Javier Antonio Colón
Point guard for Leones de Ponce, five-time BSN champion.
Javier Antonio "Toñito" Colón is a retired Puerto Rican basketball player who spent his entire career as a point guard for the Leones de Ponce from 1987 to 2008. He led the team to five championships and ranks third all-time in assists in the BSN. Colón also represented the Puerto Rico National Basketball Team from 1990 to 1999.
Quick Facts
- Position
- Point guard
- Born
- 4 June 1969
- Birthplace
- Ponce, Puerto Rico
- Nationality
- Puerto Rican
- Highlights
- 5× BSN champion (1990, 1992, 1993, 2002, 2004); BSN Most Valuable Player (1998)
Facts from the source article.
Career
Javier Antonio Colón was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on June 4, 1969. He debuted with the Leones de Ponce in 1987 at age 17. He became a starter in 1989 and served as the team's captain until 2004. In 1990, he led the Leones to their first championship in 24 years. The team won again in 1992 and 1993, with Colón leading a sharpshooting squad known for its accuracy. The media called Colón, Bobby Ríos, José "Papote" Agosto, and Charlie Lanauze the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." Colón averaged 18.2 points per game in 1993, the highest of his career. The Leones reached the Finals again in 1995, 1996, 1998, and 2003. In 2004, they beat the Vaqueros de Bayamón for their fifth championship in 15 years. Colón dedicated that title to the Mayor of Ponce, Rafael Cordero Santiago, an avid fan who had died earlier that year. He was selected as one of the league's best players of the 1990s. In his final years, Colón settled into a backup point guard role and retired in 2008.
Olympic career
Colón was a member of the Puerto Rico National Basketball Team from 1990 to 1999. He participated in the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics, where the team finished 8th and 10th respectively. He also played in several FIBA tournaments, winning a gold medal in 1995 and two silver medals in 1993 and 1997. Colón and Puerto Rico won gold at the 1991 Pan American Games and the 1994 Goodwill Games. He also earned gold medals in Centrobasket and the Central American and Caribbean Games. Colón quit the international team in 1999 after an injury sidelined him the entire year.
More in Puerto Rico Men's National Basketball Team Players
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