Angelo "Monchito" Cruz (born September 20, 1958) is a former Puerto Rican professional

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 (appr ...

player. He was born in New York. Coming out of the Patterson Projects in the Bronx, "Monchito" was a New York City Playground legend by the time he finished High School at

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; he first played 2 or 3 years at All Hallows High, both in the Bronx. After playing at Bethany Nazarene College (OK) and Essex (NJ) County College, he moved on to play professionally in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

Career

Career in Puerto Rico

Cruz began his career 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 ...

in 1977, when he was 18 years old. He played for the

Indios de Canóvanas The Indios de Canóvanas (lit. "Canóvanas Indians") was a BSN basketball team that was based in Canóvanas, Puerto Rico. History The Indios were active for several years in the league, winning the championship in 1983 and 1984. They also reach ...

for 13 seasons. He led Canóvanas to back-to-back championships in 1983 and 1984 and recorded his 1,500th assist in 1988. His team battles with perennial powerhouses Bayamón,

Guaynabo Guaynabo (, ) is a city, suburb of San Juan and municipality in the northern part of Puerto Rico, located in the northern coast of the island, north of Aguas Buenas, south of Cataño, east of Bayamón, and west of San Juan. Guaynabo is spr ...

and San Germán are still famous in BSN lore. Cruz spent his last three seasons with the

Titanes de Morovis The Titanes de Morovis (Morovis Titans) were a professional basketball team from Morovis, Puerto Rico, which played in the country's top pro basketball league, the BSN. They won their only national championship in 1987, defeating the 1986 champio ...

. After 16 years in the league averaging 14.8 points and 4.8 assists per game, he retired after the 1993 season.

International career

At the age of 20, Cruz was part of Puerto Rico's 1979 Pan American team that earned a silver medal in San Juan in a memorable PR-USA showdown against the

Isiah Thomas Isiah Lord Thomas III (born April 30, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player and coach who is an analyst for ''NBA TV''. The 12-time NBA All-Star was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History as well as the 75 Grea ...

Bobby Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...

led USA team. He would go on to play in two more Pan Am Games in 1983 in

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, Venezuela and in 1987 at

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, Indiana. In 1984 he played at the FIBA

1984 Tournament of the Americas The 1984 Tournament of the Americas, since 2005 called the FIBA Americas Championship or FIBA AmeriCup, was the 2nd edition of this basketball tournament, hosted in Sao Paulo, Brazil from 15–24 May 1984. The outcome would determine the three ber ...

Olympic Qualifier in São Paulo, Brazil. In 1990, he played at the

1990 Goodwill Games The 1990 Goodwill Games was the second edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held between July 20 and August 5, 1990. Following an inaugural edition in Moscow, the second games took place in Seattle, United ...

in Seattle, Washington.

Career in The Olympics

In 1988, Cruz helped qualify Puerto Rico to the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

in Seoul, Korea, at the

1988 Tournament of the Americas The 1988 Tournament of the Americas, later known as the FIBA Americas Championship and the FIBA AmeriCup, was a basketball championship hosted by Uruguay from 22 to 31 May 1988. The games were played in Montevideo. This FIBA AmeriCup was to earn ...

Olympic Qualifier in Montevideo, Uruguay. At that time, Puerto Rico had been absent from the Summer Olympics since 1976. At the

in Korea he led the

Puerto Rican National Basketball Team The Puerto Rico national basketball team ( es, Selección de Baloncesto de Puerto Rico) represents Puerto Rico in men's international basketball competitions, it is governed by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation ( es, link=no, Federación de ...

in assists and was second in scoring with a 12.375 scoring average. Against

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, he scored the winning shot at the buzzer to beat the eventual silver medalist, which was led by soon-to-be

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

players

Dražen Petrović Dražen Petrović (; 22 October 1964 – 7 June 1993) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s, before joining the Natio ...

and

Vlade Divac Vlade Divac ( sr-Cyrl, Владе Дивац, ; born February 3, 1968) is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player who was most recently the vice president of basketball operations and general manager of the Sacramento Kings ...

74–72.

FIBA World Tournaments

Cruz played in two

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its na ...

World Tournaments, 1986 in

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and 1990 in Argentina. In 1990, in Buenos Aires, he helped Puerto Rico earn a Fourth Place at the

1990 FIBA World Championship The 1990 FIBA World Championship was the 11th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. It was hosted by Argentina from 8 to 19 August 1990. The final phase of the competition was held at the Luna Pa ...

. On its way to a 7–0 record his team defeated World Powers

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, and

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, only to lose its last two games in the medal round to the

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and

. That was his final participation in International Competition.

Disappearance

Angelo Cruz retired from basketball in 1993, after which he found a job working at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...

, where he met and befriended fellow Puerto Rican

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

player

José Valentín José Antonio Valentín (born October 12, 1969) is a Puerto Rican former American Major League Baseball infielder. He played for the Milwaukee Brewers (–), Chicago White Sox (–), Los Angeles Dodgers (), and New York Mets (–). His ...

when he was in town playing against the Yankees. However, in 1998, he mysteriously disappeared while visiting family in Puerto Rico. He has not been seen or heard from since. In August 2011, the first basketball tournament honoring Cruz's life was held in Patterson Houses. In the days leading up to the tournament, the Cruz family released several statements informing the public they were still seeking answers to his disappearance. The family also announced a scholarship fund created in his memory. All contributions support basketball camps for Bronx youths. The tournaments are attended by Cruz's eldest child, Angel Cruz, Jr., his grandson, Kaneda Cruz, Cruz's mother Gloria and his sister Naomi Cruz-Lymon along with his basketball family and many friends.

Personal life

While still living in

Mott Haven, Bronx Mott Haven is an American primarily Residential area, residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of the Bronx. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are East 149th Street to the nor ...

, Cruz had his first child with Denise West whom they named Angel Monchito Cruz, Jr. His son, Angel continues to reside in Mott Haven and is employed as a

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for th ...

. Angel had a son, Kaneda Cruz whom is from the same area (South Bronx) his whereabouts are currently unknown. Kaneda is Cruz's only grandchild. His other children include his second son,

Alvin Alvin may refer to: Places Canada *Alvin, British Columbia United States *Alvin, Colorado *Alvin, Georgia *Alvin, Illinois * Alvin, Michigan *Alvin, Texas * Alvin, Wisconsin, a town *Alvin (community), Wisconsin, an unincorporated community Other ...

, who plays with the Ponce Lions of the BSN, and daughter, Anaíss. He also had another daughter, Angeliz, from his marriage to Annie Torres. His youngest child, Justin Cruz was born from his marriage with Carmen Diaz Farrell. At the time of his disappearance, Cruz was no longer married.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Angel 1958 births 1990s missing person cases Possibly living people Sportspeople from the Bronx Basketball players from New York City American men's basketball players Baloncesto Superior Nacional players Basketball players at the 1979 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1983 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1987 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Missing people Olympic basketball players of Puerto Rico Puerto Rican men's basketball players 1990 FIBA World Championship players Puerto Rico men's national basketball team players Pan American Games silver medalists for Puerto Rico Pan American Games bronze medalists for Puerto Rico Pan American Games medalists in basketball Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm men's basketball players DeWitt Clinton High School alumni Essex County College alumni Point guards Medalists at the 1979 Pan American Games Titanes de Morovis players