Hector "El Mago" Blondet-Texidor (May 12, 1947 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

– September 9, 2006 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 ...

) was a Puerto Rican professional basketball player who in the 1970s played with the "Cardenales de Rio Piedras" and the "Capitanes de Arecibo" teams in the National Basketball League in Puerto Rico. He played three years at

Murray State University Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, H ...

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, and was drafted in 1971 as a fifth round pick by the NBA's

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

. Blondet was also selected in that year as a tenth-round pick by the ABA's

Virginia Squires The Virginia Squires were a basketball team based in Norfolk, Virginia, and playing in several other Virginia cities. They were members of the American Basketball Association from 1970 to 1976. The team originated in 1967 as the Oakland Oaks, a ...

, but he never played for either team despite signing a contract for Portland. During that time, he was also the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

of the Puerto Rican national basketball team, leading the team to a 6th place at the

1972 Olympics 1972 Olympics refers to both: *1972 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sapporo, Japan *1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 19 ...

in Munich, where he scored 150 points in nine games. Four years later, he took his team to a 9th place at the 1976 Olympics in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. Before this, Blondet had also helped Puerto Rico win the silver medal at the

1971 Pan American Games * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Jan ...

. Blondet was 1.96m tall and weighed 91 kg. He was buried at the New Cemetery of

Morovis Morovis (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the central region of the island, north of Orocovis, south of Manatí, Vega Baja and Vega Alta; east of Ciales, and west of Corozal. Morovis is spread over 13 barrios and Mor ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blondet, Hector 1947 births 2006 deaths Sportspeople from Brooklyn Basketball players from New York City Puerto Rican men's basketball players 1974 FIBA World Championship players Olympic basketball players of Puerto Rico Basketball players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1971 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for Puerto Rico Shooting guards FC Barcelona Bàsquet players Baloncesto Superior Nacional players Puerto Rican expatriate sportspeople in Spain Pan American Games medalists in basketball Murray State Racers men's basketball players Portland Trail Blazers draft picks Virginia Squires draft picks Medalists at the 1971 Pan American Games