Early years

Rebekah Colberg Cabrera was born on December 25, 1918, in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico to Vicente Lupercio Colberg Pabón, a pharmacy technician, and María Providencia Cabrera Ramírez de Arellano, a housewife. Her great-great-grandmother was the sister of the early-19th century Puerto Rican pirate Roberto Cofresí Ramírez de Arellano. Colberg was born two months premature when her mother was just seven months pregnant. Colberg, whose birth weight was only four pounds during birth, would later break sports barriers for Puerto Rican women. Even though there used to be a lot of discrimination in sports against women, Colberg was to prove that women did have the potential to be great athletes, if given the chance. Colberg graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a bachelor's degree in science and

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

. She received her Masters in physical education from Columbia University in

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

and her Doctorate in medicine from the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

( UNAM).

Sports accomplishments

From 1932 to 1946, for fourteen consecutive years, Colberg was Puerto Rico's tennis champion. In 1938, she won two gold medals at the

IV Central American and Caribbean Games The 4th Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Panama City, the capital city of Panama at Estadio Juan Demóstenes Arosemena Estadio Juan Demóstenes Arosemena is a 7,000 seats baseball field in Panama City, Panama. It hosts mainl ...

, celebrated in Panama, in the discus and javelin throw events. In 1946, when the games were celebrated in

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of Atlántico Department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean Coast region; as of 2018 it had a population of 1,206,319, making it Col ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, she won a gold medal in softball. While studying for her master's degree at Columbia University, she was in the university's field hockey and lacrosse championship teams. She was also a member of the undefeated women's basketball team of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Later years

In 1952, Colberg was inducted into the Puerto Rican Athletic Hall of Fame and the Puerto Rican Tennis Hall of Fame. She is considered by many as the greatest woman athlete to have been born in Puerto Rico. Her cousin, the late Severo Colberg Ramirez, was the Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives (Cámara de Representantes) from 1982 to 1985. Colberg died on July 8, 1985, in her native town and is buried in the Old San Juan Cemetery, Cementerio Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis.

Honors

The City of Cabo Rojo honored Colberg's memory by naming a Coliseum after her (which became, in 1989, the home of what was Cabo Rojo's BSN team), and in Rio Piedras there is also a Rebekah Colberg Multi-sports Gym. On May 29, 2014, The Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico honored 12 illustrious women with plaques in the "La Plaza en Honor a la Mujer Puertorriqueña" (Plaza in Honor of Puerto Rican Women) in San Juan. According to the plaques the following 12 women, who by virtue of their merits and legacies, stand out in the history of Puerto Rico. Colberg was among those who were honored.La Mujer en nuestra historia
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References

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External links

famous people from Cabo Rojo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colberg, Rebekah 1918 births 1985 deaths Burials at Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery Puerto Rican women's basketball players Puerto Rican softball players National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni People from Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico Teachers College, Columbia University alumni University of Puerto Rico alumni Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Puerto Rico Competitors at the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 1946 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics Puerto Rican female track and field athletes 20th-century American women