Manuel "Manolo" Raga Navarro (born March 14, 1944) is a Mexican former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. During his playing career, he was nicknamed, "The Flying Mexican", due to his nationality and his one of a kind 43 inch standing (no step) vertical leap. In 2008, he was named one of the

50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors The 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors (2008) of FIBA European Champions Cup and EuroLeague history were awarded and chosen on February 3, 2008, in Madrid, Spain. The occasion was the fiftieth anniversary since the founding of the inaugural sea ...

. In 2016, he became a FIBA Hall of Fame player.

Club career

Raga played professionally for

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label=Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

in the Italian League, from 1968 to 1974, and with them, he won three EuroLeague championships. In 1970, he became the first player from an international league to be selected in the NBA Draft, when

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all ...

, Marty Blake, took him with the 167th overall pick. However, Raga never played in the NBA.

National team career

Raga was a part of the senior national team of Mexico. He won a gold medal at the 1965 CentroBasket, and a silver medal at the

1967 Pan American Games The 1967 Pan American Games were held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from July 23 to August 6, 1967. Winnipeg was chosen as host of the Pan American Games on its second try. It first bid for the 1963 Games at the 1959 PASO meeting in Chicago ...

. He also played with Mexico in three different Summer Olympic Games, at the 1964 Summer Olympics, the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

, and the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

. He also played in 3 different

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

s, at Brazil 1963, at Uruguay 1967, and at Puerto Rico 1974.

Awards and accomplishments

Club career

* Italian League Champion (3): 1969, 1970, 1971 * Italian Cup Winner (3): 1969, 1970, 1971 * FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) Champion (3): 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73 *

FIBA Intercontinental Cup The FIBA Intercontinental Cup, also commonly referred to as the FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs, or the FIBA Club World Cup, is a professional basketball clubs competition that is endorsed by FIBA and the NBA. Historically, its purpose has be ...

Champion (2):

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and 1 ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

Swiss League The Swiss League is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League. The winners of the league each season plays a best-of-seven series against the bottom team of the NL, and if they win, t ...

Champion (3): 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77 *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference ...

Winner: 1974–75 * Best Mexican Player of the 20th CenturyManuel Raga (Mexico) INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS.
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: 2008 * FIBA Hall of Fame: 2016

References

External links

Euroleague.net 50 Greatest EuroLeague ContributorsFIBA Hall of Fame ProfileBasketball-Reference.com ProfileThe Flying Mexican
InterBasket. Retrieved 20 August 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Raga, Maunel 1944 births Living people Atlanta Hawks draft picks Basketball players at the 1964 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1967 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1968 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Tamaulipas FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Mexican men's basketball players 1963 FIBA World Championship players 1967 FIBA World Championship players 1974 FIBA World Championship players Olympic basketball players of Mexico Pallacanestro Varese players Pan American Games medalists in basketball Pan American Games silver medalists for Mexico Shooting guards SP Federale Lugano players Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games