Ricardo Cruz Lebrón

Ricardo “Dickie” Cruz Lebrón was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 15 August 1933. After attending University High School in Río Piedras, he earned a business administration degree from the University of Puerto Rico in 1965, also receiving a commission through the school’s ROTC program.

Cruz got his start in basketball with the “Futuras Estrellas” tournaments run by the FIB. Playing for the Santa Rita Cardenales of Río Piedras, he helped the team win back-to-back national titles in 1947 and 1948. He later suited up for Hato Rey Cabrer, where he set a single-game scoring record of 35 points, and was named Most Outstanding Rookie in a local tournament while playing for Farmacia Río Piedras.

He entered Puerto Rico’s top league in 1951 as a member of the Cardenales de Río Piedras, becoming a star guard throughout the 1950s before retiring in 1960. With the Cardenales, he was key to three straight national championships in 1955, 1956, and 1957.

On the international stage, Cruz was selected for the Puerto Rican national team at the 1954 Central American and Caribbean Games in Mexico. In 1955, he scored a record 56 points in a game in Arecibo and was later named the league’s best defensive player. By 1957, he had earned a spot on the league’s All-Star team as one of its top scorers. He also played in the Caribbean Series with Ponce in 1958. During the 1954–1955 intercollegiate season, he was a member of the University of Puerto Rico varsity basketball team.

After his playing days ended, Cruz stayed in the sport as Director of Youth Categories for the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation from 1960 to 1963, then as the Federation’s Executive Secretary from 1963 to 1966. He served as Head of Delegation for Puerto Rico’s basketball team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where the team finished fourth—its best Olympic result ever. That same year, he was appointed to the FIBA Technical Commission. In 1965, he was Puerto Rico’s delegate at the first Central American Basketball Tournament in Mexico, where the team won silver. The following year, he acted as Technical Director of basketball for the Central American and Caribbean Games held in Puerto Rico.

Cruz also built a long career in sports media, creating and hosting two radio shows: El Baloncelista Estrella de la Semana and Así va Nuestro Baloncesto, which aired for more than 15 years.

Professionally, he was General Manager of John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Puerto Rico as of 1988. He was an active member of the Phi Sigma Alpha fraternity, serving as president of its alumni chapter in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as fraternity president. He also served as president of the Rotary International chapter in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Cruz Lebrón died from Alzheimer’s disease on 10 May 2020 at age 86.