Abelardo Raidi raɪ-dɪ(December 25, 1914 – January 27, 2002) was a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

and

radio broadcaster Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-b ...

. He was born in

Valencia, Carabobo Valencia () is the capital city of Carabobo State and the third-largest city in Venezuela. The city is an economic hub that contains Venezuela's top industries and manufacturing companies. It is also the largest city in the Valencia-Maracay m ...

. Raidi began his career as a radio announcer and play-by-play sports broadcaster in several stations in his country. Then, in 1941 he was the official representative of the

Venezuela national baseball team The Venezuela national baseball team (Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de Venezuela'') is the national team of Venezuela. It is currently ranked sixth in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, directly behind the US and ahead ...

which won the championship title in the IV Amateur Baseball World Series held in

Havana, Cuba Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. He later became an accomplished sports journalist in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

for almost seven decades, first at '' El Universal'' and later at '' El Nacional'', where he turned in a sports editor and remained for more than 60 years its prestigious and widely read column ''Pantalla de los Jueves'' (Screen on Thursdays), where he also wrote with authority about boxing and golf, among other sports, and interviewed entertainment personalities as

Claudia Cardinale Claude Joséphine Rose "Claudia" Cardinale (; born 15 April 1938) is an Italian actress. She has starred in some of the most iconic European films of the 1960s and 1970s, acting in Italian, French, and English. Born and raised in La Goulette, a ...

María Félix María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña (; 8 April 1914 – 8 April 2002) was a Mexican actress and singer. Along with Pedro Armendáriz and Dolores del Río, she was one of the most successful figures of Latin American cinema in the 1940s an ...

and

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...

. Also respected as a beauty scout, he was instrumental in the participation of

Maritza Sayalero Maritza Sayalero Fernández (born February 16, 1961, in Caracas) is a Venezuelan designer, model, businesswoman and beauty queen. In 1979 she was crowned both Miss Venezuela and Miss Universe, the first woman from Venezuela to win this title. She ...

and

Irene Sáez Irene Lailin Sáez Conde (born 13 December 1961 in Chacao, Miranda, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan politician and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 1981. She has been a model, was the mayor of Chacao (a municipality of Caracas), Governor ...

in the

Miss Venezuela Miss Venezuela (Spanish: ''Organización Miss Venezuela'') is the national beauty pageant of Venezuela, traditionally held in September. It is preceded by two or three months of preliminary events, with the awarding of corporate prizes. The fi ...

beauty pageant, which both won, and then the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

title in 1979 and 1981, respectively. Raidi was also a founding member of the Circle of Sports Journalists in Venezuela and earned the National Journalism Award. In addition, the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) established an award to honor him, The Abelardo Raidi Award. Besides this, Raidi represented

Zulia Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. It ...

state in the Chamber of Deputies of Venezuela during the 1969–1974 period and the

Federal District A federal district is a type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they ...

from 1974 to 1979. Raidi died in 2002 in Caracas at the age of 87. The following year, he gained induction into the

Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The Salón de la Fama y Museo del Béisbol Venezolano (in English, the ''Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum'') is a nonprofit institution operated by private interests, which was founded on April 18, 2002, thanks to the vision of Carlos ...

as part of their first class.

Sources

Salón de la Fama del Béisbol de Venezuela – 2003 Inductees' Biographies
(Spanish) * es.Wikipedia.org – Abelardo Raidi
AIPS America – Premio Abelardo Raidi
(Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Raidi, Abelardo 1914 births 2002 deaths People from Caracas People from Valencia, Venezuela Venezuelan journalists Venezuelan sportspeople 20th-century journalists