Rubén Rodríguez Leon (born August 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican former

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. Born in

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and also a former resident of

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, he played 23 seasons 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) tournament. Many people consider either him to be, along with José Ortíz, Raymond Dalmau, Juan Vicens, Rafael Valle, Georgie Torres or Mario Morales, the greatest or one of the greatest basketball players in

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 ...

's national tournament's history. He was one of only five players (Morales, Dalmau, Georgie Torres and Mario Butler being the other four) to reach 10,000 or more points during his BSN career, and for a long time, was the second best scorer ever behind Dalmau. Rodríguez spent his whole career with the '' Vaqueros de Bayamon'' of Bayamón. With the Vaqueros, he won 8 national championships, in 1969, five in a row from 1971 to 1975, one in 1981 and one in 1988, the year that the team inaugurated his actual venue, that carries his name, the Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum. He also garnered the MVP award in 1979, and, once the three-point shot was established for the first time in the Puerto Rican tournament during the 1980 season, he started making shots from behind the three-point line too. Rodríguez was a member of the Puerto Rican national basketball team, playing in many international tournaments such as the

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and

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

. Rodríguez for Team Puerto Rico played against Michael Jordan for Team USA, in Bayamon, in 1983. He retired from basketball in 1991. He tried several times to coach a basketball team in the Puerto Rico League, BSN, but without success. His most recent attempt was with the Bayamón team in 2002. He started the season 0-5 and was eventually fired. He is now a basketball analyst for several radio shows in Puerto Rico.

References

External links

Gallery of Pictures of Puerto Rican players
at enciclopediapr.org
Statistics
in BSN {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Ruben 1953 births Living people Baloncesto Superior Nacional players Basketball players at the 1971 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1975 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1979 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1983 Pan American Games Basketball players from New York City Baloncesto Superior Nacional coaches LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds men's basketball players Olympic basketball players for Puerto Rico Puerto Rican men's basketball players 1974 FIBA World Championship players 1978 FIBA World Championship players Puerto Rico men's national basketball team players Pan American Games silver medalists for Puerto Rico Pan American Games basketball players for Puerto Rico Pan American Games silver medalists in basketball Centers (basketball) Power forwards Medalists at the 1971 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1979 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games Vaqueros de Bayamón basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen